THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Evening Star, Issue 22953, 10 May 1938, Page 2

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

SERVICE OR REMEMBRANCE On Sunday, White Lotus Day, a special service of remembrance was held in the Theosophical Hall. , Speaking on Madame Blavatsky, Mrs A. J. Pollard said that this woman’s life showed the presence of an indomitable w;ill and a somewhat fiery temper, which' often led her into mischief as a child, but which in adolescence she had been able to control, the will being used to surmount the almost insuperable .obstacles encountered in the materialistic world of her day. From childhood she had been endowed with psychic, powers, and unusual phenomena took ; place in her presence. In later life she had been trained to control these occult powers, and her literary abilities had found expression in the writing of ‘The Secret Doctrine.’ Mrs Pollard said the lotus flower was used by . Eastern sages as a symbol of the cosmos* each petal representing a planet opening out towards the golden centre, the sun. ‘ May 8 w'as the day on which Madame Blavatsky had died, and she had expressed a wish that on that day verses from the ‘ Bhagavad Gita,’ ‘ Voice of the Silence,’ and * Light of Asia * should be read. Miss C. Dalziel spoke of the co-founder with Madame Blavatsky, ’ Colonel Henry Steel Olcoti, at one time a lawyer, then officer in the great Civil War of America, _ a man whose integrity and conscientious -Work in. the cleaning up of graft - and corruption in the army and navy Won thd admiration of State officials. As a journalist he was sent to report on the phenomena taking place m the Eddy homestead, and there he. met Madame Blavatsky, with whom he_ later worked to organise the Theosophical Society, which was founded in 1875. His work took him to India, where he quickly adapted himself to the various sects, accomplishing the difficult feat of uniting the Northern and Southern Buddhists (equivalent to a unison of the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches). He also established schools, which he told the people were more necessary ihan temples, and saw that special schools were opened to teach the outcast pariah children. Unfortunately, he was maligned by some missionaries, as he saw that the native religion of the people was of greater value to them than a somewhat distorted Christianity. Mrs E. Macdonald roughly traced the life of Dr Annie Besant, showing how her gifts were used, even from childhood, in service to the world. Underlying the teachings of Dr Besant was always the urge that man should seek God within if he would understand the divine in all creatures. Songs were rendered by Miss A. Romeril and Mr F. C. Cooper.