Tuesday, July 16, 2019

PROGRAMME FOR MAY 2019



BLAVATSKY LODGE: 7 - French Bridge, Mumbai 400007     Tel: 23685026   (M): 9821459504   (M): 9819334333

DAY
TIME-------------
DETAILS---------------------------------------------------
Fri     3  
6.00 pm
‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran
Sun    5
10.00 am
10.30 am
Bharat SamajPooja
BTF Council Meeting
Wed   8
 6.00 pm
White Lotus Day Meeting jointly with BTF
Fri    10
6.00 pm
Study of CWL’s book ‘Inner Life’ conducted by Sis. Aban Patel
Fri    17
6.00 pm
‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran
Satur18
6.00 pm
WesakPurnima Meeting
Fri    24
4.30 pm
6.00 pm
Blavatsky Lodge MC Meeting
Study of CWL’s book ‘Inner Life’ conducted by Sis. Aban Patel
Sun   26
10.45 am
Maitreya Round Table 
Fri     31
 6.00 pm
Theosophical Readings
Tues 7, 14,21,28,
 5.45 pm

‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran

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MCM OF MAY 2019
BULLETIN OF MAY 2019

THE BTF BULLETIN - MAY 2019

 CONTENTS

Quote – White Lotus Day
  Cover
News & Notes
2 - 3
 HPB – A White Lotus (Extracts of Articles of Uma Bhattacharya and N. Sri Ram)
4 - 6
Poems by Farhad Dalal
7 - 8
Truth & Beauty in Our Daily Life – IssacJauli
8 - 10
BTF& Lodge Programmes May 2019
11 - 12

NEWS & NOTES

SHANTI LODGE CELEBRATIONS

Musical Evening to Herald Year 2019 was held on 31st January 2019. President Sis. Aban Patel welcomed Sis. FrenyPaghdiwala and Senior & Junior Choirs of her Crystal Choral. The programme began with their Signature Song ‘We are the Crystal Choral, with high Morale’. There were Christmas Carols and Solos & Group Songs like ‘What I will like to teach the World’ & ‘Let there be Peace’ conveying Joy, Peace & Harmony. AbanRagina was MC. The evening had ended with song ‘Thank you for the Music’.

Jamshedi Navroze Celebration to mark Equinox 21st March 2019 was held on 14th March. The meeting was opened with ‘Hambandagi’ (all praying together Zoroastrian Manthravani). Sis.Meher Contractor spoke on ‘Mahbokhtar Ni Nyash’ (Zoroastrian Prayer explaining spiritual significance of Moon). The prayer says ‘I pray my homage to Shiny (Spiritual) Moon and not the seen Moon’. Mahbokhtaris  bestower of good luck. Sun rays sent to Moon are showered onEarth through Seven Ameshaspandas.

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Editor – Bro. Rustom R. Dalal     Cover Page By: Sis.  Kashmira Khambatta Editorial Committee –Sis.Mahazaver Dalal (Reporter & in charge of Mailing List), Sis.  Kashmira Khambatta, Sis. Aban Patel and Ex-Officio: President Bro. VinayakPandya.  Note: News, Notes and Programmes to be printed in the Bulletin be forwarded by e-mail to: rrpdalal@hotmail.com   or kashmirakhambatta@yahoo.com  latest by 16th each month.



Crescent is innocence of new born, reaching its helm on Full Moon and slowly waning to No Moon – it conveys the Cycle of Life. Moon Rays are connected with water & blood in human body and his mind. Moon has a sacrificing quality to work for good of His Creations. The Meeting ended with Hambandagi and fellowship with Refreshment.



PRATHNA SABHA with BHARAT SAMAJ POOJA

It was a unique spiritual tribute to Late Shri JatinbhaiMunshi, father of Bro. TaralMunshi. Shri Jatinbhai in his youth had learnt Bharat SamajPooja, which he used to perform every day. Even at the age of 84 he used to recite the prayer by heart. Bharat SamajPooja was performed by Dr. Ajay Hora and Bro. VinayakPandya. Daughter-in-law Sis.ArchanaTaralMunshi read out from Gujarati Book ‘Mrtyu’ written by Late Bro. MohanlalVelji.  This book published by Blavatsky Lodge was given to relations and friends gathered to pay respect to the departed soul of Shri JatinbhaiMunshi.



BLAVATSKY LODGE BEGINNERS’ MEETING

Bro. Navin Kumar has initiated Beginners’ Meeting on mornings of First Sundays for New Members, Prospective Members and Interested Inquirers to acquaint them with Fundamentals of Theosophy.



OBITUARY: Sis. Meher D. Desai senior member of VimadalalBilia Lodge with membership of 37 years passed away to Light Eternal on 2nd April 2019. This 102 year young Lady was a dedicated member keenly interested in study of Theosophy. Sis. Gulbanu Merchant recollects that in later years she used to have Sis. YasminKapadia at her place to conduct Theosophical studies. She was very meticulous and encouraged members in their TS & Masonic work. Generous at heart she used to respond to the needs of Lodges in Bombay. May her Soul be blessed with Eternal Peace.




HPB – A WHITE LOTUS



Extracts from Article of Uma Bhattacharya

President of KashiTattvaSabha, Varanasi

  Courtesy: The Indian Theosophist of August 2017



There are no ancient symbols without a deep and philosophical meaning attached to them, their importance and significance increasing with their antiquity. Such is the Lotus. It is a flower sacred to Nature and her Gods, and represents the Abstract and the Concrete Universe, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both Spiritual and Physical Nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and by the Buddhists after them. It was revered in China and Japan and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger, as do now the Christians, who have who have replaced it with the water lily. -The Secret Doctrine, Vol.I, p. 406**



The Lotus, or Padma, is moreover, a very ancient and favorite symbol for the Cosmos itself, and also for man. The popular reasons given are, firstly, the fact just mentioned, that the Lotus-seed contains within itself a perfect miniature of the future plant, which typifies the fact that the spiritual prototypes of all things exists in the immaterial world, before these things become materialized on earth. Secondly the fact is that the Lotus-plant grows up through the water, having its roots in the Ilus, or mud, and spreads its flower in the air above. The Lotus, thus typifies the life of man and also of the Cosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction. The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral world and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is emblematical of spiritual being.                                     



 - The Secret Doctrine, Vol.I.p.88**



**Taken from “White Lots Day” by C Jinarajadasa



‘Our teacher’ HPB was a white lotus in real sense. Her entire life exhibits how her life started from the worldly mud of crisis and grew ‘through intermediary region, which is the waters’- existence in the astral world until finally blossomed out in the air expressing its mysterious beauty in the higher regions of human consciousness. She expressed the realized perfection of things and fully manifested the Divine thought embodied in her form. HPB was an extraordinary person, a detached soul like lotus who presented the ancient timeless wisdom claiming no conviction and divine abilities. Her purity and nature of self-sacrifice has been summarized in one of the earliest letters from one of the Mahatmas as under:



 “Chaste and pure soul shut inside an outwardly coarse

nature…anyone might be dazzled by the divine Light

concealed under such a bark. Devoted to the great cause

of Truth, she sacrificed for it her very heart’s blood”      



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Extracts from Article of N. Sri Ram

The Fifth International President

  Courtesy: The Indian Theosophist of May 2017



The White Lotus Day is one of the three or four days which are celebrated all over the Theosophical world, from New Zealand in the Far East to the United States and the other countries in the West. We hold this commemoration following the wish of H.P.B. who desired that on the day of her passing, the Theosophists who care for her should meet and there should be readings from the Bhagavad Gita and The Light of Asia. In many places there is also a reading from her work, The Voice of the Silence. 



It was Colonel Olcott who named this “The White Lotus Day”, possibly because there are, or used to be, plenty of white lotuses in the various pools and tanks on the Adyar estate, which in those days comprised only the Headquarters area oftwenty six acres. I remember certain occasions when whole platform in the Headquarters hall at Adyar was completely covered with white lotuses and there were even garlands of lotuses hanging from the beams. Today we have white lotuses, but only in the brass bowl in front of the Founders’ statues. There could not have been a more beautiful name given to this day.



We could not have a better symbol to associate with H.P.B. I say this because it makes this day a happy one to contemplate with all these beautiful associations. It is right that there should be one day in the year dedicated to the memory of her, who founded the Theosophical Society and gave to the modern world the magnificent presentation of the ageless Wisdom, which we call Theosophy. We do not think of her passing with any tinge of sadness. It is only for a time that one feels sorrow over the departure of anyone; afterwards the recollection of all that the person was and did becomes a cause for joy and happiness.         



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Statement of Ownership and other Particulars

FORM IV

Place of Publication                                          Mumbai

Periodicity of Publication                                   Monthly

Printer’s Name                                       Vijay Copy Centre

Whether citizen of India                       Yes

Address                                                 48/A, Saidunnisa Building,  Sleater Rd.                                           

                                                            Opp. Grant Road Station (West), Mumbai  400007

Publishers Name                                           Rustom R. Dalal, The Editor of

                                                               The Bombay Theosophical Federation

Whether Citizen of India                  Yes

Address                                       7, French Bridge, Chowpatty, Mumbai 400007                                                                      

Editor’s Name                                       Rustom R. Dalal           

Whether Citizen of India                  Yes

Address                                                C/o. Bombay Theosophical Federation

                                                                         7, French Bridge, Mumbai  400 007

Name & Address of individuals who own the newspaper and Partners of

shareholders holding more than 1% total capital        N.A.

I, Rustom R. Dalal, the Editor of The Bombay Theosophical Bulletin,  hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge & belief.         



 Dated 31-3-2019                                  Sd. R. R. Dalal ( Publisher )



POEMS BY FARHAD DALAL

                                Unity Youth Lodge Member



 Before the bombs go off,
And the bodies are reduced to pieces,
With the land reduced to a rubble,
And streams of blood flowing through,
Learn to unlearn the reality,
And spread your arms,
Embracing all in Oneness,
And expand the magic,

Of Love and Universal Brotherhood.


Editor: The Poem narrating Pulwama Terror echoes bloodshed of Kalinga War. However, Kalinga War had brought change of heart in King Ashoka to spread the Teachings of Lord Buddha even to lands beyond the shores of India. Will the Terrorists realize, which ‘Arms’ are needed?

 
Does the sea ever shed its tears,
For having to accommodate,
Tonnes and tonnes of waste,
Being dumped constantly in it,
Which slowly keeps accumulating,
Risking the natural habitat,
And eventually the whole ecosystem,
In silently bearing the burden of it all,
Does the sea ever shed its tears.

Does the sea ever shed its tears,
Perhaps more likely than not,
For how else would you explain,
The saltiness in the water,
Which it silently secretes,
Spending days and days,
Silently crying at hours of the day,
When nobody is watching.
Shedding a tear for the whole of mankind,
And when it is being watched,
Sturdily it does stand firm once again,
Holding onto each moment defiantly,
Giving everyone a question to ponder on,

                        Does the sea ever shed its tears.


Note: Farhad, during his visit to Adyar was inspired to write this poem while contemplating on seashores of Bay of Bengal.





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TRUTH and BEAUTY in OUR DAILY LIFE

IssacJauli

Former General Secretary of TS in Mexico

Courtesy: The Theosophist of April 2019



H.P. Blavatsky states in The Key to Theosophy: “If Eastern comparisons may be permitted; Theosophy is the shoreless ocean of universal truth, love and wisdom, reflecting its radiance on the Earth, while the Theosophical Society is only a visible bubble on that reflection’.



This invisible bubble of wisdom is available to human beings when they decide to apply it to daily life.As Master KH asserts in Letter No.68 (Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett):Does it seem to you a small thing that the past year has been spent only in your ‘family duties’?Nay, but what better cause for reward, what better discipline, than the daily and hourly performance of duty? Believe me my “pupil”, the man or woman who is placed by Karma in the midst of small plain duties and sacrifices and loving-kindness, will, through these faithfully fulfilled, rise to the larger measure of Duty, Sacrifice and Charity to all Humanity – what better path towards the enlightenment you are striving after than the daily conquest of self, the perseverance in spite of want of visible psychic progress, the bearing of ill-fortune with that serene fortitudewhich turns it to spiritual advantage – since good and evil are not to be measured by events on the lower or physical plane.

This common life is endowed with sufficient spiritual weight to be studied as a frame of real reference of personal and social growth. Here we ask ourselves the existential question which directly concerns almost every woman and man: Can Daily Life, the ordinary everyday life, that of the common citizen, the housewife, the employee, the businessman, and so on, be the type of life that deserves to be fully lived, make people happy, and be, if we may say so, a practice to discover beauty and truth?



We think it can be the beginning, that daily life is the best path to travel on everyday, where we find our way and follow our destiny to fully realize ourselves. Time and time again, it is suggested that our ordinary actions in daily life are the heart of the field where our personality develops and improves itself.



Already in ancient Greece, the philosopher Plato proposed three concepts that would be assumed in future centuries as the greatest values of humanity: Truth, Beauty and Kindness. He took the definition of beauty to the metaphysical level, that is, elevating it to spiritual beauty. In this way, he deduced that beauty is what everybody wants, identifying it with kindness and truth. This was the ideal ‘Platonic’ beauty.



Plato’s concept about beauty includes both physical and spiritual, of bodies and artistic objects, both colours and sounds, and also laws and moral attitudes. Therefore, beauty is good and true, goodness is true and beautiful, and truth is good and beautiful.



Later, Plotinus (AD 205-270 Roman philosopher, born in Egypt) affirms, as Plato did, that beauty is in life, not only in its forms, but also in something that hides behind forms and is identified as ‘soul’. Beauty is not found in forms, but in its ‘radiance’. The soul is what makes us perceive that radiance in all things. All forms have a light of beauty, truth and goodness.



Only through daily life, with an orientation towards beauty, truth and goodness, can we find the path to improving ourselves and deriving a new Theosophical Philosophy of daily life, at our stage of development, which turns our attention to life. We need to get to the point where our Divine Self or “I” is the guide of every daily act and thought, in ordinary life.



As HPB affirmed:



I have just told you that the ideal efflorescence of all the abstract, therefore undying and eternal qualities or attributes, such as love and mercy, the love of the good, the true and the beautiful, that ever spoke in the heart of the living “personality”, clung after death to the Ego, and therefore followed it to Devachan.



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Knowledge has not helped human beings to be more happy, peaceful or loving. Therefore there is no point in our seeking another form of knowledge, which we call Theosophical. Theosophy must not be made into a theory, a set of concepts. It must be the truth which transforms, makes us loving, caring, tender in our relationships, as we are when we look at the hidden beauty of the flower. A flower is not a good illustration because it is too easy to feel the beauty of a flower, at least at the superficial level. It is much more difficult to see the beauty that is everywhere else – in the maimed, in the deprived, in all kinds of people, and all things which we treat with callousness or indifference. Our concern is with the truth that transforms, frees the mind of its self-centeredness, and not with sterile knowledge.

-      RadhaBurnier

-      Human Regeneration

         Courtesy: The Theosophist of March 2019






BTF & LODGE PROGRAMMES MAY 2019



WHITE LOTUS DAY MEETING jointly by BTF and Blavatsky Lodge on Wednesday 8th May 2019 at 6.00 p.m. in Besant Hall



ANANDA LODGE: Theosophical Colony, Juhu, Mumbai 400049. Contact Ananda Lodge Secretary Sis. ZenobiaKhodaiji (M): 9820308163 for Meeting of May 2019



2. BLAVATSKY LODGE: 7 - French Bridge, Mumbai 400007     Tel: 23685026   (M): 9821459504   (M): 9819334333

DAY
TIME
DETAILS
Fri     3  
6.00 pm
‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran
Sun    5
10.00 am
10.30 am
Bharat SamajPooja
BTF Council Meeting
Wed   8
 6.00 pm
White Lotus Day Meeting jointly with BTF
Fri    10
6.00 pm
Study of CWL’s book ‘Inner Life’ conducted by Sis. Aban Patel
Fri    17
6.00 pm
‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran
Satur18
6.00 pm
WesakPurnima Meeting
Fri    24
4.30 pm
6.00 pm
Blavatsky Lodge MC Meeting
Study of CWL’s book ‘Inner Life’ conducted by Sis. Aban Patel
Sun   26
10.45 am
Maitreya Round Table 
Fri     31
 6.00 pm
Theosophical Readings
Tues 7, 14,21,28,
 5.45 pm

‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by ParmahansYogananda’ - conducted by Bro. ArniNarendran



3. CENTENARY LODGE: 

Please contact Sis. NajmaDewan (M): 9987204038 for meetings



4. JYOTI LODGE: Contact Bro. TaralMunshi, C/101, Building No.19, New Mhada, Garden Hill C.H.S., New Mhada Colony, Behind N.P.A., Goregaon (East), Mumbai 400065 (M): 9820187317



5. SHANTI LODGE: C/o Bro. Rustom Dalal, Vijay Niwas, 2nd Floor, Plot 5, Sleater Road, Mumbai 400007  Tel: 23800422 (M): 9833131216 Time: 6.15 p.m.

Thurs    2   
Study of ‘Thought Power’ by Dr. Annie Besant
Thurs    9
Study of ‘Thought Power’ by Dr. Annie Besant
Thurs  16
Study of ‘Thought Power’ by Dr. Annie Besant
Thurs  23 
Study of ‘Thought Power’ by Dr. Annie Besant
Thurs  30
Study of ‘Thought Power’ by Dr. Annie Besant



6. UNITY YOUTH LODGE: Sis.  SoonooVesuna (M): 9619339787

Wed  15
5.30 pm
Theosophical readings guided by Sis. SoonooVesuna at her residence Vijay Niwas, 4th Floor, Sleater Road



7 & 8 VASANTA LODGE & GANESH LODGE:C/O Mrs. Gita S. Parikh, GokulAnand Building, 4th Floor, Dattatraya Cross Road (M):9920384140

Wednesday 1 (Bank Holiday - Lodge Closed), 8 – White Lotus Day Meeting, 15, 22 & 29 Meetings at 6.30 pm.



9. VIMADALAL BILIA LODGE: Family House, Parsi Colony, Dadar, Mumbai 400014



Thurs    2
5.45
Healing Ritual
and White Lotus Day Meeting
Thurs    9 
6.00
Lodge Members’ Meeting
Thurs  16
6.00
Celebration of WesakPurnima
Thurs   23
6.00
Study of ‘Thought Forms’
Thurs   30
6.00
Lodge Members’ Meeting



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Price: Rs. 1/-                                                  Annual Subscription: Rs. 10/-

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Bombay Theosophical Federation, c/o Blavatsky Lodge, 7 – French Bridge, Chowpatty, Mumbai – 400 007. (Tel: 23685026) and Printed at Vijay Copy Centre, 48/A, Saidunnisa Building, Sleater Road, Opposite Grant Road Station (West), Mumbai-400 007.

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