Adyar Headquarters |
December 4, 2008
When the plane landed at Chennai last Friday, Mumbai was still under a terrorist siege. The terrorists struck at the very touristic heart of that city, near the famous Gateway of India. On Saturday morning, when commandos of the National Security Guard finally cleared the last hotel in which hostages were being kept, the total death toll was over 170, with more than 300 people injured. There was widespread shock and disbelief in India. But India always recovers from such events.
Students from Slovenia, Finland, Canada, Australia, Hungary and India are attending classes at the School of the Wisdom. The theme is "The Mahatmas on Theosophy and the TS". There is half an hour of silent meditation before the morning talk begins.
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The different departments at Adyar are gearing up for the Convention at the end of the month. There were strong rains and winds in the last fortnight and some trees were uprooted.
I met the President briefly the day after my arrival. She was preparing to go to a meeting at the Government House (Rashtrapati Bhavan). She was invited by the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh to give a speech during a book launch. She goes to the office both in the mornings and afternoons.
The quiet and natural beauty at Adyar are refreshing. In one evening I decided to go for a walk after dinner and took with me a small torch. Near the coconut grove I met one of the many natural residents at Adyar: a black scorpion. He (or she) was the sort of creature that makes you pay careful attention. We had this silent meeting and I then decided to part company with the illustrious resident when I
finally realized he was not going anywhere!
Some of the workers I had met in 1992 are still here and they apparently remember me. The TS at Adyar has given employment to generations of workers coming from the impoverished surroundings. Many of their children have studied in the Olcott Memorial High School.
One of the passages we examined recently at the School of the Wisdom was:
"Shall we devote our selves to teaching a few Europeans fed on the fat of the land, many of them loaded with the gifts of blind fortune, the rationale of bell ringing, cup growing, of the spiritual telephone and astral body formation, and leave the teeming millions of the ignorant, of the poor and despised, the lowly and the oppressed, to take care of themselves and of their hereafter the best they know how. Never. Rather perish the Theosophical Society with both its hapless founders than that we should permit it to become no better than an academy of magic and a hall of occultism. That we, the devoted followers of that spirit incarnate of absolute self sacrifice, of philanthropy, divine kindness, as of all the highest virtues attainable on this earth of sorrow, the man of men, Gautama Buddha, should ever allow the Theosophical Society to represent the embodiment of selfishness, the refuge of the few with no thought in them for the many, is a strange idea, my brothers." (The Mahachohan's Letter)
Walking around Adyar and its encircling neighbourhood helps us to understand the words of that great Adept. There cannot be Theosophy without a genuine sense of compassion towards those who are poor and despised.
The rains have stopped, the work continues, the crows are everywhere and Adyar continues to be pervaded by a sense of uncreated vastness and peace. I miss my litlle black scorpion friend. Perhaps we shall meet again. He has taught me to remain mindful. And he also goes to sleep in the magic quiet of Adyar nights. |
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