An account by our International Secretary, Nancy Secrest, about her visit to Adyar for the December 2014 International Convention and her pleasure in meeting many TOS members there![]() ![]() at the Adyar Theatre during her first visit to AdyarThis was my first visit to Adyar and, of course, my first International Convention. Diana Dunningham Chapotin, former International Secretary of the TOS, and I had both arrived the day before. Diana came, in part, to “shepherd” and introduce me to TOS members attending the convention. This proved a good plan as I probably met more people and learned more about TOS work in their Sections through Diana than I would have on my own. We stayed in Leadbeater Chambers (LBC), a three story building containing thirty guestrooms that caters to theosophists mostly from western countries. The rooms are quite large and high-ceilinged as are many rooms in India because heat rises. Usually four people share a dual room, separated by a curtain, and a bathroom. Despite extremely thin mattresses and cold showers the rooms were pleasant. In years past, non-Indian visitors needed to stock up on bottled water while at Adyar to avoid digestive issues, but no longer. Now, thanks to the TOS in Chennai, LBC and the kitchen and dining room across the road from LBC are equipped with a water system that provides filtered water to residents and guests. The LBC dining room serves a more western diet, and not so spicy Indian food, than the catered restaurant provided at Adyar for the Indian palate. Of course delegates may eat at either place. The LBC dining room is open to the air and quite pleasant with placemats and flowers or growing plants on the tables. The kitchen staff prepares and serves food that is quite tasty and attractively presented – the salad tray was a work of art each day. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() many of the delegates from India during the 139th Convention.The dining hall at Leadbeater Chambers serves western and less spicy Indian food to conference delegates. ![]() ![]() and Convenor of the TOS in Kenya, Mrs. Usha Shah, eating lunch in the dining hall at Leadbeater ChambersI arrived at Adyar Christmas morning, stowed my luggage and wandered over to the dining room wondering if I would find anyone I knew. There sat three people whom I recognised: Mr. Michael Gomes, a fellow American, Ms. Maryse DeCoste, from Canada and Mr. Jacques Mahnich of France. Two new friends were introduced: Jacques’ wife, Anne-Marie and Mr. Robert Béland of Canada. After a bit of catching up and pleasant conversation with everyone, Michael offered to show me around the Adyar estate. He had lived there for several years and knew Adyar quite well. What a gift! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The talks during convention were held at the Adyar Theatre. The theatre is basically a stage open to the air and sky. For the convention a temporary roof is constructed each year, of what looks like reed mats covered by corrugated iron, in case of rain. And rain we had, at least two days of it, one of which was the day of our TOS Session. Near the end of convention the President, Tim Boyd, announced that by next year the Adyar Theatre would have a permanent roof. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() from the Sections given by their General Secretaries.The International Secretary of the Theosophical Order of Service, Nancy Secrest, bringing greetings to the 139th Adyar Convention from the TOS ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Mrs. Nancy Secrest, International Secretary of the Theosophical Order of Service enjoying the receptionLittle girls enjoying the savouries and sweets served at the opening reception of the 139th Annual Convention of the Theosophical Society. ![]() Dr T.K. Nair, National Secretary TOS India, Richard Sell, President of the HPB Branch of the TS in Auckland, New Zealand Second Row: Sabine Van Osta, General Secretary TS Belgium, Name unknown, the President Tim Boyd, Diana Dunningham Chapotin, former International Secretary of the TOS, John Vorstermans, President TS New Zealand ![]() ![]() schedule to enjoy the reception at the 139th TS Annual Convention.Stray dogs rescued by the Besant Animal Dispensary, hoping for dropped scraps, wove in and out of the groups of people at the reception. ![]() Diana spoke of some sage advice she received from Vic Hao Chin of The Philippines who, when she first became International Secretary of the TOS, told her to, “Try just listening to the members” “Just listen to them”, he said.Mrs. Diana Dunningham Chapotin, former International Secretary of the TOS, spoke at the 139th TS Annual Convention. Her talk was entitled “Tuning in to Our World”.Diana went on to say, “I had always thought that we were a pretty intellectual bunch, cloistered away in the libraries, offices and lecture rooms of our TS branches and headquarters buildings, priding ourselves on doing superior ‘spiritual’ work. I discovered that most members were in fact actually engaged in all kinds of service in the community as part of their spiritual practice. I learned that the TS has not just a distinguished past in terms of service work but a distinguished present. There are members out there injecting theosophical ideas into children’s education, into civic decision-making, into conflict resolution sessions in war torn areas and so on. Our new International Secretary, Nancy Secrest, will be telling us about such work in her talk here tomorrow afternoon. Her fellow speakers, Dr Deepa Padhi of Odisha State, India, and Mrs. Usha Shah from Nairobi, Kenya, are two of our most dynamic TOS workers worldwide.“Vic Hao Chin’s advice to ‘just listen’ taught me that instead of telling the members what they should be doing, the TOS simply needed to listen to their concerns about the planet and help them transform these ideas into practical projects and campaigns in areas they felt passionate about. In recognizing and nurturing their service work instead of telling them what to do, things became less stressful for me, more joyful for them, and more productive in getting Theosophy out into our changing world”. ![]() In keeping with the theme of the convention we called our TOS Session, “Service in a Changing World”. It included three short talks. Dr Deepa Padhi, Vice President of the TOS in the Odisha Region, India and President of the TOS Mahabharat Group, Mrs. Nancy Secrest, International Secretary of the TOS and Mrs. Usha Shah, Convenor of the TOS in Kenya, ready to begin the TOS Session at the 139th Annual Convention at Adyar in December 2014Dr. Deepa Padhi, Vice President of the TOS in the Odisha Region of India and President of the TOS-Mahabharat Group, spoke of “Gender Issues in a Changing World”. It was under her leadership that the Mahabharat Group embarked on a multi-faceted campaign to create awareness of violence against women in the Odisha Region of India. The summary of Dr. Padhi’s talk read in part, “With changing times the role of women in society has acquired new dimensions, but there are certain issues which even now challenge the women of the 21st century. Gender issues have taken such forms as violence against women, both outside and inside the home, foeticide, infanticide and trafficking. The central issue now is the rights of women as human beings. Men and women need to enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections. Every being is first of all a human, and therefore, has an equal claim to human rights”. ![]() Mr. Dhirendra Nath Padhi, Dr Deepa Padhi and their granddaughter Sasha ![]() “We need leaders who are selfless and strong. They will only emerge if the change is begun at grass roots level and addresses the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of human beings. With this long term perspective in view, the TOS can initiate programmes to provide education and vocational training for our countless needy. It can push for the introduction of compulsory ethics and good citizenship syllabi in public schools. It can offer yoga and meditation classes, projects for the conservation of the environment and instil spiritual growth by taking Theosophy to people. Such initiatives will help produce honest and caring human beings who on becoming leaders will make their countries peaceful, prosperous and less materialistic”.Mrs. Usha Shah, a former teacher, seen here with a Kenyan child. Usha promotes TOS initiatives that “will help produce honest and caring human beings who, on becoming leaders, will make their countries peaceful, prosperous and less materialistic”. The final talk of the session, “The Face of Service in Today’s World”, was mine. It gave some history of the TOS, compared Annie Besant’s world of 1908 to today’s world and showed, via a power point presentation, TOS work being done around the world today. The audience was reminded that the international TOS is here to help and support all TS members in their service endeavours, whether in their private lives or as part of TOS and TS groups. It was pointed out that the TOS has all kinds of resources available on its website and people willing to listen to newcomers and exchange ideas. “The TOS’s whole reason for existing,” I said in conclusion, “is to support the Theosophical Society’s work in making Theosophy of transformative value in the world and in the life of the individual seeker. I invite the TS to take advantage of the TOS’s potential, its enthusiasm and its energy.” I am pleased to say that all of our talks seemed to be well-received, and I hope that they sparked ideas for service in those who heard them. . Mrs. Nancy Secrest, International Secretary TOS, spoke on “The Face of Service in Today’s World”. Her presentation compared Annie Besant’s world of 1908 with today’s world and highlighted some of the TOS work being done today.The convention offered other activities in the early afternoons. Diana and I did a little shopping at the stalls that offered products made by the Olcott Education Society’s Social Welfare Centre, the Vocational Training Centre and the Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School. We purchased shoulder bags, woven mats and dish towels from the women and some beautiful cards made by the school children. A cultural activities program was given at the Social Welfare Centre one afternoon. Diana, who had been invited as the special guest, gave a short talk and handed out diplomas to the graduates of the Vocational Training Centre. The children of the Day Care Centre and the women presented a delightful program of song and dance. Wearing brightly coloured costumes, these small children performed several different dances ending with a display of their version of rock & roll. The afternoon ended with an exhibition of the sewing, weaving and beautiful embroidery produced by the women of the Centre. ![]() ![]() Vocational Training Centre ![]() ![]() for special guests, convention delegates, family and friends ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The following afternoon, Diana and I attended the general body meeting of the Theosophical Order of Service in India. Over seventy members attended. The highlight of the meeting was going outside to pose for a group photo. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() at their Cultural Programme during the 139th Annual TS ConventionMrs. Lalitha Manogaran, Assistant Headmistress, Mrs. Lakshmi Balasubramaniam, Headmistress, Olcott Higher Secondary School, Mrs. Lakshmi Suryanarayanan, former Headmistress of Olcott Higher Secondary School and Diana Dunningham Chapotin former International Secretary of the TOS and Special GuestMeal times offered the best environment for meeting and getting to know TOS members. There we spoke at leisure with Mrs. Svitlana Garylenko and Ms. Raisa Kalashkova of Ukraine, Mr. Richard Sell of New Zealand, Mrs. Maryse DeCoste and Mr. Robert Béland of Canada, Mr. George Wester and Ms. Kari Torgersen of Australia and many others. Being at Adyar for convention also lent itself to opportunities to initiate working relationships with several TS General Secretaries one of whom, John Boakye, General Secretary of West Africa, has already helped the TOS-USA with a decision to award a service grant to a project called “Mushrooms for Ghana”. You’ll be reading about that in our June e-newsletter. ![]() ![]() The days at Adyar were long, hot, and highly enjoyable. I fell into bed each night tired but happy. The yips and howls of the jackals in the night reminded me of the coyotes at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, CA where I lived for a year. As odd as it might sound, I found their lament comforting, and it lulled me to sleep. ![]() ![]() Theosophical Society President, Tim Boyd, at work and at his home on the Adyar Estate. | ||
Fantastic insights! Your perspective is very refreshing. For more details on this topic, visit: EXPLORE FURTHER. What do others think?
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.