In the spirit of enquiry
MEERA SRINIVASAN
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Henry Steel Olcott is remembered for the free schools he started for under-privileged children in Indi
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HENRY OLCOTT: A man with a vision.
There is a big, park-like area with beautiful trees in Adyar, Chennai. If you have seen it have you wondered what's inside? Amidst all those mighty trees that are home to hundreds of little birds, is a great man's dream and belief.
Called the Theosophical Society, it was founded by Henry Steel Olcott along with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. It is a body comprising people from different religious backgrounds, who believe that Truth should be sought by study, reflection, purity of life and devotion to high ideals.
Colonel Olcott, as he was popularly known, was born in 1832 in New Jersey, U.S. He grew up like anyone of us, playing about merrily. When he was barely 23, his expertise in agriculture drew attention from all over the world. He later went on to work as a journalist and published articles that won great acclaim.
Free school
In the 1870s, he met Madam Blavatsky and they founded The Theosophical Society at New York in November 1875. The headquarters of the Society was shifted to Adyar in Madras, in the year 1882.
Most of us are lucky to have been to good schools, but some aren't. Colonel Olcott took special interest in providing such children opportunities to learn. He started free schools for under-privileged children in India. One of the schools founded by him, the Olcott Memorial High School in Besant Nagar, Chennai is over 100 years old.
The Theosophical Order of Service recently donated a reverse osmosis treatment plant (used to purify water) to the school.
Besides starting several educational institutions in neighbouring Sri Lanka, he also founded the Adyar library in Chennai. The great man who came from as far away as the U.S. (Remember, there were no aeroplanes then. He spent several months on the ship to get here!) and worked for the benefit of people in our country died on February 17,1907. It is 100 years since he passed away.
He said, the very air of Theosophy was charged with the spirit of enquiry. He encouraged people to ask questions in their pursuit of Truth, which he deemed the greatest religion ever.
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