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Permalink Reply by Nicholas Weeks on January 1, 2011 at 12:26pm

A little Hebrew; otherwise she needed the inspiration of an Adept or her own Higher Self to fathom other languages.  Considering the mistakes she made, such inspiration was not frequent.

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Permalink Reply by Leila Becquer on January 1, 2011 at 7:42pm

I copy something I said in the thread about the Stanzas. Just for maintaining the order.

"In addition, in some place Olcott states that HPB knew mongolian language."

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Permalink Reply by Leila Becquer on January 1, 2011 at 8:07pm

Something I wanted to say since a long time ago.

The HPB's phenomena around languages and reading texts are not unique, they are documented many times in world literature.

For instance, in The Memorial of the Saints (Tadhkirat-ul-awliyah) by Fariduddin Attar, we find the case of Abu Hafs al-Haddad (the blacksmith) who was uneducated and don't knew arabic language, but in his pilgrimage to Makka knowing that some scholars and sufis were thinking about his ignorance of arabic language begins to speak in the purest arabic. So people was amazed.

So, from a mystical point of view, is not weird that a person with occult training can speak a language he or she does not know in a ordinary state of conciousness.

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Permalink Reply by Jacques Mahnich on January 2, 2011 at 12:49pm

Here is what Mary K. Neff told us about the youth of HPB regarding foreign languages :

HPB had one french governess, Mme Peigneuw, and an english one, Miss Augusta Sophia Jeffries.

• was left to her nurses till about six years old, then lived with her father as « enfants du régiment » until eleven, when her mother died. Then went with
  her grandmother to live in Astrakhan, then in Saratow

• was quite familiar with the lamaism ; passed months and years among the lamaist Calmucks of Astrakhan

• visited Semipalatinsk and the Ural Mountains, on the very borderland of the Mongolian countries where the 'Terachan Lama' resides, and had numerous excursions beyond the
  frontiers, and knew all about Lamas and Thibetans before she was
  fifteen.

• Her grandmother was remarkable and highly cultured. She corresponded with many scholars, among them Mr Murchinson, the President of the London Geographic Society. She knew
  five foreign languages.

• Visit London in 1845 to take a few lessons of music.

• Had been taught to speak English by her first governess, Miss Jeffries (Yorkshire woman)

• writing in french, we Russians sign de before our name : we were Mademoiselles de Hahn

• all our teachers were astonished by the brilliancy of her abilities, specially by the ease with which she mastered foreign languages.

Any other idea about these foreign languages she mastered ? (above mongolian)

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Hejka-Ekins on January 2, 2011 at 1:26pm

She was proficient in Russian, English and French. Annie Besant mentioned that HPB also spoke a little Italian. Olcott mentioned that whenever they traveled together, HPB would quickly pickup whatever language was spoken in the area, but would again forget it when they went to another area that required a different language.  Seems to be a peculiar genius she had.  Sir Richard Burton also was noted for his ability to learn languages and even mastered Arabic, which is one of the most difficult.  But in Burton's case, he really worked at it, and devised a method.  In HPB's case, it appears that these things came to her more easily. I must add, that HPB's sophistication with her use of English prose is quite exceptional for someone who learned it as a second language. Compare to Vladamir Nabakov--another brilliant Russian writer, who chose English as his medium. Though in his case, a very different genre.

As for classical languages, it was usual in the nineteenth century for the better class of people to be schooled Latin and Greek.  I would be surprised if HPB did not receive this kind of education, even if it was only through home schooling.  

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Permalink Reply by Leila Becquer on January 27, 2011 at 8:30am

She was born in Yekaterinoslav to day Dnipropetrovsk, in Ukraine, so probably she knew ukrainan too.

In her letters there are spanish expressions, and in her stories even romanian, but this not indicates, of course, a knowledge of those languagues.

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Permalink Reply by John von Nuding on January 27, 2011 at 5:32pm

If HPB was consciously connected in the higher dimensions of the Akashic records, where all knowledge and Mastery is available, to 'all that is' through her many guides, it feels like no surprise that she has access to all these languages. She would quickly draw on the knowledge as required and then let it go when it no longer severed her immediate purpose. Thus if she used a language regularly it stayed with her as there was a conscious requirement for it.

Is this not the true Mastery we are all seeking? For me one of the writers that helped develop my 'conscious' awareness of HPB gifts was William Judge. I resonate his short poem:

 

"The way lies through the heart;
Ask there and wander not;
Knock loud, nor hesitate
Because at first the sounds
Reverberating, seem to mock thee.
Nor, when the door swings wide,
Revealing shadows black as night,
Must thou recoil.
Within, the Master's messengers
Have waited patiently:
That Master is Thyself!"

William Q. Judge

 

Took me a while to realize that the intellect had to take second place for this to work!

 

With 25 years as an opera producer I used to be astounded about the ability of of singers to learn major roles they had not previously played at a few days notice. If the whole opera is in another dimension and available to those who have access then they will be able to connect with this consciousness. This is an explanation that works for me and may not work for others.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John on April 20, 2011 at 12:00pm

Dayanda is very interesting. He apparantly was first attracted to the "new" TS, but then backed away from them strongly. I'd have to dig out my history of him for more exact wording. I have only seen one book in English about him. Strange.

K. Paul Johnson said:

Dayananda was impressed by her progress in Sanskrit study.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by M K Ramadoss on February 18, 2019 at 1:17pm

I recall reading about how HPB used to intersperse her conversations in India with a lot of Hindi words that many westerners had difficult to follow her. With her constant travel when in India, it was essential to use hindi when communicating with people helping her. Obviously she had a natural aptitude to learn foreign languages and perhaps she had great memory recall that learning new languages require.

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