Today, there are books whose origin story seems fantastic, sometimes frightening, sometimes just incredible. In this short essay we will focus on such a work as "Jiang's Stanzas".
This book cost health and brought many problems to the person who published its translation - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Let's take a look at the history of the cryptic text from the very beginning.
Tibetan Scripture from Venus
The story of this small essay, which discusses the secrets of the structure and creation of the Universe, does not begin at all on planet Earth. The legend about its origin says that it got to some mysterious Asian teachers either from the Higher Mind, or from aliens living on the planet Venus.
The secret of this book is associated with the legendary personality, the philosopher - Neopythagorean and contemporary of Jesus Christ Apollonius of Tyana, who lived in the 1st century AD. This man from an early age was fond of ascetic practices; after passing the five-year trial of silence, he distributed his part of the inheritance to the brothers and set off on a journey across Asia.
One of the key goals of his wanderings was the penetration into the mysterious country of the Brahmins - India. Who knows if he succeeded? Perhaps Apollonius fulfilled his cherished dream, and the brahmanas allowed him to familiarize himself with their texts. It is believed that one of these books was "Stanzas". Perhaps this is the clue to the source of the miracles and prophecies attributed to Apollonius. There is some data in his biography, allowing, rather, to agree with the version of his outstanding capabilities.
Judge for yourself: the philosopher who lived at a time when all sorts of magicians and sorcerers were exposed and expelled from Roman cities, acted not only as a moralist, but also as a person who openly asserted his supernatural capabilities. Nevertheless, this did not prevent Apollonius from gaining public recognition and respect, many rulers of his time - such as Titus and Domitian - gave him a warm welcome and were under his influence. During his lifetime he was invited to visit Rome, and before his death he even founded his own academy.
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Russian clairvoyant
Another famous person associated with this book is Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya. You can talk a lot about her - someone will call Elena Petrovna clairvoyant, someone is an agent of British imperialism, the creator of the Theosophical Society, or a person who played an important role in the liberation of India from British colonialism …
One thing is clear: this strong woman had many enemies who would like to destroy her reputation. So it is difficult to unequivocally judge the veracity of all criticism directed against her. However, let's try to look at Madame Blavatsky through the eyes of her opponents.
In particular, one can recall what happened to the ardent hater of Elena Petrovna, the famous Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. He recalled how in Germany, at the Victoria Hotel in the city of Elberfeld, an interesting incident happened to him, which took place immediately after communication with Madame Blavatsky and her students. Soloviev suddenly woke up at night and saw in front of him a figure in white, in which he recognized Mahatma Moriah.
The guest in an unknown language (which, nevertheless, Solovyov understood perfectly), having ordered an unwitting eyewitness to light a candle, began to tell the philosopher about his own abilities and ways of their realization.
After the disappearance of the vision, Solovyov already began to think that it was an obsession. However, the Mahatma reappeared in response to these thoughts and said: "Rest assured, I am not a hallucination, and you are not crazy." After that, the vision dissipated completely. I think it would be superfluous to mention that the hotel room was closed at that time.
E. P. Blavatsky released a series of books in which she demonstrated deep knowledge in many sciences.
on the key from the inside. The possibility of a draw has been ruled out. The incident made such an impression on Solovyov that he even described it in the Russian Bulletin. An outstanding philosopher would hardly, without experiencing a real shock, begin to advertise for a person whom he openly criticized.
Another authoritative opponent of Blavatsky, William Colimen, acknowledged the possibility that Elena Petrovna could still read books from a distance, since in Isis Unveiled alone she quotes about 1400 volumes without a single mistake. And we are talking about books that Blavatsky never had in her own library.
What are the examples now, confirming the outstanding abilities of the Russian occultist, you ask? And the fact is that the appearance of "Jiang's Stanzas" is directly related to the practice of reading at a distance.
Secrets of the Coptic sorcerer
During her travels in Cairo, Madame Blavatsky met a magician of Coptic origin, and he told Elena Petrovna about a very dangerous book, the original of which was kept in one of the Tibetan monasteries. The magician called the book "Jiang's Stanzas" and told about its extraterrestrial origin and content, touching on very ancient and difficult to understand secrets and matter. Nevertheless, despite not being warned, the same person developed in Elena Petrovna the gift of reading texts at a distance. It was in this way that Blavatskaya first became acquainted with the content of the mysterious work.
Then Blavatsky moved first to America, and then to London. Here the first mystical events related to "Jiang's Stanzas" began to take place. In England, a mysterious transformation took place with Madame Blavatsky. A woman who before that, although she had demonstrated some paranormal abilities from early childhood, but was never distinguished by particular scholarship and breadth of scientific horizons, published a series of books.
In them, Blavatsky showed very deep knowledge in the field of both religious studies and linguistics, physics and many other sciences. She cited in her writings many works that she never had, since her library until that moment consisted exclusively of road novels. It also remains a mystery where exactly Madame Blavatsky managed to learn several ancient languages, including archaic Sanskrit. Elena Petrovna herself has always maintained that she acquired wide knowledge not characteristic of her era precisely in the course of reading "Jiang's Stanzas".
Blavatsky began to receive letters with warnings and threats, in which she was urged to destroy all the records associated with the book, and nowhere else to mention the Stans. A mysterious stranger threatened her with an imminent illness if she refused to fulfill his demands. Blavatsky ignored this warning and soon became seriously ill. A trip to India helped her recover, but, returning from there by sea to Europe, Blavatsky miraculously survived the explosion on the ship.
Interestingly, according to the official version, the explosion was due to gunpowder, the presence of which on the ship was never proven. The catastrophe, according to eyewitnesses, turned human bodies literally to ashes, which allows some of the most daring researchers to put forward hypotheses related to the atomic nature of the explosion.
Assassination attempt and problems with the authorities
Arriving in England, Elena Petrovna convened a conference at which she wanted to publicize the desire to publish the text of the Stanzas. There, an unknown person attacked her, miraculously not injuring Madame Blavatsky. Subsequently, the attacker claimed that unknown people controlled him from a distance and that he was acting under suggestion.
Most curiously, the handwritten version of Jiang's Stanzas, which Blavatsky kept in a safe, also mysteriously disappeared.
Further, during Elena Petrovna's second trip to India in 1879, immediately upon arrival, all her documents and papers were stolen. She and her companion Colonel Olcott met with strong resistance from the Indian authorities. Searches of their home followed one after another, with warnings and anonymous threats demanding that they stop searching for Jiang's Stanzas and abandon attempts to get into Tibet.
Blavatsky and the colonel were in the balance of the prison - they wanted to put them in as Russian spies. Only the intervention of the President of the United States helped them avoid this sad fate.
Publication and criticism
However, Blavatsky managed to get hold of a copy of Jiang's Stanzas, written in an unknown until that time Senzar language, translate the book into English and publish it in 1915.
This was followed by a powerful wave of criticism from the Society for Psychical Research: they accused Elena Petrovna of fraud. Blavatsky's reputation was dealt a serious blow. It was only in 1986 that the Society for Psychical Research itself acknowledged the unscientific nature and groundlessness of the accusations and conclusions brought before.
And only later it became known that this whole story of searches and persecutions was organized by the British government together with the Indian Viceroy and was a planned action to undermine the reputation. Perhaps Blavatsky's connection with people who wanted the liberation of India is to blame. Or maybe the reason is in the ill-fated book.
The Stanzas, in translation, were published in 1915 by the Hermetic Society of San Diego. However, can we confidently assert that the published book is identical to the one that Elena Petrovna was actually looking for? Does it contain secrets thanks to which, according to the memoirs of the biographer Apollonius of Tyana, Indian sages were able to ignite objects with their eyes and levitate?
And even if the book itself is just a clever hoax, who were the people who wrote the threats and made the assassination attempts? And was it worth risking freedom, health and a good name for the sake of a hoax? There are still too many unanswered questions.
Be that as it may, now anyone can buy or even download the translated 1915 book on the Internet. And let everyone after reading it decide whether "Jiang's Stanzas" were worth many years of wandering, undermined health and damaged reputation, living in fear of threats - all that was experienced by seekers of past wisdom. Who knows, maybe their sacrifices were not in vain …
Alexander KHOLMAKOV