By IE
Tuesday June 26, 12:57 AM
FREEMASONS in the city celebrated universal brotherhood day on Sunday.
The brotherhood believes in secularism and their motto is to study the mysteries of science and nature.
The re are as many as 10 million Freemasons around
the globe. In Pune there are nine lodges with two temples and a
membership of around 250.
The first Freemason Lodge in
India was formed in Kolkata in 1735. It spread to Mumbai and then to other parts of
India . Currently there are 352 lodges under the
Grand Lodge of India. Notable Indian Freemasons include Swami
Vivekananda, Motilal Nehru, JRD Tata, Rajendra Prasad and
S Radhakrishnan .
"We
are an organisation where to become a member you have to believe in God
or the omnipotent, omnipresent entity. But we are secular and do not
indulge in any discussion on religion," said Sharad Korke, a Freemason.
P
C Patwardhan, a Freemason, explained: "We are strictly prohibited from
discussing religion and neither do we discuss politics and business at
our meetings. We do not abide by a codified set of beliefs. We are
essentially a rational organisation and refer to the almighty as
mysterious but manifested in the nature and its laws - earthly and
perceptible."
Patwardhan explained that due to this, the Freemasons were not accepted by any organised religion.
To
protect the brotherhood during medieval times, the rituals for
initiation were introduced since secrecy was required. Anyone belonging
to any religion can become a member of the brotherhood.
The Freemasons also believe in charity. Freemasons in the
USA donate $ 2 million to charities. Patwardhan also
mentioned that another tenet of Freemasonry is to be open to all kinds
of ideas.
Another area of thrust is to make the brothers better humans and inculcation moral values.
The tools of Freemasons are now replete with moral significance.
The Freemasons always abide by the laws of the country.
