Theosophy and the Society in the Public Eye

In January 2013 I attended the School of the Wisdom at The Theosophical Society in Adyar, directed by Dr. Ravi Ravindra: "With Krishna in the Battle of Life - Life Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita". 

During the three weeks there I met up with many interesting Theosophists from all over the world. There was also a group from New Delhi, which I became friends with and visited the following years. Finally, one of them, my good friend Vedamrita, introduced me to some street kids she takes care of. She visits with them several times a week, usually makes them clean up a bit, and then takes them to lunch. She also tries to get them to go to school and checks on what they have learned. 

The mostly alcoholic adults of these large families need the children for income, so they make them sell flowers, balloons and other small items on the main street next to the narrow street isle they live on. In rush hour traffic, or when the traffic lights turn red, the kids go from car to car peddling their stuff.

This particular family is from a village close to Alwar in Rajasthan – according to their stories, the wells are drying up and they cannot survive as farmers – therefore they move to New Delhi to survive. 
In the three photos we can see ONE) Sumit, an exceptionally bright young boy, TWO) his joyful little brother Hanuman and THREE) his uncle with his daughter, whose names I do not recall.

I was very touched by the joy these kids radiate. Whenever I am in New Delhi, I try to visit with them.
These photos are from a visit in March 2016.

The artist

  In the previous six issues of Theosophy Forward,we published a series of nice watercolors by Armand Alexey Davidovich from Russia.

Art forms often speak louder than words, so it is with pleasure that we hereby present the last series of six inspiring works by Armand. 

The artist

In a previous issue of Theosophy Forwardin the category THE SOCIETY, you’ll find a mini-interview with Armand, who is a Russian Theosophist. His interview wasn’t the most detailed or longest we’ve ever published over the past years, but Armand is certainly an interesting friend of ours and a very talented artist. 

For the interview click here         

David Grossman – USA 

David Grossman, author and photographer

 Introduction:

David is a professional photographer who lives in the New York region. He is a life-time student of Theosophy and active as treasurer in the board of International Theosophy Conferences. (ITC) Over the past years we have used many of his at times intriguing images. In this issue of Theosophy Forwardhe elaborates on the theme of UNITY; his thoughts on this profound subject are accompanied by a number of his fine photographs. 

Richard Dvořák

Richard is a well-known Theosophist in the Adyar Society. He lives in Germany, is a world traveler and his  photos taken during sessions of the School of the Wisdom, International Conventions, seminars and Federation gatherings, have been widely distributed. He has agreed to show some of his other material on Theosophy Forwardon a regular basis, for which we are very appreciative. He introduces a first series of three magnificent photos with a favorite quote of his from the  Bhagavad Gita.

“You have a right only to action, never to its fruit. Do not let your motive be the fruits of action, but do not be attached to inaction. O Dhananjaya, do your work established in yoga and abandon attachment. Be impartial to success or failure, for yoga is equanimity...Yoga is skill in action.” [Chapter 2, Shlokas 47-48, 50]

Joma the artist

 I am more than happy to inform readers of Theosophy Forwardabout what I have been doing recently. Still working on the “Lumine Stellarum”, which are small projects that can be seen on my website, and my personal Facebook page. Check it out here:

Website, click here

Facebook, click here

Marty Bax – the Netherlands 

The author

[This article is reproduced with kind permission from the author, Dr. Marty Bax.(see photo above)  It previously appeared here: http://baxpress.blogspot.com.br/2017/05/hilma-af-klint-revisited-part-iii-anna.htmlThe piece is notrevised by Theosophy Forward’s editors] 

This time I want to draw Anna Cassel into the limelight. Anna has frequently been mentioned only as as Hilma’s life-long friend and artist-colleague, but again, only fleetingly. From 1882-1887 they attended the Stockholm academy Anna from 1880, Hilma from 1882 onwards. One of their teachers was Count Georg von Rosen (1843-1923). Members of his larger family became members of the Edelweissförbundet. 

Anna Cassel in 1897

Anna, as said, grew up in extreme wealth. Anna, fragile-looking with light reddish hair and always youthful in appearance, had a strong and generous personality. She had both a strong sense of ethics and a passion for art. But she also had a weak health. She suffered from severe asthma and had to retreat to sanatoriums or to the West-coast to recover from bouts.

Before 1908, while recovering from an asthma attack, she met Karl-Erik Öhman, son of a wealthy trader, who also suffered from severe lung problems and had already visited many sanatoriums in Europe. Öhman later became member of the board of the mine Surahammars Bruk.