Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tl00276)

A few weeks ago Indian Books Centre of Delhi, India published
an English language edition of The Masters Revealed.  I knew
this was in the works but just found out it was already in
print.  They're a leading scholarly publisher specializing in
books about India. (Their website is supposely http://ibcindia.com
but I can't get into it although that address can be found through AltaVista.)

This illustrates the "Law of Otherwise" stated by Gurdjieff:
"things always turn out otherwise than expected."  All through
the years I was writing the books on the Masters it was with
one hope: that within the Theosophical movement the subject
of HPB's historical sponsors would become a focus of some
serious interest, discussion/debate in periodicals, and further scholarly
exploration.  It would be hard to imagine a more absolute, total failure as
measured by that criterion than what has occurred.  In various places in the
movement the books were ignored, vigorously attacked and
rejected, or praised and then forgotten.  But the field of inquiry I was
hoping to encourage has shown not a single spark of life in the seven years
since my hypotheses first appeared in print, save for Joscelyn
Godwin's parallel investigations-- and he's not a Theosophist. (Contrary to
what some people might imagine, I never dared hope that the books would be
embraced and accepted unquestioningly within the movement.  But
I did hope that criticism might move in the direction of "Who
were the Masters, then, if not these people?" which it has
not and apparently never will.)

I never in my wildest dreams imagined the subject becoming one of interest
to the world of Indian scholarship, and this in the long run is a much more
satisfying vote of confidence than that denied me in the
Theosophical world, since it comes from total strangers whose opinion is
based on far more objective criteria than those which have
caused dismissal of the topic as unworthy of Theosophical consideration.
Moreover, as a total novice in Indian studies/history I am delighted to
have produced work which is recognized by a publisher
specializing in that field as having scholarly merit.  Seems
like a miracle, in fact.