Nonfiction Books

"If I disapproved of the ban on The Satanic Verses, if I disapproved of Dinanath Batra (whom I called “Ban Man” in my article in The Washington Post), if I disapproved of how Taslima Nasreen was hounded and attacked in Hyderabad by Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, then I can’t suddenly do a volte face and chest-thump today. When you ban a book, it acquires a kind of cult status because the market fuels curiosity. That is what happened with other banned books. In fact, there are books chronicling banned books by different regimes in history...All I am saying is that forcing Bloomsbury India to withdraw the book is counter-productive – both politically and in the pure sense of how market forces work... Where do you draw the line? Today, many are relieved that this book will not find a publisher in Bloomsbury. But what will you do if Swarajya or OpIndia launches a publishing house of its own in the future?"

"Bloomsbury India had planned to release Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story in September, a book purportedly giving a factual report on the riots in Delhi in February 2020, based on investigations and interviews conducted by the authors. However, in view of very recent events including a virtual pre-publication launch organised without our knowledge by the authors, with participation by parties of whom the Publishers would not have approved, we have decided to withdraw publication of the book. Bloomsbury India strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society."

"I alerted Bloomsbury to the growing online controversy over Delhi Riots 2020, as did several other Bloomsbury authors, I did not call for its banning or pulping and have never supported the banning of any book. It is now being published by another press."

"He was a Shiva bhakt (devotee) and even travelled as a Kanwariya during the annual Kanwar Yatra... he was lovingly called Bhola Baba or Shiv Baba by his family and friends... On the night of 24 February, around 10.30pm, Vinod and his son Monu stepped out of the house to buy medicines for Vinod’s grandson... A stone hit Monu Kashyap, and the bike on which the father and son were riding slipped. As though out of nowhere, a crowd of 200 people carrying stones and shouting ‘Allah-hu- Akbar’ surrounded the two of them. They were attacked repeatedly till Monu pretended to be dead and lost consciousness. Social media videos show a dead Vinod being dragged on the streets. Bhole Baba had been lynched to death. ...We went around the area and saw the road where the incident happened. We were told that Vinod made the mistake of crossing the ‘border’ that exists between Hindu and Muslim areas on Wazirabad Road. As soon as someone from the other side came within grabbing distance he was caught, surrounded and lynched to death."

"Democracy gives space to opinion and contrary opinion... and the way to fight it is dissent and education and it always is and will be a struggle for the truth… but banning and withdrawing is not a solution in a healthy democracy…."

"In 1990, the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from what is now the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir saw them moving to areas like Vasant Kunj. Delhi welcomed Tibetan refugees as they fled from Chinese occupation. The Tibetan refugees made a life in the city, settling in North Delhi in the Majnu Ka Tilla neighbourhood. A walk through these lanes will transport one to Lhasa."

"Anti-CAA, anti-NRC, anti- NPR protests eventually became a protest against all other religions of the country, anti-police, anti-government and anti-India."

"Further slogans like ‘Hinduon se azadi’ (Freedom from Hindus), ‘Hindutva se azadi’ (Freedom from Hindutva), etc., had nothing to do with the Constitution or the CAA."

"This censorship by @BloomsburyIndia is unacceptable. I do hereby announce that I am ending my relationship with them, and will send Bloomsbury a notice to withdraw my book ‘Nullifying Article 370 and Enacting CAA’ due to be released on Sep 20, 2020. Let them paint themselves."

"It is my privilege and a very pleasant duty to write the foreword for Delhi Riots 2020: An Untold Story, which is not a normal kind of book but a serious document of intense research."

"I dedicate this book to all the victims of the Delhi riots in North East Delhi... Nothing that we write or say can convey the depth of the tragedy of these riots. This book is an attempt to bring out the true story of the Delhi Riots. It is a call for remembering that communal fault lines were created between neighbours by ideologically vested interests comprising Urban Naxals and Jihadi elements who had an agenda to implement—to systematically conflagrate areas with mixed populations of Hindus and Muslims and take these areas from dharna to danga."

"I am writing this chapter after I decided decided to pull this book from Bloomsbury, after they had listed it for sale on Amazon and other e-commerce market places, in the wake of their suppression of the Freedom of Speech of the authors of a book lined up for release, the now famous ‘Delhi Riots 2020—The Untold Story’."

"Bloomsbury should apologize to the people of India. And Bloomsbury should not be allowed to publish or distribute their books in India. because if we are the largest democracy then why did pull back the Delhi Riots 2020 book? Why? ... If there is an expose on the Delhi Riots ...then it is something that should be known. ... I see absolutely no reason to withdraw the book. It is an excuse... We must speak truth on it, and if we have Freedom of Expression in this country,... This is a complete attack on the Freedom of Expression. So we must bring this book on the shelves and if Bloomsbury does not bring this book back on the shelves then Bloomsbury should leave India. .. The next cabal we have to break is the cabal of these publishers."

"I have not read the book in question & have no idea if it is good or bad. However, this is obviously not a quality control problem but about censorship. I commit to never publish a book with @BloomsburyIndia."

"The literary world must take a stand [to stop Bloomsbury publishing the book]. This is not about cancel culture. This is about defending literature from fascism. This is about standing up against religious divide, hate speech, islamophobia and false history."

"In nothing is Madame Blavatsky more completely vindicated than in the explanation and refutation she gave in The Secret Doctrine, of the misconceived theory in regard to Mars and Mercury, which was originally published in Esoteric Buddhism."

"If Master K.H. has said that, the Society can never perish, though Branches and individuals in it may," the words of that other Teacher must also be remembered, that new wine cannot be poured into old bottles and that he who would find his life must first lose it. Be on your guard against hypocrisy, for nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed, and nothing concealed that shall not be made known; and all that has been uttered in darkness shall be heard in the light, and what has been whispered in chambers shall be proclaimed from the house-tops... There are days that are coming when one stone shall not be left upon another without being torn down. Take care that you are not deceived, for many shall come in My Name saying, I am He, and the time is near "—but do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared. These have to come first, but the end is not yet. There will be signs in the Sun and Moon and Stars, while on Earth there will be dismay and bewilderment at the roar of the sea and the waves, men's hearts failing them for fear and foreboding of what is to befall the universe. For the orbs of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory. When these things begin to happen, look up — for your release is not far distant."

"Esteemed Brother and Friend, Precisely because the test of the London newspaper would close the mouths of the skeptics — it is unthinkable. See it in what light you will — the world is yet in its first stage of disenthralment if not development, hence—unprepared. Very true, we work by natural not supernatural means and laws. But, as on the one hand Science would find itself unable (in its present state) to account for the wonders given in its name, and on the other the ignorant masses would still be left to view the phenomenon in the light of a miracle; everyone who would thus be made a witness to the occurrence would be thrown off his balance and the results would be deplorable. Believe me, it would be so—especially for yourself who originated the idea, and the devoted woman who so foolishly rushes into the wide open door leading to notoriety. This door, though opened by so friendly a hand as yours, would prove very soon a trap — and a fatal one indeed for her."

"You say — half London would be converted if you could deliver them a Pioneer on its day of publication. I beg to say that if the people believed the thing true they would kill you before you could make the round of Hyde Park; if it were not believed true, — the least that could happen would be the loss of your reputation and good name,—for propagating such ideas."

"It is remarkable, more than thirty years after her death, how Madame Blavatsky is justified at almost every point in these letters. Few people have been more unjustly reviled, and even some of those who knew her intimately preferred to believe that she had committed every kind of error rather than admit for an instant that they themselves could be in the wrong."

"How far she was ever the deceiver depicted by Mr. Sinnett in his posthumous publication "The Early Days of Theosophy in Europe," may be judged by the reader if he will study the letter from Master K.H. in which he gives his own opinion on her delinquencies. Those who love the memory of H. P. Blavatsky for her work and the gifts she gave them, cannot but feel after reading that letter that after all she was worthy of their high regard; and those who have tried to blacken that memory and minimise the value of the work she did, will rise to heights indeed if the prayer be granted — that they may never deserve worse condemnation."

"Your desire is to be brought to communicate with one of us directly, without the agency of either Mad. B. or any medium. Your idea would be, as I understand it, to obtain such communications either by letters —as the present one—or by audible words so as to be guided by one of us in the management and principally in the instruction of the society. You seek all this, and yet, as you say yourself, hitherto you have not found "sufficient reasons " to even give up your "modes of life"—directly hostile to such modes of communications. This is hardly reasonable."

"Having then expressed.. my opinion that the world in general was unripe for any too staggering proof of occult power, there but remains to deal with the isolated individuals, who seek like yourself to penetrate behind the veil of matter into the world of primal causes, i.e., we need only consider now the cases of yourself and Mr. Hume."

"The Masters are what they are; what they have written — they have written, and neither they nor their doctrines need the acclamation or apology of lesser minds. It is almost impossible to arrive at the facts, or even to form a trustworthy opinion upon a subject so far reaching, by studying an edited book of extracts. Therefore, that the members of the Theosophical Society and the world at large, should be enabled to study the truth for themselves concerning The Masters and their doctrines as set forth in these letters signed by their own hands, has been the aim of the compiler. To this end, the whole of the Mahatma Letters left by Mr. Sinnett have been transcribed verbatim from the originals and without omission."

"Many theories which have become the accepted dogmas of modern Theosophical doctrines, are clearly shown to be inaccurate and misleading, and it may therefore be profitable if the principal points of difference are indicated to the reader."

"During the course of this correspondence which extended over the years 1880 to 1884 Mr. Sinnett received many letters from The Mahatmas M. and K.H., the Teachers in question, and it is these original communications which are published in the present volume under the title of " The Mahatma Letters." The circumstances attending their receipt were fully dealt with by Mr. Sinnett in his Occult World and they need not therefore be restated here."

"There has been an increasing tendency in the Society during the last twelve years, to place an undue reliance on ceremonial, orders, Churches, creeds and their equivalent, thereby sacrificing the virility of individual effort and freedom of thought, which was so noticeable in the early days of the movement."

"The Master K. H. writes in very clear terms on this subject, and it may be well to quote his own words. "And now after making due allowance for evils that are natural and cannot be avoided . . . I will point out the greatest, the chief cause of nearly two-thirds of the evils that pursue humanity ever since that cause became a power. It is religion under whatever form and in whatsoever nation. It is the sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the Churches; it is in those illusions that man looks upon as sacred, that he has to search out the source of that multitude of evils which is the great curse of humanity, and that almost overwhelms mankind. Ignorance created Gods, and cunning took advantage of the opportunity." (Letter No. X.) And again "Far from our thoughts may it ever be to erect a new hierarchy for the future oppression of a priest ridden world." (Letter No. LXXXVII.) The inference and the message of these words in our own times is sufficiently clear."

"It is well known, among students of Theosophy and Occultism, that the philosophical doctrines and ethics which were given to the world through the Theosophical Society during the 16 years immediately following its foundation in 1875, emanated from certain Eastern Teachers said to belong to an Occult Brotherhood living in the trans Himalayan fastnesses of Tibet. H. P. Blavatsky who, together with Colonel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society, acknowledged these Eastern Brothers as her Teachers, stating not only that They existed, but that she herself had received training and instruction at Their hands during her sojourn in Tibet, and was therefore able to speak from her own knowledge and personal experience. It was not until 1880... that... the late A. P. Sinnett, then living in India, was enabled through the agency of Madame Blavatsky, to enter into correspondence with her own Teachers, whom she referred to variously under the terms, The Brothers, The Mahatmas, and later The Masters of the Wisdom."

"Experimental knowledge does not quite date from 1662, when Bacon, Robert Boyle and the Bishop of Chester transformed under the royal charter their "Invisible College" into a Society for the promotion of experimental science. Ages before the Royal Society found itself becoming a reality upon the plan of the 'Prophetic Scheme' an innate longing for the hidden, a passionate love for and the study of nature had led men in every generation to try and fathom her secrets deeper than their neighbours did."

"The first and chief consideration in determining us to accept or reject your offer lies in the inner motive which propels you to seek our instructions, and in a certain sense—our guidance."

"He who would lift up high the banner of mysticism and proclaim its reign near at hand, must give the example to others. He must be the first to change his modes of life; and, regarding the study of the occult mysteries as the upper step in the ladder of Knowledge must loudly proclaim it such" despite exact science and the opposition of society. '"

"All taint of grief and mourning we firmly lay aside, Our seeming loss forgetting, since they are glorified. We know they stand before us and love us as of old; God grant we may not fail them, nor let our love grow cold. With heart and soul we trust Thee! Thy love no tongue can tell; Thou art the All-Commander, Who doest all things well..."

"One of the most curious cases of a man being saved from suicide... Mr. K-, she said , while sitting in his study one afternoon, fell, or fancied he fell, asleep. He thought that when in this condition he was abruptly awakened, and that while he was sitting wondering what it was that had awakened him, the door of his room very slowly opened and his friend B-, who lived in quite another part of the town, entered on tiptoe. He was about to speak to B-to ask him what he wanted, when B-put a finger to his lips as if to enjoin silence, and then, drawing a razor from his pocket, bared the blade of it, and raised it to his throat in the most horribly suggestive manner. Realizing that B-was about to· destroy himself, Mr. K... rushed to B-'s side. A furious struggle then ensued... The following day he met B-out of doors and was at once struck by his appearance. He looked pale and ill... "I say, old fellow," B-exclaimed, by way of greeting, "I've just had such an extraordinary experience. Things haven't gone very well with me lately, and yesterday afternoon I determined. to put an end to myself by cutting my throat. I was in my bedroom and I had my razor in my right hand, all ready to do the' deed, when, to my utter amazement... you suddenly came in at the door and tried to snatch it... p. 314"

"There is a real truth behind the doctrine of purgatory, and that when the abuse of pretended indulgence was swept away during that extraordinary outbreak of morbific matter from the ecclesiastical system which it is the fashion to call " the reformation," a great deal that was beautiful, true and useful was cast aside as well."

"One of our most serious losses at that time was the custom of prayer for the dead, and the nations who blindly threw away that means of helping their fellows have ever since paid the penalty of their folly in the persons of their departed members, who have had to fight their way unaided through the astral world..."

"What is a prayer for the dead but an expression of an earnest wish and loving thought for those who have passed on before us? We who study Theosophy know well that in physical life such wishes and such thoughts are real and objective things, storage batteries of spiritual force which will discharge themselves only when they reach the persons towards whom they are directed... The prayer or the strong loving wish for a particular dead person always reaches him and helps him, nor can it ever fail to do so while the great law of cause and effect remains part of the constitution of the universe. Even the earnest general prayer or wish for the good of the dead as a whole, though it is likely to be a vague and therefore a less efficient force, has yet in the aggregate produced an effect whose importance it would be difficult to exaggerate."

"I presume that we may take the Catholic doctrine on the subject, stated very roughly, to be this—that while the hopelessly wicked man drops into hell, and the great saint is caught up immediately into heaven, as was the Blessed Virgin at her Assumption, the ordinarily good man still retains many faults and imperfections which unfit him to pass directly into the presence of God, and consequently needs a shorter or longer stay in an intermediate condition called purgatory, during which his various failings are eliminated by a comparatively short though painful process. It is only after being thus made perfect through suffering that he is ready to pass on into the joy of the heaven world. It will at once be seen by Theosophical students that this theory, in the form in which I have here stated it, corresponds very closely with the facts of the case."

"Things of real worth, such as the mental life of the ant or the crab, fill psychological and scientific literature; but such a thing as death, which involves the whole human race more intimately than anything else possibly can - since all must die - is regarded as hardly worthy of serious discussion!"

"The Theosophical Explanation. We endorse the theory that the soul leaves the body; but we are perhaps a little more definite in our explanation of what we mean by the soul than are many religious people. Our statement is not that man possesses a soul, but that man is a soul, and that the body is merely a vestment which he casts off when it is worn out. For many of us this statement, which may seem startling to some, is not a matter of belief but of direct knowledge. To explain how such knowledge is attained will mean a certain amount of apparent' digression from, our subject; but in the course of that digression we may perhaps arrive at a clearer conception of what is meant by the word "soul" .. Man is a far more complex being than to physical sight he appears to be; and the only way in which we can thoroughly understand him is by raising our consciousness to altogether higher planes, where we can see much more...[than] one who has not previously studied the subject."

"The Catholic Teaching. Among the forms of faith of our Western world the great Catholic Church stands alone in giving teaching upon the subject of the conditions beyond the grave which, though couched in a symbolism which has been misunderstood and materialized, nevertheless expresses the facts sufficiently to enable those who have accepted it to comprehend the position in which they find themselves after leaving the physical body. Even here, however, the truth is on the one side darkened by the false shadow of the blasphemous doctrine of eternal torment, and on the other side is deprived of much of its dignity by a ridiculous system of so-called indulgences."

"The first and most fatal of all misconceptions about death is the idea that it is the end of all things; that there is nothing in man which survives it. Many people seem to be under the impression that this gross form of materialism has almost died out from among us; that it was a mental disease of the earlier part of the last, century, and that the race has now outgrown it. It is much to be wished that this view represented the facts of the case, but I fear a careful student of contemporary thought can hardly endorse it."

"There is still an immense mass of blank ignorance in the world, and, worse still, there is much of that most objectionable of all forms of ignorance which, having picked up a few scientific catchwords, inflates itself with aggressive self-conceit and believes itself in possession of the wisdom of the ages."

"What is behind its doctrine of eternal damnation? First, both these words are wrongly translated; the phrases actually reported in the New Testament as used by the Christ will not bear the interpretation which most people now put upon them. Secondly, when the real meaning of the mistranslated expression is understood, we see that it embodies an important truth. It is this: there comes a period in human development, though not for millions of years yet, when the man who has set himself steadily against progress does drop out not, indeed, into an everlasting hell (for that is nothing ·but the ghastly invention of the disordered brain of some diabolical monster of human cruelty), but into a condition of comparatively suspended animation, in which he awaits the advent of another scheme or evolution, which offers him, in its earlier stages, an opportunity of advancement more within the limits of his feeble capacities. He is simply in the position of a child who has been unable to keep pace with his classmates; he cannot work with them through the later and higher portion of the course of study appointed for the year, so he must wait until, at the beginning of the next school year, another set of boys are commencing the studies which he failed to grasp. By joining them and thus going over the same ground once more, he is enabled to succeed where previously he succumbed before the difficulties of the path. So that instead of the hideous lie of eternal damnation we have the merciful truth of Aeonian suspension."

"Another and perhaps even more widely spread misconception is, that death is a plunge into the great unknown—that nothing can ever be learnt with any certainty as to the states into which man passes when he leaves this physical plane. Certainly various religious sects profess to give exceedingly precise information as to these states, yet to the vast majority of their followers there seems to be a sense of absolute unreality about it all; at any rate, they neither act nor speak as though they really believed it. And indeed, in the case of most of these sects the information given is so wildly inaccurate that even if it were believed it is very doubtful whether it would not produce more harm than good."

"Roma ante Romulum fuit — is an axiom taught to us in your English schools. Abstract enquiries into the most puzzling problems did not arise in the brain of Archimedes as a spontaneous and hitherto untouched subject, but rather as a reflection of prior enquiries in the same direction and by men separated from his days by as long a period—and far longer—than the one which separates you from the great Syracusian. The vril of the "Coming Age" was the common property of races now extinct. (Note: Roma ante Romulum fuit is Latin for "Rome existed before Romulus/the founder of Rome)."

"Now, what are your motives? I may try to define them in their general aspect, leaving details for further consideration. They are : (i) The desire to receive positive and unimpeachable proofs that there really are forces in nature of which science knows nothing; (2) The hope to appropriate them some day—the sooner the better, for you do not like to wait—so as to enable yourself—(a) to demonstrate their existence to a few chosen western minds; (b) to contemplate future life as an objective reality built upon the rock of Knowledge —not of faith; and (c) to finally learn—most important this, among all your motives, perhaps, though the most occult and the best guarded—the whole truth about our Lodges and ourselves; to get, in short, the positive assurance that the Brothers —of whom everyone hears so much and sees so little—are real entities—not fictions of a disordered hallucinated brain."

"Let us take the most prominent... misconceptions one by one, and endeavour to expose their fallacies. Some of them may be described as religious misconceptions, and their prevalence may be directly traced to the corruption of original Christian doctrine which has crept into our churches and destroyed so much of their vitality and usefulness."

"On the other hand, the highly developed soul, who during earth life has gained complete control over his lower nature, and entirely dominated passion and desire, does in consequence sweep through the astral life with such rapidity that when he regains his consciousness he finds opening out before it the indescribable glory and bliss of the heaven world. But the ordinary man has by no means succeeded in entirely dominating all earthly desires and passions before his death. Thus he finds himself upon the astral plane with a fairly vigorous desire body, which he has made for himself during physical life, in which he now has to live until the process of its disintegration is in turn completed. It disintegrates only as · the desire which is its life dies out of it, and this often involves Suffering which is not inaptly symbolized by the fires of purgatory."

"People are sometimes inclined to think that after all it does not so very much matter if a man’s ideas about death are distorted; when he dies, they say, he will find out the facts for himself, and if he has been mistaken he will soon realize it. Such a contention is defective in two ways; (it takes no account of the awful terror of death which from ignorance overshadows the lives of so many, nor of all the unnecessary sorrow and anxiety felt by the survivors about the fate of departed friends; and it ignores the fact that man after death very often does not immediately realize his mistakes, and correct them by the light of the truth—and that in consequence of his inability to do this, much trouble frequently arises."