Sticky in Chennai

Any basic list of must-see sights in Chennai will include the international headquarters and gardens of the Theosophical Society.  If you are a New Yorker this name may strike you as strangely familiar.  Perhaps this is because the U.S. office of the Theosophical Society is located mid-town on 53^rd street, and they also maintain a store called Quest Book Shop at the same location.   You may have walked pass it on occasion. 

(Above: The Theosophical Society's official logo.)

As stated on their website: “The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body whose primary object is Universal Brotherhood based on the realization that life, and all its diverse forms, human and non-human, is indivisibly One..”

The TS was founded by two extraordinary characters, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.  Check out: http://www.ts-adyar.org/founders.htmlto read their fascinating biographies.   In short, these two high society & highly successful people, who had been mesmerized by, believers in and eventually practitioners of occultism, astral projection, telepathy, plane shifting and so on, decided to create a religious / philosophical society that would work towards obtaining a higher truth.  And for their headquarters they selected a large plot of land located on the coast of India within the city of Chennai. 

 Years later after the successful founding and development of TS the successors of Colonel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky decided to cultivate a supreme guru, or new Buddha, to be the final teacher to reveal the ‘truth’ to all humanity.   In their search for a suitable candidate they happened upon J. Krishnamurti, the very young son of one of the society’s Indian administrators.  Several Theosophical Society members worked together to cultivate the young boy’s ability to be their supreme teacher. They even created a new society, The Order of the Star of the East to ‘herald the coming of the world teacher.’

In 1929, when the now mature Krishnamurti was finally ready to assume his role as the World Teacher, he stunned the members of The Order of the Star of the East by delivering a superbly powerful opening address, and then promptly dissolving the society for all time.  Krishnamurti declared that “truth is a pathless land” and that no organization or guru could possibly help anyone else find the truth.  If you are not familiar with the writings of Krishnamurti I strongly recommend that you read at least the text of this speech:  http://www.katinkahesselink.net/kr/star.htm  His words are at the very least thought provoking if not outright inspiring. 

Now I have been a fan of Krishnamurti’s for years, so I have been very much looking forward to visiting the headquarters and gardens of the Theosophical Society where K spent his young years.   I also greatly enjoy the poetic image of the American and European occultists cultivating a young Indian boy to be their philosopher king.

So after our bitter Thanjour disappointment, Iris and I jumped into the car to visit the gardens of the Theosophical Society.  I am happy to report that they’re beautiful.  The gardens provide an almost spiritual sense of relief from Chennai’s deafening urban roar not unlike a stroll in Manhattan’s Central Park.  The key difference being that the Theosophical Society only opens its massive gardens to non-members on 10:00 – 12:00 and 14:00 – 16:00 Saturday’s only.  So I guess a more apt comparison would be to Gramercy Park at 19^th and 3^rd in Manhattan, which only opens its doors to the general public ONE DAY a year.  (If you hear some bitterness in my voice, you’re right.)

The gardens are home to several religious shrines to various world faiths – a testament to the theosophical belief that truth can be found in all religions.  It was easy to imagine all sorts of bizarre occult practices and rituals being held in the gardens many interesting structures.    As Iris and I strolled around it began to rain heavily, a bitter reminder of our cancelled Thanjour trip, so we did not have a chance to see and photograph all we wanted

But here are a few good shots.