Madame Blavatsky and Soobiah ADYAR LODGE The Theosophical Society ADYAR, MADRAS .... The Theosophical Society was formed at New York 17 November 1875, and incorporated at Madras 3 April 1905 Its three declared Objects are: * To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. * To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science. * To investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man. Madame Blavatsky and Soobiah ADYARLODGE The Theosophical Sod/ety Adyar, Madras .. ....... " CONTENTS Foreword l Brief Life Sketches 1 Soobiah's Reminiscences of HPB 3 Other Experiences of Soobiah ... 11 Mis<;ellaneous Notes and Extracts ... 14 FOREWORD I had known Soobiah Chetty from 1939 when I came to live in the Theosophical Society at Adyar on February 17th along with my grandfather Pandit Subramania Sastry and my grand­ mother. I had the good fortune to live in the house next to his. He treated me like a daughter and evinced keen interest in my work at Kalakshetra and in my welfare. He whetted my keen interest in Theosophy and the Theosophical Society by answer­ ing my various questions. He had the book The Mahattma Letters to A.P. Sinnett with him always and would read out suitable passages from it to explain things to me. I have pleasure in presenting in this little pamphlet some of the incidents he had related to me. I am indebted to Miss G. Sundari who persuaded me to do this as an offering to Madame Blavatsky in the Centenary Year of her passing. She also helped me by writing down what I recollected from memory. Rao Sahib Soobiah Chetty was an institution in the Theosophical Society. People from all over the world and all walks of life were eager to visit him. Each felt he was Mr. Chetty's special friend. He welcomed an elder person as well as a child with his attractive smile. From the Founders ofthe Theo­ sophical Society, each President and leader ofthe TS considered him as his close friend. Soobiah Chetty passed away in 1946. I am grateful to the Adyar Lodge for publishing this booklet and hope the readers are able to get a glimpse of Madame Blavatsky's great personality. May her blessing be on all! C. V. K. Maithreya, the great grandson helped me, on my request with some of the research. Maithreya is a keen student of Theosophy who organises and participates in theosophical activities. His parents and family encourage and help him in this. I am grateful to Carl Lewis for his help in bringing out this publication. I also thank Michael Gomes, a historian of the Theosophical Movement, for his help. S. SARADA Soobiah Chetty-born March 10. 1858. Sale~oined T.S. 27-4-1882 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky HPB was born in Ekaterininoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Russia in 1831. She was the eldest of four children of Col. Peter von Hahn and Helena Andreyevna de Fadeyev, a well-known Russian writer, the daughter of Princess Helena Dolgorukov. In 1849 she married Nikifor V. Blavatsky, a state official, very much her senior, whom she left after a few months to begin a life of travel. With Col. Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), William Q. Judge (1851- 1896), and fourteen others, she founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She passed away in London on May 8th 1891. HPB wrote four major books after she founded the Theosophical Society. These famous works are Isis Unveiled (1877), The Secret Doctrine (1888), The Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence (1889)-it is estimated that in a briefspan of 17 years, from 1874 to 1891, she wrote close to one thousand articles, essays, and letters to journals, which in many cases focus within the space of a few pages on the subjects and ideals to which she had dedicated her life. She travelled in several continents. She visited Tibet to be with her Gurus and receive instructions. 1 Rao Sahib Grandhi Soobiah Chetty ON March 10, 1858, in the small town of Salem in South India, Judge Muthuswami's family discarded what they considered a still-born child-but to the astonishment of the family, one of the servants noticed a movement in the membranes which still covered the new-bo.rn babe. This child grew up to live almost 89 years, was the father of seven children and a successful government official. He was con­ ferred the title of 'Rao Sahib' by the then government; ironically, he was later a silent helper of Mrs Annie Besant in the Home Rule Movement. His life seemed to have been planned from the time of his birth up to his death (although he lay in coma for about 24 days, he passed away only on the festival day of 'Karthika Deepam', as predicted by him well before) in December 1946. He unveiled the stone plaque dedicated to the unknown Theosophists and servants of the Great Ones (near the Headquarters building) -a category to which he would have chosen to belong. His deep friendship with Mme Blavatsky, and his involvement in the Theo­ sophical Movement is recorded in brief, in this booklet. 2 SOOBIAH CHETTY'S REMINISCENCES OF MADAME H. P. BLAVATSKY WHEN Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott visited Madras in 1882 and lectured in the Georgetown area, Grandhi Muthuswami Chetty who was a judge, listened to them. Though he was a rich man, he was spiritually dissatisfied, and though a Hindu desired to be converted to another religion. Muthuswami's enquiring mind was kindled by the two foreign lecturers. He wrote down several questions about whether he should opt for another religion and left those papers in a cupboard in his house before he went to sleep in the riight. Next morning when he woke up and looked in the cupboard, to his amazement he found that all his questions had been answered. Muthuswami was convinced by the answers and never became a convert, for he joined the Theosophical Society. Soon after this, Muthuswami's two sons, Soobiah and Narasimhulu heard a lecture of the Russian lady and the American gentleman who had together founded the Theosophical Society. They were students in a city college then, and they wished to join the Theosophical Society. These youngsters approached their father with the membership application forms and requested him to sign them as sponsor. Muthuswami refused saying they were youngsters and their interest in deeper things of life and philosophy was unlikely to persist. Profound matters might not continue to interest youngsters. These two youths then went to the Founders and knocked on the door. Colonel Olcott who was in the front room, invited them inside and enquired about the purpose of their visit. They handed their forms and requested him to admit them as Theosophists. After chatting with the youths for a while, the Colonel said he would be happy to welcome them as members, but as they were youngsters, they had to get the approval of their father. He added: 'Do try and persuade your father to spollSor you.' HPB who was resting inside called out enquiring who was there. On learning that Muthuswami Chetty's sons were there, she came out and told the Colonel: 'Let the boys fill the form and I will sponsor them!' She looked 3 at the boys with her magnetic and piercing eyes before saying this. The joy of the youths knew no bounds· After Soobiah completed his education, Muthuswami sent him to work in the Madras harbour dominated by British officers. One day while he was walking in the city HPB who was driving in a phaeton called him by name. Amazed that she should remember his name, he ran to her. She invited him to join her and the Colonel who were going to tour in Andhra. She left after giving him the details of the journey and the train he should catch. He left his leave-letter on the table of his boss who was not there and reached the railway station, but missed the train. He caught the next train and joined the Founders in Nellore late in the night. HPB invited him in and retired upstairs. Next morning when she came down and saw that he had fever, she instructed him to draw cold water from the nearby well and bathe. He obeyed and to his amazement, his temperature vanished and he became normal! Soobiah was in charge of the money of the group during this travel and noted down meticulously the accounts, showing it to HPB each day. One day she scolded him saying it was un­ necessary for him to do this as they had full faith in him. After a few days she took him to task saying he was spending freely and not even keeping an account of the expenses. Soobiah immediately produced the details of the expenses he had been noting! She smiled sweetly in return!! During this Andhra trip, while waiting in the wayside railway station, Soobiah weighed himself in a big balance used for weighing luggage. Seeing this, HPB also got on the balance and asked him to weigh her. Lo! He had to place all the available weights and still she was unbelievably heavier. She got down and climbed onto the balance again and asked Soobiah to weigh her Lo! He had to remove weight after weight and still she was lighter!! When he enquired about this, she answered that these were two of the eight Siddhis or yogic powers known as 'garima' and 'laghima'.