Philosophy:Masters of the Ancient Wisdom

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Short description: Enlightened beings in Theosophy

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The Masters of the Ancient Wisdom are claimed to be enlightened beings originally identified by the Theosophists Helena Blavatsky, Henry S. Olcott, Alfred Percy Sinnett, and others. These Theosophists claimed to have met some of The Masters during their lifetimes in different parts of the world.[1] Sometimes they are referred to by Theosophists as Elder Brothers of the Human Race, Adepts, Mahatmas, or simply as The Masters.

Helena Blavatsky was the first person to introduce the concept of the Masters to the West. At first she talked about them privately, but she stated that after a few years two of these adepts, Kuthumi (K.H.) and Morya (M.), agreed to maintain a correspondence with two British Theosophists–Alfred P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. This communication took place from 1880 to 1885, and during those years the reputed existence and objectives of the Mahatmas became public. The original letters are currently kept in the British Library in London and have been published as the Mahatma Letters.

After Blavatsky's death, the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom were talked about, in more or less modified form from the original conception, by people who at some point had had a connection with the Theosophical movement, such as Alice Bailey, Helena Roerich, and Manly P. Hall.

Overview

H.P. Blavatsky

The founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Blavatsky, in the late 19th century brought attention to the idea of secret initiatory knowledge, by claiming her ideas were based on traditions taught to her by a group of highly enlightened yogis which she called the Mahatmas or Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. These Mahatmas, she claimed, were physical beings living in the Himalayas, usually understood as Tibet:

... 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.[2]

Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater

After Blavatsky's death, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater described the Masters in great detail. In Leadbeater's book, The Masters and the Path (1925), the Masters are presented as human beings full of wisdom and compassion, albeit still limited by human bodies, which they choose to retain in order to keep in touch with humanity and help in its evolution.[3]

Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme

Alice Bailey and later Benjamin Creme claimed in total forty-nine Masters of the Ancient Wisdom are actively involved in helping the human evolution. Bailey claimed the Master Djwal Khul (D.K.) to be the (telepathic) source of her books on esoteric philosophy.

Skeptical view

K. Paul Johnson suggests in his book The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Lodge that the Masters that Madame Blavatsky claimed she had personally met are idealizations of certain people she had met during her lifetime.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Leadbeater, C.W. The Masters and the Path Adyar, Madras, India: 1925--Theosophical Publishing House--Diagram 5, Facing page 248, provides details about the "Great Ones" functioning on initiation levels five through nine. C.W. Leadbeater’s Spiritual Hierarchy Chart (The Bodhisattva=Maitreya)
  2. ↑ Blavatsky, H. P. (1968 [1889]). The Key to Theosophy. London: Theosophical Publishing House.
  3. ↑ See also: K.H. Letters to C.W. Leadbeater
  4. ↑ 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

Further reading

  • 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.
  • 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 ISBN:0-8103-7714-4 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.




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