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vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 174 |
< The Theosophical Society. (continued from page 14-67) >
ed, the sentimental ties of brotherhood, and the investigation of the occult sciences, which last had no great attraction for many of them. Colonel Olcott then referred to the practical steps taken by the Theosophical Society to revive the ancient literature of India. He also spoke of the Sanskrit schools established by him in Ceylon, Bareilly, Guntoor, and other places. Many of the theosophists were engaged in studying mesmerism, and Shree Humsraj, of Kathiawad, having learnt this science, had effected a number of cures. At London some of their prominent members had united themselves with men like Professor Balfour Stewart and Henry Sedgwick for the purpose of making investigations into matters which were objects of derision with many people. The society which had Balfour Stewart in it could not be a society of chimerical schemers. Furthermore, some of the members of this society were engaged in translating Max Müller’s lectures and the works of other English authors into the vernaculars. At a recent lecture delivered by him in the Town Hall, he recommended that the Parsees should form an archaeological society for carrying on researches in Armenia and other places for their sacred books of antiquity, and he was glad to say that such a society had been formed and Madame Blavatsky was asked to co-operate with it. (Applause.) The present was the last anniversary of the parent society in Bombay, not because they were tired of Bombay, or Bombay was tired of them; but as twenty-nine out of the thirty-nine branches of the society lay in the eastern portion of this country, it was found more convenient and economical to be on that side of India; and with that view they had purchased a fine property at Madras in a healthy locality. The speaker continued that being always accustomed to make practical suggestions on occasions like these he would recommend that the people of India should start a national fund for the promotion of national education and Aryan literature. At the end of his speech Colonel Olcott was greeted with loud cheers.
Here the chairman waited for some time to give people an opportunity to withdraw, if they chose. Some of the audience hereupon left the hall. About eight more delegates then successively addressed the meeting. Generally speaking, they rejoiced over the past, bewailed the present, and were hopeful of the future. They all agreed that something like the Theosophical Society was wanted for the regeneration of India. The delegates spoke in English with the exception of a Pundit from Bharatpore, who addressed the audience in Sanskrit. The learned Pundit illustrated his remarks by a good deal of gesticulation; but as he spoke in the language of the dead, his eloquence was thrown away upon the audience, who soon began to resort to the usual methods of testifying their impatience. The Pundit had therefore to make a much shorter speech than he probably desired. The proceedings having already occupied nearly three hours, the chairman had to again alter the original programme, declaring that as the report of the speeches intended to be delivered by the remaining delegates would appear in due course in the society’s journal, no further time should be occupied.
Mr. K. M. Shroff, in proposing a vote of thanks to the chairman, remarked that those sensitive people who were theosophists at heart, but were afraid of being ridiculed if they joined the society, should take heart from the exemplary moral courage displayed by the chairman.
The chairman, in acknowledging the vote of thanks, said that the Simla Eclectical Society, of which he was the President, was first looked upon with something like ridicule; but now people at Simla viewed the proceedings of the society in quite a different light. Occult …cience was a great reality, and the great profes…ors of occult science, the Brothers, were worthy of their profound respect. The chairman said the feeling that occultism was a reality was spreading, and would bring a considerable accession of Europeans from Simla. Occult study was gaining ground in London in a very remarkable way, and a great society had lately been started in that city, called the Society for Psychical Research, which was nothing more than the Theosophical Society minus its philanthropy. The chairman said further that the Eclectical Society at Simla had been the outcome of his own relations with one of the Mahatmas, of whom he could only speak with the most profound respect and reverence. (Cheers.)
The meeting then separated.
The Times of India.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1882.
THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
The annual meeting of the Theosophical Society was held on Thursday evening, Mr. Sinnett, editor of the Pioneer, presiding. About twenty delegates from Calcutta, Lahore, Allahabad, Ceylon and other places were seated on the platform, and from the diversity of their costume presented a very picturesque appearance. From the railings of the gallery were suspended thirty-nine shields bearing the names of each of the society’s branches and the date of its establishment. A banner of red silk, bearing the motto “There is no religion higher than truth,” was planted at the rear of the platform. The hall was filled in every part, the audience consisting mainly of natives.
The Chairman, who was received with loud cheers, said:—The business is to celebrate the seventh anniversary since the foundation in New York, and the fourth that has been held since the head-quarters were transferred to Bombay. We have the pleasure of welcoming a large number of delegates from various branches of the Society scattered all over India, and from each of them we hope to hear some account of the progress that has been made with the work of the society in the places they represent. We have also to hear from the President-founder, Colonel Olcott, a general report on the progress of the whole society. That this report will be satisfactory in its nature the aspect of this meeting affords us at starting good ground for hope. The society has now been established in Bombay for nearly four years, and has effectually lived down the misapprehension by which its earliest efforts were attended. Many friends of the society were indignant to find that any misapprehensions were possible, but although I certainly count myself among its warmest friends, I do not see reason to be surprised at the development of mistrust and vague suspicion at first. The public could hardly fail to see the aspect of this movement in the beginning. Two foreigners coming to set up a large organisation in India could hardly expect to escape suspicion at the outset of their operations, nor to avoid engendering among ordinary worldly-minded people an impression that they must have some private ends to gain, or some unexplained objects to serve. In a measure the natural uncertainty concerning their designs to which I refer was shared at first by the constituted authorities, but to a much more limited extent, I think, than some exaggerated reports may have led some of you to imagine. It is the clear duty of constituted authorities in every country to watch the proceedings of foreign visitors who call public meeting and address the people. And the only way by which such watchfulness can be carried out is by means of the regular agents which constituted authorities employ. In the present case, however, I am confident in saying that the attention which the founders of the Theosophical Society excited led in an exceedingly short time to the conclusion that their attitude and objects were altogether blameless, even if the philanthropic dreams by which they were animated might be vain and chimerical. Gentlemen, it is from a mistrustful generation and not from a liberal-minded Government that the founders of the Theosophical Society have had to encounter opposition amongst the representatives of authority. (Applause.) The founders of this society have come to number many of their best friends, but among the people to whose welfare they have devoted their lives, they have encountered much cheering support it is true, but some hostility and opposition. This opposition seems to have sprung partly from the inability under which some persons find themselves, to believe in a philanthropy that is perfectly pure-hearted, and in connexion with which there are no personal objects to gain, and partly from the sensitive dislike which so many of us entertain for any philosophical views, which can in any way be construed as hostile to our own particular religious faith. Now the Theosophical Society, as a society, though in no sense of the word an irreligious society, is a society of no specific religion. One of the ends it has in view is to promote a searching investigation into the original basis and foundations of all religions, with the idea rather of justifying all than of overthrowing any. But in the Magazine which is the organ of the society, and in speeches which have been made from time to time by its representatives, criticisms have often been put forward which have found fault with the external modern developments—now of one religion and now of another. In this way it has come to pass that the devotees of more than one religion have resented the utterances of various members of the society as indicating a special hostility on the part of the society to their own particular faith. But no impression can be more erroneous than one which would picture the society as either the champion or the foe of any particular faith. That of which it is the champion is Truth, some portion of which underlies every religion which has ever won its way in the world: that of which it is the Foe, is error, with which every religion after long use in the world becomes more or less encrusted. But even this philosophical search for truth is hardly the primary object of the society. That object is promoted by the philosophical search for truth, as I hope directly to show that object itself is that pressed in the foremost watchword of the society, Universal Brotherhood. (Cheers.) Now universal brotherwood is not a new idea, and the society is sometimes unfavourably criticised for taking it as a watchword, on the ground that it is too vague an idea to be realised, and too vast to be otherwise than Utopian. But first of all it should be remembered in our favour that there never was a time or a country in which an effort in the direction of establishing a feeling of Universal Brotherhood was more urgently needed than it is needed in this country now (loud cheers); and secondly, we maintain that the Theosophical Society comes before the world with a modification of the old and hitherto unrealised idea, which renders it less vague than it has been hitherto, if not less vast, and certainly more practical. For hitherto Universal Brotherhood has been preached as the brotherhood of this or that religious denomination. Now we Theosophists preach the idea as divorced from all denominational exclusiveness and as embracing all seekers for truth, whatever their creed may be, and, of necessity, whatever their race. In this way the watchword of the society in its application to India may be translated into an appeal to all well-wishers of India, to do good to India in the way in which good most requires to be done,—in the way of pointing out fields of intellectual activity in which the cultivated men of all races which inhabit India may work together, and feel themselves brotherly in mind, and thus in the progress of time, as their intellect inspires their sympathies, truly brotherly in feeling. Gentlemen, there is only one way in which you can bring together races of people who differ from each other in habits, tastes, and pursuits. You must show each that it really has something to gain from the other. Not in any ignoble sense of the term, but in the sense in which all men of real culture must necessarily gain from association with each other. A merely philanthropic desire to promote good feeling in India for good feeling’s sake is merely equivalent to saying the thing ought to be done. But the leaders of the Theosophical Society have this peculiarity as compared with all other philanthropists I know of who have declared for the same good object, that they go on to show how the thing can be done. They have discovered the true channel through which sympathies may flow between Europeans and Asiatics. That channel is philosophical study, in which the two main races which constitute the Indo-British nation are the complement of each other. The Theosophical Society shows European thinkers how the rich stores of ancient Aryan philosophy contains, disguised perhaps by symbology—but none the less intelligibly when the symbology is interpreted—that which I for one should call the absolute truth about spiritual things, and which at all events all intelligent students must recognise as a most valuable contribution to the purely speculative philosophics of the West. Let any European of culture, of any nationality, realise the true esoteric meaning of oriental philosophies—and furthermore, by personal association with cultivated natives of this country, let him realise the great flexibility and acuteness of perception which characterises the Indian mind in regard to philosophical ideas, and he will certainly find a bond of sympathy with, and a motive of respect for, India that cannot fail to put him in a new attitude of mind towards the people of this country generally. In the same way let the Indian philosopher realise by working with the European how much even his own philosophy has to gain by contact with the clear practical methods of thought which European science teaches, and a reciprocal feeling of respect will be developed on his part, a respect not merely for the valuable practical every-day qualities of the European character with which every one is familiar, but for that quality in the European mind which renders it in philosophical speculation as I have said before the complement of the other. The chairman then proceeded to give what he called the secret history of the society, remarking that it did not primarily devote itself to the study of occult sciences, but its inception was most undeniably due to the brotherhood. He thought the time had come when the study of occult sciences and the good philanthropic idea which gathered round the knowledge might be disclosed to people who had an ardent sympathy with that kind of study. And in order that the work might be accomplished they pitched upon one of the few people here willing to make such a complete sacrifice as a devotion to the work involved. Madame Blavatsky was, therefore, selected for the work, and she chose as her associate Colonel Olcott. The two founders were then brought together and launched on their career. The society was of an occult origin. It had from its commencement the desire on the part of the brotherhood to do good to humanity. He did not think there was any room for ambiguity for the Theosophical Society which stood quite clearly before the world, its origin was clearly intelligible and its work was clearly marked out. (Loud applause.) Looking at the meeting he would defy anybody to dispute that position. (Loud and prolonged applause.)
At the suggestion of the chairman, the treasurer read his report and also three telegrams from the Thakore of Wudwan, Shree Hurisingjee of Sehore, and the Nellore Branch, congratulating and sympathising with the objects of the society. The Thakore of Wudwan in his telegram stated that “although he was not present in body, yet in spirit he was with them at the meeting.”
Rao Bahadoor Gopalrao Hurry Deshmookh in addressing the meeting said that the great aims of Theosophy were three, namely, universal brotherhood, enquiry and investigation of ancient science and literature (particularly of India), and investigation into the mysterious powers of nature. The natives of India who were so much divided by sects and castes were in need of a common brotherhood, which meant nothing more than showing respect for each other’s prejudices, opinions and ideas. (Applause.)
Baboo Norendro Nath Sen, editor of the Indian Mirror, being called upon by the chairman, addressed the meeting. He said that the Calcutta branch which he represented that day had been only taking a leaf out<... continues on page 14-70 >
Editor's notes
- ↑ The Theosophical Society. by unknown author, Times of India, The, Saturday, December9,1882