Blavatsky and Her Teachers: An Investigative Biography
by Jean Overton Fuller

First published to coincide with the centenary of the publication of HPB's magnum opus 'The Secret Doctrine', this book details the life of Theosophy's founder and inspiration, H. P. Blavatsky; the founding and early history of the Theosophical Society, and reveals much about the lives of other noted Theosophists, such as Henry Steele Olcott and C. W. Leadbetter. Much of the book is painstakingly researched from HPB's own diary entries, and from letters, diary entries and eyewitness accounts written by those who knew her. It's a fascinating biography of a truly unique personality, whose life story is every bit as colourful and eventful as those of the most daring adventurers of the Victorian age.

For those of you who want to know more about HPB, her life, and the early days of the Theosophical Society, and also wish to learn more about her masters Koot Hoomi and Morya, I thoroughly recommend this book.

Seeker,

It sounds like a fascinating book, although I cannot find it on the web. Searches of both Quest Books and Amazon.com have come up empty. Who is the publisher?

Nick, I did a quick search on Amazon.co.uk, and they have copies of it there.

Click for link

Alternatively, if you live anywhere near London, UK, you'll find copies of that and many other Theosophical works in Watkins Esoteric Bookshop, in Cecil Court off the Charing Cross Road.

Seeker,

Thanks for the info. It is always good to hear about bookstores that sell Theosophical books. Alas, I am near San Diego, California, so it is too far away for me!

Can you share any of the passages that talk about HPB's relationship with Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya?

Many apologies for taking so long to get back to you- I thought it best to complete the book first, so that I could give you a better viewpoint on this. It seems that HPB's relationship with the masters was extremely close- there are simply hundreds of references that show exchanges of messages between her and KH or M- usually by materialising the letters directly, or astrally projecting so as to deliver them in person. Many of the phenomena associated with the masters was actually performed by HPB, mainly because she felt that such tasks were beneath the masters to perform, and she would absolutely refuse to have them doubted in any way.

It was in causing these phenomena that HPB's health began to fail; both of the masters could easily perform such tasks as they were able to do them jointly and thus pool their energies more efficiently, allowing them to build to a sufficient level. By performing such phenomena spontaneously and alone, HPB was simply draining her own life force, and her health deteriorated. Attacks from madame Coulomb and the hatchet job done by Hodgson of the Society for Psychical Research didn't help either- the shock of these attacks very nearly killed her.

There is much space given over to the notorious Hodgson Report; the author uses her credentials as a handwriting analyst to tear Hodgsons' allegations apart and exposing Coulombs' letters from HPB as fakes, and even indicates, through detailed analysis of HPB's own journals, that much of the evidence against HPB was actually fabricated by Hodgson himself. The amateurish way in which his report was compiled is comprehensively debunked. The explanations are wordy and extremely long-winded, but ultimately rewarding. It's inspired me to look at the SPR today, and see if these trends of Hodgsons' prevail into the 21st century.

There is also detailed speculation of the possible identity of the Chohan whom the masters associated with, and after close examination of the history of the Tibetan Dalai and Panchen Lamas, evidence seems to support the fact that he was, in fact, a reincarnation of the original Panchen lama, before his line was superseded by one that was put in place by the Dalai Lama in the 17th Century or so. It is also heartening to know that amid the many attacks that HPB attracted through publication of The Secret Doctrine, the greatest and most ringing endorsement was from His Holiness the Panchen Lama himself.

Curiously enough, the main reason for attacks on this work was that until HPB's time, the only knowledge that the West had of Buddhism was from the Theravadan school- which is still the most prevalent- and HPB's work was written from the Mahayana schools' perspective. Many Buddhist scholars of the Mahayana tradition have been quoted as saying that The Secret Doctrine is in many ways an improvement on the original Mahayana documents; it makes them more accessible to Western scholars, who would otherwise not have had much exposure to them.

Seeker,

Thanks for that comprehensive summarization of the book.

I heard something recently that relates to Buddhism. The questions was asked -- what was the most important event of the 20th century? The answer given was not the atom bomb, not WWII, but the bringing of Buddhism to the west. Your post makes me think of the impact that Buddhism and Theosophy have had on the west.

I so want to read that biography of Blavatsky - unfortunately, I don't have it (and don't have the money to order it)

I did buy it - and think it's absolutely great. It covers (and doesn't cover up) all the controversy around Blavatsky's life in such detail, yet without getting boring. Really gives one ammunition to talk about these things with people who know enough to think she was a fraud...