Theosophy Adyar 2014 Election:- Who Owns Adyar?

The Future? of the Adyar Theosophical Society

Who Owns Adyar?

It has always been assumed that the Adyar Estate has been the property of the Theosophical Society, and therefore of its members, but in the light of the manner in which Radha Burnier ran the Estate, like a member of the British aristocracy, with the General Council looking on, and the General Council's subsequent strange retreat into silence after her death, perhaps the precise ownership of the Estate needs to be re-confirmed. Is the General Council now having to make a stand against the members because they failed to make one against Radha Burnier?

Radha Burnier was born on the Adyar Estate and regarded it as the family's country seat. She did not know, and probably could not imagine, a time when the Nilakanta family did not live there and run it. Although the Estate was supposed to be owned by the members, she adopted the role of feudal lord of the manor by banning some members from the Estate, with others being kicked out. There was no internal arbitration process involved in these exclusions and expulsions, even though as members, the victims owned the Estate. The General Council never once intervened even though they represent the interests of the members, who are the owners of the Adyar Estate. To a casual observer, it would look like Radha Burnier owned the Adyar Estate and the Theosophical Society members were only allowed to use it at her pleasure.

It has recently emerged that Radha Burnier expressed the view that she would have preferred to be followed by a Westerner as international president in order to convince the authorities that the Theosophical Society was an international organisation, to prevent them from enforcing a compulsory land purchase order against the Adyar Estate. Surely production of documents proving that the Adyar Estate was owned by an international organisation of members, which is represented in over 60 countries, would have been enough to satisfy the authorities. Why on earth do the authorities even doubt that the Adyar Estate is the headquarters of an international organisation unless they know something that hasn't been revealed? It is to be noted that the land purchase matter has hitherto been kept from the members and does not appear to have been discussed by the General Council

If the Theosophical Society owns the Adyar Estate, why wasn’t the General Council involved in dealing with the compulsory land purchase threat against the Estate? Did Radha Burnier feel that it was not worth involving the General Council as they have no power or part to play in the matter? The General Council, as a group coming from all over the world, could have made representation to the authorities as the representatives of the owners of Adyar on behalf of the Society, and governing body of an international organisation. The absence of the General Council from any participation in this affair raises questions about the precise relationship between the Theosophical Society and the Adyar Estate.

Radha Burnier's appointment of family members to positions of authority on the Estate appears never to have been opposed or even discussed by the General Council. As representatives of the owners of the Estate, they had a duty of care to ensure that the Estate itself was administered by officials who were representative of the broader Theosophical Society and not by one resident family. If the members are the owners then regular reports on the running of the Adyar Estate and updates on administrative appointments should have been made available to them. Despite the current silence policy, as owners, the members are entitled to information about the Adyar Estate on demand.

The General Council's compliance with Radha Burnier's assumption of total control over the Adyar Estate suggests that they recognised her as the owner of the Estate rather than elected custodian, answerable to the elected representatives of the members. Rather, the General Council appeared answerable to Radha Burnier and not the members, and now after Radha’s death is answerable to nobody. The true extent of the General Council's submission to Radha Burnier's dominance may be something that the explosion of sycophantic adoration on her passing is concealing, and will leak out in the future.

Is it possible that during the last thirty three years, the ownership of the Estate passed to Radha Burnier either by transfer or default. The General Council is famous for its ineffectiveness and compliance, and may have failed to oppose such a move. It is also possible that elements within the General Council may have assisted such a move and the possibility of this is illustrated by the following report.

Editor of the Theosophy Forward website; Jan Nicolaas Kind comments on the behaviour of General Council members at a meeting, in his article of March 17^th 2012 entitled; “Adyar, Where do we go from here?”

“Several GC members did succeed in acting or voting according their inner conviction, vision, and principles or following instructions given by the members they represent, and that is how it should be.”

For full article

Not very encouraging is it? Some members clearly stood up for their principles but what about the others? Were they too frightened of the controlling power to make a stand? Or is the General Council loaded with stooges? This extract suggests that General Council members who are capable of representing their members effectively are the exception rather than the norm. The ownership of Adyar does not appear to have been discussed on this occasion but this quotation gives an indication of how useless the General Council appears to have been when coping with pressure, and that doing what it was told was standard procedure.

Radha Burnier also made numerous appointments to the General Council during her reign. Did these appointments create a Burnier Party in the decision making process with a Burnier block vote? To what extent does this Burnier block vote still exist and what influence does it still have? Radha Burnier appointees to the General Council has been a banned subject for discussion for decades, as it indicates the extent to which General Council meetings were the Royal Court of Radha Burnier.

It is clear that the General Council could not act without the approval of Radha Burnier and perhaps she had more control over decisions than is generally admitted. Radha Burnier's autocratic rule over the Adyar Estate was legendary, and it is difficult to see her relinquishing power over it if had she lost the presidency during her lifetime. How often did the General Council agree to what Radha demanded and then hid under the table? Are they hiding under the table now?

If a transfer of ownership did take place then the big question will be; who owns Adyar now? This may be the underlying reason for the current silence.

I am sure that as this posting circulates that the General Council will respond by bombarding members with a ton of documentation providing irrefutable proof that the Theosophical Society is still the sole and outright owner of the Adyar Estate.