Theos-Talk Archives (March 2011 Message tt00069)

Update on GC Meeting

It is nearly three months since the last General Council Meeting of the
Theosophical Society. In 2009 meeting, many of the Secretaries who opposed
the sitting president did not attend the meeting. May be it was good and TS
funds were saved because it is not cheap to fly to India and back. On the
other hand, may be it did not help TS either. TS leaders world wide could
have used the opportunity to reconcile themselves with the finality of the
Election and think and plan about how to move the theosophical movement into
the future because the membership trend outside India is in a very pitiful
state. For example, the membership count in the USA, which has the largest
Section was 8,000 in 1920 and is dwindling to 4,000 in spite of the many
dedicated scholars and pundits in leadership roles for last couple of
decades and the decline was very marked in the last two decades and I do not
have to remind who were the leaders at the helm of the affairs in the USA.

In the last meeting held in December 2010, many of the Section leaders who
tried to defeat the sitting International President in 2008 were present. Of
course, the moneys from the Section treasury paid for the travel. There was
silence before the meeting; no one talked about the Agenda; more secret than
the state secrets of countries! After spending all the travel money of the
TS, there is silence after the meeting. No comment or word as to what were
discussed and what decisions taken and how these are directly related to
furthering the mission of the TS. Continued passivity of section membership
and their silence seems to have encouraged the leaders to keep the
membership in total darkness about the affairs of the General Council. Who
benefits from the silence? The GC members and not the general section
membership with whose money they made the trip to India.

I was reading the 100 year history of TS in America and was amazed at two
key facts. In 1920s, the membership was around 8,000 compared to 3,500 now.
Secondly, in 1920s, there were two groups which were very active in shaping
the future of the TS in America. While some many argue that this division is
not good for the TS, one forgets that the membership were very committed and
passionate about TS and theosophy and that was why they were very active.
Such dynamism of the membership made the leaders responsive to include the
membership in the matters of spreading theosophy and expanding membership.

It is a pity that in spite of frequent calls for financial support from the
Section, in spite of millions of dollars in the treasury, keeping the
membership in total darkness speaks more about the leadership and less about
the membership.

Until the membership in energized into action, all we can expect is
continued decline in the membership and this does not forebode good for
future growth in the USA.

While this may be a call in the wild, let us all hope and pray for better
days in the future.

MKR


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