Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00837)

Sy:

I saw your message and sorry that you lost the election more likely due to
disenfranchisement of voters by retroactive application of the bylaw
changes. It is appalling that in 1996 this can go on in the USA in TSA whose
motto is "There is No Religion Higher Than Truth". While I can understand
the disappointment of many members, we need to look and see what we can do
as individual members for the cause of Theosophy.

1. The real work of Theosophy is done at the membership level. If you look
at the Maha Chohan's Letter which is considered by many International
Presidents as the Charter for the TS, the prime focus is on ordinary
individuals (not necessarily the intellectuals) who can help the Humanity by
working towards the ideal of Universal Brotherhood - not setting up an
organization to amass land, property, money in the bank, holding impressive
titles as organizational heads and officers etc. I am yet to see any leader
of TS who has not agreed with the above objective as stated in Maha Chohan's
letter.

2. Universal Brotherhood of Humanity comes first before anything or anybody.
So we as individuals at the local level can redouble our efforts in this
direction. The Branches and Study Centers can provide a physical setting for
members to meet and do anything and everything in this direction to the best
of each individual's understanding and ability.

3. As most of the thinking membership may not be looking for spiritual
leadership either from Olcott or Adyar, all activities in furtherance of (2)
above can go ahead with redoubled speed.

4. With the above emphasis on (2) all the resources can be concentrated at
the local level with no problem.

5. In regard to local resources, I would like to draw upon the policy of
Annie Besant when she was President. She made it a point of spending all the
bank balances on December 31 of each year. Her explanation was that money
should not be sitting the bank but used for any Theosophical purpose. It is
only when Branches accumulate money or other assets, all the politics enter
into the picture. So I would clean out all the funds at local level at the
end of each year and start collecting on January 1.

6. As for all the politicking and electioneering that went on, it reflects
only the leadership of TSA and the Organization, even though the leadership
may be patting themselves on their back for a job done well. In the past,
these kinds of activities (disenfrachinsement and electioneering etc.) were
kept under the rug and very few members were aware of any such activities.
Now with Internet communication, things have changed. Now everyone around
the world instantly knows what is going on and many are not going to forget
about them. So it affects only the credibility of current leadership and it
is not going to go away.


7. I am sure there may be other suggestions so that we can concentrate on
what we can do for (2) above and not on personalities or organizational issues.



        ....Ramadoss