Page 63 - MML - Journal - Centenary Edition - Vol. 01 / 2023

How Masonry Influenced Me
By W Bro. M. Prabhat Kumar, S.W., The Carnatic Lodge No. 39
I was initiated into Freemasonry by my father W Bro. M C. Cunnan. I was passed to the degree of Fellow craft and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. But during all these degrees I understood nothing. I was dazed and could neither follow the ritual nor understand what was told by the Brethren who gave me the several Charges. I was like a child who sees light but could not focus or record of understand what it is.
In the following year I was appointed and invested as one of the Stewards of the Lodge. This appointment gave me the opportunity to know the other brethren of the Lodge by name and move with them freely. In a meeting in that year Bro. Jr. Deacon was absent. Bro. D of C asked me to act as Jr. Deacon of the Lodge. I had to tell him that I was not prepared for the post. He gave me the advice that as a Steward my job was not only at the festive board but also in the Lodge, that I should come prepared to serve in as many offices as possible, such that I will not fail in the confidence the Lodge had placed in me. This gave me very great encouragement. From that day I took to Freemasonry more seriously and religiously. For every meeting I used to go to the Lodge well prepared to be IG or Jn. or Sr. Deacon. In many meetings I acted either as 1G, JD or SD. I felt very happy when senior brethren congratulated me on my readiness. This was the first and best experience and the first lesson I learnt in Freemasonry, “BE PREPARED”, It taught me to give support to brethren in the Lodge when some officer was absent. From that date to this day, I take every opportunity to be the Steward of a Lodge where you really serve the brethren and increase fellowship. In my opinion the Stewards are “Blessed Brethren” who have
all the opportunity to serve both in the temple and outside. When I was appointed as J.D. and I conducted the candidates, the D of C trained me to move and conduct in straight lines and turn by correct squaring, keeping steps with the candidate. This regularly done, it has become a habit with me to move only in straight lines and walk erect. In this office I learnt the full significance of entering the temple for initiation, in the manner prescribed, poor and penniless and blind. This made me understand how we enter this world full of hazards and with nothing you can claim as your own at your birth into this world. Your mother accepted you with love and affection and brought you up. Similarly, Freemasonry receives us and brings us up.
I was appointed Senior Deacon of the Lodge. I conducted the candidates Jn. Passing and Raising. They have seen the light of freemasonry to a certain extent. In this period, I was given the opportunity to explain the working tools of Io. Only when I was learning this portion of the ritual, I began to understand the true meaning of masonry. In this passage we are advised how to utilise the 24 hours of the day to the best result. Even now whenever and wherever I see a 24" gauge I remember the symbolic application of it to our morals, The application of the common gavel (force of conscience) is so aptly explained. I am sure no brother who has understood the lectures of freemasonry properly can act in a manner other than the correct. The chisel points out the advantages of education. This alludes to the rigid treatment you undergo in academic education and worldly experience, the result being, you get transformed from an ordinary rough irregular shaped stone to a perfect ashlar which alone can be useful in a
Madras Masonic Journal Vol. 01 / 2023 - Centenary Year Edition
A Publication of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103, GLI
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