Annie Besant DR
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THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST SEPT. & OCT. VOL. 115 NO. 9 & 10 CONTENTS MESSAGE 321 A STEP FORWARD 322-324 Pradeep H. Gohil ON EDUCATION 325-332 Annie Besant DR. ANNIE BESANT’S WORK FOR EDUCATION IN INDIA 333-337 N. Sri Ram ANNIE BESANT: HER LIFE AND MISSION 338-341 Radha Burnier THE FUTURE THAT AWAITS US 342-345 Rohit Mehta ANNIE BESANT: A SUBLIME DESTINY 346-351 Tran-Thi-Kim-Dieu MRS. ANNIE BESANT: THE REVOLUTIONARY 352-357 P. Krishna DR. ANNIE BESANT AND THE WIA 358-360 Padma Venkataraman DR. ANNIE BESANT: REGENERATION OF INDIA 361-363 P.K. Jayaswal IDEA OF SPIRITUALITY IN THE SELECT WRITINGS OF ANNIE BESANT 364-370 Sushila Singh CHALLENGE OF NATION- BUILDING IN INDIA : THE VISION AND AGENDA OF ANNIE BESANT 371-375 Anand Kumar ANNIE BESANT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THEOSOPHICAL PRACTICE 376-382 Pablo Sender THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Sept. & Oct./2017/ 319 BESANT & GANDHI- THE TWO SAINTS OF MODERN INDIA 383-395 Rachna Srivastava EDUCATION : BESANT SPIRIT: BESANT EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP 396-401 P.S. Panchakshari Hkkjrh; thoup;kZ dh izrhd ,uh cslsaV dh cgqvk;keh fpUru&n`f"V 402&412 ] vk’kk ;kno ANNIE BESANT: SOME REFLECTIONS 413-417 S. Sundaram NEWS AND NOTES 419-430 Editor PRADEEP H. GOHIL While I was humiliated, you crowned me with honour; while I was slandered, you believed in my integrity and good faith; while I was crushed under the heel of bureaucratic power, you acclaimed me as your leader; while I was silenced and unable to defend myself, you defended me and won for me release. I was proud to serve in low- liest fashion, but you lifted me up and placed me before the world as your chosen representative. I have no words with which to thank you, no eloquence with which to rapay my debt. My deeds must speak for me, for words are too poor. I turn your gift into service to the Motherland; I consecrate my life anew to her in worship by action. All that I have and am, I lay on the Altar of the Mother, and together we shall cry, more by service than by words: Vande Mataram. ANNIE BESANT Opening remarks of Presidential Address to the thirty- second Indian National Congress held at Calcutta 26th December 1917. 320/ THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Sept. & Oct./ 2017 MESSAGE from The International President One-hundred years ago Dr. Annie Besant was elected President of the Indian National Congress. It was a monumental decision that reflected the commitment and selfless service she gave to the formation of the Indian nation. Her imprint upon the nation she so loved continues to this day. It is fitting that the Theosophical Society in India is bringing out this special issue to commemorate the life of a spiritual giant and national hero. May her influence and the influence of those great ones who support every move- ment toward human upliftment grace this issue and all who read it. TIM BOYD THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Sept. & Oct./2017/ 321 PRADEEP H. GOHIL A STEP FORWARD Mrs. Annie Besant was elected as President of the Indian National Congress in Decem- ber 1917 and as mentioned by B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya: “With Mrs. Besant, the Presidentship of the Congress was not a passing show or a three-day festivity. It was a day-to-day responsibility, and in that view Mrs. Besant was the first to claim Presidentship of the Congress throughout the succeeding year. The claim was not new but its enforcement was not known in the previous history of the Congress”.* So, keeping the Centenary Year in view the Indian Section decided to bring out a Special Number of The Indian Theosophist on Dr. Annie Besant. Annie Besant was born as Annie Wood on 1st October 1847 and first came to India on 16-11-1893. We all know that she was a devout theosophist and the second International President of our Society and also the second longest serving President from 1907 to 1933. She was a great religious and spiritual teacher who guided thousands of men and women all over the world in their spiritual quest, a practical mystic exemplifying in her life and in all her actions a lofty idealism and a truly religious awareness- a rare combination found in very few people, a clairvoyant who used her spiritual and yogic powers to investigate the nature of the super-physical realms, a chemist and physicist describing III atoms—including several iso- topes not heard by scientists in those days, and the molecules of 29 inorganic compounds and 22 organic compounds. She was a well-known women’s rights activist and the founder of Women’s Indian Asso- ciation in 1917 over which she presided at Adyar, a lucid writer with more than 300 books and pamphlets to her credit, a journalist and an excellent editor, a well-known educationist who started a number of schools in India in those days-some of which still exist, a brilliant orator who could mesmerize the audience with her originality of thinking, clear diction and clarity of the message, a prominent trade unionist, a great legal luminary, who argued several high profit cases and won judgement in her favour, a constitutional expert, a fearless fighter against any kind of injustice, a champion of human freedom, a true philanthropist, travelled extensively and visited nearly all the countries of Europe more than once and having made several visits to the *The History of the Indian National Congress, Vol.–I, (1885-1935), Padma Publication, Ltd., Bombay, Reprint 1946, p. 146. 322/THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Sept. & Oct./2017 U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South America and to several places in India. Annie Besant was a very hard worker whose action became her slogan. She once said, “better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act”. She was a great organizer with a capacity to make theosophy practical. She was a whole hearted supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule. She became active in Indian Politics from 1913 and gave a lead by claiming Home Rule for India. She had entered politics because she saw that India’s indepen- dence was essential for her age old wisdom to become a beacon for the whole world. She was elected President of the Indian National Congress (INC) and its two sections which were divided since 1907 were unified by her. As president of the INC she made the office one of active work throughout the year, instead of only presiding over it during the four day annual meetings, as was the practice earlier. She was interned in 1917 for three months because of her success in arousing the love of freedom in the Indian people. She took as her motto not only “strike while the iron is hot, but also make it hot by striking.” She taught Indian journalists to write strong leading articles denouncing the action of the government, yet keeping within the letter of the law. Yet it was her basic principle in life of living and acting with respect for law that made her fall into disfavour with INC. Although she had a deep regard for Gandhi as someone whose life was guided by truth and compassion, she herself stood by constitutional methods for achieving political re- form rather than Gandhi’s plan of non-cooperation and civil disobedience as she foresaw great danger of instilling disrespect for the law. Mr. Gandhi’s policies were adopted and the disas- ters she had anticipated occurred in various parts of India. To her credit, Annie Besant continued with her work for India even though she became unpopular and lost her position as political leader. Dr. Bhagvan Das, General Secretary of the Indian Section in 1911-12 and who worked closely with Annie Besant, writes “Mrs. Besant was a great leader in every respect, with the soul of fire, the burning eloquence, the imaginative vision, the great and high aspiration, the quick decision, the generous and trustful nature, the scrupulous regard for promises made, the exceeding considerateness for juniors and subordinates, the anxious fulfilment of their hopes even casually aroused by any work of hers and, above all else, the mystic power of magnetic personality, which inspire and attract and keep followers.” With so many brilliant facets to her character, Annie Besant can truly be described as a Diamond Soul. In this number of the journal four articles have been reprinted. One by Dr. Annie Besant; one by Mr. N. Sri Ram (a close associate of Dr. Besant and International President of TS from 1953 to April 1973); one by Dr. Radha Burnier, (General Secretary of the Indian Section from THE INDIAN THEOSOPHIST, Sept. & Oct./2017/ 323 1961 to 1978 and International President of TS from July 1980 to October 2013); and one by Dr. Rohit Mehta (General Secretary of the Indian Section from 1945 to 1959). I express my sincere thanks to our President Mr. Tim Boyd for having sent his encourag- ing message for this Special No. of the journal. Besides, I am thankful to all the authors who enthusiastically agreed to contribute article for this number and sent their respective papers before the due date given to them. I hope that this number will encourage the readers to study the original works of Dr. Besant to go into the depths of the themes which she explained with such a great concern for the welfare of India as well as for the world. Even if one just tries to live in some ways a life like that of Annie Besant, it will be a great step forward in his life.