Adi Dharm Trust deed Principles (1830)
By the 1830 Trust deed of Brahmo Sabha
(Adi Dharam) principles it was held that all men are equal and without distinction
and there is no need for priests or formal places for worship etc.
The (Banian) Trust Deed of 1830 settles some basic principles for Brahmo Samajes -
As a place of public meeting of all sorts and
descriptions of people without distinction as shall behave and conduct
themselves in an orderly sober religious and devout manner for
The worship and adoration of the Eternal
Unsearchable and Immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the
Universe, but not under or by any other name designation or title
peculiarly used for and applied, to any particular being or beings by
any man or set of men whatsoever, and
That no graven image statue or sculpture,
carving, painting, picture, portrait or the likeness of anything shall
be admitted within the said messages building, land, tenements,
hereditaments and premise, and
That no sacrifice, offering, oblation of any
kind or thing shall ever be permitted therein, and that no animal or
living creature shall within or on the said message building, land,
tenements, hereditaments and premises be deprived of life either for
religious purposes or for food, and
That no eating or drinking (except such as
shall be necessary by any accident for the preservation of life)
feasting or rioting be permitted therein, or thereon, and
That in conducting the said worship and
adoration, no object, animate or inanimate, that has been, or is, or
shall hereafter become or be recognized as an object of worship by any
man or set of men shall be reviled or slightingly or contemptuously
spoken of or alluded to, either in preaching, prayer or in the hymns or
other mode of worship that may be delivered or used in the said message
or building, and
That no sermon, preaching, discourse, prayer
or hymn be delivered, made or used in such worship but such as have a
tendency to the promotion of the contemplation of the Author and
Preserver of the Universe, to the promotion of charity, morality,
piety, benevolence, virtue and the strengthening the bonds of union
between men of all religious persuasions and creeds, and also
That a person of good repute and well
known for his knowledge, piety and morality be employed by the said
Trustees or the survivors or survivors of them or the heirs of such
survivor or their or his assigns as a resident superintendent and for
the purpose of superintending the worship so to be performed as in
hereinbefore stated and expressed, and
That such worship be performed daily or least as often as once in seven days.