Theos-Talk Archives (February 2009 Message tt00054)

The lodges are fully autonomous. So are the Sections. International
President comes into the picture only when there is a dispute between
sections. Due to the autonomous setup, the International President cannot
dictate or interfere with the Sections. This is a policy from day 1 of TS
and has not changed. In the circumstances, I am not sure if the President
has much of a "Power" other than being able to influence some members
because of their regard and trust.

Transparency is an issue pre-dates long time before her. I have seen the
lodges were in direct contact with the GC in the early days of TS when the
branches were few. I think the loss of transparency started with Annie
Besant. Some historian may be able to throw more light on this issue.

Talking about transparency, I wonder how much transparency is there in the
sections now. How many sections invite and allow their members to attend the
Board Meetings as observers? I do not know. It would be interesting
information.

While Master KH in his last letter, warned Annie Besant about unnecessary
secrecy delivering a death blow to many organizations, very few really
understood the significance of it till the 2008 crisis. It is now clear that
the synergy between transparency and Internet, is the bulwark against any
clique from within, causing trouble and even possibly severely damaging the
TS and its mission.

In the past, lack of transparency and the organizational leaders'
controlling the lines of communication with the members, helped the leaders
to be in driver's seat and fortunately till 2008, TS did not face any
serious crisis like the Coloumb crisis (where according to C Jinarajadasa,
deceased President, the real instigators were the Dugpas and Shammars).
Transparency and Internet synergy will expose any damaging schemes before
they could cause damage to TS and theosophy.

It is my belief that if transparency (however much it can cause discomfort
to leaders) is not actively implemented soon, events coupled with the power
of Internet (which no one can control) is likely to bring about situations
which will force the hands of the leaders, possibly by revolution among
membership, to implement transparency.

I also beg to differ from the view that the current conditions is entirely
due to the President. The vitality of the organization comes from the
activities of members, lodges and sections. This is due to the autonomy at
all levels of the organization.

The membership growth is an indication of the organization. So the trend of
increased membership in India and decreasing membership outside India need
to be looked into to diagnose the problem and find possible  solutions.
Revitalization of the TS will need the help of each one of us. I hope we
will soon have a better understanding of the things that we all need to do
to move it forward.

MKR







On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 3:56 PM, sampsakuukasjarvi <
sampsakuukasjarvi@yahoo.com> wrote:

I agree with you that Radha has controlled the Society. She has had
too much power and she still has too much. Her long ruling is one
reason why the TS is not in a healthy condition. This situation in
the international administration is like in a former Communist
country: no discussion, no information, no competition, no change. If
you disagree and want to have alternatives, you are called
unbrotherly.


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