The Roerich family Nicholas and Helena:

[Arthur E Gregory]

There's a lot of material about Nicholas and Helena Roerich and so I thought it would be good to post some items here...notably:

In fact, Roerich, alongside his wife Helena Roerich, was the first person to translate Blavatsky's THE SECRET DOCTRINE into Russian. This is a major work said to be guided by certain Masters of the White Lodge or otherwise known as the Trans-Himalayan occult brotherhood.

http://www.frankperry.co.uk/Roerich%20Art.htm

[Konstantin Zaitzev]

> Helena Roerich, was the first person to translate Blavatsky's THE SECRET DOCTRINE into Russian.

It is not exactly so. The first translation was made by the group of workers of the Russian Section in 1908-1918, the foremost of them were E.F. Pisareva, the leading translator, and A. Kamensky, national president. Approx. half of the 1st vol was published. The timely publication was first hindered by the church and later (in 1918) the manuscript of the translation was confiscated and probably destroyed by the communists. Only the Proem and section on Symbolism, published in 1915, has survived.
Comparison shows that it was used by Helena Roerich and included into her text.

[Arthur E Gregory]

Konstantin,

Thanks for your post! and two questions:

(1) Could you please identify the source of your infornmation...?

and

(2) are you suggesting that the Roerich translation was then the one that survived perhaps when you wrote above:

"Comparison shows that it was used by Helena Roerich and included into her text." (?)

Here's another place attributing to Helena Roerich the translation into Russian of the Secret Doctrine:

A film in Russian by Karine Dilanyan lasting about 1 hour. (Karine studied with Irina, lifelong companion of Helena Roerich. Irina typed the manuscript for Mrs Roerich as she translated The Secret Doctrine from English into Russian.)

The film uses a variety of techniques and is dubbed into English, which results in a slightly disjointed feeling. Two voice-overs are used, an unseen narrator and H.P.Blavatsky herself. Thus we hear about theosophy and HPB’s life whilst looking at scenes from Adyar (Theosophical Society International HQ); the house in Dniepropetrovsk (formerly Ekaterinaslow in Russia, now in Ukraine) where she was born; Buddhist monasteries and monks; the restless sea; skyscapes; Hindu pilgrims; Russian orthodox church services; etc. Some of this has the feel of archive footage.


http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Secret+Doctrine+tran...

My regards to you,

Arthur

[Konstantin Zaitzev]

> (1) Could you please identify the source of your infornmation...?

The primary source, i.e. printing of 1915 which I have seen myself. Pisareva also mentiones this in her memoirs, now published by Quest Books. She also wrote this in her letter to H. Roerich.

> re you suggesting that the Roerich translation was then the one that survived perhaps when you wrote above:

Her translation (made in 1930's) is the only full translation which exists and is being always reprinted; the old translation exists only in the relatively small part. The comparison shows that in this part the texts match, though some editorial changes are made.
All above said relates to the first two volumes; the third one was translated later by Alfred Heydock.

[Arthur E Gregory]

Thanks for your reply Konstantin..

I'm just now getting into the Memoir of Elena Pisareva..

Pisareva also mentiones this in her memoirs, now published by Quest Books. She also wrote this in her letter to H. Roerich.

I have yet to find the section on the translation of the Secret Doctrine into Russian ... maybe you could help me there..?

So the Roerich translation is the only one that survived and the earlier partial translation by Pisareva was made use of...

Again thanks for your infiormative posts..

Have you heard of this Russian film by Karine Dalanyin?

- Art

[Konstantin Zaitzev]

I was not fully correct; when I looked to the memoirs I've found out that she mentioned confiscation without detalization what was confiscated. Nevertheless there's a letter when she mentiones this. Here follows the fragment from it:
"I'm sincerely grateful for a copy of your big and precious work, the translation of the Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky. It was ready with us in Russia, when revolution bursted out and everything stopped. I think that the manuscript has perished."
She wrote it to H. Roerich who quotes it in her letter of 14 Feb 1939 ro R. Rudzitis. It was published in vol. VI of Letters of H. Roerich, Moscow, 2006.

See also M. Carlson, "No religion higher than truth", ch. 3., p. 71:

"Subscription to the Russian translation of the Secret Doctrine was originally announced in Vestnik in 1911, but was subsequently disallowed by the censorship. The January 1912 issue of Vestnik announced that "publication of the Secret Doctrine is deferred due to circumstances beyond control of the editorial board", and offered a refund. Only after the February 1917 revolution could the work appear in more complete form. It was typeset and ready for printing when the Bolsheviks confiscated the plates in 1918 and closed the press."

If you are interested in history of TS in Russia I also would refer you to the biographic sketch on A. Kamenskaya, the first general secretary of the Russian Section of TS with some excursions into the history of the Russian theosophical movement http://www.theosophy.ru/kamensky.htm and to lecture on Russian theosophical movement by E. Lebedeva:
http://www.theosophy.ru/ehistory.htm

> Have you heard of this Russian film by Karine Dalanyin?

I've seen it, and it didn't impress me. Nevertheless it's better than nothing, especially because it was shown by the Soviet TV in 1991 and raised the public interest to Blavatsky and her work. Recently another film was made but it was shown by a not very popular channel only.

[Arthur E Gregory]

Thanks for your response my friend Konstantin!

I deeply appreciate your response.. It's so good to have your insights and knowledge. Yes.. I will follow your suggestion and check out the history of the Theosophical Society in Russia you have given..

I noticed a footnote in the site you suggested stating:

The New Age teaching promoted by Helena Roerich, wife of the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich. While comparatively unknown abroad, it became highly popular in ex-USSR countries. Large numbers of Russian theosophists believe that it comes from the same mahatmas who worked with H.P. Blavatsky. — Transl. note.

Source:

http://www.theosophy.ru/ehistory.htm


My regards,

- Art

[Arthur E Gregory]

One other area of interest I've had lately have been the contacts between Nicholas Roerich and Henry Wallace a prominent Amercian politician in the thirties and forties..

During the 1920s and early 1930s Wallace’s quest for spiritual satisfaction led him to take a correspondence course in occultism that promised the “opportunity of entering and placing your feet on the Path that leads to Eternal Light and Life.” He exchanged letters and visits with a Minnesota artist who used allegorical jargon and referred to Wallace as “Cornplanter” and “Chief Standing Corn.” Wallace also dabbled in astrology, confiding to one practitioner that he was “fundamentally … a searcher for methods of bringing the Inner Light’ to outward manifestation.” It was that search that led him to Nicholas Roerich.

Wallace had first heard of Roerich in 1928 from a visiting Soviet plant scientist. The next time he went to New York he called on Frances Grant, who intrigued him with her descriptions of Roerich’s achievements. Wallace visited the museum and was “thrilled beyond measure” to receive a brief audience with Roerich. He found the artist’s appearance, demeanor, and plans to promote culture and peace extremely impressive. He admired Roerich’s paintings because, he said, they gave him a “smooth feeling inside.” He also esteemed Roerich’s philosophy, for, like Wallace, the artist professed a belief in the fundamental unity of all religions, the brotherhood of man, and the need for a transformation of the human heart to achieve cooperation among nations. Roerich seemed to offer illumination to Wallace’s enduring search for eternal truth.

Wallace met with Roerich only that one time, but he avidly read the painter’s writings and frequently communicated with the officials of the Roerich Museum. In a series of letters written in 1933 and 1934, in which he sometimes called Roerich the “guru,” Wallace described his spiritual yearnings and commented on contemporary events and personalities.

He told Roerich:

“Long have I been aware of the occasional fragrance from the other world which is the real world. But now I must live in the outer world and at the same time make over my mind and body to serve as fit instruments for the Lord of Justice.” While complaining of the constant tension in his life, he expressed his belief that it marked the “first crude beginnings of a new age.”

Wallace often referred in the “guru letters” to “Dark Ones,” “Steadfast Ones,” and “vermin.” He beseeched the blessings of the “Great Ones.” He labeled Secretary of State Cordell Hull the “Sour One” and Roosevelt the “Flaming One” or the “Wavering One,” depending on whether or not he approved of the President’s actions.

Wallace lobbied aggressively to secure the Roosevelt administration’s support for the Roerich Pact. The President’s mother was an admirer of Roerich, and Roosevelt himself had once met and been favorably impressed by the artist. The President certainly did not take Roerich as seriously as did Wallace, but in late 1934 he received and apparently replied to a series of allegorical letters in which Roerich’s wife, Elena, advised him of “cosmic conditions” and described the President as a man of destiny. At Roosevelt’s urging the State Department assumed a more sympathetic attitude toward the proposed pact.

Secretary of State Hull appointed Wallace his representative to the Third International Roerich Peace Banner Convention in Washington in November 1933. Delegates from twenty-seven nations attended the meeting, Sen. Robert F. Wagner acted as its honorary chairman, and fourteen U.S. senators were honorary members. In April 1935 the United States and representatives from twenty-one Latin American countries signed the pact in a White House ceremony. The following day Wallace sent out a series of letters proposing Roerich’s name for the Nobel Peace Prize.Source:

http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=wallace-+roerich+let...

[Arthur E Gregory]

I don't know if this is widely known today since so much time has passed but there was a sad outcome of some correspondence between Henry Wallace and Nicholas Roerich which has become known as the affair of the "Guru Letters"..

Here's an excerpt from Henry Wallace poltical career when the political impact of the contact between Henry Wallace and Nicholas Roerich began to surface:

"Originally a Presbyterian he converted to Roman Catholicism, and later began studying the religions of the Far East. He started communicating with Eastern mystic Nicholas Constantine Roerich and urged Roosevelt to sign the “Roerich pact and Banner of Peace“, written by the Himalayan research Institute. It would provide protection for museums, cathedrals, universities, and libraries in time of war by declaring them to be neutral territory. As the President’s representative Wallace signed the pact in a White House ceremony. But some people saw “Guru” Roerich as just another cult mystic and questioned why a member of the cabinet would spend time on such nonsense. Newsman Allen Drury once described Wallace, “He looks like a hayseed, talks like a prophet, and acts like an embarrassed school boy.”

When the Democrats met for their convention in 1940 the party needed a new candidate for Vice President. Many of the delegates said they would refuse to accept Wallace on the ticket. When Oklahoma’s Governor Phillips was asked whom he would rather have than Wallace for VP, he replied, “Any son of bitch, red, white, black, or yellow, that can get the nomination.” But when Franklin Roosevelt told the party bosses he wouldn’t run without Wallace the delegates were persuaded to change their minds. However, in order to avoid trouble and disunity at the convention Wallace declined to make an acceptance speech. It is interesting to note that his Republican opponent for Vice president was Oregon’s Senator Charles McNary, the sponser of the McNary-Haugen bill that Wallace’s father had supported in the 1920s.

Before the campaign Wallace had written letters to Nicholas Roerich about the spiritual beliefs and observations of current political leaders. Some how the “Guru letters” fell in to the hands of Republicans who hoped to use them to embarrass the Democrats. The plan failed when the Democrats threatened to release information about Wendell Willkie’s extra marital affair if the “guru letters” were released."

Source:

http://www.juntosociety.com/vp/hwallace.html

[Arthur E Gregory]

Another interesting topic concerning Nicholas Roerich were the expeditions to Central Asia but here's a summary about two expeditions from the wikipedia..



The first expedition:

“Besides artistic tasks of our expedition we have intended to clarify a situation with relics of the past of Central Asia, to observe modern state of religion, customs, and to register the traces of great migration of peoples. This last task was always close to me”. The expedition’s extremely difficult itinerary ran through Sikkim, Kashmir, Ladakh, China (Sintzian), Russia (including Moscow), Siberia, Altai, Mongolia, Tibet, unstudied areas of Trans Himalayas. The expedition was continued from 1924 to 1928. Having realized Przewalski and Kozlov’s dream, Nicholas Roerich’s expedition became a triumph of Russian studies in Central Asia. In terms of its itinerary uniqueness and collected materials, it can justly claim for a special place among major expeditions of the 20th century.


a later expedition:

In 1934-1935, Nicholas Roerich conducted an expedition in Inner Mongolia, Manchuria and China, organized by US Department of Agriculture. Expedition was aimed on collection of seeds of the plants preventing the destruction of benign layers of soil. In foresight of ecological disaster threat, N. Roerich in that years written: “Owing to ignorant and uncontrolled felling of forests and vegetation on the whole the deserts are extended up to ominous size. It is terrible to see as deprivation of landscape gardening more and more wipes protective and useful ground surface”. The expedition consisted of two parts. First itinerary included Khingan mountain ridge and Bargin plateau (1934), the second one –Gobi Desert, Ordos and Alashan (1935). These itineraries passed through a territory of Inner Mongolia located in northern and east-northern part of modern China. As a result of expedition near 300 species of xerophytes were found, herbs were collected, archeological studies were conducted, antique manuscripts of great scientific importance were found.



Source:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Roerich

[Arthur E Gregory]

I think volumes could be written about the Roerichs and there is probably not enough space here to cover all of that but I would like to submit a link that provides some more info.

http://www.roerichtrust.org/home.htm??IRMT.htm

Please anyone else do feel free to add some of your own..

but it is pretty clear that they had an influence especially in Russia and later elsewhere in the Theosophical movement.

[christinaleestemaker]

Yes I know their writings as Agni Yoga and I like their proza way of writng.Shortly and easy to read.
Also the wonderful paintings from Nicholas Roerich.

[Arthur E Gregory]

I was going to add a good site which has many of the paintings of Nicholas Roerich:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A9G_bDqJvvVKcBoBH...

http://www.roerich.org/wwp.html


http://www.oaktreeart.com/html/roerich_prints.html?gclid=CODCt57F-Z...