Theos-Talk Archives (May 2009 Message tt00024)

I think it is appropriate to recount the present situation.

1. Radha Burnier was elected in the world-wide election and has assumed the
office. She is our President for the next seven years. How long she will be
surviving in this life is something the Higher Powers are going to decide.

2. To the best of our knowledge, she is discharging her duties very well.
Last week I received a first hand report from a Indian friend of mine who is
highly trustworthy, that she was in Kolkata and addressed the meetings there
for three days and is on her way to Gujerat state to participate in meetings
there. This is in spite of the well known severe summer heat of Kolkata and
the heat in Gujerat is no different.
3. Many members in Indian Section are deeply upset with the allegations
relating to the voting procedure and when openly challenged by the Section
leaders, was met with silence, which did not improve the situation.

4. Disenfranchisement is a very sensitive issue in any democratic setup. The
timing of the move, soon after the election, and players behind the move,
and the speed with which it was intended to be approved and implemented,
raised serious questions about the motivations and objectives. The
disenfranchisement move was the most unwise and unjustifiable action and
when it came out, none behind it, immediately disassociated themselves and
put out the membership uproar in a simple forthright manner. Inaction in
this case resulted in a lot of damage.

5. Items 3 and 4, have caused most long-term damage and members around the
world are not going to forget about them.

6. Many members feel that important issues such as poor membership
recruitment and retention outside India have been totally ignored by the
leaders as we have seen from what was accomplished in the GC meeting. This
is especially so when the situation in some countries is very critical in
that no new lodge has been chartered in last 50 years.

7. TS was setup such that each Section and each Lodge is fully autonomous
and its survival and growth world-wide is due to the wisdom behind such a
setup. (Mind you, the Inner Founders were in close contact with HSO&HPB in
guiding the formation of the TS and some credit should be given to Their
wisdom.) It is also to be noted that the GC has no power to remove any
General Secretary, guaranteeing the autonomy. So the growth and survival of
the sections and lodges are entirely dependent on the activities in the
Sections and Lodges and not any rules and regulations or the actions of the
President who gets involved only when there are disputes between Sections.
8. Inordinate attention is being directed to tweaking the rules and
regulations and no one has demonstrated how they will translate into
membership recruitment and retention especially in the Western Countries
where the situation is bad and need quick action by the Section leaders.
9. Recent GC meeting did not help to improve the situation. The highly
divided votes in most of the appointments is a clear indication of a group
of members opposing all well-qualified candidates who are all long time well
regarded members of the TS. This reflected badly on this group of GC
members, who are suspected to be the same ones who wanted to defeat Radha
Burnier.
10. Many of the issues and problems, in my opinion, could have been avoided
if there was transparency in all actions. Leaders have been thriving on
non-transparency and everyday new questions are going to be asked because
past actions have lowered the trust members have in their leaders. Leaders
need to determine on some bold actions to restore the trust of the members
in their leaders.
11. The ball is in the court of the leaders. My prayer is they will find
some quick dramatic course of action to normalize the situation.


Finally I need to say something about myself. I am just an ordinary TS
member and I live in San Antonio, Texas. While I am long-time member, I have
not held any office in the Administration in the USA or Adyar in the past
and nor am I planning to hold any in the future.

Also, I work for myself and my lively hood is not dependent on TS or any TS
member and as such I am able to keep my independence and be my own man. So
when I see any events or facts affecting TS, I do not want to be silent and
I make the best judgement call, and speak my mind openly in the hope that it
would help TS and Theosophy. Future will decide if any of my efforts has
helped TS and Theosophy.

Finally, but for this forum â unmoderated theos-talk setup by Eldon Tucker,
we will not be exchanging this communication and my gratitude is due to him
and many other participants who have helped discuss and debate issues
affecting TS and theosophy so that we can help TS and theosophy.

MKR

There is no religion higher than Truth




On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Govert Schuller <schuller@alpheus.org>wrote:

>
>
> Dear MKR and all others concerned,
>
> For the sake of fairness and balance I will share my thoughts below on the
> health issue of PTS Radha Burnier. I lifted it from a longer e-mail in draft
> with my thoughts on all the different issues which are now in the open and
> have to be addressed from many angles by many critical thinkers.
>
> Burnier's health was and is still problematic, triple health certificates
> notwithstanding. The questions to be asked were: a) was it medically
> advisable for her to take on the PTS position for another 7 years in view of
> her age and her stroke? b) Is it possible that medical examiners were not
> aware of allegedly observed dysfunctions? Is it possible that those who
> reported the dysfunctions are now silent to not aggravate the already tense
> situation or fear repercusions? I wish they'd come forward, but in the
> absence of any proof that these observations were concocted with malice I
> have to defend their good faith in being concerned about the functioning of
> the TS.
>
> How they went about sharing these concerns about Radha's health have to be
> scrutinized and, if found wanting from a procedural perspective, that has to
> be balanced with their perception of the gravity of the situation with the
> possible conclusion that they should be accorded the moral and legal
> protection which comes with whistle-blower status. (The same logic would
> also be applicable in the case of the leaking of the reform-proposals and
> therefore Pedro Oliveira should be accorded similar status and protection.
> Ironically his leaking is of course also open to be interpreted as the
> outcome of a concerted plan to mount a counter-offensive against the
> reform-group with MKR and Mr. Fisher as point men. [And your denial will be
> interpreted as affirmation. Ah, let some healthy paranoia reign!]).
>
> I'm sure that some members (like me) saw the health issue as an unfortunate
> additional reason to replace Radha, but to read into the facts as far as we
> know them a secret, concerted effort to get Algeo into office is stretching
> it a little too far, even borders on slander and therefore not helpful in
> bringing the issue to resolution. Where is the proof (and I mean actual
> documentary proof, not plausible deductions)?
>
> On the other hand, those who have problems with Radha's governing style,
> decisions and persona and like to have her replaced by someone more of their
> liking, they should have been more open and communicative with their
> perceptions. Some of us did (including myself in: The State of the TS
> (Adyar) in 2008: A Psycho-esoteric Interpretation). Others didn't and are
> now perceived as hiding behind the health issue or, even worse, engineering
> a coup. This could have been prevented by a more open opposition with openly
> discussed policy alternatives. Too bad we have not developed such political
> habits yet. It's high time.
>
> In short, Radha's health issue was important enough to have the membership
> informed about and all actions and non-actions should be evaluated in that
> light. But the issue should not have been used to indirectly express
> exisiting dissatisfaction with her leadership, though all actions and
> non-actions should be evaluated in the light of the absence of a more mature
> organizational culture in matters of internal policies and policy
> differences. In other words, if there is no genuine openness, politics go
> underground, where it festers, and when it comes above ground, it stinks and
> its malodour now suffuses most of the TS and it's hard to see what actions
> should be taken to clean it up.
>
> May we all pas our tests
>
> Govert
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: MKR
> To: M K Ramadoss ; theos-talk@yahoogroups.com<theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com>; theos-l
> Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 1:20 PM
> Subject: Theos-World KEY TO CURRENT CRITICAL SITUATION IN TS
>
> KEY TO CURRENT CRITICAL SITUATION IN TS
>
> Most members world-wide have High School education or less, not degree
> holders, not PhDs, not scholars. Hence this is an attempt to present the
> current critical situation in TS in very simple language so that everyone
> can clearly understand it.
>
> +++++++
>
> International President Election and Aftermath
>
> Who are the candidates: Radha Burnier & John Algeo
>
> How did they become candidates?
>
> Members of General Council nominated them.
>
> Who elects the President?
>
> Members world-wide.
>
> When and how the members knew about the candidates?
>
> Only when they received their ballots.
>
> Was there any information about the fitness of the candidates?
>
> Yes. Members in several countries received letters from their leaders that
> Radha Burnier is both mentally and physically sick.
>
> Why was this information sent to members?
>
> To influence members to defeat Radha Burnier.
>
> Was this health information true?
>
> No. It was not.
>
> How do you know that?
>
> Three independent medical doctors from two continents certified that she is
> fit, both mentally and physically. One of the doctors is the head of TS in
> a
> European Country and a long time dedicated theosophist.
>
> Did the leaders who distributed the early incorrect information to members,
> distribute the above objective correct information to members to correct
> the
> erroneous information?
>
> NO.
>
> Why?
>
> All they wanted was to defeat Radha Burnier.
>
> Why is correct information important?
>
> Prime object of TS is Brotherhood. Motto of TS is - There is No Religion
> Higher than Truth.
>
> Brothers and sisters should not be mislead by other brothers, especially
> the
> leaders.
>
> How does this affect TS and theosophy?
>
> Many members now have a very low level of trust in their leaders,
> especially
> outside India. This makes them impossible to effectively function as
> leaders.
>
> Who was elected in the election?
>
> Radha Burnier, with a wide margin.
>
> After the election did everyone acclaim her win and join her in working to
> help TS to broadcast theosophy?
>
> Not that we have seen.
>
> Why?
>
> There were allegations that Indian Section did not conduct the voting
> properly.
>
> How did the Indian Section respond to this?
>
> The section questioned the allegations and wanted proof.
>
> What was the reply?
>
> Silence from allegers.
>
> Did this end all election related issues?
>
> No
>
> Why do you say this?
>
> Soon after the election, four members of the General Council made an
> attempt
> for GC to seize control of the election of the president.
>
> Tell me more about it. It gets interesting.
>
> An agenda item was sent to the GC to disenfranchise all the members
> world-wide and the president to be elected (appointed) by GC members. It
> was
> to be considered in December meeting, approved and quickly implemented. GC
> members now have the monopoly to nominate president candidates and this
> would have made them appoint the president, thus control the president.
>
> Looks like a very clever and smart move.
>
> How did members find out about it?
>
> Through Internet.
>
> Why through Internet?
>
> The move was super secret. It was so secret that even long-time members and
> workers at Olcott and other National and International Headquarters did not
> know about it. They all learnt about it from Internet. When this was
> discovered, it was publicized on Internet since Internet is outside the
> control of TS.
>
> What was the reaction of members?
>
> Shock and dismay. They could not believe what their leaders are upto.
>
> Why do they do it?
>
> Just to seize power through backdoor after their candidate was badly
> defeated in the election.
>
> Was this disenfranchisement approved in the GC meeting?
>
> No. It did not come up.
>
> How often GC meet?
>
> Once a year.
>
> How open are the GC meeting agenda and its proceedings?
>
> Super secret.
>
> Is TS a secret society?
>
> No
>
> Why then is the secrecy?
>
> No body knows. Needs to ask our elected leaders.
>
> Does the secrecy help?
>
> Yes, surely. It helps the GC members to keep secret from the membership,
> the
> issues, deliberations, views and voting of individual GC members.
>
> Has any attempt been made by GC members to make the agenda and proceedings
> transparent?
>
> Not that we know of.
>
> Were any important matters transacted in the last meeting?
>
> Nothing other than appointment of VP and GC members.
>
> Anything significant about these appointments?
>
> Yes. There was a significant block of GC members who opposed all the
> appointments even though all the nominees are experienced, exceptional,
> long
> term dedicated, very knowledgeable highly regarded members.
>
> Do you know who were the members of this block?
>
> No. It should be the same members who wanted to defeat Radha Burnier.
>
> Is this kind of deep division in the GC voting normal?
>
> Not at all. Usually voting is unanimous.
>
> Why is the deep division important?
>
> It shows a determined group trying to oppose every nomination and possibly
> obstruct the administration.
>
> How does it affect TS and theosophy?
>
> This division can only hurt the work of TS and theosophy.
>
> Why?
>
> Anything on Internet is like Akashic records. It is archived for ever.
> Anyone can search for them.
>
> How does the archived information affect TS and theosophy?
>
> Anyone newly interested theosophy and TS will find all the past info and
> would be confused and wonder what kind of things go on in the TS. Do
> leaders
> practice what they preach or there is a serious disconnect between the
> object of TS and the motto of TS and what they practice?
>
> Has any of the present, past leaders and scholars, theosophical writers,
> lecturers, aspiring chelas who have witnessed all of the above, have come
> out openly to improve the above situation?
>
> No. Almost all of them are standing silent in the sidelines.
>
> Why?
>
> A $64,000 question. May be the fear of being marginalised by the elected
> leaders.
>
> If the present condition continues, what is likely to happen?
>
> Membership in India will continue to grow as it has been in the past.
> Membership outside India will be going down like it has happened in the
> past. We may even see Sections disappearing.
>
> What can an ordinary member do to help?
>
> Talk to other members and your leaders. Tell them about the serious
> situation. If need be, get new leaders who are committed to theosophy and
> TS
> and interested in unification.
>
> Is this document copyrighted?
>
> No. You can freely copy and distribute to anyone in any medium. When
> interests of TS and theosophy are involved, copyrighting is simply silly
> and
> childish.
>
> M K Ramadoss
>
> There is No Religion Higher Than Truth
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>  
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]