The TOS and Service

Mahendra P. Singhal

A Keynote address given at the International TOS Conference in July 2013

At the opening of the 3rd International Conference of the TOS held at the National Centre of the TS in America in July 2013, the Vice-President of the TS, Mr Mahendra P. Singhal, shared key thoughts. “The TOS is developing around the theosophical world as a friendly and healing organisation,” he said. “Congratulations to the international team for the guidance and support it offers to groups around the world.”

I am very familiar with the TOS work in India, but do not know so well the work of TOS elsewhere. In India, we have over 100 groups spread throughout the continent comprising at least 4,000 registered members. The groups are quite engaged in rendering service in the areas of education, health, emergency relief and mobility aids, amongst others. Varanasi, Allahabad and a few other cities have educational establishments under the aegis of the Besant Education Fellowship.The object of this fellowship is to render quality education at an affordable cost with a theosophical orientation.  There are about seven such institutions managed by TS members catering for more than 3,000 students, from kindergarten to Master's level.

Our purpose in the TOS is to treat sick bodies, sick minds and fallen spirits. This can be done effectively only if servers in this quest are themselves healthy physically and mentally, have a loving and compassionate nature and are dedicated to the providing of heartfelt service, by personal exertion if possible. Love needs to be returned for hate for, while hate corrodes its container, love redeems and heals.

Service without sacrifice is a ‘social sin’. Service with sacrifice of the ‘smaller’ self means that we have a quest for excellence and give more than we receive.  It means experiencing enjoyment as we serve and giving ourselves without reserve, lovingly. Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” People will forget what we said, they will forget what we did but they will not forget how we made them feel by our appreciation and the inspiration that lifted their spirits. The simple act of a genuine smile, of saying thank you, of making appropriate compliments, of holding a hand in times of sorrow and pain, of expressing gratitude, of paying attention, will go a long way in our relationships with others. Let us connect especially with people who need our help and let us make sure that we stay in touch by infusing energy from time to time into the relationship. If we do not connect again and again the emotional bond will gradually dry up and weaken friendship. Let us send kind thoughts for blessings, share kind words for their strength and support and perform kind actions for compassion. Thoughts, words and deeds are effective tools in our service of others. Let us use them as pure, strong and sensitive tools.

At this TOS conference, we are a few miles away from the venue of the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in September 1893.  Addressing the gathering on the theme of ‘The Universal Law of Life’, Mrs Annie Besant said, “I proclaim tonight the universal law of life, for only by service is fullness of life made possible, to the service of man the whole of the universe is yoked...and I shall try to put for you tonight in few words something of the elements of this service, something of its meaning in daily life, as well as something of the heights whereto the daily practice may at length conduct the human soul, for poor indeed is that religion which cannot teach the men and women of the world the duty of daily life, and yield to them inspiration which shall aid them in their upward climbing to the light.”

Mahatma Gandhi's way of rendering service was with personal exertion. He had a leper by the name of ParchureShastri in his Ashrama, whose wounds he washed and cleaned daily with his own hands. His daily routine also included cleaning all the toilets in the Ashrama. He was so aware of the poverty of India that he reduced his personal needs to a minimum. He preached only what he practised. He spun his own cloth. He kept a small statue of three monkeys on his desk, one of them with his mouth shut, the second with his ears shut and the third with his eyes shut. Metaphorically, this meant not to speak evil, not to hear evil and not to see evil.

Poverty is the greatest scourge of life. Poverty is not natural but produced by humans, usually by the rich.The rich are becoming richer and the poor even poorer. The cup of the wealthy is overflowing while the poor are trying to fill their cup with trickles. If the rich who are responsible for the poverty share their wealth and show love and compassion there will be none without the basic amenities of life, like food, shelter, clothing, medical facilities and access to education.

Humanity does not merely stand for a species, but also for human values of love, compassion and dignity.  Human beings need physical, moral and emotional support and care for their dignity and feelings. Mother Teresa's life is an example of translating these values into human service. In 1997, when she died, she left an institution, The Missionaries of Charity, to continue her work.

Wisdom cannot be taught like knowledge. J. Krishnamurti said, “To feed the poor is good and noble and useful work; yet to feed their souls is nobler…” Our work should be fair and beneficial to all, generating goodwill and unity.

My wife Shashi and I have a young friend by the name of Vanya.  Her father, whom we had never met, was in hospital suffering from spinal tuberculosis. I decided to write to him enquiring about his health.  The gentleman wrote back saying what an extraordinary thing it was to receive my letter, especially when we didn’t know each other. “These days no one has time even for oneself,” he wrote, “so you are especially kind to bless me. Greetings for your 80th birthday on June 11,2012.” When I read that letter from Vanya’s father, tears of joy rolled down my cheeks in gratitude for such an experience of oneness. This is an example of a small thing done with great love, as Mother Teresa suggested.

I normally do not talk to the traveller in the seat adjoining mine on a plane flight. However, once between London and Delhi, I greeted a man with a cheerful “Good to see you! How are you doing?” He replied unwillingly, “I am okay, I guess.” Seeing the journal,The Theosophist, in my hand, he asked one or two questions about the Theosophical Society. In replying, I added, “In our organisation, we help people to become better human beings, capable of relating to others and helping them.” He suddenly opened up and narrated for a full 15minutes his failure story.  In the end he admitted that he was himself responsible for his woes. Much later – after several months – he sent an e-mail saying, “Sir, I am now very much enjoying life. Thanks for your patient hearing of my story of failed life. I am fortunate to have met you on that flight.”

Sometimes it is useful to follow the footprints of those who gave their life to the service of humanity. Madame Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King Jr are some trail blazers for our inspiration. Follow the footprints of anyone who inspires you to serve humanity with love and compassion, helping others.

A friend of mine lost his wife to cancer two years ago. Since then, he forwards to me and other friends health-related information on new medicines, therapies, healthy eating and traditional cures. This is an example of the sharing of knowledge with the idea of benefiting others.

Richard Simmons, an actor, was obese. To improve his gait, he undertook a crash programme of weight loss. In three months, he lost 110 lbs but his health was damaged. He was hospitalised for several months and learnt that there is a better way of losing weight by activity and proper nutrition. He opened a school for sharing his experience and became popular, benefiting others.

Regarding the place of gratitude in our relationships, the story of ten-year-old Michael comes to mind. He received a liver transplant at the hand of a surgeon, Dr Anderson, who spent hours with Michael in the recovery stage. Michael and Dr Anderson became so attached to one another that thereafter Michael would invite his surgeon to his birthday every year and Dr Anderson would never forget to attend with gifts.

We may perhaps carry with us the names, phone numbers and addresses of people who came into our life and left indelible impressions. We can call them regularly by phone, write letters frequently and never fail to meet when in their city. This kind of attention will give us immense joy and our friends will feel happy too, perhaps forgetting their loneliness and worries. There is no end to ways of serving others.

Let us encourage, inspire and induct young people into the TOS. They have the energy and innovative ideas; they are exposed to new useful technologies and techniques which senior members in the TOS do not sufficiently have. It will be useful to combine the skills and energies of the youth with the experience and money of seniors in the future work of the TOS. If that can happen, the TOS will be a vibrant and more useful institution of human service. While will, wisdom and love enable us to help, compassion acts like a compass to point to the object of service.
Only about half of our TS Sections have TOS groups. In my visit to Ukraine in May 2013, I suggested the opening up of a TOS group in Kiev. The proposal was taken seriously. We discussed different types of work the new group may take up and Ukraine will soon have vibrant TOS activity. We may suggest to other countries that do not have a TOS group to take up TOS work at least in one lodge to start with.

I would like to finish with a poem that I composed in Brazil in July 2013:

Give me a pure heart of love and compassion,
that weeps seeing the sorrow and pain of others,
Give me a strong and sensitive mind under full control
that prompts me to serve the needy and the sorrowful,
And the Will, Wisdom and Love to sustain that service,
For as long as I live, let me rejoice doing that service.