Date:25/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/25/stories/2007062553010200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Freemasons join their brethren worldwide to celebrate universal brotherhood

Staff Reporter

‘Freemasonry’s aim is to make good men better’
Stress of movement on secularism highlighted

FRATERNAL FEELINGS: Ujval Joshi, past grand master of the Freemasons’ Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India, showing some paintings which were displayed at the Freemasons’ hall on the occasion of Universal Brotherhood Day in Bangalore on Sunday.

BANGALORE: Freemasons from Bangalore joined their brethren across the world in celebrating Universal Brotherhood Day on Sunday by organising a meeting and an exhibition of their working tools that symbolise values and morals in life.

Based on the principle of “fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man concerned with moral and spiritual values”, the Freemasonry movement dates back several centuries to the reign of King Solomon in the 10th century.

Members of the Bangalore Freemason Society assembled at the Freemasons Hall on Primrose Road in the city and performed a series of rituals that follow ancient forms and stonemasons’ customs. Ujjval Joshi, past master of Lodge Gibbs (one of the seven Freemason Lodges in the city), told The Hindu that the main objective of Freemasonry was to make good men better.

“The fundamental principles of Freemasonry are brotherly love, belief and truth. It is essential for every member to have a firm belief in the existence of a Supreme Being,” he said.

M.K. Chidambaranath, assistant regional grand master of the Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India, said that Freemasonry was not a religion but emphasised on secularism through respect and tolerance for all religions. “It is necessary that a candidate for the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry must have liberal views and an equal respect for other religions,” he said.

Worldwide, the Freemasons are engaged in many charitable projects.

The Bangalore Freemason Society runs an old-age home “Tara” at Rajarajeshwarinagar, which can house 30 people. Other projects of the movement include a Masonic Polyclinic, a public school and a school for spastic children in Delhi, a Masonic medical centre for children in Coimbatore, the adoption of an entire village for its development in Vishakapatnam district, providing of sheds for the cyclone victims in Andhra Pradesh, and an orphanage for children who lost their parents in the tsunami at Karaikal.