Freemasonry

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Freemasonry India and Influences
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• A Mason is not necessarily a member of a lodge.
  In a broad sense, he is someone who tries to live
  the Masonic life daily, and to serve
  intelligently the needs of the Great Architect.
  -unknown.

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Background - India

• Independence - 1947 from the British.
• 1.2 Billion Current Population
• Constitution lists 22 Major Languages spoken in
  28 states and 7 union territories.
• Religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism,
  Christianity, Islam.
• Second largest synagogue outside of Israel in
  Cochin - India.

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History

• While 80 of the population is Hindu, it is also
  a home for the second Largest population of
  Muslims in the world.
• Secular country with separation of church and
  state.

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Freemasonry

• 10 years after the formation of the Grand Lodge
  in England- Masonry came to India.
• 1728 - First lodge Established in Calcutta.
• 1752 - Provincial Grand Lodge of Madras was
  formed. (My home town).
• 1961 - The Grand Lodge of India was officially
  constituted in New Delhi.

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History

• Although the first lodge was established in India
  in 1728 it was not initially open to Hindus as it
  did not fit into the Masonic Traditions. (ie.
  visual submission to ONE supreme being).
• Initial members were British, who came to India
  through the East India Company.
• By the end of 19th century just the Elite, Muslim
  Nawabs and Parsis etc. were allowed.

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History continued..

• To the un-informed, Hindus appeared as venerating
  a variety of human-like, animal-like deities.
• As you can see..

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Hinduism..

• Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has
  no single founder.
• Among its roots is the historical Vedic religion
  of Iron Age India, and as such Hinduism is often
  called the "oldest living religion" or the
  "oldest living major tradition".
• Vedas - A large body of texts is classified as
  Hindu, divided into Sruti ("revealed") and Smriti
  ("remembered") texts.

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Hinduism

• These texts discuss theology, philosophy and
  mythology, and provide information on the
  practice of dharma (religious living). Among
  these texts, the Vedas are the foremost in
  authority, importance and antiquity.
• The earliest evidence for prehistoric religion in
  India date back to the late Neolithic in the
  early Harappan period (55002600 BCE).
• Modern Hinduism grew out of the Vedas, the oldest
  of which is the Rigveda, dated to 17001100 BCE.

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• Vedas center on worship of deities such as Indra,
  Varuna and Agni, and on the Soma ritual.
• Fire-sacrifices, called yajña were performed, and
  Vedic mantras chanted but no temples or icons
  were built.
• The oldest Vedic traditions exhibit strong
  similarities to Zoroastrianism and other
  Indo-European religions.

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History..

• It is not surprising that Muslims and Parsees
  were admitted much earlier because of their
  visible submission to one supreme being.
• Muslims and Parsees were easily absorbed into the
  economic and political world of the British
  empire.

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Hinduism and Masonry.

• It was Swami Vivekanandas teachings regarding
  belief in a supreme being that brought attention
  to commonalities between Hindu Vedanta and
  Freemasonry.
• Both were seeking a realization of truth and
  applying principles of universal brotherhood
  under a supreme being.
• Albert Pike Was heavily influenced by his
  teachings.

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Hinduism and Masonry

• Swami Vivekananda showed how vedantic hinduism
  resembles masonic teachings of the Ascent in
  Masonic Degrees.
• Hindus believe Man does not travel from error
  to truth but from lower to higher truth.
• Hindu Scholars also restated polytheistic stigma
  by viewing one true Brahma (supreme Being) and
  that all religions true.

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Hinduism and Masonry..

• Rare Genius Was able to weave a fabric of
  universal religious tolerance for humanity that
  was simultaneously Masonic and Vedantic. --
  labeled Masonic Vedanta.
• Was guided by Masonic principles and benevolance
  and strongly argued all religions contained a
  divine element.

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Hinduism and Masonry

• Albert Pike believed the religions of the world
  contained primitive truth. (ie. Oneness of God
  and survival of man after death) Which he
  believed came from the Aryans.
• He included Aryan Dieties and concepts of unity
  within the ritual of 32nd Degree, or Master of
  Royal Secret.
• Both Pike and Vivekananda wove ancient Indian
  Teachings into Scottish Rite Lectures.

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Hinduism and Masonry

• 1961- Lodges Chartered by Grand Lodges of
  England, Ireland and Scotland opted to form the
  Grand Lodge of India.
• 1780 Discovery that Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and
  Persian are related served to propel India and
  Hinduism into Masonic Arena.
• Made Hindus, representing Aryan Peoples, the
  inheritors of vast found ancient wisdom that
  filtered into universal fold of Esoteric Masonry.

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Hinduism and Masonry..

• Thinkers helped accelerate interest in Hinduism -
  became fashionable to think and discuss
  possibilities of universal religion - based upon
  academic and spiritual foundations.

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Indian Freemasons.

• First Indian Mason was Omdat-ul-Omrah, Nawab of
  Carnatic initiated in 1775.
• Prominent Figures Swamy Vivekananda.
• Motilal Nehru - Lodge Harmony, Kanpur. - Father
  of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and grand father of
  Indira Gandhi.
• C. Rajagopalachari -- Governor General of India.
• Fakruddin Ali Ahmed - President of India.

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Source

• www.masonindia.org
• Google Freemasonry and ancient gods of India.
• The Intersection of Hindu and Masonic teachings
  The scottish Rite research Society, Washington DC
  vol p241.
• Building of Empire Freemasonry and British
  Imperialism 1717 1927. Chapel hill N.C.
  University of N.C press 2007.
• Ancient Freemasonry An introduction to Masonic
  Archeology.
• Wikipedia.

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• Q A.