Theos-Talk Archives (August 2009 Message tt00061)

When one is caught doing something which is not good in the public interest,
and one is embarrassed, one becomes irate and complain about secrecy,
confidentiality, privacy, copyright violation etc. It is simply an attempt
to hide an action which does not look good or inappropriate.

All you need to do is to open newspaper or switch on TV or go on the
Internet. The reporters, get their information that the originators do not
want the public to know and want to keep it secret. Such information becomes
news because they serve the public interest and protect democracy and make
public figures accountable for their actions. But for such disclosures, a
lot of harm will result from misguided actions of the leaders. I think the
guiding principle in all these is whether it helps protect the public
welfare or not. Public good should be the guiding principle of any
theosophist whose field of action is the welfare of the humanity.

This brings to mind a very well known incident associated with one of the
most influential Saints of India, Shri Ramanujacharya. His Guru, on his
death bed passed on some secrets and told him these secrets will do a lot of
good for anyone. However, if Ramanujacharya were to disclose to anyone, it
would result in immediate death; this being the normal punishment for
disclosing occult secrets. Ramanujacharya thought long and hard. His mission
was to contribute to the welfare of the public. So he decided that he would
rather die disclosing the secrets than continue to live keeping the secrets.
On an appointed day, he asked all the people in the neighborhood to collect
near the temple entrance and he climbed on the top of the temple Gopuram
(Minaret) and shouted the details of the secret information and he was
expecting to fall deal immediately. But, lo and behold, he did not die.

The moral of the story is that when the welfare of the public is involved,
disclosure of the secrets can and should be done. Not doing it is a serious
failure to do our duty to our fellow men and women.

MKR

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