The Theosophy is the study of holy philosophy and the theory holds that all religions have the objective of helping humanity reach greater excellence. The Theosophical Society was established by H.P. Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others in New York City in the year 1875. After a few years, i.e. in 1882, the headquarters of the organization were moved to Chennai as Henry Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India. The society is located along the Adyar River.
The purpose behind setting up the organization, as Blavatsky told a group of students, was to prepare the mankind to receive the World Teacher as and when he appeared on earth. It was a movement that looked at every religion not in disregard but as a source of Divine wisdom. It didn’t condemn religions. Instead, it focussed on finding merits and studying the religions.
The main objective of this worldwide body is to spread universal brotherhood. The society believes in the principle that life and its different forms, whether human or non-human, are indivisibly One. The society is of the belief that there are no right beliefs and therefore doesn’t impose a particular belief on its members. The society binds its members to a common goal – the search of truth.
Divisions sprang up within the society after Helena Blavatsky's death in 1891. The peacefulness didn’t last long as Judge was accused by Olcott and Annie Besant of forge letters from the Mahatmas. Judge ended his association with Olcott and Besant in 1895 and went away with most of the society's American Section.
The emblem of the society combines all the symbols of the major religions of the world, but doesn’t include the cross of the Christianity.
The sprawling estate garden has shrines of all the major religions of the world. The biggest and most grand attraction however is the 200-year old spectacular botanical wonder – a Banyan tree, which alone covers an area of about 40,000 sq. feet and can provide shade to about 3000 people. The tree is also called 'Aala Maram'
Theosophical Society's 95 year old library has nearly 1,65,000 books and 20,000 palm-leaf manuscripts. The University of Madras has recognised the library as a centre for post-graduate studies in Sanskrit and Indology. The shades of the banyan tree are used for conducting discourses.
The Society also runs a number of welfare activities and has the ‘Olcott Memorial School', that looks after the educational needs of poor and deprived children.
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