The Future? of the Adyar Theosophical Society

President of Nothing

Membership Decline:- The Elephant in the Room

By

Dave Marsland

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some national secretaries/presidents who will be relieved if there is no open election for the next Adyar Theosophical Society International President as they would not then have to reveal how few paid up members they actually have. A straight appointment of the new president by the Theosophical Society ruling elite would conceal the level of worldwide and individual national memberships and thus avoid revealing how many Presidents of Nothing are out there. The Indian membership still holds up but it may be that the International President is virtually President of Nothing outside India.

 

National and international leadership have never seriously tackled the membership issue as an influx of large numbers of new members would usher in new ideas and challenges to the ancient ways of doing things. A small membership given little or no information has been much less of a threat but now information that would normally have been kept from the wider membership often leaks out via the internet along with discussion and voices of dissent. Ever greater secrecy and exclusion appears to be the management response.

 

This failure of the Adyar leadership and General Council to communicate with the membership stands in stark contrast to the Theosophical Order of Service who issue regular bulletins and comprehensive newsletters to Theosophists throughout the world. The Theosophical Order of Service organisers also make themselves known to members and can be contacted directly. The identity of General Council members, on the other hand, is not generally known outside the General Council. A future Theosophical movement based on the remnants of the Adyar Theosophical Society may look to the Theosophical Order of Service as an organisational and administrative model.

 

A lack of an election would allow the Theosophical Society aristocracy to continue for a while, as they have done for decades, in their niches as international spiritually sophisticated gentry. The subscription paying members aren't in the game and are really just fodder to support the outdated hierarchical structure. The attempt to disenfranchise the members in 2008 clearly shows the contempt some elements of the Theosophical Society elite have for the grass roots and there is no guarantee that this stunt will not be tried again. It must be obvious to many that the attitude of an elite inner circle has driven membership down and is keeping it down. I believe this has been the situation since the 1930s.

 

 

What is the current level of international membership? How long will it be before it falls below the level required to support the Society structure at international level and the Society then reforms itself by default? Some comfortable grandees may feel threatened here but it is likely that most national societies could continue without an international hierarchy or any central authority in Adyar. Liberated from the burden of supporting a hierarchy that is mostly out of touch with membership and an overseas centre that gives nothing in return, many societies or groups would be able to flourish to the benefit of their members.

 

Sadly, it is unlikely that even with reform, the Adyar Theosophical Society can remain a unified body and it will probably break up into smaller groups at both national and international level. Theosophy will however find a new energy and dynamic and will move forward in the form of independent bodies who run their own show with just a few groups harking back to the increasingly remote days of Adyar.

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Marsland

 

Posted December 9th 2013

 

Dave’s Theosophy News Board

 

Contact Dave Marsland

 

 

 

 

Theosophical Society Issues

 

 

 

The Tekels Park Family Eviction

A family has been evicted from their home at Tekels Park because

a Tekels Park Estate Limited director wanted to live in their house.

 

 

 

The Future ? of

The Adyar Theosophical Society

 

 

Will there be an Adyar Free Future?

 

 

Adyar’s Slightly International Convention

 

 

Ballast

The True Status of the

Adyar Theosophical Society Members

 

 

Open Election?

How Inconvenient

 

 

Adyar

The Voice of Stagnation

 

 

Tekels Park & Dead Animals

 

 

An Extra Box on the Ballot Paper

Suggestion for the 2014 Adyar Theosophical Society

International Presidential Election

 

 

A Society Without Members

 

 

Is the 2014 Adyar Presidential Election Invalid?

 

 

Radha Burnier Employment Services

Radha Burnier’s policy of allocating jobs to members of her own

family turned the Adyar Headquarters into the family firm.

How many suitable applicants were discounted so that

Radha Burnier could give a job to a family member?

 

 

Don’t Just Do Nothing

Stand There

Despite decades of decline and stagnation leading the

Adyar Theosophical Society to the verge of evaporation

or disintegration, the leadership have so far shown no

sign of coming up with a strategy for ensuring the

continuation of the Society as a unified body.

 

 

Adyar, the Sole Purpose of Adyar

 

 

Western President

Or

They’ll Knock Adyar Down?

 

 

Save Radha’s House

Revealing that the Adyar elite’s stately home is under threat

of compulsory land purchase and can be saved by convincing the

authorities that it is in fact an international headquarters (if true)

may have given the Theosophical Society members a brilliant

opportunity to get Adyar off their backs.

If not true then it looks like blackmail

 

 

Ignore the Voters

and Get Elected

An overview of the Adyar Theosophical Society

Presidential Election System

 

 

What an Insult to Members

Expecting members to vote for candidates while withholding

highly relevant information indicates an utter contempt by

the leadership for the general membership

 

 

Film of the Tekels Park Deer

Here is a link to a short film of the Tekels Park Deer

posted by a Camberley resident.

Everyone opposed to the killing of the Tekels Park animals

will want to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fkfw8amMps

 

 

International Election Protocol

This is only an idea for consideration but if the Theosophical elite

continue to treat the members with the current levels of indifference and

contempt for the duration of this election then the Adyar Theosophical

Society will be an empty shell by the time it is completed.

 

 

The Secrecy

The secrecy with which the Adyar Theosophical Society

leadership conducts the Society’s affairs is legendary.

Is this secrecy for its own sake or are some serious

issues being suppressed and kept beyond discussion?

 

 

Banging the Drum for Theosophy

Looking forward to the post Adyar era

 

 

Burnier Town Hall

Family control of Adyar has reduced the members

of the General Council to the status of town hall officials.

 

 

The Great Election

Rip-Off

Silence by elected management cheats

the members out of participating in the

running of their own organisation

 

 

Keeping the International Headquarters at Adyar

It may not be that easy

 

 

 

ABOLISH

The International President

ABOLISH

The General Council

An idea for consideration

 

 

What is Behind the

Attitude

of the

Theosophical Elite?

The Adyar Theosophical Society ruling elite denies

members the right to be consulted on issues and the

ability to convey their views directly to the leadership.

Why does the leadership of an organisation

treat its members like this in the modern era?

 

 

Towards a New Model for Theosophy

The Adyar Theosophical Society Leadership

now isolates itself within a cult of superiority

while the Society evaporates around it.

A Theosophical Society can survive but not

in the current format.

 

 

Choose a Stooge

When the Issues are Huge

Is this what is on offer to the Adyar Theosophical

Society's paying members from a ruling elite

that has a different agenda from that of the Society?

 

 

SHUT UP & VOTE

This election is really inconvenient for the leadership, isn’t it?

Why are the members being hustled into blind voting?

What are the leadership’s post-election plans?

 

 

Members No Longer Members

of their Own Society

An inter-regnum in the presidency, during which

matters are discussed, is the only course of action

with a chance of saving the Adyar Theosophical

Society as a unified body.

 

 

Now Here’s Something Worth

Keeping Quiet About

Are there plans to sell Adyar without

consulting the members?

 

 

Is There Hidden

Bad News?

A leadership shutdown combined with a total

news blackout suggests a serious hidden issue

and an intense fear of revealing it.

 

 

Control Adyar or

You Control Nothing

Is the self imposed isolation of the General Council effectively

a mass resignation as they have found, after the death of

Radha Burnier, that establishing control of Adyar is too difficult?

 

 

A Manifesto

Well Done! CVK Maithreya

 

 

Elected Representation

Not Representing

Silence is Killing the Adyar Theosophical Society.

The presidential candidates are as much victims of the

General Council’s silence rule as are the members.

The silence rule also seeks to establish General Council

control over the future president.

 

 

Make Way for the Messiahs

Have the Esoteric Section and the

General Council merged into one body?

 

 

Does Silence Mean

Game Over

for the Adyar Theosophical Society?

CVK Maithreya presented plans for the future, in

defiance of General Council instructions.

Does suppression of discussion mean that the

Adyar Theosophical Society doesn’t have a future?

 

 

Accountable Leadership Urgently Required

The General Council has abused its power

by putting itself beyond accountability.

A new leadership is needed, and fast.

 

 

Anybody There?

No Information,

Discussion forbidden,

No replies to questions.

Do the members still have a Society?

 

 

Can’t Change

Won’t Change

Those who have kept the Society time warped

in the 1930s now have the task of introducing

reform and they obviously don’t want to do it.

 

 

Beggars at the Door

Left sitting out in the cold and starved of information,

members now realise how the General Council regards them

 

Why not include this picture in any information request to General Council

officers as an indication of how members feel they are being treated.

Or just send the picture anyway.

 

 

From The Top Down

The Adyar Theosophical Society is decades

out of date and desperately in need of reform

starting with getting rid of a leadership that

refuses to be accountable to the members.

 

 

Who Owns Adyar?

 

 

 

The Royal Court of Radha Burnier

 

 

General Council Meeting 2013 Minutes

 

 

Adyar

Theosophical Society

International Rules

 

 

Something Wrong?

Making it a bit obvious aren’t you?

 

 

Publicly Denounced

The Australian Section made a formal complaint to

Radha Burnier about her victimisation of the Australian

General Secretary at the 2011 General Council meeting.

 

 

Disgraceful Treatment of an Adyar Employee

A woman sacked and evicted for complaining.

Given 13 days to get out of her home.

 

 

The Preethi Muthiah Letters

Tell A Very Sad Tale

 

 

Concerns Raised

About General Council Meetings

Looks like there has been some attempt

by a General Council member to promote

reform within the Theosophical Society

 

 

General Council

2012 Meeting Minutes

 

 

New Committee?

Make Your Wife The Chairperson

 

 

Adyar Internal Problems

that the General Council

Should Investigate

 

 

Is Adyar Still The Headquarters?

 

 

Creep On!

General Council

Or why don’t you do something

to recover Adyar for the members?

 

 

Good Campaign Pitch, Mr Singhal

 

 

Adyar Prepares for the Break-Up

 

 

Profile of Adyar

From a Victim

 

 

Adyar Family Appointment

A Job for Your Daughter

 

 

 

 

Another Family Power Appointment

For your Daughter

 

 

Bold Initiative

By Singapore Lodge

 

 

 

 

Triumph of the Weak

Don’t expect the General Council

to do anything if the election is bent

 

 

Adyar Job News

You don’t need a plan

You don’t need a degree

If your name’s Raghavan

It’s job number three

 

 

 

No Stand For Democracy

An appraisal of the General Council’s commitment

to maintaining the Adyar Theosophical Society

as a democratic body

 

 

Bent election?

But Vote Anyway

 

 

A Society Without Leadership

Nobody sees it, Nobody hears from it

Is it hiding somewhere? Does it exist?

 

 

Who will Believe It?

Even if the presidential election is correct and above board,

the confidence in the General Council has fallen so low

that members won’t believe it.

 

 

Supporting Adyar?

Haven’t members been cheated for long enough?

 

 

 

 

 

Long Tradition of

Bullying

at Adyar

Preethi Muthiah has highlighted an endemic problem at Adyar,

which the General Council has ignored for many years.

There are still no plans implement a grievance procedure and

Anti-bullying policy at Adyar.

 

 

Summary Dismissal

Of lady over 70 from her job at Adyar

 

 

True Purpose of the

2014 Election

What the paying members want has little to do with

this election, as the silence and lack of information show.

The real purpose of this election is for the General Council

to deliver the candidate that the Adyar ruling elite wants.

 

 

What Makes this Election Invalid?

 

 

Trouble

After the Election

 

 

Was Your Vote Counted?

Was your vote forwarded to Adyar?

Was the election actually held?

Against a background of silence, a court case and

allegations of irregularities, these are fair questions.

 

 

Not Being at Adyar

Well, it’s much easier than being a real president

 

 

Democracy in the Adyar Theosophical Society

R.I.P.

 

 

11,432 Votes

Is That All?

 

 

No Right To Complain

Well, what can you expect in an organisation where

the leadership regards the membership as ballast

Doubts about the integrity of the election

are left unresolved, rendering the result invalid.

 

 

 

 

President’s Inauguration

A Private Function

Elite Welcome

The Ballast now know their true status

 

 

Pray Silence

While the President Creeps into Office

 

 

It’s Silence as Usual

By the Adyar Theosophical Society ruling elite.

No hurry to prove the election result

But a real hurry to get the president installed

 

 

Who Can Support

The Leadership Now?

 

 

Shut Up & Pay Up

The Adyar Theosophical Society has become

a multi-level marketing operation

 

 

President?

Really?

Doubts about the election result will

make the President’s job impossible.

 

 

Adyar & the US each have

Half a President

 

 

The White Lotus Hi-Jack

President uses White Lotus Day

as a personal platform.

What was the inauguration for?

 

 

Don’t Anybody

Ask Me Anything

That’s the clear message from the

International President to the members.

 

 

 

 

 

Is this the

Great Wheaton Rip-Off?

Questions now arise over allocation of Wheaton

resources by a two job president

 

 

Master of the Small Event

Launches New Presidency

 

 

 

 

The Adyar Payments Scam

 

 

Why Did

The 2014 Election

Go Ahead?

The General Council was confronted with considerable

evidence that the election was bent but just stood there

and let it go ahead.

 

 

The Great Giveaway

What right did the General Council have to give away

control of the Adyar Theosophical Society?

 

 

______________________________

 

 

Links to other News Boards

 

 

The Future of the Adyar Theosophical Society

Institutional Issues

 

 

Theosophy Forum

InvisionFree

 

 

Theosophy Nexus

 

 

www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com

 

 

www.TheosophyOnline.com

 

 

www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com

 

 

Theos-Talk

 

 

Теософическое Сообщество

"Нет религии выше истины!"

The Theosophical Community
"There is no religion higher than truth!"

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

Contact Dave Marsland

 

/another-family-job-at-adyar.htm  /cvk-maithreya-manifesto.htm  /singapore-initiative.htm  /control-adyar-or-control-nothing.htm

/good-reason-for-silence.htm  /triumph-of-the-weak.htm  /preethi-muthiah-adyar-profile.htm  /abolitionofpresident.htm

/lack-of-representation.htm  /carry-on-creeping.htm  /preethi-muthiah-letters.htm  /attitude-of-the-theosophical-elite.htm

/international-rules.htm  /members-disqualified.htm  /does-silence-mean-game-over.htm  /gc-concerns-raised.htm

/make-way-for-the-messiahs.htm  /hidden-bad-news.htm  /something-wrong.htm  /gc-2012-minutes.htm

/adyar-internal-problems.htm  /beggars-at-the-door.htm  /cannot-change-will-not-change.htm  /new-committee-nov-7.htm

/victimisation-of-gc-member.htm  /hey-look-a-job-for-his-daughter.htm  /cvk-maithreya-manifesto.htm

/accountable-leadership-urgently-required.htm