EN22 >Newsletter cover page >Website
A
book of special interest to TOS members
|
|
N. Sri Ram A Life of Beneficence and Wisdom by Pedro Oliveira Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 2009. 223 pages, paper. 120 rupees.
“Theosophy exists to change ourselves and change the world. Its truths must ever be, and are even now, the means of transcending present difficulties, whether national, international or individual. And we cannot change the world without identifying ourselves with its interests and problems.” -- Sri Ram in a letter to the Secretary of the Tamil Theosophical Federation, March 1949. |
|
Amongst Theosophists, N. Sri Ram is remembered as the ‘gentle sage’. In fact those who were closest to him say that one of the most striking traits of his character was his refusal to be bound by conventions. Pedro Oliveira’s biography of the Theosophical Society’s fifth president abounds with examples of his moral courage and his political and social activism. This record of Sri Ram’s life constitutes a source of inspiration for TOS members. |
|
|
We learn, for example, that Sri Ram worked in close association with Annie Besant for Indian Home Rule, writing and lecturing at every opportunity on freedom for his homeland. Few probably know that, for his pains, he was placed under surveillance by the British Central Intelligence Department. In 1914 Sri Ram stepped outside social norms in employing a ‘harijan’ (a member of the lowest Hindu caste at that time) at his home in Guindy, Madras. He stood behind his sister Rukmini Devi in her marriage to George Arundale, at a time when Anglo-Indian marriage was severely frowned upon. Sri Ram’s younger brother, N. Subramaniam Sastry stated that as a result of this marriage, “relatives forsook us and ostracism was practised. But Sri Ram was our guiding star, particularly to my brave mother”. When working on the newspaper, New India, Sri Ram gave his entire earnings to his wife, Bhagirathi, as he felt that a woman should never feel dependent on her husband. (Even the pocket money he took to work to pay for his afternoon tea disappeared regularly into the hands of the beggars he encountered.) He also defended the right of an Indian widow not to dress in mourning clothes for the rest of her life. |
|
|
|
Pedro’s fine biography is full of stories of Sri Ram’s charitable actions and quiet but firm stands on controversial issues. Sri Ram’s extensive experience as a journalist in his early years equipped him to write trenchant editorials, letters and lectures on public matters, ranging from the advancement of women in society to the plight of the Tibetan people under Chinese rule. On the subject of animal cruelty, he wrote to the Russian Ambassador in New Delhi regarding the sending up of a live dog with the Sputnik rocket in 1957, declaring: “Perhaps mankind would be better without knowledge obtained by such heartless methods.” Sri Ram served as chairman of the New India League, which succeeded Annie Besant’s Home Rule for India League. He also served as chairman of the Besant Theosophical School at Adyar from its inception in 1934 until 1938. He was an ardent vegetarian and spoke and wrote about animal concerns whenever the opportunity arose. He was also a firm supporter of the United Nations and in a message to the European Federation of the TS on the occasion of a meeting in 1953, he voiced the hope that the UN “someday ere long must develop into that Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World, of which the poet Lord Tennyson dreamt even in the last century.” |
|
Sri Ram was the father of the current President of the TOS, Mrs Radha Burnier. Radha has continued in the footsteps of his humanitarian and educational work. Pedro’s biography casts light upon Radha by showing us family influences and inspiration.
Highly recommended!
A copy of the book can be ordered online here: http://www.adyarbooks.com/books/nsri-ram-a-life-beneficence-and-wisdom
|
Pedro Oliveira |
