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Building stone is obtained from quarries.
It shall be of uniform colour and texture, hard, tough
and durable and of the best quality of its respective
kind. It shall be free from decay, holes, veins, flaws,
cracks and other defects. It shall be quarried in such
a way as to the most suitable for the particular class
of work. Every stone is to be tooled on all beds, joints
and exactly square on all edges, with a chisel and without
rubbing. Such are the stringent requirements of good
building stone. ASHLAR is a name for this class of stone
; depending on fitness of polishing of the surfaces,
rough or fine, the stone is called THE ROUGH ASHLAR
or THE PERFECT ASHLAR.
A CANDIDATE for Freemasonry, is to
be selected and chosen, as a stone for a building. He
should be just, upright and free ; of mature age, sound
judgement, strict morals and goods report ; in all cases
of difficulty and danger, he must put his faith in God
; he must be well and worthily recommended and regularly
proposed and approved in open lodge ; he should be ready
to declare on his honour, that unbiased by the improper
solicitations of friends against his own inclination
and uninfluenced by mercinary and other unworthy motives,
he is freely and voluntary offering himself as a candidate
for the mysteries and preveleges of Freemasonry ; besides,
he should also be willing to pledge himself, that he
is prompted to solict those proveleges by a favourable
opinion preconceived of the institution, a general desire
for knowledge, and a sincere wish to render himself
to be more extensively serviceable to his fellow creatures.
Such are the corresponding stringent requirements of
a candidate for Freemasonry, That is the ASHLAR, to
be rougheded and perfected, to fit into the stately
and superb edifice of Masonic Fraternity.
The ASHLAR indicates the untrained
mind of the candidate ; he is supposed to be in a state
of darkness and ignorance, but gradually through masonic
work and knowledge his mind will be polished, firstly
ROUGH and finally PERFECT. The ROUGH ASHLAR refers to
the rough and unformed mind of the Entered Apprentice.
Perfect Ashlar belongs to the Fellow Craft, who can
take the rough ashalar and make it a perfect ashlar
; the basic stone of the Ashlar should be good ; he
cannot transform bad material into good material, howevermuch
it is polished and perfected. Bad man cannot be made
good ; only good men can be made better men. Hence the
importance of carefully selecting and choosing a candidate
into Masonic Fraternity.
From Masonic Rituals, Rough and Perfect
Ashlars are two of the three immovable Jewels in a Lodge.
The rough Ashlar is for the Entered Apprentice to work,
mark, and indent on ; the Perfect Ashlar for the more
experienced Fellow Craft to try and adjust his jewels
on ; the Rough Ashlar represents the rough and unformed
mind in infancy, and the Perfect Ashlar, the nature
mind, polished by education and experience.
A PERFECT ASHLAR has been made recently
in the selection of the successor the KANCHI KAMAKOTI
PITADHIPATI SRI JAYANDRA SARASWATI.
Fourteen years back, on 13th March 1969, Mr. Sankaran
was born in a Telugu orthodox family in a village near
Madras. He is the ASHLAR.
After completing 6th class, he joined
a Vedic School where his father is a teacher ; within
a period of 7 years, he has become an eminent scholar
in Rigveda. In addition he studied several other Vedic
subjects. Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi, having
observed Mr. Sankaran, expressed to his parents, his
desire to make Mr. Sankaran, the next Peetadhipati ;
his selection is finally declared. Thus a ROUGH ASHLAR
has been founded in Mr. Sankaran.
For one full night Mr. Sankaran chanted
Gayatri Mantra ; he was given a both in the sarovar
at Kamashi Temple ; his head was shaved clean ; he performed
several Kratuvulu and Karmalu ; one whole night he was
awake, as sleeping is prohibited one day before ; he
had undergone several other rigorous ceremonies before
he was finally made a SANYASI ; he will be the successor
for Sir Jayendra Saraswati the ruling Sri Kanchi Kamakoti
Peetadhipati, when the occassion arises, for which further
intensive training is given and he becomes highly befitting
by becoming more and more Perfect. What a Perfect, What
a Perfect ASHLAR has been made.
Amarasilpi Jakkanna, a renowned Sculptor
of South India, is separated from his wife and son.
In course of time, the son became as great sculptor
and went in search of his father. One day, they, unknown
to each other, met accidentally remarked that sufficient
are was not taken in selecting and choosing the base
stone - the ashlar - and it is defective. Amarasilpi
Jakkanna, who has such self confidence in his own masterly
abilities in choosing and selecting the base stone for
his work, took a bet, that he shall have his right hand
cut of at the wrist, if the stone selected by him for
making the Vinayaka Idol is proved as defective. The
young sculptor struck a mild blow at the Vinayak Idol,
a little to the left of the naval, when a piece of stone
fell out and there, there was a small frog ! At once
Jakkanna, true to his bet, struck off his right hand
at the wrist ; that hand selected the base stone ; that
hand that worked all the time, without knowing the bad
in the base material ; but what a pleasure he derived
when they could identify themselves. Alas ! an ashlar,
rough and finally perfected has to be rejected.
Shall member of the Masonic Fraternity,
who sings with his right hand the proposal of a candidate,
who unfortunately proves himself unworthy, have his
right hand cut of at the wrist, for his not fully judging
his ASHLAR. If it were to be so what a PERFECT ASHLAR
be Masonary.
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