Adyar:- The Voice of Stagnation

The Future? of the Adyar Theosophical Society

Adyar

The Voice of Stagnation

Dave Marsland

As a vehicle for promoting Theosophy, it has been clear

for decades that the Adyar Theosophical Society in its

current form is not fit for purpose.

The Fall of Adyar

Adyar says nothing to us ordinary folk

Dismisses the members as if they’re a joke

Keeps everything secret and says not a word

With a self importance that is frankly absurd

There’s plenty of international swanning about

And mutual appreciation while time’s running out

They will be astounded to learn one sunny day

That the last of their members has just walked away

So the race is on, although many of the members have still to hear who the candidates are and will only be informed at the pleasure of the national leaderships. The real issue in the election is not of course the leadership of the Theosophical Society but the control of the Adyar Headquarters and its administration which operates against a background of secrecy, unaccountability and anonymity. This issue has been simmering for decades but has been kept quiet by an Adyar inner circle who protect their position and collaborators in the national section leaderships who creep to them. Even within the Indian Section itself, concerns over the control of the Adyar Headquarters are now being raised.

Have the elite nominated candidates of the elite for the elite? It may not matter as the current form of the Adyar Theosophical Society may be finished anyway as members continue to walk out. The two presidential candidates are little known outside the international Theosophical elite and their own countries, and if either has raised the subject of declining membership or communication with the membership then it has only been within the elite inner circle. The leadership has always appeared to regard any concept of membership involvement as subversive and a threat to its power, and genteel self image. The recent reference to the membership as BALLAST confirms not only the leadership’s indifference but also indicates, as the statement comes so close to the presidential candidate announcement, that those candidates may well have been chosen because they believe in keeping the members in their place. In this case, they will of course be a bit more diplomatic about it than calling the members ballast.

Rather than ignoring a decline in membership that will eventually prove fatal, the

leadership could have thrown open the subject to members for debate and suggestions.

The ruling elite would rather let the Theosophical Society die out than

involve the members.

A Theosophical Society with a remote, secretive and self referential leadership combined with a falling membership fails to meet the challenge of the modern era and Theosophy will soon be moving forward without it. This leadership election, with its secrecy and stodgy procedure, simply highlights 80 years of stagnation and it is yet to be seen if there is a radical agenda for change or even an agenda for change.

If any change was on the way from the top then we would probably have heard about it long before now and there may therefore be nothing better on offer than further stagnation leading to extinction.

Certainly the need for the Adyar Headquarters or even any international headquarters is being questioned. But need it stop there? Can the Society dispense with not only an international headquarters but also with an international hierarchy. After all, only representatives of twenty out of about sixty countries bothered to show up at the 2013 Adyar International Convention, so the winding down process must already be well under way with sections allocating resources elsewhere. It is now fair to ask just many sections outside India remain in the Adyar supporters club.

The majority of members worldwide have access to the internet.

Lodges and National Sections could relay Adyar news on a regular basis

to those who don’t. The Adyar elite feel that the concept of communicating

directly with members is threatening and would open up areas of

debate that they want to keep closed.

Alternative organisational models may have to be considered soon anyway as membership falls and the Adyar Theosophical Society stares extinction in the face. The existing leadership would have done something to reverse the decline if they had the will to do so. Rather than creating a thriving inclusive global society they have preferred to create an exclusive club, resisting new ideas, riddled with nepotism and a hereditary tradition, and able to promote only their own interests rather than Theosophy. There is no point in looking to a leadership that has failed to act since the 1930s and sections must look to themselves to remedy the situation at local level.

Local initiative must by implication involve the general membership as the top down Adyar model never has. Energy would be directed where it is most needed by people on the spot and not drained by a moribund centralised hierarchical system that has never taken the membership seriously. This need not preclude international events but these would take place on a co-operation basis between alliances of independent Theosophical groups. Having dispensed with a central authority and international hierarchy, members would feel ownership of the organisation which was really theirs in the first place.

While the Society still exists as a single entity, it may yet salvage something from nothing with this election. For those not happy to vote for the status quo by voting for either candidate, it would not be too much trouble to add another option to the ballot paper in the form of a question relating to the separation of their own section from Adyar. This need not affect the election of one of the candidates but it would encourage both candidates to present realistic proposals for reforming and reviving the Adyar Theosophical Society.