It was in the twenties of the present century. One
evening, on the platform of the Madras Central Station, an unusually tall man,
square-shouldered, with a trimmed black beard, clad in the manner of the modern
Parsi,-as against the ancient type in snow-white spacious clothes–was pacing up
and down with firm steps similar to those of a trained soldier. He was waiting
for the Blue Mountain Express to steam in and carry him to the Blue Hills of
Ootacamund,–the loveliest Spot for him on this earth, because of its natural
beauty and certain psychic and spiritual associations in his own inner
consciousness. Looking at him I recalled that I had seen him somewhere before,
in Bombay, during the historic days of our political awakening, symbolized by
the Home Rule Movement of that queen among constitutional fighters for
freedom–Mrs. Annie Besant of revered memory. And I thought of her, the queen,
and the Nilgiris, the queen among hilly surroundings and remembered with my
heart heaving with pride how the Parsi gentleman, along with Mrs. Besant and
Mr. G. S. Arundale, had planted the flag of Freedom at Ootacamund in the name
of the Blue-throated One, suggesting that if India was to be free, she should
be prepared to perform the sacrifice of Shiva. His straight spine, which the
men in power in the Province of Madras could neither bend nor break, was like a
verse from the works of Sir Walter Scott and it rang in my ears as the Express
sped out of the platform and he disappeared from the range of my eyes, but not
of my esteem, for, in that, he dwells till this day:
“Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my Native Land?”….
Shri B. P. Wadia,–the gentleman, who was pacing the
platform of the Madras Central Station,–was thus a pioneer patriot in his own
community; if not a stalwart like Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha and
Pherozeshah Mehta, at least one of the first few to be inspired by their
shining example to consecrate himself to the service of the Motherland. In the
company of Mrs. Annie Besant, and a number of other colleagues, he integrated
the patriotic efflorescence of the educated people in a triple way: through the
press, the platform, and practical work for the amelioration of the lot of the
lowly labourer,–that backbone of a nation’s true prosperity. The weekly Commonweal
and the daily New India, –what
appropriate names!–with their set objective of telescoping love of country into
love of humanity, were built managerially by Shri Wadia, but even in the
editorial lay-out he had a large share of planning. In addition, however, he
was actively associated with the educational and cultural and theosophical
work, carried out under the aegis of the President of the Theosophical Society
from Adyar. His devotion to the cause was whole-hearted, so that he surrendered
for its sake a goodly portion of his patrimony.
But, for reasons into which one need not go here,
Shri Wadia withdrew from the political arena as well as the Presidential aura
towards the end of the twenties. And he returned to his original aspiration to
tread the path of spiritual enquiry and endeavour, for a fulfillment of which
he had joined the Theosophical Society when he was a young, man of twenty years
or so–today he is nearing the sixty-eighth milestone; Hereafter, however, he,
found his friends and fellow-seekers into the spirit more in the West than in
the East. For, he spent several years during the thirties in U. S. A. and
Europe. And by virtue of his firm philosophical grip on the fundamentals of the
immemorial eternal Wisdom-Religion, before long he began to be looked up to as
an instructor and exponent of the Metaphysics of the Logos. Since 1930, however, he and his worthy
consort, Srimati Sophia Wadia have settled down in India and canalized their
aspirations and assets in the service of the country. The Aryan Path, an
exponent of some of the profoundest and purest values in life, disseminates
every month enlightening information as well as instruction, so that the reader
is not only enthused about the Way of the Spirit, as at work in the varied
fields of the world’s evolution but may also be energized to walk it. This
periodical, marked by exceptional efficiency, is for the layman, while The
Theosophical Movement, a monthly bulletin, is for the instruction of the
associates of the United Lodge of Theosophists, who are spread all over the
globe. There is a stamp of self-effacement on almost every activity of Shri and
Srimati Wadia, for they believe in the ideal of impersonality. The result is
that not many in the country know of their valuable contribution to the
cultural renaissance of the present generation. They are, indeed, patriots in
purdah, for they go on with their work day after day, far away from the
flashing footlights.
Shri Wadia is interested keenly in Philosophy as
well as Finance (for the organization side of the work has also to be attended
to with skill and scrupulousness), in Politics and in Poetry. To hear him speak
from the platform of the Lodge is to be impressed with his versatility, on the
one hand, as with the width and vision of his studies, on the other. His study
of philosophy of the Hindu religion, for instance, would straightway put into
the shade many a professional pundit. His political acumen and anticipation of
events marks him out as a statesman. His resourcefulness for apt quotation from
English Poetry, to support his argument, is the envy of students or English
literature. And yet all these aspects of his individual are underlined with
humility, which peeps out in his favourite mannerism while lecturing, “Please
note” (the stress being on the first word). For, he does not indulge in the
authoritative tone of the demagogue who sets forth his particular point-of-view
with the pontifical air of, “I say with all the emphasis at my command!”
Shri B. P. Wadia is, in short, a true lover of
India–the blessed country of his birth and of the Guardians of the Human
Race,–who has, however, chosen deliberately to hide his light under the bushel
and blanket of the attitude, “The Work matters more than the worker.”