August 13th, 1915
Received by James Padgett.
Washington D.C.
I am here, Leetelam.
I was a Tartar and lived in Tibet, and died nearly four thousand years ago. I was a Brahman, and was a priest of the temple and the chief of the brothers of sacrifice. In my day we sacrificed human beings to appease the wrath of our God, and they the most beautiful and virgins - so that our God would have a sacrifice that had never been defiled by man.
This was one of the chief tenets of our religion and was observed with all the strictness and pomp that we, who were fanatical in our beliefs, could give the occasion of the sacrifice. Many a beautiful victim just emerging into the full flower of her youth was made to suffer a cruel death in order, as we supposed, to save the rest of us from the wrath of our God, who was always hungry for blood and the cries of his human victims.
But this sacrifice was one of the chief ceremonies of our religion, and we believed in the necessity for it just as you Christians believe in the necessity for prayer. And when we, the priests who performed the act which consummated the sacrifice, had performed our duties, we considered that we had obeyed the will of God and that he was pleased with our great act of devotion and worship.
No rank or position could save the victim from the sacrifice when once the priests had selected that victim; and the parents of such victim were taught and believed that it was a great honor to have their young daughters chosen as brides for the great God who was not satisfied unless he could have the most beautiful and virtuous maidens for his brides of death.
Since I have become a spirit and learned some of the truths of the spirit world, and that love - and not sacrifice - is required by God, all these evil deeds that I and the others performed in the name of our religion have become to me monstrous and shocking, and for many long years after I had learned the truth, the recollections of these deeds caused me to suffer the tortures of the damned. The fact that I at the time thought that I was performing a duty did not assuage my suffering or relieve my darkness.
Truth is truth, and every violation of its demands must be atoned for, no matter if the intention at the time of committing these violations is supposed or believed by the actor to be in accordance with the truth. No belief, if it violates truth, will excuse.
As on earth, ignorance of law excuses no one for his acts done in violation of truth, so in the spirit world ignorance of the truth will not excuse deeds committed in violation of that truth. Every cause must have its effect, and no God interposes to prevent that effect from following the cause.
Now that I have been awakened to the truth, I see with the perceptions of not only a clarified intellect but of the soul, that no act or deed done in the name of religion actually believed in will be excused because of the fact that it was done for the sake of that religion. I am now in the Nirvana of the Brahmans, and am very happy. My soul has been purified by the long years of suffering and discipline, and I love God and my fellow man. My sphere is high up in the spirit world - just what its location is I cannot tell you. There are no Christians or other sects in my sphere, although I see them at times and converse with them.
I came here because I was travelling in this earth plane and saw a bright light which is unusual in this plane, and it led me to you; and I found that you were receiving communications from spirits, and I listened to some of the messages and concluded that I would write also if I could have the opportunity. And after the dark spirits left you I commenced this writing.
I did not know English when I lived, but you must know that the advanced spirits who have been in the spirit world for many years have not let the years go by without study and investigation. I understand most all the languages of earth, and so do most of the ancient spirits, and this for the purpose of being able to understand what the peoples of all lands may think and say. Our work is to help mankind and spirits whenever we can. Well, I will not write more tonight.
I hear what you say and cannot understand you, but if there be such a supreme happiness as you speak of, I should like to possess it. I will accept your invitation and attend your writings on Wednesday night. And so with my best wishes and kind regards, I am
Your friend,
Leetelam