The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai Volume III 1921 - 1922 Joseph E. Ross The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai Volume III, 1921- 1922 2009 Joseph E. Ross All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Unless otherwise credited, illustrations or photos are from the author’s archives. First Edition 2009 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalogue in publication data Ross, Joseph E., 1943- The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai: 1921 - 1922, Volume III, by Joseph E. Ross ISBN: 0-925943-13-2 (V. III) 1. Hollywood Region (Calif.)-History. 3. Theosophical Society-History. 2. Ojai (Calif.) - History. IN MEMORY OF A. P. WARRINGTON Whose devotion to an ideal, and whose courage in attempting to carry out that ideal, has made Krotona possible. Contents A Note on the Letters and Other Quoted Material viii Acknowledgements ix Preface x Introduction xi Material discovered since Vol II xiv ES League of Healers xxviii College of Healing xxxi Chapter 1 — 1921 1 Chapter 2 — 1922 182 Appendix A 304 Endnotes 316 Index 319 vii A Note on the Letters and other quoted material The letters are printed, as they are in the original with the exception that when a magazine or book is mentioned in a letter, we have printed it in italic type whereas the writer often simply wrote it with initial letters capitalized. Also, we have standardized capitalization and spelling of Theosophy with an upper case T and theosophical or theosophists with lower case t, except in proper names, such as Theosophical Society and the magazine The Theosophist. The letters have been transcribed directly from the originals and without omission except for the occasional correction of obvious errors of spelling and punctuation. In some letters commas have been added for clarity. The author wishes to point out that one of the fundamental laws of honesty is that whenever we quote something written by another, we will use the quoted words in the same context as the original writer used them. Even slight alterations, such as changing a single word, or omitting a part of a sentence, may change the meaning. Alas, many writers (even among trained scholars) break this rule, and so, by untruthfully quoting, do violence to the meaning of the original writer. An ellipsis (three dots or points) within a quotation indicates that something has been omitted, but we did not change the context. I acknowledge and take responsibility for making public the documents presented to me by Betty Warrington and others that are in this book. Many of the letters are controversial; some are contradictory, and some, very confusing. The past is past except that its shadow still falls on the present. The past is the background of conditioned thought, an action that is dominating and controlling the present, and thereby overshadowing and creating a predetermined future. Is the mind capable of being watchful, choicelessly, of this process, and is it possible to liberate itself from it at any moment? The letters contained herein hold information about and shed light on the personalities around the founding of the Krotona Institute. viii Acknowledgements Material for this volume has been drawn from people I have met and documents I have collected during my many years traveling around the world to centers of Theosophy. Extensive reading, especially perusal of early theosophical and secular journals and books, has rounded out the history contained in the quaint and curious letters, now in my personal archives, of the founders of Krotona. The letters here printed contain priceless bits of information and sidelights on the writers’ personalities, that will enable the reader, however distant in time or space, to become acquainted with the leaders of the theosophical movement as they actually lived the events. I extend my deepest gratitude to all the many writers of the letters, left as a record of Krotona’s history, and especially to the late Mrs. Betty Warrington and the late Srimati [or its shorter form, Smt., is used as a prefix to a married woman’s name] Rukmini Devi Arundale, both of whom presented to me many of their personal collection of letters and artifacts of their late husbands, Albert P. Warrington and George S. Arundale respectively. The staff of the Krishnamurti Foundation America, Inc. has been exceedingly helpful in giving me access to their archives and permission to publish correspondence. My special thanks also to those who have granted me personal interviews, offered documents, photographs and other information to complete this and future volumes. Words will never convey the debt of my gratitude. Special mention must be made of W.G.M. Beumer who provided us with the copy of the Kern Institute, Leiden University, publication about Johan van Manen, and also of Nell C. Taylor’s painstaking and careful checking of the original documents with the printed proofs. I also thank Robert Boyd’s superb editing skills making valuable suggestions toward the completion of the final version. I am of course solely responsible for any imperfections remaining. Joseph E. Ross ix [Author’s] Preface In the Fall of 1874, William Q. Judge came in contact with Madame H. P. Blavatsky. In September of 1875, Judge became one of the founders of the Theosophical Society along with H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott in New York City, as he acted as Counsel to the Society. This resulted in an association that was to last throughout their lives. Like all strong characters who advance a new idea or seek to revive an old or noble idea, Madame Blavatsky met with bitter opposition and persecution. It will be shown that Warrington had a similar experience as he moved the Hollywood Krotona to Ojai, California. The great purpose of theTheosophical Society, as originated by H.P. Blavatsky, is to exemplify and foster Brotherhood without regard to race, creed, sex, caste or color. H.P.B. Brought, from the storehouse of the past, the great teachings of the Wisdom-Religion, Theosophy, that man is divine in essence. That which binds not only all men, but all beings, all things in the entire Universe into one great whole, is Life, alike in essence but differing in form as expressed in plants, animals, human beings, planets and stars. As the years have gone by and more and more historical documents have come to me, I have felt it a duty to preserve this material, and to make it available to scholars and the public, in the hope that sincere and serious students will find this material helpful as they try to discover the facts regarding the history of Krotona and its subsidiaries. Much of the material dealing with the history of the Adyar Theosophical Society, the Liberal Catholic Church (L.C.C.), and its leaders, Annie Besant, C.W. Leadbeater, C. Jinarajadasa, George Arundale, and even J. Krishnamurti, and documents regarding Krotona that were not used in this or earlier publications, can be found in the Ross Collection at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America Archives, located at 1070 McAndrew Road, Ojai, California. Some students of Theosophy may consider the publication of the facts of Krotona’s history as unfriendly or unethical. If we can begin to question truly the values which now enclose and hold us, though it may cause confusion and disturbance, if we persist in deeply understanding them in action, there will be clarity. x Introduction Krotona Institute of Theosophy is a subsidiary activity of theEsoteric School of Theosophy (E.S.) and not of the Theosophical Society (T.S.). Just as the various activities classed as subsidiary in the usual report of the President of the T.S. are subsidiary to the Theosophical Society, so is the Krotona Institute a subsidiary of the Esoteric School. It was founded under direction of the international head of the E.S., who is and has continually been its President. Its object is training of students that, if properly carried out, ought to contribute strength and steadiness to the work for Theosophy in America. Writing the history of an organization - Krotona - the author knew it would not satisfy everyone. The author apologizes to his readers that the books are not easy to read, for they are a collection of historical documents, and should not be read as a novel, but rather used as a reference material for future research. He has endeavored to make it, not an advertisement for Theosophy, but a factual history according to the documents. In writing it, he has kept two objects in view: to make the history both readable and reliable, as based on actual documents. In the narration of historical events the author has endeavored to state what, after most careful investigation, he found to be the facts, although such a statement might destroy some of the beautiful myths that have been hitherto thought to be veritable history. Because a story is generally believed to be true is not conclusive evidence that it is true. The author presents the reader with an unbiased history of the civic and social life of the Krotona community, to tell the story of its evolution from an idea Warrington had as a young man to its founding and its flourishing into the 21st century. Warrington found no region of the U.S. whose natural attraction surpassed those of Southern California - rugged mountains, smiling valleys, prosperous towns and the vast ocean whose waves beat ceaselessly upon the picturesque coast - all these, added to a climate recognized as ideal, form influences that no visitor can resist.