My Dearest Komal, Anjli and Amar,
In my letter to you titled ‘Teacher in Africa‘ I left out a huge section of Daddajis write-up on his life. The part that I left out was all about his affiliation to the Theosophical Society. When I opened up the subject on Hinduism I mentioned that the movement of Theosophy had evolved using many concepts of Hinduism. With the current world-shaking news of the awful incidences in Minnesota, USA, I feel that the wisdom of the Theosophical Society is very significant at present. Perhaps there would be fewer horrifying heartaches if more people adapted the words of the Society. I will let Daddaji’s own words convey the ethos of this forward thinking movement. The excerpt that follows was written by Daddaji in the mid 90’s for the Eldoret Reunion that took place in Leicester, U.K.
Continuing Daddaji’s words and his thoughts on the Theosophical Society …..
My most important interest however was and still is the Theosophical Society. I have been a member of this Society since it started in Eldoret in January, 1954. When I came to Eldoret, I felt that something was missing from my life and the study of Theosophy fulfilled what was missing!
It is interesting how I became interested in THEOSOPHY. One day an Indian gentleman in a long coat, dhoti and a black Indian cap came to J.B. Amin’s house and asked him to arrange a meeting where he could talk with a group of teachers. I was very skeptical and hesitated, thinking that the person had come to collect some funds to spread some religious dogma.
How wrong I was on this initial impression! We all listened to what he had to say about the Society and its objects. My opinion about him changed completely. I was very impressed with the first object of “Universal Brotherhood” without any distinction of class or creed. I knew at once this is what I wanted to do and along with some others I became a member that same day (January 14, 1954) and formed a branch known as The Highland Lodge of the Theosophical Society. We met every week and discussed religions and Divine Laws. Theosophy is nothing but Divine Wisdom or Divine Science.
To this day I have maintained interest in it, even greater than before because now I have more time on my hands. In Eldoret, I invited internationally renowned lecturers like Rohit Mehta and several others to give talks to the general public and schools. I am currently the President of the Wembley Lodge and also a National Council member of the English Section of the Society in England.
As a dedicated and devoted member of the Theosophical Society, it is my humble duty to explain that Theosophy shows how the Divine Laws work in the Universe.
The Theosophical Society, which was established in 1875 in order to show to the world that there is such a thing as Theosophy, is an International body with branches in nearly all the countries of the world. Its International Headquarters are in Adyar in India.
Its Motto is “There is no religion higher than the Truth”
The three objects of the Society are:
- To form a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, caste, colour and sex.
- To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science.
- To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and powers latent in man.
Anybody in sympathy with the first object can be a member. It is this object which attracted me to become a member of the Society, as I had little faith in the orthodox religion.
But then what is Theosophy?
Theosophy is Divine knowledge or Divine Science. Members study the laws of Nature, by which the universe and the life develops or evolves. If we live our life by co-operating with these laws of nature, our evolution becomes smoother and faster. There are three Divine Laws:
1. Laws of evolution
2. Law of Reincarnation
3. Law of Karma.
According to the first main law, everything, even what we call inanimate, evolves to perfection. In evolution, the life passes from mineral kingdom to vegetable, then to animal and then to Human Kingdom.
The goal of every human being is to reach perfection after which he/she does not have to take any more births. We can reach this stage by going through several lives, and getting experiences through our various bodies and developing the virtues or characteristics needed to be perfect. On this path of evolution, some go faster as they take their lives in their hands and train themselves to go on this spiritual path by understanding the laws of Nature and living them; i.e. putting them into practical life, without having any orthodox belief in any religion.
Evolution:
I died as mineral and became a plant
I died as a plant and rose to animal
I died an animal and I was man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Jalaluddin Rumi (Sufism)
Cheer one sad heart;
Thy loving deed will be More than a thousand temples raised by thee.
RUMI -( Sufi Saint)
Prayer:
Lord,
Make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light and
Where there is sadness; joy.
Divine Master,
Grant that I may
Seek not so much to be consoled but to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned; and
It is in dying that we are born to eternal Life.
St. Francs Of Asisi
Members of the Society are free to follow any religion or none. A member becomes a Theosophist by understanding Theosophy and living it. Having a diploma of membership does not necessarily make one a Theosophist. The main purpose of The Theosophical Society is to propagate the idea of practical brotherhood.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, please come and join us to further this worthy cause to know more about Theosophy. Nobody has to leave their religion. Each person can follow his or her own religion. I am sure by studying Theosophy you can be more religious in your own belief.
J.J. Amin
At this moment in your lives, you are probably more involved in advancing your careers, or being involved in that amazing party or eating the gourmet meal at the latest restaurant-craze, or attending that earth shattering music concert or…or…or. We were also in that mode in our younger days(believe it or not!). So all this spiritual acquisition might not seem inviting. My advise would be, ‘Don’t wait for later, delve into this world now, you will be more mindful of your existence and perhaps even enjoy the mundane experiences more!’ When Daddaji was heavily involved in the Theosophical Society, I was too busy advancing my career and juggling life raising three children.
My only involvement was taking Ba and Daddaji to their monthly local lodge meetings in Wembley or the monthly Headquarter meetings in central London. You too might remember those trips as you had to be dragged to accompany us on those occasions. Then there were the lunches I was involved in preparing when the meetings were held at our house. The other rituals of the Theosophical Society were our regular mantra chanting, especially the Gayatri Mantra and the tradition of the Bharat Samaj Puja(prayer) that was frequently carried out at home. Both the Gayatri Mantra and the Bharat Samaj Puja are a strong part of the Theosophy ethos as they are deemed to be Universal Prayers suitable for any religion.
To jog your memory, remember our attempt to visit the Society International Headquarter in Chennai in December of 2004? This was your first visit to India, Daddaji had passed away over 2 years prior to our visit and we thought it would be ideal for you to visit the Adyar complex. Dad had already made an appointment for the visit and we had just flown in from Mumbai that morning. We taxied to the front gates only to be denied the visit! Shock, horror and huge disappointment. We only realised the true extent of this situation on our journey back to the hotel. Chennai, and therefore the suburb of Adyar, stands on the east coast of India and all of that region had been hard hit by the Tsunami disaster earlier that day. All while we were flying in from Mumbai!
Having seen the Society Headquarters in London, I was very excited to stumble upon the Mumbai headquarters last December. We were walking to the Mumbai Opera House(an amazing venue) and just happened to discover Blavatsky Lodge, the Mumbai lodge of the Theosophical Society. Much to Dad’s surprise I made a lot of fuss over this discovery. Such an ornate structure.
Mumbai Lodge 
Blavatsky Lodge Mumbai
A friend of mine, who is a keen follower of the ISKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, known also as the Hare Krishnas) movement, advised me to take up religion when we first moved to Switzerland, as now ‘I had more time to find my spiritual self!’ I did have more time, as I was not running a business but I was still in charge of a household with three energetic children! I did not end up searching for my spiritual self then, but perhaps I could delve into the wisdom of the Theosophical Society now. We have a library full of publishing on this subject.
As you can see, this is a very deep and interesting topic but I will end my preaching here and allow you to discover more corners of the Theosophical Wisdom. I do hope you can find time to read more on this subject. If you do, my question to you would be, ‘Is the Supreme Creator responsible for the Covid-19 outbreak?’
I will end here with images of Daddaji in my head and thanking the Supreme Creator for allowing our paths to cross.
With all my love, hugs and kisses,
Vishfully yours
Mum
Nice you thought
Lovely letter mum. It seems at times like these one needs to look for some spiritual guidance to withstand the horrors of our world. I’m not particularly a fan of any organised religion so have never been interested in being a person of faith. But this has always resonated with me, so Thanks for reminding me of this. Feel like it could be an avenue to further spiritual guidance in the future.
Great post, brings back a lot of childhood memories for me!
I feel l know the basic principles of Theosophy without ever being a member! As children we were constantly exposed to these meetings and it is amazing how much you subconsciously absorb and retain of what is happening around you without actively participating!
My aim has always been to read some of the books in Dad’s collection! That day has not come yet but it will!
Great letter mummy, thank you! I do have fond memories of spending the day in central London wondering down Oxford street while ba and dadaji went to their theosophical society meetings. I didn’t appreciate the wisdom and meaning of it all back then, but l do now. If only more people bought into this philosophy and approached religious, racial and other differences with acceptance and appreciation rather than hate. Maybe theosophy will grow in awareness and popularity after the demonstrations happening around the world right now…here’s to hoping.
– Anjli