Exploring the practical application of the ideal of
Universal Brotherhood of Humanity
The paradox of the modern times is that the problems of the world are growing apace with rapid advancement in science, technology and communication.
Epidemics of days of old which carried away large chunks of populations are virtually eliminated but new diseases are arising to afflict civilized nations.
Industrialization has brought economic prosperity, ease, comfort and luxuries to nations, but, at the same time, have brought on, as side effects, climate change, ecological disasters, pollution, social injustice, moral decay and corruption on a scale which may well undermine the civilization itself.
Science, with all its great progress, is as far from its avowed object of unveiling Truth, as confessed by scientists themselves, as at the beginning of scientific revolution.
There has been an explosion of knowledge and instant access to information to everyone which ironically has made man not one whit better in wisdom.
Surfeit of material prosperity and opportunities for personal advancement have left an aching spiritual void in the soul of man, leaving him disillusioned and unhappy.
Neither technology nor religions of the day—riven as the latter are with sectarian dogmas and mutually antagonism— have answers to the challenges facing the world of our own making.
- All these are pointers to the fact that something is fundamentally lacking in the modern outlook on life;
- Which calls for self-introspection and analysis of theories, assumptions and beliefs of modern thought which move the modern world;
- And search for enduring values based on principle of permanence.
Thus was once more demonstrated that human life, devoid of all its world-ideals and beliefs—in which the whole of philosophical and cultured antiquity, headed in historical times by Socrates and Plato, by Pythagoras and Alexandrian Neo-Platonists, believed—becomes deprived of its higher sense and meaning. The world-ideals can never completely die out. Exiled by the fathers, they will be received with opened arms by the children.
H.P. Blavatsky
It is in the philosophical and cultured antiquity that we have to search for the enduring values based on Eternal Verities in the light of which our goals and ideals are to be redefined and reshaped.
Re-evaluation of human self-identity
As opposed to the modern view, Man is the product of the universal evolutionary scheme along Spiritual, Intellectual and Physical lines, these three streams inter-blended at every point in him, which make of him a complex being.
The spiritual, intellectual and physical aspects are all in need of nourishment, reflection and experiences to grow harmoniously towards perfection from within without.
Hence the need of the hour is the creation of a conducive environment for aiding this universal progression by active participation of individuals, through study, reflection and practical application, in all aspects of human life, of the seminal ideas of timeless Wisdom-Science.
Source material
Fortunately, due to tireless work of its founders and their self-sacrifice, we have today the United Lodge of Theosophists, which provides an open avenue for the so-inclined to pursue the unalloyed, ancient and unbroken spiritual line of thought that has been in the safekeeping of the elder brothers of humanity—the Buddhas Perfection.
That this knowledge has been given out through the founders of the Theosophical Movement is the tremendous good fortune of the generations since.
While its appreciation and adoption remains entirely within the volition of the populace, its availability along with the ecosystem for its dissemination fulfills the objective of making available an avenue of self-expression for the Spiritual aspect.
Re-evaluation of modern assumptions and beliefs
But spiritual inclination does not arise in a mind that is bereft of a basis for higher aspirations. A mind imbued with populist, sectarian, soul-eclipsing ideas of the day does not tend towards the spiritual.
There is a dire need for a holistic perspective of this Wisdom of the ages to be brought to bear upon, even as just an alternative to the mainstream thought, the egalitarian lines of life and upon current ideas and events.
These ideas may not receive immediate acceptance but its active and dynamic presence in the field of current thought will provide an opportunity for minds to be exposed to the higher ideals, be it ever so subconsciously.
Such an avenue can find embodiment in the conception of the Higher Life Institute.
Modus Operandi
- Organizing lectures, seminars, discussions and deliberations on national and international issues and problems in the light of eternal verities of Universal Brotherhood and inescapable Karmic responsibility of individuals and nations.
- Bring out prominently, through talks and performing arts, the spirit of tolerance, unity in diversity, the merits of pluralism, and enrichment of national ethos through centuries of cross-cultural fertilization, which have been the hall mark of Indian civilization.
- Explore principles of true education which makes for character building, universal compassion, love of Truth that underlies world religions, Self-reliance, independent thinking and a deep sense of individual social responsibility.
- Engage youth in critical thinking and exploration and comparison of ideas, of both modern and ancient
- Story-telling for children which imbibe in them enduring values of life that shape their character.
- Document and disseminate the proceedings via internet and social media for wider interaction and deliberations.