Masters of the Ancient Wisdom

In the late 19th century, Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott (the founder of the Theosophical Society), brought attention to secret initiatory knowledge they learnt from a group of enlightened yogis called "Mahatmas" or Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. These Masters were living in the Himalayas of remote India and 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.[11]

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 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]