Transcription of a TV Interview with

Lobsang Rampa

from TuesdayLobsangRampa Website

 

This interview was aired on the program 'Citizens of the World' Tele-Metropole C.F.T.M Montreal in the early 70s. The interviewer and filmer was Alain Stanke, Rampa's friend, neighbour and French publisher.


The interview was originally in English, translated into French in Stanke's book "Lobsang Rampa, Imposteur Ou Initie?" and retranslated back into English by Nicholas D.

"I am Lobsang Rampa. Maybe you've heard of me before. But my very good friend Alain Stanke asked me to say a few words on tape. I wouldn't have done it for anyone else. But Alain Stanke is a young man with many capabilities so I reply to his invitation to say these few words:

I hope that you've read or that you'll read my books because I think that if a greater number of us followed this golden rule 'Do unto others' then the world would be a better place to live in.


Look at the problems in Ireland where Christians are killing other Christians. I wonder why? It's a mystery. They still speak the same language, they have the same religion, but there is this bloody war. But here in Quebec there are also difficulties because of the difficulties with language. Personally I've suffered a lot from discrimination because I don't speak French. It's absolutely true, I assure you. The best thing would be for people to give up the French and English languages (except as a cultural asset) then they could practice telepathy! That's how it was before the tower of Babel when everyone spoke his own dialect after having lost telepathic power. Think how fine it would be to be able to communicate with anyone by telepathy.

Did you know that in Montreal there are some very good people? I've mentioned my very good friend Alain Stanke, a great companion. But there are others, Mr H. Mendelson of Simon's Cameras, the most honest man you could find. Such a nice man I'm proud to call a friend.

In Habitat where I live like a hermit, I don't see anyone. I don't want to see anyone! The man who makes it possible is Mr Bernard Gobeil, the administrator of Habitat. He's managed to rent all of Habitat while before it was almost empty. So I greet Mr Gobeil who put his energies and made a great job as an administrator. Another friend is Mr Jean Louis Bigras from Rimouski. He likes Montreal so much that he's decided to come and live here. So now I am surrounded by people with whom I can speak, but not in French. Maybe I should use telepathy with them!

There is a critic who said he could not read more than a chapter of 'Feeding the Flame'. But how can he be able to criticize a book he hasn't read? I have the impression that critics of books are people who haven't the skills or knowledge required to write a book, so they only have one way to live in the world of literature, which is to live at the expense of others. By the way, I can't understand those women's libbers as they've got more liberties than men.

I receive 40 to 50 letters a day, most of them without postage. Some of them are written with red or green ink or with handwriting which is so tiny that it is hard for me to read them. I had to buy a huge magnifying glass. When I've answered the letters I immediately destroy them in a shredder; otherwise nosy people search my trash. Don't laugh, they are legion! Several were caught going through the garbage of Habitat.

I'll reveal a secret. I've already worked in France and I've learned French. It is a pleasure for me to listen sometimes to people who I see in the corridors or elevators of Habitat. They speak to me in French and I hear so many things about me!

I've got two other friends, Miss Cleopatra Rampa and Miss Tadalinka Rampa two Siamese cats. They are true friends. Taddy likes to eat. But Cleo is the most intelligent cat living. She receives all my thoughts by telepathy. They have a special litter tray and never damage our furniture. They are models of perfection, these cats!


People ask me why I came to Canada. The British press made us leave England. We've been wrongly accused. All kinds of lies have been made up about me. Let me ask you this, would you like to be ill, lying on your back, and seeing a mirror appear at the end of a stick? Would you like to be spied on like this? I had to undergo this little game in Ireland, and the British press invaded Ireland in the same way the British soldiers are currently invading Ireland.


We came to Canada because we thought that this country would bring us peace. We were not wrong. It's been bearable...


Well now Mr Stanke, you want to know more things about me. Let me tell you, the author of a book doesn't matter, what he writes is important, if it's worth reading.

How do I write my books? When I prepare to write a book, I adopt the policy of complete total inactivity. I build my book in my mind, page after page and don't use my typewriter or dictate until my book is complete, very solidly built in my head. When I've got all the material and when I've checked and corrected everything, then I can type it by seeing it above me in fully printed pages. Everything I do then is to visualize these pages, and retranscribe them with a typewriter made in Japan or I directly record them on a tape recorder.

But there's something else which amuses those who live with me. I can stop in the middle of a sentence and continue one or two days later, from where I had stopped. They believe it's a matter of memory.

Don't ever try to write before you know exactly what you're going to write and when you know what you're going to write don't ever let an agent or an editor persuade you that you shouldn't do it. If you have the courage of your convictions, if you've got something to say which is worth writing and if you know how to do it, then your book has its entire raison d'etre. It will sell. Otherwise don't waste your time, knit or do something else!

I can write a book in 2 or 3 weeks but 6 months are necessary to build in my mind!"

I receive many letters. People want to know how to make babies, how to get rid of babies, particularly those women's libbers. If only people could adopt the golden rule there wouldn't be so many difficulties caused by the language difficulties like there are in Quebec, Belgium and several other countries. This old world would be a much better place to live in! If only people wanted to give, they could also receive. One has to give his goodwill, his trust in others, his faith in man's goodness. And if each one of us paid his share, the age of Kali would be over!"