THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY - MODERN HISTORY
News: Theosophical
Society’s international convention to start from December 31
What's in the news?
● The
147th international convention of the
Theosophical Society will be held between December 31 and January 4 at its
headquarters in Adyar.
● Various
programmes, including lectures and concerts, have been scheduled as part of the
event.
Theosophical Society:
● The
Theosophical Society was founded by
Westerners who drew inspiration from Indian thought and culture.
● Madame H.P. Blavatsky
(1831-1891) of Russo-German birth laid the foundation of the movement in the United States in 1875.
● Later Colonel M.S. Olcott
(1832-1907) of the U.S. Army joined her. In 1882 they shifted their headquarters to India at Adyar, an outskirt
of Madras.
Features:
● The
members of this society believe that a special
relationship can be established between a person's soul and God by contemplation,
prayer, revelation etc.
● The
Society accepts the Hindu beliefs in
reincarnation, karma and draws inspiration from the philosophy of the
Upanishads and Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta school of thought.
● The
Indian work was, first of all, took up the revival, strengthening and uplifting
of the ancient religion - Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and in Ceylon and Burma,
Buddhism.
● It
aims to work for the universal
brotherhood of humanity without distinction race, creed, sex, caste or
color.
● The
Society also seeks to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers
latent in man.
● The
Theosophical Movement came to be allied with Hindu Renaissance.
Mrs. Annie Besant (1847-1933) and Theosophical
Society:
● The
growth of the Theosophist Movement as a force in Indian history has been to a
great extent with the election of Mrs.
Annie Besant as its President after the death of Olcott in 1907.
○ Early
in her life Mrs. Besant lost all faith in Christianity, divorced her husband,
an Anglican clergyman, and came in contact with theosophy (1882).
○ In
1889, she formally joined the theosophical Society.
● Mrs.
Besant was well acquainted with Indian thought and culture and her approach was
Vedantic as is very evident from her translation
of the Bhagavad Gita.
● Madame
Blavatsky's main emphasis had been on the occult rather than spiritualism.
● Mrs.
Besant found a bridge between matter and mind.
● Gradually
Mrs. Besant turned a Hindu, not only in her views but also in her dress, food,
company and social manners.
● In
India, under her guidance, Theosophy became a movement of Hindu Revival.
Talking of the Indian problem, Annie Besant once said: "The Indian work is
first of all, the revival, strengthening and uplifting of the ancient
religions. This has brought with it a new self-respect, a pride in the past, a
belief in the future, and as an inevitable result, a great wave of patriotic
life, the beginning of the rebuilding of a nation."