FEEDING THE FLAME by T. Lobsang Rampa

The RAMPATHON continues! Up next is Rampa's big eleventh book: he says that thus far he's been lighting a candle in the darkness, and now's the time for FEEDING THE FLAME!

The point of this book, Rampa says, is to answer some questions from his dear and loyal readers. He also has plenty of stupid readers who waste his time with idiot letters, and he kvetches about these drooling morons for pages and pages ... what can he say, Rampa loves bitching and moaning! But anyways, to those dear and loyal readers who send in thoughtful queries, Rampa is ready to answer you!

"I hate you, the reader."

Would it surprise you that a lot of the answers are recycled from his last book? If you missed it last time: pets go to heaven, astral travel is possible, and Rampa absolutely unconditionally does NOT commune with any mediums charging fees for services. And when he departs this plane, Rampa assures us, he will NOT be taking any calls. He also addresses the specious text My Visit to Venus, assembled out of old Rampa articles by Gray Barker and presented by John Keel. Rampa does not approve!

Rampa's health is clearly on his mind. He spends much of this book in hospital, and is spared from the Angel of Death only by the astral appearance of his old friend, the Lama Mingyar Dondup, who tasks him with the writing of this book.

It's a hard life for ol' Rampa, living in shitty apartments in shitty towns like Halifax, having to listen to gibbering French Canadian patois outside and awful new British "music" on the radio, and, as he said, dealing with piles and piles of worthless letters from total dipshits. Rampa's not gonna tell you how to win the Irish Sweepstakes or make girls do what you want! He's here to answer the REAL questions, about real weighty subjects like life and death and the great beyond ...

Rampa's a grump, but at least he has his cats. The man loves writing on and on about his kitties, in that syrupy British style. Miss Cleo and Miss Tadalinka provide him much comfort, and again Rampa emphasizes that you'll meet your dear pets again on the other side.

Rampa and a friend. Courtesy David Michie.

Some new facts: Negroes are naturally rhythmic due to kharmic suffering, and homosexuals are to be pitied, NOT hated, for their mixed up souls! What a humanitarian! Rampa also dumps some atrocity tales on us about Chinese oppression in Tibet, and complains that the Dalai Lama doesn't want to team up with him for the cause! It's all the fault of the lying press, another Rampa bugbear. Soon now, by the way, there's going to be a big scandal where high ranking US officials will be exposed as Communist collaborators! It's a pity Rampa and John Pendragon never collaborated, they've both got the same slightly addled spirit as to predictions.

Rampa elaborates on the astral world, and the things you can get up to there after you leave your physical body in this life. You don't have to wear clothes or eat, but most people end up cladding themselves in some kind of thought-robes and taking sustenance from the ether. Details are also provided on the great astral Overself and its avatars - that's us! It's all part of the cosmic plan, as the Overself sends out feelers to explore and experience life, over and over again.

Rampa's wife Ra'ab does graphology for big firms, a neat detail that he works into a chapter on palmistry, clairvoyance, etc. He also burns some pages on the ol' Kennedy/Lincoln coincidences - Rampa's nothing if not longwinded and shameless about random padding.

Some more psychic potpourri: organ transplants are dangerous because of possible astral discontinuities between donor and recipient. Rampa says that artifical organs should be perfected as soon as possible! He also knows the truth about the lost submarines Thresher and Scorpion, but the story is too weird to be told right now. Rampa's also seen a genuine astral telephone, but the inventor was harassed by the press and Rampa himself is too broke to replicate the work. Ouija boards are not genuine conduits to spirit communication with the other side, but you can get yourself in trouble through self delusion or through trickery by lower astral forms imitating human spirits. These lower forms are harmless unless you allow yourself to be manipulated.

Rampa notes near the end of the book that he's deliberately answered questions in a "higgly piggly" order to prevent readers simply looking up the one or two specific answers they'd want. That's a nice excuse for the book being a disorganized ramble.

Some of the good readers thanked: Mr. and Mrs. "Yeti" Thompson, Mr. de Munnik, Mr. and Mrs. Hanns Czermak, and the Worstmann Ladies. And a big hand for the folks at home ... or maybe not, if you don't send return postage!

Like all of his work, Rampa's Feeding the Flame is available to read and download on the official website for T. Lobsang Rampa.

Corgi Books, 1975 (original pub. 1971)