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Master Jesus is the theosophical concept of Jesus in Theosophy and the Ascended Master Teachings.
The Master Jesus is one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom in Theosophy and is one of the Ascended Masters (also collectively called the Great White Brotherhood; with white being in reference to the light) in the Ascended Master Teachings, a group of religions based on Theosophy. The Master Jesus is regarded by Theosophists, was regarded by Alice Bailey and was later regarded by students of the "Ascended Master Teachings" as the Master of the Sixth Ray. [1]
It is believed by Ascended Master Teachings organizations that the Master Jesus was "Chohan of the Sixth Ray" until December 31, 1959, when, according to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Lady Master Nada fully took on that Office in the Spiritual Hierarchy. According to Prophet, Jesus became World Teacher, along with Kuthumi, on January 1, 1956, succeeding Maitreya, who took the Office of "Planetary Buddha" and "Cosmic Christ". [2] [3] This belief is not accepted by adherents of traditional Theosophy and the followers of Alice A. Bailey and Benjamin Creme; they believe that the Master Jesus is still the Chohan of the Sixth Ray and that Maitreya is still the World Teacher.
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According to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, the Prophet of the Church Universal and Triumphant, the largest Ascended Master Teachings religion, the Master Jesus incarnated twice as the Emperor of Atlantis, once in 33,050 BC and again in 15,000 BC. [4] He did this in order to aid the white magicians in the war of the white magicians and the black magicians that was going on in Atlantis at that time.
According to Alice A. Bailey, the Master Jesus was previously incarnated as Joshua, the Hebrew military leader in the 13th century BC, and Joshua the High Priest in the sixth century BC. [5]
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Jesus was also incarnated as Joseph of the coat of many colors in the 17th century BC/16th century BC (approximately between 1650 BC and 1550 BC), as well as King David (who lived c. 1037 BC until around 970 BC), and Elisha in the 9th century BC. [11]
It is believed in the Ascended Master Teachings that Jesus’ father Saint Joseph was one of the incarnations of St. Germain, and that his mother Mary, upon her Assumption became either a deva [12] or an archangel and is now the twin flame (celestial wife) of the Archangel Raphael. [13]
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, each of the Magi who came to visit the baby Jesus was an incarnation of one of the ascended masters: Caspar, who gave the gift of gold to Jesus, was an incarnation of Djwal Khul; [14] Balthasar, who gave the gift of frankincense to Jesus, was an incarnation of Kuthumi; [15] and Melchior, who gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus, was an incarnation of Morya. [16]
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, to prepare for his ministry, Jesus first studied at the Brotherhood of Luxor (a mystery school in Egypt), and then went to India to study under the Great Divine Director, Maitreya, and Lord Himalaya, the Manu of the Fourth Root Race (Atlantean). [17]
The followers of Benjamin Creme and Alice A. Bailey believe in the Nestorian/Gnostic Christology, promulgated by C.W. Leadbeater, which asserts that the powerful being known as the Maitreya overshadowed the Master Jesus during the Ministry of Jesus, such that there were two beings in one body. Maitreya was the Christ and the Master Jesus was Jesus of Nazareth; the combination of the two beings functioned as Jesus Christ. [18] [19] Those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings believe in the existence of the Maitreya; however, they believe that although he encouraged the mission of Jesus, he did not actually overshadow Jesus. [20]
Theosophists and those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings alike believe that the Master Jesus underwent the fourth level of initiation (the crucifixion) at his crucifixion in Jerusalem. According to Alice A. Bailey, for most people at the fourth initiation the crucifixion is symbolic as a severe life test of renunciation, but for Jesus it was literal. [21]
Traditional theosophists believe that the Master Jesus and Maitreya souls' separated from each other just after the Ascension (which for Jesus was only to the fourth and not the fifth level of initiation) and do not believe that the Master Jesus went to Kashmir; they believe he went directly to Shamballa to be with the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, for a time, until he then incarnated again soon after as Apollonius of Tyana. [22]
It is believed in the Ascended Master Teachings that when Jesus ascended on the 3rd day after the resurrection, he levitated from Judaea to Kashmir. [17]
In either case, whether he went directly to Shamballa or to Kashmir when he ascended, presumably he teleported to a location above Judaea briefly ten days later on the 50th day after his resurrection in order to observe from afar the events of the Day of Pentecost (or possibly he observed these events by remote viewing). In both traditional Theosophy and the Ascended Master Teachings it is believed that these events were coordinated by the Maha Chohan, who, it is asserted by both C.W. Leadbeater and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, is the representative of the Holy Ghost on Earth. [23] [24]
In the Ascended Master Teachings, it is believed that the Master Jesus lived in Kashmir until he was 81, and then, assuming he had been born in 6 BC, in AD 75, he ascended to Shamballa to be with the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara. [17]
Helena Blavatsky, a founder of the Theosophical Society, wrote in 1877: "Apollonius, a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth, was, like him, an enthusiastic founder of a new spiritual school. Perhaps less metaphysical and more practical than Jesus, less tender and perfect in his nature, he nevertheless inculcated the same quintessence of spirituality, and the same high moral truths." [25] Some Theosophists such as C.W. Leadbeater and the teachers of Neo-Theosophy, Alice A. Bailey and Benjamin Creme, have written that the Master Jesus was also incarnated as Apollonius of Tyana after his incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth. It is believed that he attained the fifth level of initiation (the resurrection ) when he became an Ascended Master at the end of his life as Apollonius of Tyana. However, if Apollonius was a contemporary of Jesus as Blavatsky wrote, Jesus could not have reincarnated as him. Benjamin Creme gets around this by claiming that Jesus lived from 24 BC to AD 9 [26] (instead of the usual dates given of Jesus' lifetime as being c. 6 BC to c. AD 30 or AD 33). This means that Jesus could have incarnated as Apollonius of Tyana, since according to Creme, Apollonius lived from AD 16 to c. AD 97. [27] However, one of the possible chronologies of Apollonius of Tyana's life sometimes cited give his life span as being from AD 40 to AD 120, [28] thus making it possible that, even if the usual dates of Jesus' lifetime are accepted (c. 6 BC to c. AD 30 or AD 33), he still could have incarnated as Apollonius of Tyana. However, other modern scholarship, more often cited, gives the dates of Appolonius' life span as c. AD 15 to c. AD 100, thus making it problematic, realistically speaking, that Jesus could have incarnated as him. [29]
Jesus' incarnation as Apollonius of Tyana is accepted by the followers of traditional Theosophy, of Alice A. Bailey, and of Benjamin Creme, but not by those who are adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings, who believe that the incarnation as Jesus was his last embodiment on Earth.
C.W. Leadbeater stated that the Master Jesus, after his resurrection in the body of Apollonius of Tyana, incarnated in India as the Tamil religious reformer Ramanuja, a leading figure within the Bhakti movement in Hinduism; thus, by incarnating as Ramanuja, Jesus became an Avatar. According to Leadbeater, the Master Jesus incarnated as Ramanuja as part of his spiritual work as Master of the Sixth Ray of Love-Devotion (bhakti is the Sanskrit word for devotion). [30]
That Jesus incarnated as Ramanuja is believed by many traditional Theosophists, but not by those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings.
According to Benjamin Creme, the Master Jesus visited the Americas (as well as Polynesia) not immediately after his resurrection as recounted in the Book of Mormon, but in the late 7th century and early 8th century, after having descended to the continent of America from his dwelling place in Shamballah with Sanat Kumara. [31] Like the Mormons, Creme believes that this visit gave rise to the legend of Quetzalcoatl.
Benjamin Crème asserted that, in the late 1970s, the Master Jesus appeared to Spencer W. Kimball, then president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Washington D.C. Temple. [32]
Creme stated that since 1990 the Master Jesus has been living in secret in Rome. [33] After Maitreya makes his Emergence (the Day of Declaration), Creme asserted, the Master Jesus in his immortal body will assume the papal throne for the next 2,000 years of the Age of Aquarius.
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, the Master Jesus has a sumptuous retreat (residence on the etheric plane) above Jerusalem called the Resurrection Temple. Often his mother Mary (now married to the Archangel Raphael, as noted above, and serving the Solar Logos with him in the solar corona) descends to serve with him at the Resurrection Temple doing sacred rituals and answering prayers. [17]
Ascended Master Teachings groups describe the Master Jesus as having a twin flame (celestial spouse) named Lady Master Magda , one of whose two known incarnations was Mary Magdalene; the other was Aimee Semple McPherson. [34]
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, the Ascended Master John the Beloved , who was Jesus’ best friend during his lifetime, has a retreat (residence on the etheric plane) above Arizona where he teaches a variety of white magic that involves the mastery of the elemental spirits governing the realms of earth, air, water, and fire. It is believed that the Master Jesus often teleports over to John the Beloved's retreat to say hello to his old friend. [35]
In the teachings of the Aetherius Society, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, it is promulgated that since his resurrection, the Master Jesus has been dwelling mostly on the higher planes of Venus in order to work with the Master Aetherius , but when his presence is required, he teleports to or takes a flying saucer to Earth as needed. [36]
Joshua David Stone of the I AM University, began holding his Wesak Mount Shasta gatherings in 1996. Stone had begun teaching in 1993, based on the early 1980s revelations of Tuella, that the Master Jesus, under his galactic name "Sananda", works with Commander Ashtar, flying with Pallas Athena in their own flying saucer within the Ashtar Galactic Command flying saucer fleet as its Commander-in-Chief. [37]
The scholar K. Paul Johnson maintains that the "Masters" that Madame Blavatsky wrote about and produced letters from were actually idealizations of people who were her mentors. [38] In an article in The New York Times, Paul Zweig maintains that Madame Blavatsky's revelations were fraudulent. [39]
However, the Master Jesus was never one of the "Masters" that Madame Blavatsky claimed to have met. He was added as a "Master" by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in their 1913 book Man: Whence, How and Whither . [40]
Mahātmā is an honorific used in India.
Apollonius of Tyana was a first-century Greek philosopher and religious leader from the town of Tyana, Cappadocia in Roman Anatolia, who spent his life travelling and teaching in the Middle East, North Africa and India. He is a central figure in Neopythagoreanism and was one of the most famous "miracle workers" of his day.
The Count of St. Germain whose real name and origins remain unknown, was a European adventurer who had interests and achievements in science, alchemy, philosophy, and the arts. He rose to prominence in the European high society of the mid-18th century due to his works and interests. He associated himself with some of the top contemporary figures, including Casanova, Voltaire and Mozart.
Benjamin Creme was a Scottish artist, esoteric writer, and editor of Share International magazine.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet was an American spiritual leader, author, orator, and writer. In 1963 she married Mark L. Prophet, who had founded The Summit Lighthouse in 1958. Mark and Elizabeth had four children. Elizabeth, after her second husband's death on February 26, 1973, assumed control of The Summit Lighthouse.
Ascended masters in a number of movements in the theosophical tradition are held to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans, but who have undergone a series of spiritual transformations originally called initiations.
Guy Warren Ballard was an American mining engineer who, with his wife Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard, founded the "I AM" Activity.
Alfred Percy Sinnett was an English author and theosophist.
Root races are concepts in the esoteric cosmology of Theosophy. As described in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's book The Secret Doctrine (1888), these races correspond to stages of human evolution, and existed mainly on now-lost continents. Blavatsky's model was developed by later theosophists, most notably William Scott-Elliot in The Story of Atlantis (1896) and The Lost Lemuria (1904). Annie Besant further developed the model in Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913). Both Besant and Scott-Elliot relied on information from Charles Webster Leadbeater obtained by "astral clairvoyance". Further elaboration was provided by Rudolf Steiner in Atlantis and Lemuria (1904). Rudolf Steiner, and subsequent theosophist authors, have called the time periods associated with these races Epochs.
Djwal Khul, is believed by some Theosophists and others to be a Tibetan disciple in "The Ageless Wisdom" esoteric tradition. The texts describe him as a member of the 'Spiritual Hierarchy', or 'Brotherhood', of Mahatmas, one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, defined as the spiritual guides of mankind and teachers of ancient cosmological, metaphysical, and esoteric principles that form the origin of all the world's great philosophies, mythologies and spiritual traditions. According to Theosophical writings, Djwal Khul is said to work on furthering the spiritual evolution of our planet through the teachings offered in the 24 books by Alice Bailey of Esoteric Teachings published by The Lucis Trust ; he is said to have telepathically transmitted the teachings to Bailey and is thus regarded by her followers as the communications director of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.
Morya, also spelt Maurya, is one of the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom" within modern Theosophical beliefs. He is believed by followers of Theosophism to be one of the Mahatmas who inspired the founding of the Theosophical Society and was engaged in a correspondence with two English Theosophists living in India, A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. The correspondence was published in 1923 by A. Trevor Barker in the book The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.
George Robert Stow Mead was an English historian, writer, editor, translator, and an influential member of the Theosophical Society, as well as the founder of the Quest Society. His works dealt with various religious and philosophical texts and traditions, including Neoplatonism, Hermeticism and Gnosticism.
Neo-Theosophy is a term, originally derogatory, used by the followers of Helena Blavatsky to denominate the system of Theosophical ideas expounded by Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater following the death of Madame Blavatsky in 1891. This material differed in major respects from Blavatsky's original presentation, but it is accepted as genuinely Theosophical by many Theosophists around the world.
The seven rays is a concept that has appeared in several religions and esoteric philosophies in both Western culture and in India since at least the sixth century BCE.
The Master Hilarion is considered a saint within the I AM movement, one of the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", and in the Ascended Master Teachings is one of the Ascended Masters. He is considered to be the Chohan (Lord) of the Fifth Ray.
Marcus Lyle "Mark" Prophet was a controversial American New Age religious figure, self-proclaimed prophet, orator, and husband of Elizabeth Prophet. He claimed to be a Messenger of the Ascended Masters and founded The Summit Lighthouse organization on August 7, 1958 in Washington D.C.
The Great White Brotherhood, in belief systems akin to Theosophy and New Age, are said to be perfected beings of great power who spread spiritual teachings through selected humans. The members of the Brotherhood may be known as the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, the Ascended Masters, the Church Invisible, or simply as the Hierarchy. The first person to talk about them in the West was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Theosophy), after she and other people claimed to have received messages from them. These included Helena Roerich, Alice A. Bailey, Guy Ballard, Geraldine Innocente, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Bob Sanders, and Benjamin Creme.
Share International Foundation is a non-profit organization in London founded by Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) with sister organizations in Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Berkeley, California. From their 'about us' page, Share International describes the group as: "A worldwide network of individuals... whose purpose is to make known the fact that Maitreya ― the World Teacher for the coming age ― and his group, the Masters of Wisdom, are now among us..."
In Theosophy, Maitreya or Lord Maitreya is an advanced spiritual entity and high-ranking member of a reputed hidden spiritual hierarchy, the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. According to Theosophical doctrine, one of the hierarchy's functions is to oversee the evolution of humankind; in concert with this function Maitreya is said to hold the "Office of the World Teacher". Theosophical texts posit that the purpose of this Office is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge about the true constitution and workings of Existence to humankind. Humanity is thereby assisted on its presumed cyclical, but ever progressive, evolutionary path. Reputedly, one way the knowledge transfer is accomplished is by Maitreya occasionally manifesting or incarnating in the physical realm; the manifested entity then assumes the role of World Teacher of Humankind.
Theosophy is a religious and philosophical system established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky, and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Indian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Although many adherents maintain that Theosophy is not a religion, it is variably categorized by religious scholars as both a new religious movement and a form of occultism from within Western esotericism.