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Building a better society
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Freemasonry is a unique society, primarily concerned with upholding moral and spiritual values, for "making good men better".
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FREEMASON IS a name, which perhaps many have not heard. And even if they have, they do not know what it stands for and what is does. It is an organisation with an interesting history. It is traditional in character and steadfastly follows certain rituals, which may appear out of sync in this modern world. They are also involved in charity but shy away from publicity. And perhaps that is what adds to the mystique element in their existence.
Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest caring societies with over five million members all over the world. In the Temple City the organisation boasts of more than 250 members. A unique society primarily concerned with upholding moral and spiritual values, it aims at "making good men better". Interestingly, the society makes use of several ancient ceremonies to instruct its members and constantly "advocates brotherly love, relief and truth."
Several theories do the rounds on the origin of Freemasonry. The most popular one, however, says that it's roots lay in trade organisations of the English stonemasons between 10th and 15th centuries. That was the period, which witnessed vigorous constuction activity building churches and monastries. The skilled masons with the free stone used to travel extensively for construction purposes and set up work sheds or `lodges' at the construction sites where they lived for months together.
It is said that these free-stonemasons over a period of time took to a code of peculiar signs, words and modes for recognising each other in order to protect their trade practices and to prevent any other competitor in their trade.
With progressing years, construction activities declined and many of the masons' organisations converted into social and religious societies. And in the process they happened to become "an exclusive society".
"There are a lot of misconceptions and myths about Freemasons. Those who spread such wrong messages do not understand the essence of Freemasons. We are not a secret organisation meeting at a secluded place under the cover of darkness, but an organisation with its own tradition and conservatism. We are conservative in practicing our rituals while conducting our meeting. Generally, we are a social organisation. We enjoy meeting new people and socialising with old friends," says Dr.P.K.Muthukumaraswamy, Professor and Head of Medical Oncology Department at the Government Rajaji Hospital.
Freemasons in Madurai came into being in 1890. It started with a group of executives forming a "lodge" and gradually the influential in the city joined the lodge. According to Dr.Muthukumaraswamy, a free mason himself, the society is very British in character. "Every speech delivered and every meeting is conducted as per English traditions."
Becoming a freemasons is not easy either. Those interested need to apply for membership as nobody is invited to join. An aspirant should be introduced by a freemason. The annual subscription is Rs.1000 while an applicant has to pay Rs.3000 to Rs.4000 for becoming a member. A committee selects and inducts a new member in the basic organisation called the Craft Lodge. Members of the Craft Lodge are required to progress through three ceremonies or three degrees of masonry called the "Initiation, Passing and Racing" in order to become a full-fledged member.
Each degree in masonry teaches moral lessons and after becoming a full member, a mason can choose to progress further and rise to the seat of the Master. This is possible only after a full-fledged mason successfully goes through the additional rites and degrees of masonry and conducts himself with elan and knowledge in all proceedings. It takes at least a decade to become a Master and is considered highly prestigious.
Belief in God is an essential pre-requisite for becoming a freemason. Freemasonry is not a substitute for religion nor does it impose any religious beliefs on anybody. It believes in equality of all religions and Freemasons only believe in honesty in everyday life and setting high moral standards.
There are three Craft Lodges in Madurai - Lodge Pandyan, Lodge Rajasabai and Lodge Meenakshi. "These lodges meet monthly at the Freemasons' Hall or the Masonic Temple donated by Palayampatti Zamindar Dasharath Raja who himself is a freemason. Basically a charitable organisation, they run Lodge Pandyan Masonic Charitable Hospital, which caters to the medical needs of the poor. "We offer treatment for short-term illness at a subsidised rate of Rs.5 which includes drugs for four days," discloses Dr.Muthukumaraswamy.
The freemasons of Madurai have also constructed a school building, which has been leased out to the Bharathi Charitable Trust at a nominal rent for running a portion of the Chetana School.
The Madurai lodges have provided scholarships to around 15 deserving students to pursue their college education from the Madurai Masonic Trust.
The trust has also put up a permanent bus shelter for passengers at the Race Course Bus Stop.
Freemasonry is a philosophical organisation, as they believe when materialism has been pushed to excess, the tendency is rectified by a spiritual revival.
With their complex but rich rituals they stress on fundamental truths.
This ritual, which forms the focus of their regular meetings, is sacred for the freemasons.
It is their pride to be able to adhere to a strict code, be it in their daily lives or the organisation's activities.
Ask any Freemason - that is if he has revealed himself as one - what it means to be a member of this exclusive society, the reply is uniform - that of an extreme sense of happiness, a feeling of brotherhood.
As Dr.T.S.Chandrasekaran, who became the Master of Lodge Pandyan in 1990, said: "It is like an all-pervasive good feeling." "You do things quietly with a sense of pride and peace of mind. You take to discipline and shed your ego.'You get to meet all kinds of people from all over the world and everybody is a brother to you,'' says this city ophthalmologist, whose one year stint as a Master coincided with the Centenary celebrations of Freemasonry in Madurai.
"It was a great honour to have become the Master in that Lodge. It is like a small kingdom encapsulating good morale, good ruling, good feeling among all,'' he says recalling with much pride even after 14 years.
It is this very spirit of "do good, be good, feel good" that keeps the Freemasons ticking and glowing in an otherwise incongrous world torn by competition and selfishness. Hail these men, who are simply trained to be good, just in case you have missed the point - Freemasons is only for men.
T. SARAVANAN
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