The Masters of Wisdom are said to be enlightened beings living largely on the etheric plane of Earth. Starting in 1875 the TheosophistsHelena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and Alfred Percy Sinnett claimed to have met some of these great teachers in the remote areas of Tibet and India. Although these spiritual adepts have remained largely unknown in the West, they have long been referred to in esoteric writings as "The Brothers" (i.e., the Elder Brothers of the Human Race), "The Mahatmas", "The Lords of Compassion" and "The Masters of Wisdom".[1][2][3] These "spiritually illumined men...are known historically, among others, as Hercules, Hermes, Rama, Mithra, Vyasa, Krishna, Confucius, Zoroaster, Shankaracharya, the Buddha, Christ, Mohammed."[4]
Helena Blavatsky was the one who re-introduced the New Testament Greek study of Theosophy or "Divine Wisdom" to the West and presented it not as a distinct religion, but a science. (Aspects of it came not merely from the 3rd Century Philaletheian philosophers, who had studied both sacred religious texts and yogic practices in India, but also from Neo-Platonists who belonged to diverse religions, and an Egyptian priest named Pot-Amun who lived during the Ptolemaic Dynasty.) Since its inception, the motto adopted by the Theosophical Society has been, "There is no religion higher than Truth."[5]
One of Theosophists' chief aims has always been to unite diverse people through a pursuit of ethics and irrefutable, underlying principles. In this manner, they focus not merely on fostering human development and freedom of thought but also promote peace.[6]
There is no more fertile source for hatred and strife than religious differences. When one party or another thinks of himself as the sole possessor of absolute truth, it becomes only natural that he should think his neighbour absolutely in the clutches of Error or the Devil...Expand that idea, carry it out to a universal application, and you will soon find out that in true philosophy every physical action has its moral and everlasting effect. Hurt a man by doing him harm; you may think that his pain and suffering cannot spread by any means to his neighbours, least of all to men of other nations. We affirm that it will, in good time. Therefore we say, that unless every man is brought to understand and accept as an axiomatic truth that by wrongdoing one man that we wrong not merely ourselves but the whole of humanity in the long run, no brotherly teachings such as preached by all the great Reformers, pre-eminently by Buddha and Jesus, are possible on earth.[7]
Two of the Masters of Wisdom, Kuthumi (K.H.) and Morya (M.), were said to have agreed to maintain a correspondence with two British Theosophists, Alfred P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume, from 1880 to 1885. The originals of these letters are currently being housed in the British Library in London and were published as the Mahatma Letters.[8]
Since Blavatsky's death, the writings of Alice A. Bailey, Helena Roerich, Manly P. Hall, Krishnamurti and Benjamin Creme have permitted previously esoteric and occult knowledge about spiritual development to grow more widely known, although a relatively small number of people recognize the source of these teachings as coming from the Masters of Wisdom. Nonetheless, the teachings are available to all those who might search for them as every single Master up unto Maitreya, the head of the Masters, is focussed upon uplifting Humanity.[9]
The task of the Master is to awaken the Self within. When you, in turn, know your Self, you can awaken others. To awaken another does not mean to cast your shadow over him. When the Self awakens, development follows naturally; the person fulfils his own destiny and enjoys the blessings of the Lord.
The pace of each person can thus be respected. This is why Maitreya says: "Let the pagan believe in the stone, because without the Lord there is no stone." Correct relationship between the Self and mind, spirit and body is what matters.
Look within ― Do not copy one another. Be what you are and the struggle will come to an end. Look within. Will you then copy one another, or compare? When you look within, you become sacred, immune to chaos and confusion.[10]
... they are living men, born as we are born, and doomed to die like every mortal. We call them "masters" because they are our teachers; and because from them we have derived all the Theosophical truths ... They are men of great learning, whom we call Initiates, and still greater holiness of life.[11]
Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater
Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater were colleagues of Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott; they led the Theosophical Society of India.
In The Masters and the Path (1925), Leadbeater underscores how every being is continuously evolving: there is a spiritual drive within each human being. He notes that over time a nation's history is ordinarily equated with the accomplishments of its greatest artists, scientists, philosophers, inventors, spiritual leaders, as well as enlightened politicians and philanthropists (even while the majority of such people operate so far beyond the realm of ordinary, consensual thinking and behaviour that they either remain unknown or are condemned while alive). Such individuals are not consumed by a desire to pursue comfort, power, or wealth. Rather they have been able to bring the control of their bodies, emotions, and mind under the direction of their soul (which is a mere fragment of the Monad, or spirit of God). As such, they are said to be approaching self-mastery.
After undergoing a series of trials over lifetimes, those striving to mature spiritually shift their orientation towards life into a less and less personal direction, and thus grow less self-involved or subjective. Masters are those who have acquired the capacity to sustain heightened states of consciousness; they have evolved beyond the limits of the soul and function purely as monads. They are presented as beings full of wisdom and compassion, untouched by death and the limitations ordinarily associated with the body for their bodies require no food, defy age, can appear in different forms, and can be dematerialized through an act of will.[12]
While the Theosophists largely have focused on diverse writings emerging out of ancient "Egypt, Greece, India, Chaldea and Arabia" (including the great myths which hide within themselves the very Laws of Nature and the science of energies or the "Occult"),[13][14] Besant emphasizes that "the teaching can only be fruitful if it is lived."[15]
Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme
Alice Bailey and later Benjamin Creme asserted that there were 63 Masters of Wisdom who are actively involved in accelerating Humanity's evolution.[16](Bailey claimed the Master Djwal Khul to be the telepathic source of her books on esoteric philosophy, while Creme would never mention the Master whom he worked with by name).[17]
According to traditional Theosophists, the Masters make up the Fifth Kingdom on Earth (that which is above the human, animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms). The Masters also act as the Earth's planetary government, and are known as "the Hierarchy." As such, they serve as mediators between Humanity and Sanat Kumara, the Being Who ensouls this Planet. Their role is to transmit the Will of the Planetary Logos and thereby uplift and protect Humanity.[16]
In addition, the Masters of Wisdom are said to live in both etheric and physical bodies. Two-thirds of the Masters assigned to Humanity actually live on the physical plane, having chosen to sacrifice themselves by remaining behind to help Humanity. These Masters generally reside in the remote deserts and mountainous areas of the world from where they work directing certain energies to foster human progress and give birth to new civilizations, even while remaining for the most part unknown.[16] (Theosophists attest that they work through their disciples, communicating telepathically).[17]
Like the earlier Theosophists who came before him, Creme was interested in the intersection of science, cosmology, psychology, politics and spirituality, as expressed here in his understanding about the origin of Humanity, its evolutionary journey, and the sacrificial nature of the soul:
According to the esoteric teachings, the human race began eighteen and a half million years ago. At that time, early animal-man reached a relatively high state of development. He had a powerful co-ordinated physical body, a sentient feeling or astral body, and the germ of mind which could later form the nucleus of a mental body. The energy of mind, the fifth principle, was brought to the planet from Venus by the 'Lords of the Flame,' and an enormous stimulus to evolution resulted. The human egos (souls), waiting on their own soul plane for just such an opportunity, then took incarnation in animal-man for the first time. The individualization of animal-man became a fact and the human story began. The Biblical story of Adam and Eve is a symbolic presentation of this historical event...It is the soul in incarnation which evolves. The soul, perfect on its own plane, incarnates in order to evolve or spiritualize matter. This is its service to the Plan of the Logos.[18]
Nonetheless, while lecturing internationally Creme would stress that Humanity is at this time in history undergoing a great spiritual crisis: This is in part due to men's blind pursuit of market forces ― for all things, relationships and experiences are being commodified; for life, and war, itself, is considered a business.[19] Over four decades, Creme emphasized how such a path was leading Humanity to self-destruction and that it was in part due to ordinary individuals' sense of separation, and thus complacency about others, other nations, and other life forms.[20]
He accounted for the turmoil also as a product of the ending of one astrological age, the Age of Pisces ― with its undue focus on the individual ― and the beginning of another, the Age of Aquarius, which will be reoriented towards group unity and synthesis. During the transition from one cosmic cycle to another, he underscored how there would be an influx of new, powerful energies, resulting in "fundamental, radical" changes in all areas of life. (In fact, this is what is referred to in the Bible as the "Apocalypse").[21]
In order to restore a greater sense of Oneness, according to Creme, the Masters of Wisdom are returning to the everyday world, with their Head, Maitreya.[22] They come as Humanity's elder brothers, mentors and guides, not as saviours.
An avatar comes at the end of every age; it is a cyclic event...
The coming of a Teacher has always taken place whenever humanity has reached a certain place in its evolution; needed some new spiritual guidance; some new energy; an outline of a new way which would lead it into a new, higher experience of itself and its meaning and purpose. Whenever cyclic change was taking place from one age to another; whenever civilisation was crystallised and breaking up, making way for a new manifestation, a Teacher has come forth, always from the same source ― Hierarchy. We know them historically as Hercules, Hermes, Mithra, Rama, Vyasa, Sankaracharya, Krishna, Buddha, as well as the Christ...at every period of history, when the need is the greatest, when mankind needed a stimulus, a Teacher of some level or other has come forth to show mankind the way...But never before, since Atlantean times, has there been the World Teacher, the Teacher for Mankind, the Eldest Brother of the race, and at the same time, openly in the world, the Masters of the Hierarchy. This is the tremendous event that is now taking place.[23]
Maitreya, whose coming was predicted by Gautama Buddha, is said to be the Teacher of the World for the Age of Aquarius. His teachings may seem both simple and profound, familiar and new, intimate and practical.[21] He is quoted as saying, "The problems of humanity are real but solvable. The solution lies within your grasp. Take your brother's need as the measure of your action and solve the problems of the world. There is no other course."[24]
By teaching the art of right relationship and self-realization, Maitreya and the Masters offer the hope to all of Humanity that, one day, every single one of us might achieve self-mastery.[21][25]
He will show that our political and economic life has to make a complete change in direction and become the spiritual activity that it essentially is; that our educational systems, our science and culture, should, again, take on a new spiritual, connotation. He will speak across the whole range of human activity, and it will be by the breadth of His teaching, the universality of His viewpoint, that we may recognise Him; by His tremendous spiritual potency, His extraordinary aura of purity, sanctity; by His obvious love and capacity to serve; by all of these may we recognize Him.[26]
While Maitreya poses neither as a political nor religious leader, he is said to be "an educator in the broadest sense of the word, showing the way out of the present world crisis," by providing counsel about the nature of love, its immediacy and livingness.[17] Both love and justice are what are now required for the healing of the World.[27]
The people of the world are beginning to realise that their felt need for a fuller, better life can now, for the first time in history, become a reality, if they make the effort required to overcome the inertia which has held them down for centuries. Everywhere there are moves made in this direction. For most people, this is a time of crisis and uncertainty, but behind the apparent chaos is emerging a new pattern, a new way of approach to life, which has in it the seeds of the new age civilisation whose keynotes will be co-operation and sharing, tolerance and good-will. These qualities are already firmly planted in the minds and hearts of millions and will gradually manifest themselves more and more.[28]
In this way, one does not merely learn esoteric concepts from the Masters of Wisdom, but becomes engaged in a dynamic process in which one matures spiritually, growing more and more like them.[21][25]
Skeptical view
K. Paul Johnson hypothesizes in his book, The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Lodge, that the Masters that Madame Blavatsky wrote about were merely idealizations of certain people she had met during her lifetime.[29] Similarly, by studying period correspondence and a memoir, Richard Cloud conjectures that Blavatsky's meeting with the KemptenRosicrucian adept Alois Mailander (1843-1905) served as the inspiration for her writings about the Master Morya.[30]
^Sinnett, A. P. (Recipient). (1948). The Mahatma Letters (2nd ed.). London: Rider and Company. pp. xiii.
^Omananda, Swami (1968). Towards the Mysteries. London: Neville Spearman.
^Omananda Puri, Swami (1959). The Boy and the Brothers. London: Victor Gollancz.
^Creme, Benjamin (1997). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 3. London: Share International Foundation. p. 3.
^Blavatsky, Helena P. (1987). The Key to Theosophy. Los Angeles: The Theosophical Company.
^Sinett, A. P. (Recipient). (1948). The Mahatma Letters (2nd ed.). London: Rider and Company. pp. xiv.
^Blavatsky, Helena P. (1987). The Key to Theosophy. Los Angeles: The Theosophy Company. pp. 45, 47.
^Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p. 29.
^Bailey, Alice A. (1985). Death: The Great Adventure. New York: Lucis Trust. pp. v.
^Creme (Ed.), Benjamin (2005). Maitreya's Teachings The Laws of Life. Los Angeles: Share International Foundation. pp. 7–8.
^Blavatsky, H. P. (1968 [1889]). The Key to Theosophy. London: Theosophical Publishing House.
^Leadbeater, C.W. (1925). The Masters and The Path. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House. pp. 4–20.
^Blavatsky, Helena P. (1987). The Key to Theosophy. Los Angeles: The Theosophy Company. pp. 36, 48.
^Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p. 73.
^From Annie Besant's Introduction to Krishnamurti, J. (1910/2018), At the Feet of a Master, Adansonia Press, p. v.
^ abcCreme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. pp. 30, 71–74.
^ abcCreme (Ed.), Benjamin (1994). A Master Speaks (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Share International Foundation. p. 7.
^Creme, Benjamin (1993). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). London: Share International Foundation. pp. 156, 159.
^"If men are to save this planet from the results of global warming they must do infinitely more than is planned to limit carbon emissions, and in a shorter period of time than is generally accepted as necessary. Men have been slow to recognize the dangers, and even now many refuse to take the problems seriously. At most, men have ten to fifteen years in which to establish a balance before irreparable damage is done.
To achieve this goal, men must change dramatically the present way of life, and embrace simpler forms of living and working. Gone are the days when men raped and ravaged the planet at will, without a thought for the generations still to come, neither seeing nor caring ought for the environment which has gradually and inevitably decayed.
Each year, and for many years, huge areas of primal forest are cleared of life-giving trees for purely commercial benefits. Commercialization indeed bodes ill for humanity as it tightens its grip on the throats of men. Commercialization, says Maitreya, is more dangerous to men than the atomic bomb, and is showing its destructive power in the economic chaos which rules in the world today."
Creme, B. (Ed.) (2017). A Master Speaks Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Share International Foundation. pp. 116-117.
^Creme, Benjamin (2010). The Gathering of the Forces of Light UFOs and their Spiritual Mission. London: Share International Foundation. pp. 64–65.
^ abcdCreme, Benjamin (1997). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 3. London: Share International Foundation. pp. 1–15.
^Creme (Ed.), Benjamin (1994). A Master Speaks (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Share International Foundation. p. 10.
^Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. pp. 77–78.
^Creme, Benjamin (1997). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 3. London: Share International Foundation. p. 9.
^ abCreme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p. 71.
^Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p. 49.
^Creme (Ed)., Benjamin (1992). Messages from Maitreya the Christ (2nd ed.). London: Share International Foundation.
^Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p. 35.
^Johnson, K. Paul The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Lodge Albany, New York: 1994 State University of New York Press
Brendan, J. F. (2000). The Theosophical Masters: An Investigation into the Conceptual Domains of, H. P. Blavatsky and C. W. Leadbeater. University of Sydney. Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Caldwell, Daniel H., ed. (2020). A Casebook of Encounters with the Theosophical Mahatmas. Tucson, Arizona: The Blavatsky Study Center.
Campbell, Bruce F. (1980). A History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Godwin, Joscelyn (1994). The Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
Johnson, K. Paul (1994). The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Brotherhood. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
Melton, J. Gordon (1996). Encyclopedia of American Religions. 5th Edition. New York: Gale Research ISBN0-8103-7714-4 ISSN 1066-1212. Chapter 18--"The Ancient Wisdom Family of Religions" (Pages 151-158; see chart on page 154 listing Masters of the Ancient Wisdom; also see section 18, pages 717-757, descriptions of various Ancient Wisdom religious organizations.)
Sender, Pablo (Summer 2011). Mahatmas versus Ascended Masters. Wheaton, IL: Quest, The Theosophical Society in America. Online access.
