A visit to Bombay enhances a Brother's understanding of Freemasonry.

As a professor of Middle Eastern languages, I've left the West, travelling East many times; but when I was Raised as a Mason, the desire to visit foreign countries took on new meaning. In the summer of 1988, I visited India and Pakistan to deliver a series of lectures to the Parsis of Karachi and to collaborate on a book with a Zoroastrian priest in Bombay. The Parsis are descendants of Persian pilgrims who fled Iran over a thousand years ago seeking religious freedom.

They follow the ancient Faith of Zoroaster, who preached the worship of one God, Ahura Mazda (the Lord Wisdom), whose way is righteousness and whose emblem is Light. He is mentioned often in old Masonic books as one of the earliest and greatest prophets of mankind. Also, he is, as the character Sarastro, the Master in the Great Masonic opera The Magic Flute of Bro. Mozart.

I stayed in Bombay with Parsi friends and learned to my delight that the Parsis have for generations been preeminent in the Masonic Craft in India. In the Grand Lodge at Bombay, there is a life-size marble statue of Khan Bahadur Mistree (the title Khan is equivalent to Knight), the grandfather of my own host and old friend. The building is a virtual portrait gallery of Parsi baronets, judges, and scholars in their antique Masonic regalia. There was at one time a Parsi Masonic study circle, and many books are still available on Masonry and its resonances with the teachings of Zoroaster. The Grand Lodge is an enormous old mansion tucked into a quiet street between the palm-ringed open space of the Azad Maidan and the crowds and noise of the Victoria Terminus railway station. On previous visits to India, I had seen it, but I had never thought that one day it would feel like a home away from home.

Though my host was not a Mason, he thought kindly of my eagerness to visit a Lodge, and he rang his elderly aunt, the daughter and wife of Masons, who lived in a huge old house in Malad, a distant suburb. She was pleased to learn I was a Mason and immediately arranged for me to meet Bro. Maarfatia, a friend of hers and Master of a Lodge. She also made the arduous, two-hour journey into town to effect the meeting.

Almost glowing with the light enthusiasm gives, she spoke to me of how Masonry perfects the human character, requiring us to meet men of other faiths and stations in life as equals and Brothers, of how Masonic teachings strengthen the soul in a world which all too often regards only the material. She introduced me to Bro. Maarfatia and retired while he established my credentials, after which he invited me to a meeting of his Lodge.

Like everything else in India, Masonry is complex and colorful. Bro. Maarfatia kindly gave me a copy of the Masonic calendar of the District Grand Lodge of Bombay (English Constitution), which informs us that the first Lodge was established in Bombay on 24th March 1758, only to disappear in 1813. The Lodge of Amity, established before 1787, was never registered in England. The next Lodge, Philanthropists at Surat, was erased from the rolls in the evidently fateful year of 1813.

After these fitful beginnings, Masonry became more firmly established, generally by English soldiers. But Indians of various backgrounds quickly entered the Craft, as Kipling's poem "My Mother Lodge" so beautifully attests. Today Lodges of the Scottish, English, Irish, and Indian Constitutions coexist, and Bro. Maarfatia works in no less than 25 Masonic Bodies attached to one or another of all four. In the Lodge I visited, there is not one, but five Volumes of Sacred Law: the Bible (for Jews and Christians), the Avesta (for Zoroastrians), the Bhagavad Gita (for Hindus), the Qur'an (for Muslims), and the Granth Sahib (for Sikhs).

A few Brethren sauntered in for tea in Bro. Maarfatia's office. I looked at some circulars and newsletters, and discovered from these, as well as from the conversation, that Indian Masonry faces some of the same challenges we do. A notice admonishes Brethren to pay their dues regularly and to attend communications. Another records the unfortunate letter of a Brother who objects to the use of the word refreshment (evidently forgetting his Masonic ritual) instead of banquet in one announcement. He thinks this is a pretext for serving sandwiches instead of dinner. And so on. Funny, but sad.

Soft drinks were served before we moved upstairs to be clothed for our meeting. I was introduced to the Brethren and asked to sign the register. The good Brothers belong to a variety of faiths and professions, but their friendly greeting erased at once any sense I might have had of being in an alien place, and that is, of course, as it should be.

One Brother from another Lodge, an Indian Catholic sailor who spoke impeccable British English, told me of his own travels in foreign countries and of his present employment in a shipping firm, virtually all of whose employees are in the Craft. It seems to go with travelling.

Their ritual differs from ours, resembling what I have heard of the English system of Emulation, but enough was recognizable, and, of course, the Brothers assisted me in doing the proper things. Degree work was conducted that evening, which was also extremely interesting. The vestments of the officers are curious, differing slightly from our own. The Temple in Bombay resembles the Grand Lodge at London, though in Bombay one is, thankfully, never without the soft whir of ceiling fans to relieve the tropical heat.

It is the custom in India after every meeting to repair to the great hall for a formal banquet marked by elaborate toasts and much conviviality. The cuisine was Parsi, with vegetarian dishes provided for our Hindu Brethren. I was asked to speak, and I was pleased to present to the Lodge a bronze bicentennial medal of our Grand Lodge of New York. The beautiful seal was much admired and remarked upon, especially the Ark of the Covenant; and it was decided on the spot to permanently display the medal on the altar.

The conversation turned to American Masonry, and many of the Brethren were aware of the Masonic symbolism of our national capital. One Brother, a steward on Air India, asked which flight I was to take the next day. They wished me a good trip, and, of course, I cordially invited them all to visit our Lodge and observe our work.

The next evening I arrived in plenty of time at Bombay Airport and checked in. When I asked for a window seat preferably near a door to have a bit of extra leg room on the 24-hour trip, the clerk looked at me curiously. "That seat seems to have been reserved for you already on the computer, sir," he said.

It was a comfortable journey as I reflected that the cement of brotherhood had been spread a little wider. Through such experiences, as I grow slowly in the Craft, I reflect on the wise words of Paul Nettl from his book Mozart and Masonry (1957): "Yet there is a Masonic secret, a mystery, an experience that cannot be taught or explained, because it lies, like every mystic experience, beyond the realm of controlled consciousness. At its deepest level it is identical with intense feeling and empathy. The secret of Freemasonry is the secret of experiencing true love for all mankind, a positive attitude towards man and life, and broad affirmation of God."

Reprinted with permission from the winter 1990 issue of The Empire State Mason.