April 26, 2018
Dear fellow GC member,
In response to some of the low-quality information about Adyar and the TS that has been recently circulated, a number of us felt that some response should be made. As members of the TS's general council, we have all received numerous mailings from one common source. Many of us have read them, many have chosen not to. It has not been and cannot become the habit of the GC to use valuable time sorting through the half-truths, total untruths, distortions of fact, and personal conjecture that fill each of these mailings. What has been done in the attached text is to address each and every assertion of “fact” presented in these recent mailings. Most of what is written is already fully known to GC members, particularly to those who have attended recent meetings, as it has been discussed in meetings, included in minutes, and elaborated at the request of GC members. Matters related to ordinary management issues at Adyar, which were included in the recent mailing, are also addressed.
One of the features of the operation at Adyar has been the degree of transparency that has been instituted. Like most things, it is something of a double-edged sword with a few ill willed operators seizing upon and distorting information that is readily available to the GC, and to our membership through us. While it is not our belief that GC members are confused or uncertain about the state of things at Adyar, we feel that it is necessary to address the insubstantial basis for these numerous mailings.
It is important to provide some background. Many of us have been receiving similar mailings from this same source for years, never knowing anything more about the author than his name, or initials. On his various websites, Facebook page, and Twitter account even that information is withheld. It is helpful to connect a name to an actual person and to their activities. Manjeri K Ramadoss is an American citizen and TS member who has lived in San Antonio, Texas for many years and is a retired certified public accountant. He was originally from South India. He is now 80 years old.
For many years he has been engaging in activities that undermine the work of the TS. Thirty years ago, long before the internet age, he was doing the exact same thing he is doing now. In the US at that time he was using the postal service, mailing letters widely, attacking the character of a man who was then on the TS in America's board of directors and serving as its treasurer - a man widely regarded as an example that theosophists who knew him aspired toward. The substance of his postal mailings then was the same mixture of half-truths and untruths as now. Why he had locked his attention on this man is unclear, but he pursued it with his characteristic persistence.
The history of his actions against the TS is not noble. A list of actions at Adyar and in the US include:
• Recent letters sent by him to TS banks in India demanding that TS accounts be frozen.
• Filing police reports in India, from his home in Texas, against the TS in Adyar.
• Threatening TS donors in America - foundations, individuals, and TS lodges – with the possibility of federal tax audits for donating to the organization.
• Contacting the federal government in the US to initiate a tax audit of the TSA.
• In the waning days of Radha's life, he sent a warning to her and the Adyar administration that their tax-exempt status in the US had been lost. He claimed that the TSA, who had maintained it for years, had wilfully failed to renew with the federal agency. This was unfounded and false but caused great concern to Radha and the Adyar administration.
• And the assortment of conspiracies, and conjecture with which we have all become familiar.
It is difficult to understand why any member would want to inflict so much damage to the TS instead of helping to build and strengthen theosophical work.
We recognize that this is a long communication, but as we all know, it takes a great deal more effort to correct an untruth than it does to create it. Please feel free to share this information with your members in whatever manner you think best.
Fraternally
Sabine Van Osta General Secretary Belgium
Sergio Moraes Junior General Secretary Brazil
Jenny Baker General Secretary England
Pradeep Gohil General Secretary India
Antonio Girardi General Secretary Italy
John Vorstermans General Secretary New Zealand
Wim Leys General Secretary the Netherlands
Barbara Hebert General Secretary United States
Marcos de Resende Additional GC Member Brazil
Patrizia Calvi Additional GC Member Italy
Els Rijneker Additional GC Member the Netherlands