For a long time we wondered if the place names such as Potal and Asmah (with exactly the same spelling as that used by Spalding) had actually existed somewhere in the world, even if it was not in India’s northwest (West Pakistan), as one might suspect.
Surprisingly we have found an answer, but in East Pakistan !
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First remember the text of Spalding,
Ref.: Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, Volume 1 Copyright © 1924, 1937 by Baird T. Spalding, Revised Edition Copyright renewed, 1964, see p. 15, Chapter II, and p. 19, Chapter III.
” … our little party assembled at Potal, a small village in the remote part of India…. ”
” We left this village for Asmah, a smaller one, about ninety miles distant.”
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From “A gazetteer of the territories under the government of the East-India company and of the native states on the continent of India, by E. Thornton” (East India Company, Edward Parry Thornton – 1870), we can find:

POTAL.-A town in the British district of Mymunsing, lieut.-gov. of Bengal, 44 miles S.W. by west of Nusserabad (Nasirabad ?). Lat. 24° 21’, long. 89° 50’.
ASMAH, in the British district of Mymunsing, lieut.-gov. of Bengal, a town 52 miles E. from Jumalpoor, 61 miles W. of Silhet. Lat. 24° 53’, long. 90° 53’.
About seventy miles distant (this remains approximate, taken into account the approximations done about Long./Lat. themselves) . These two places (clearly not villages however) were located at the present site of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and their names have been certainly known to J. Churchward who traveled extensively in India.
Our reflections are just a few ideas, not evidence. Le 28 janvier 2012.

In your blog, you conclude that the book is 100% sure a complete fiction because Bayard Spaulding wasn’t born in the 1850′s in England and did not traveled in India during the 1890s…

you said:
[Are the books fiction or non-fiction? Did Spalding actually go to India in 1894?

Many readers are disappointed when they learn that Spalding did not go to India in 1894, and there was no research expedition as described in Life and Teaching. Spalding was only 22 years old in 1894, and he spent most of the 1890′s in the Yukon mining for gold. Spalding’s first visit to India was in 1935.]

All your conclusions make sense if we consider that Baird Thomas Spalding is the nom de plume of Bayard Spaulding… However, not if we consider that it would be actually possible that Baird Thomas Spalding is the nom de plume of an/many other person. From this point of view, nobody could confirm at 100% that an expedition similar to those exposed in the book never happened…

I don’t say all the content in the book is not a fiction BUT when we study James past, we are in the obligation to agree it’s really strange that Spalding’s books and his publisher say the author was born in the 1850′s in England and traveled in India. James was 43 in 1894, is born in the 1850s (England) and traveled in India many time during his life. He also had many knowledges in world exploration and had close links with many archaeologists.

It’s not complicated, if we consider that maybe Baird Thomas Spalding is the nom de plume of James Churchward, we easily start to find a lot of parallels and interesting coincidences. And suddenly we start to see the shape of the puzzle.

About the picture of departure of Bayard’s first trip to India in Oct 1935, I was initially 90% sure James is standing between Douglas DeVorss and Spaulding. But to be 100% sure, I verified the face proportions compared with others picture I have of James.

http://s8.postimage.org/n0gflx5ed/Churchward_James.jpg
gratisenergi[.]se/india.jpg

If we examine carefully the shape and characteristic of his face, we can conclude at 99% it’s the same guy on both pics. Space between eyes, ears, nose and jaws are exactly the same. Also, the cravats/tie of all other man on the pic are dark tone. James, on all photos I found, always wear pale tie… Except if he had a brother, Churchward stand on this pic.

I’d also like to drew your attention of his position on this symbolic shot. He stand directly behind Spauldind. In front of Douglas. In the first row, we see 11 persons. If we forget the guy on the second row (the one not looking at the camera), James is in the just middle of this picture. This could be an insignificant detail but could also mean Col James Churward was an important actor on this photo… If he did not travel in India with others during this trip, the question is “What he was doing on this picture?” [...]

And yes, I’ve read many stuffs from his great-grandson, Jack, and god-daughter Joan Tate Griffith. Seem they are still in life and actively interested about the past/expeditions of James.

About the copy you found of the letter Churchward exchanged with Stella when she was typing his manuscripts, I’d like to ask when you will have free time, if you could post here or via email the transcription. I would also like to see the chapter you found in the Comforter. I searched both online and couldn’t find anything.

For my part, I will try to continue research if I have free time.. Like you, I think this an interesting mystery… and like us, a lot of person seem to wonder what is the exact truth behind the book.

I’ve researched that photograph and identified a couple of people in it – it’s the departure of Spalding’s first actual trip to India in Oct 1935, on the SS President Hoover. Not sure if I believe that is Churchward. It’s possible given that he was in Los Angeles when he died three months later. He definitely didn’t travel on that trip though.

Here’s another interesting connection. Guy Ballard, leader of the I AM religious cult and writer of the Saint Germain / Ascended Master book Unveiled Mysteries, was allegedly a friend of Spalding, and they spent some time together in the 1920s. Ballard grew his books into a full-fledged cult which survives today.

We asked where Bayard Spaulding and his wife Stella got the inspiration and materials… Their direct links with new-thought groups, Florence Crawford (The Comforter editor) and Annie Rix Militz (Master mind editor) could effectively answer a big part of this question. Especially when we read the following books (published before Teaching of the Masters):

Renewal of the Body by Annie Rix Militz, 1914-1918
The faith that demonstrates by Florence Gloria Crawford, 1920

However, at my opinion, the most interesting angle to follow is their direct link with James Churchward.

Colonel James Churchward is standing between Douglas DeVorss and Spaulding on this photo taken 1935 before their advertising trip to India: gratisenergi[.]se/india.jpg

James Churchward (February 27, 1851-January 4, 1936), is an Anglo-American who spent a great deal of his life in India and author of a series of books, beginning with Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man (1926), re-edited later as The Lost Continent Mu (1931).[2] Other popular books in the series are The Children of Mu (1931), and The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933).

Note theses very interesting coincidences:
Churchward published The Lost Continent of Mu in 1926. Like you know, life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East which told of a research expedition to India and Tibet in the 1890′s have been published in 1922-1924. You have clearly demonstrated that Spaulding couldn’t have done those expeditions in the 1890′s. However, before coming to the US in the 1890s, Churchward was in Sri Lanka (near India/Tibet). And according to the article “James Churchward – Lost Continent or Lost Cause?” by Churchward’s god-daughter Joan Tate Griffith [5], while Churchward toured India for the last time -presumably between writing his first and second books- he visited the same temples and monasteries where he had spent years in his early manhood, in discourse with Rishi and studying tablets and scrolls in Pali, Sanskit, Tibetan, Chaldean, and Uighur.

Also, Spalding’s books and his publisher say “Baird T Spalding” was born in the 1850′s in England but we know Bayard Spaulding is born in 1872 in Cohocton, New York. However, James Churchward is born to Henry and Matilda Churchward at Stonehouse, Bridestowe, Okehampton, Devonshire, England. Official date of born: 1851[3].

Contrariwise of Bayard Spaulding, it clear that James Churchward has a true traveler background and has done a lot of expeditions during his life. A search with keywords “James Churchward, India”, “James Churchward, Gobi”, “James Churchward, Alaska”, “James Churchward, Mexico”, etc. reveal a lot of references, articles and links.

Also, “Teaching of the Masters” and “Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Man” contains a lot of similar references about the lost continent of Atlantide, tablets, Gobi desert and Naacal… If you read again attentively “Teaching of the Masters” you will also notice a lot of references about Mexico and past expeditions from the author.

e.g.
[L’art et la technologie de cette civilisation dépassaient toutes nos connaissances actuelles. Elle s’était établie en plusieurs points du globe : dans une région côtière de la Colombie-Britannique, dans le Mesa Verde, et au Mexique, à une centaine de kilomètres de notre frontière (nous en avons exploré les ruines). Selon moi, la ville de Mexico tirait son eau du grand lac à la source du Colorado. Les gorges de cette rivière sont âgées de cent mille ans et ces hommes y construisirent des aqueducs au pavage extraordinaire. Les fouilles ont duré très longtemps en raison de la taille colossale des ruines. Avec l’aide des Maîtres, j’ai pu traduire des documents très anciens, relatifs au savoir de notre monde matériel. Mes propres limites m’ont cependant empêché de les authentifier suffisamment pour qu’ils soient universellement acceptés. Mais mon but reste de les publier intégralement, afin que chacun puisse en prendre connaissance. J’ai récemment rencontré un groupe de personnes qui s’intéressent aux sujets sur lesquels je travaille depuis plus de quarante ans. Leurs méthodes d’approche et leurs formules sont identiques aux miennes.] (La vie des maitres, FR, p.667)

[Le champ de son expérience et de sa mémoire était phénoménal. Il connaissait parfaitement l’Alaska, le Canada, les États-Unis, le Mexique, l’Amérique du Sud, l’Australie, l’Afrique, l’Inde, la Chine, l’Europe et l’Orient.] (La vie des maitres, FR, p.715)

[ Par ailleurs, nous avons trouvé des ruines de cités en Alaska, mais guère plus. Près de l’embouchure dela rivière McKenzie nous avons creusé et mis au jour des ruines de cités. Ce peuple connaissait l’art de tailler la pierre, comme en témoignent les sculptures dans les murs des bâtiments] (La vie des maitres, FR. p.643)

All these coincidences and facts tend to point out that maybe James Churchward was directly involved in the writing of the book “Teaching of the Masters”. However, same if it would be the case, this do not answer the most common question “Are the books fiction or non-fiction?”, after its first publication in 1926, Churchward’s book attracted a lot of ridicule and criticism from the archaeological scholars of his day, and very few of them took his findings and theories seriously. It was regarded more as wild fiction than a serious scientific study. But today many such monumental works as Churchward’s are being taken considerably more seriously, as outmoded old dogmas are being overturned by the new findings of more enlightened scientific researchers. Also, all his patents [6], inventions and travels give him some credibility if we compare with Spaulding and DeVorss dubious reputation and nebulous history.

———————————-

Below, if this can help, you will find a supplement of infos about James Churchward:

James Churchward is best known as a British born writer. However, he was also a patented inventor and engineer [6].

In 1885, James met Augustus Le Plongeon and his bride Alice, just back from 12 years exploring the Yucatan. During the 1870s, James had traveled to Ponape, New Zealand and the South Seas with his cousin, William Churchward (British Consul to Samoa), and had joined an expedition to Llakoff Island and Eastern Asia. [5]

Churchward claimed that “more than fifty years ago”, while he was a soldier in India, he befriended a high-ranking temple priest who showed him a set of ancient “sunburnt” clay tablets, supposedly in a long lost “Naga-Maya language” which only two other people in India could read. Having mastered the language himself, Churchward found out that they originated from “the place where [man] first appeared—Mu.” The 1931 edition states that “all matter of science in this work are based on translations of two sets of ancient tablets:” the clay tables he read in India, and a collection 2,500 stone tablets that had been uncovered by William Niven in Mexico.[2]: p. 7

He claimed to have been initiated in India into certain eastern esoteric “truths,” being shown, supposedly, some ancient tablets in an Indian/Tibetan monastery. He was taught how to read the tablets and was told many fascinating things about ancient history. Then, after traveling all over the world, he wrote his series of very popular books. [The first one entitled] “The lost Continent of Mu…” [4]

Churchward gave a vivid description of Mu as the home of an advanced civilization, the Naacal, which flourished between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago, was dominated by a “white race,”[2]: p. 48 and was “superior in many respects to our own” [2]: p. 17 At the time of its demise, about 12,000 years ago, Mu had 64,000,000 inhabitants and many large cities, and colonies in the other continents.

He was the elder brother of the Masonic author Albert Churchward (1852–1925.) He was a tea planter in Sri Lanka* before coming to the US in the 1890s. In James’ biography entitled My Friend Churchey and His Sunken Continent, he discussed Mu with Augustus LePlongeon and his wife in the 1890s. He patented NCV Steel, armor plating to protect ships during World War I, and other steel alloys. After a patent-infringement settlement in 1914, James retired to his 7+ acre estate on Lake Wononskopomuc in Lakeville, Connecticut, to answer the questions from his Pacific travels. In 1926, at the age of 75, he published The Lost Continent of Mu: Motherland of Man, which he claimed proved the existence of a lost continent, called Mu, in the Pacific Ocean.

*Sri Lanka country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives. It is part of South Asia. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times and is one of the few remaining abodes of Buddhism in South Asia.

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1. Churchward, James (1926). The Lost Continent of Mu: Motherland of Man.
2. Churchward, James (1931). The Lost Continent of Mu. Ives Washburn. pp. 335 pages.
3. Timeline: www[.]bibliotecapleyades[.]net/arqueologia/esp_churchward09.htm
Travel line: www[.]bibliotecapleyades[.]net/arqueologia/esp_churchward06.htm
4. David Hatcher Childress (Lost Cities of Ancient Lemuria & the Pacific 1988)
5. https://www.goldenplanetforum.com/library/churchward/Joan_Griffith__The_Lost_Continent_of_Mu_Article.pdf
6. Patents: www[.]my-mu[.]com/jamescpatents.html
7. www[.]onelight[.]com/forster/mutothule.doc

I’ve also got one book by Florence Crawford but it’s a generic mix of Christianity and New Thought material. Crawford seems to have had a spiritual awakening after a mid-life crisis and moved to San Francisco to start Comforter League of Light. If you search her name in newspaper archives around that time (e.g. Oakland Tribune in the 20s and 30s), she spoke at a number of religious and pacifist rallies. She died in 1948 but did have a son (Timothy Crawford, born 1904 in San Francisco, died 1978) and I wonder if any diaries or correspondence survive. I’m sure she would have known Spalding well and may have written about him.

Master Mind magazine was published by DeVorss and they covered all of their authors including Spalding so I wouldn’t be surprised to find other parallels there. Annie Rix Militz who you mentioned above, was the editor of Master Mind and also a friend of Crawfords and wrote at least one editorial about her in 1915 in the magazine.

Another interesting angle is the local real estate magnate Frank C Havens and his wife Lila Havens. They were wealthy Theosophists who built Wildwood Gardens aka the Havens Estate in Alameda. It appears at one time they were patrons of Spalding, but I’ve only found a couple of newspaper articles. Lila Havens is likely the ‘very prominent woman in Oakland, California, whose husband was the builder of the Oakland Municipal Railway’ that paid for Vol 1 to be published, as referred to in some of the stories about Spalding.

Todd, you said “Stella typed manuscripts for Col Jack Churchward (February 27, 1851-January 4, 1936) of Atlantis fame who was a personal friend” I think this is a very interesting track to follow… In the MU-books, Churchward claimed to have been in the Tibet region “with a group of young scholars” in the 1890′s. He also states in his books that he returned to America with the majority of the group, but that a few stayed behind to study further with the Masters. The information in his books he claims to have learned from these Masters…

Would it be possible that Churchward asked Stella (Spaulding wife) to write/translate “The life and teaching of master” and Baird decided to spread the story via his new-though movement (magazines)… ?

This is an evasive scenario but actually seem to be possible… Specially if we could prove that Churchward (contrariwise to Spaulding) really traveled in India around those years.

Source:
The Known and Unknown Life of Jesus Christ 1924 [Jane Aikman Welch]

[The reader may find a short and interesting account of part of the work in the "Comforter" magazine, 1922, written by B. T. S. of University of California, who was one of the party. This is a wonderful verification to us of the words of the master Jesus: "What I do, ye shall do, and greater things than I do, shall ye do, because I go to my Father."]
——–

If this can help, I also found few references about MRS. Florence Crawford [Portland, Oregon, Editor of The Comforter -Published by The Irvington Press, 715 Thompson St., Portland]

Source:

Master Mind Magazine, April 1915 to September 1915
books[.]google[.]ca/books?id=GQywEIq_ejgC&pg=PA103&dq=Master+Mind+Magazine,+October+1914+to+March+1915&hl=fr&ei=5azFTtSTEcLx0gHg8umDDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Crawford&f=false

books[.]google[.]ca/books?id=nhJ3gU6px78C&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=MRS.+Florence+Crawford+The+comforter+magazine&source=bl&ots=pACCIgFZz-&sig=rEXHW3dvD49s2FCUgsDeyL6pOro&hl=fr&ei=OUUpTf_bK8L38AaY88iaAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=MRS.%20Florence%20Crawford%20The%20comforter%20magazine&f=false

books[.]google[.]ca/books?id=M0ccAQAAIAAJ&q=%22The+Comforter+league+of+light%22&dq=%22The+Comforter+league+of+light%22&hl=fr&ei=tzUpTciVHcL98Ab_4dX0AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBA

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About BTS links with new thoughts movements:

After reading Master Mind Magazine [October 1911 to March 1919] I found an interesting book named Renewal of the Body written by Annie Rix Militz [(1856 - 1924) author and early organizer of the New Thought Movement. She is best known as the founder of Home of Truth]

http://books.google.ca/books?id=UucRhPN_C6gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Annie+Rix+Militz&source=bl&ots=UaUd-Dd3d-&sig=is8Cx7IQSdXFck12oRykLOfmezE&hl=fr&ei=RTcqTb3aDoX6lweK4r3KAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCAQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

Readers may notice close similitudes with “life and teaching of the masters” books paradigm:

P.7 -Man and God are one, spiritual, immortal, perfect in essence and in expression. The body is the expression of mind ; and divine mind is expressed by the glorified body, wherein health is eternal, life is immortal, and beauty, grace, and strength never pass away. The real body was never born ; it is the eternal expression of the Holy Spirit. Every one has this perfect body. It is beautiful, a sun brillant beyond description. It has never known imperfection[...]

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Also, Todd, you said I think this is a very interesting track to follow… In the MU-books, Churchward claimed to have been in the Tibet region “with a group of young scholars” in the 1890′s. He also states in his books that he returned to America with the majority of the group, but that a few stayed behind to study further with the Masters. The information in his books he claims to have learned from these Masters…

Would it be possible that Churchward asked Stella to write/translate “The life and teaching of master” and Baird decided to spread the story via his new-though movement (magazines)… ?

This is an evasive scenario but actually seem to be possible… Specially if we could prove that Churchward (contrariwise to Spaulding) really traveled in India/Tibet around those years.
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Just a complementary of informations/verifications:

Readers of “life and teaching of the masters of the far east” often notice references about a certain Dr. Bose…

Eg.: Page. 79

[Dr. Bose* says that if we are expending our energy for imperfection, the efficiency of the body can be stepped up 200 percent by turning the energy into the channels of perfection [...] Dr Bose shows that we can control every part of the plant life [...]]

After few search it’s appear Dr. M. Jagadis Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937 effectively existed and published few books around those years:

Books written by Bose
1. Response in the Living and Nonliving, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1902.
2. Plant Response as a Means of Physiological Investigations, Longmans, Green & Co. London, 1906.
3. Comparative Electro-Physiology, Longmans, Green & Co. London 1907.
4. Reserches on Irritability of Plants, Longmans, Green & Co. London 1913
5. Collected Physical Papers, Longmans, Green & Co. London 1920.
6. Plant Autographs and Their Revelations. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1927.
7. Abyakta (in Bengali) Bangyia Vigyan Parishad, Calcutta, 1921
8. Physiology of Ascent of Sap, Longmans, Green & Co. London 1923
9. Letters to Rabindranath Tagore (in Bengali Patrabali), (edited & annotated by D.Sen). The Bose Institute, Calcutta, 1994.
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research continues…