The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-08-17
THEOSOPHY IN FAR INDIA.
Continued from page L.

such as to eclipse any given to The
osophists in the past. Madame Bla-
vatsky "slew her thousands" Mrs.
Besant her "ten thousands" Her
praise is trumpeted abroad among
natives high and low. She was in
the country only a few weeks
and she made the name of TheOsOphy
and Mrs. Besant-to echo all over
India. Many natives have verify
called her a reincarnation of their
goddess Sarasvathi. We naturally in
quire for the cause of this wonderful
popularity. They are not far to find.
She is undoubtedly a very clever wo-
man and an eloquent speaker. A
Hindu editor, who heard her at Ma
dura recently, and was led captive,
delivers himself as follows:
ain the ease and fiuency of her
speech, in her sustained delivery from
beginning to end of a lecture, her lee
lures may remind one of one of the
great speeches of Lord Palmerston.
In the simplicity of her language, the
clearness of her ideas and the convinc-
ing logicality of her argument, her
speeches may remind one of the great
est efforts of Mr.. Gladstone. But in
her there is neither the shallow reas-
oning of the former nor the continu-
ously involved sentences of the lat
ter"
But her eloquence is, after all, a
very small element in her success.
She is doing one real service to the
people by vigorously attacking mater
ialism, a strong tendency toward
which is sadly manifest among edu-
Gated Hindus. There are few natives,
however, who would thank her much
for this service. Her success depends,
doubtless, almost entirely on her atti-
tude toward Christianity and Hindu
ism. Christians are not expecting any
eulOgy upon their faith from one who,
like Mrs. Besant, swung around the
whole circle of belief and unbelief,
and who is as yet by no means at rest.
But they are not prepared to hear her
compare Christianity with Hinduism
as common glass with pearl.n Nor
can they relish, as can Hindus, the
remark which she made /" that the
custom of sending children to school
under the missionaries or under Gov
eminent where a new religion is
taught, or where no religion is taught,
was the cause of so many young Hin
dus turning sceptics and materialists,
and, what is worse, becoming con-
verts to Christianity. All this, how
ever, reveals the vigorous renewal by
under its new highpriestess
of the old attitude of hostility to our
faith. 1t also reveals one cause of
Mrs. Besant's popularity among Hin
dus. The cheapest popularity that an
man or woman can win
Hindus today is that secured
through abusing the faith of his faith
ers. This people are prepared to APP
plaud to the echo any Englisman's
spiteful thrust at Christ.
But Mrs. Besant's attitude toward |
is the most remarkable
thing of all. Madame Blavatsky and |
Colonel Olcott faithfully adhered to |
"Esoteric Buddhism" as the nearest |
which they could make to |
Hindu life and thought. But Mrs. |
Besant, with one leap, has apparently |
landed in the center of Hinduism it |
self; and in a very "esoteric" man
ner, too. While in India she left no |
doubt in the minds of any one as to
her admiration of and faith in Hin
luism. Her mahatmas are not Bud |
thistle ghosts, but orthodox, mythical
Hindu rishis. Her lord is Sri Krish-
1au. and not Gautama. When she
visited the great Madura temple, it
was in true Hindu devotee fashion,
with bare feet; and she made her bow
md o0eisance to the idols therein
with apparent sincerity and to the
lelight of all devout Hindus. In Ma
iras, replying to an inquiry, she said,
Il am Hindu in my religious belief.
believe in the gods and in the sub
ime philosophy of the Upanishads."
She everywhere urges the people to
Ibandon their yearning for Western
bought and Christianity, and TO re-
urn to their "divine ancestral faith
md to the sublime philosophy of their
acred books.n She eloquently pro-
laims to the admiring crowds that
ndia has never since seen the sweet
which prevailed in Manu's
ime. She probably forgets that if
he had lived in Manu's day and had
,een brought up under his laws, she
would have been the ignorant slave
f her husband lord, shut up in a
enana, with few privileges of earth
nd with hopes of heaven based solely
pom her AFFECT obedience to him in
instead of being, as she
Ow is, divorced from her husband
nd the head of the Theosophical So
iety.
So there is little doubt as to where
Irs. Besant stands nor as to where
he has carried Theosophy. The
ritter cannot see, and he is quite
lre that no Hindu can see, but that
heOsOphy is now completely alb
Drbed into Hinduism and will hence
nth, in this land at least, be identi-
ed with it. In this way Mrs. Besant
as achieved for herself and her cult
sudden popularity. She will find
pportulity to regret this sudden de-
cent and the surrender of TheosOphy
, the tender mercies of the decrepit
hinduism of today. And a couple of
ecades' residence in India would
lily disillusiOnize her as to the char
cter of a religion which has tyran-
lied over the destinies of this people
II thirty centuries and to which every
,ntury has added error and cOrrup-
on, until one can rarely meet among
s followers an intelligent person
no will not acknowledge that it is
lie great enemy of all progress. India
as seen no movement during the last
.ntury for the amelioratiOn of the
lysical, intellectual and moral con-