BENGALURU: At the altar, before the Worshipful Master, is placed books from five faiths — Bhagavad Gita, The Holy Bible, The Holy Quran, Zend Avesta and Guru Granth Sahib. “We are religious but we are not a religion,” says Sahae. “We refer to God as the Great Architect or the Grand Geometrician in our meetings.”
Masons present themselves for the meetings in their black suits and bows and Regalia, and are forbidden from discussing religion, politics and business. They call each other Brothers and there is no denying that they do help each other out when caught in a tight spot. Sahae narrates how his Brothers helped him trace the missing daughter of a friend.
“But we don’t obviously help each other with anything illegal,” he says, dissing every conspiracy theory of Masons fixing judgements or police investigations to help a Brother. Is the Internet right about the rituals? Sahae will not say. Is it right, in its speculations, by a 90%? “Yes,” he says. “They have it mostly right about the American and British rituals, but Indian Constitution (which one group of Masons in India follow) is still a mystery,” he says. So if you press one of the fingers of a Mason during a handshake, you might be doing it right.