The Silent Treatment: Helena P. Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence and the Construction of Theosophical Scripture

Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. 5 The Silent Treatment Helena P. Blavatsky's The Voice of the Silence and the Construction of Theosophical Scripture Julie Chajes ABSTRACT: The matriarch of Theosophy, Helena P. Blavatsky (1831– 1891), wrote a short devotional text called The Voice of the Silence (1889) towards the end of her life that she intended as scripture and which has been endorsed with enthusiasm by individuals both within and outside the parent Theosophical Society. This article approaches the production of The Voice of the Silence as a case study in the construction of scripture, outlining the work's doctrines (particularly regarding kundalini and the higher idhhis), describing the controversies that impelled Blavatsky to publish it, and exploring some of her key literary sources. It reveals that Blavatsky strategically rewrote an earlier publication, Light on the Path (1885), by the English Theosophist Mabel Collins (1851– 1927). Blavatsky enriched her writing of The Voice of the Silence with material taken from a handful of articles on Hindu thought, including Yoga, written by Indian Theosophists and others. She responded to challenges to her authority by producing a new Theosophical scripture that addressed issues of spiritual and temporal power. KEYWORDS: scripture, new religious movements, Theosophical Society, Helena P. Blavatsky, Mabel Collins, Light on the Path, The Voice of the Silence, kundalini, iddhis (siddhis) T he Voice of the Silence (1889) is a short devotional work by­ Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891), the matriarch of the­ Theosophical Society, an organization founded in 1875 that significantly impacted the subsequent development of the New Age movement. 1 Mixing terms and concepts derived from Hindu and ­ Buddhist sources, 2 Blavatsky's writing intersperses short passages of poetic prose Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Volume 27, Issue 4, pages 5–30, ISSN 1092-6690 (print), 1541-8480 (electronic). NR-27-4Text. indd 5 NR-27-4Text. indd 5 5/9/24 3: 33 PM 5/9/24 3: 33 PM Nova Religio 6 Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. with paradoxical aphorisms in an account of a seeker's journey towards enlightenment. 3 Blavatsky published The Voice of the ­ Silence two years before she died, and probably wrote most of it in July 1889 while on a short holiday at Fontainebleau, France. 4 She intended it as scripture, and it was immediately received as such by her followers. As religious studies scholar Eugene V. Gallagher notes, the production of new scriptures is essential in the appearance of new religious movements. 5 As historians of religion Mikael Rothstein and Olav­ Hammer highlight, earlier Theosophical texts, such as the "Mahatma letters, " possessed canonical status, as did Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888). 6 Blavatsky's first major work, Isis Unveiled (1877), was of similar standing. Theosophists regarded these texts as canonical because they believed they either preserved the esoteric teachings Blavatsky espoused or were authored by the Theosophical masters, revered as the custodians of this wisdom. Blavatsky and fellow Theosophists asserted encounters with these masters in diverse locations and through various means. With its overtly scriptural style, the status achieved by The Voice of the Silence was qualitatively different from that of previous ­ Theosophical canonical works. As Blavatsky wrote to her sister Vera Petrovna de­ Zhelihovsky (1835–1896), "the Voice of the Silence, tiny book though it is, is simply becoming the Theosophists' bible. "7 Indeed, as the English Theosophist Clara Codd (1876–1971) put it, The Voice of the Silence is "the most sublime and splendid scripture that ever was written. "8 Annie­ Besant (1847–1933), who served as president of the Theosophical­ Society from 1907 to 1933, wrote: "The book is. . . a prose poem, full of spiritual inspiration, full of food for the heart, stimulating the loftiest virtue and containing the noblest ideals. "9 As further proof of The Voice of the Silence's importance, many­ Theosophists have written commentaries. 10 These nearly always mention endorsements by the spiritual celebrities William James (1842– 1910), 11 Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870–1966), 12 Thubten Choekyi Nyima, the Ninth Panchen Lama (1883–1937), 13 and Tenzin Gyatso, the ­ Fourteenth Dalai Lama (b. 1935). 14 Such. . .