Over 200 people attended the meeting at the International Headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar in Chennai on Sunday, 22nd November 2009. This meeting was organized for the public release of the book The World Around Us by Radha Burnier, international President of the TS.

The illustrious Chief Guest at the meeting was Dr M. S. Swaminathan, a very well- known scientist in India and in the world. Professor Swaminathan is a plant geneticist by training and his contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. He is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the United States National Academy of Sciences. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987. He has received 58 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world.

Professor Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as "the Father of Economic Ecology”. He has also served as Independent Chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organization Council and President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

The meeting took place in an auspicious location. The beautiful Headquarters Hall was conceived by the President-Founder of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, and it faithfully expresses his enduring vision of the essential unity of all religions, a vision that has become critical in a world divided by religious intolerance. Above all the symbols that adorn the Hall lies the motto of the Theosophical Society: satyan nasti paro dharmah, ‘There is no Religion higher than Truth’.

The book The World Around Us by Mrs Radha Burnier, international President of the TS, embodies an important aspect of her literary legacy and spans almost thirty years of thoughtful and insightful editorials in the Society’s international journal, The Theosophist, founded by Madame Blavatsky in Bombay in 1879. In it she presents a deep, insightful and objective assessment of the condition of humanity at the present time and shows, with vigour and intellectual clarity, how a parochial and limited mindset prevents humanity from moving forward in its evolutionary journey. Her book is a timely appeal for a wider vision of life and its relationships as well as for compassion for all the creatures that share with us this beautiful earth.

Prof. C. A. Shinde, Librarian of the Adyar Library and Research Centre, introduced the author and the book. He highlighted aspects of Mrs Burnier’s distinguished career, both as an artist as well as a scholar, and also her untiring work for the Theosophical Society for many decades. 

In his address Dr Swaminathan spoke about his happiness to be at Adyar again and to be invited to release Radhaji’s book. He spoke of the relevance of several of the articles in the book, even when they were written more than twenty years ago. He mentioned her comments on aspects of Krishnamurti’s teachings, her challenging views on science and ethical questions, and her emphasis on compassion, which echoes the Dalai Lama’s message to the world. Dr Swaminathan said that we should follow Radhaji’s message and start a coalition of compassion to address one of the fundamental problems in the world today: the hunger that affects more than one billion people in many continents. At the end of his speech he turned to the President and said: “Radhaji, may you live long. You are a role model for all of us.”

In her brief address, Mrs Burnier said that the Theosophical Society continues to have an important work in the world, and that is to point out to people the need for a wider vision, a greater understanding. The articles in the book, she said, were written with this in mind, and not that people should agree with her views. Human beings need to learn to co-exist together and see the folly of continuous fighting. When they do that the may see that life is meant to be something much greater, much deeper and much more beautiful.

A vote of thanks was presented to all those who helped in the production of the book in its several stages as well as those who helped to organize the book release function.

May the book’s message of brotherhood, awareness and selflessness reach many people around the world, thus helping to relieve the suffering of humanity and all sentient beings.

Pedro Oliveira