Editing Mahatma (section)

=={{anchor|Theosophy}} In Theosophy<!-- This section is linked from [[Order of the Star in the East]] -->==
[[File:Fakir Lalon Shah.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lalon]]]]
The word, used in a technical sense, was popularized in [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophical]] literature in the late 19th century, when [[Helena Blavatsky]], one of the founders of the [[Theosophical Society]], claimed that her teachers were [[adept]]s (or Mahatmas) who reside in [[Asia]]. According to the Theosophical teachings, the Mahatmas are not disembodied beings, but highly evolved people involved in overseeing the spiritual growth of individuals and the development of civilizations. Blavatsky was the first person in modern times to claim contact with these Adepts, especially the "Masters" [[Koot Hoomi]] and [[Morya (Theosophy)|Morya]]. [[Alvin Boyd Kuhn]] wrote about mahātmās:<ref>Kuhn (1930), – p. 147.</ref>
<blockquote>
The Masters whom Theosophy presents to us are simply high-ranking students in life's school of experience. They are members of our own evolutionary group, not visitants from the celestial spheres. They are supermen only in that they have attained knowledge of the laws of life and mastery over its forces with which we are still struggling.
</blockquote>

After Blavatsky's death in 1891, numerous individuals have claimed to be in contact with her Adept Teachers. These individuals have stated that they are new "messengers" of the Masters and they have conveyed various esoteric teachings.<ref>[http://blavatskyarchives.com/latermessengers.htm Madame Blavatsky & the Latter-Day Messengers of the Masters].</ref> Currently, various Theosophical movements refer to them as [[Ascended Master]]s, although their character and teachings are in several respects different from those described by Blavatsky.<ref>Leadbeater, C. W. ''The Masters and the Path''. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1929 (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing, 1997).</ref><ref>Partridge, Christopher ed. ''New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities'' Oxford University Press, USA 2004.</ref>

===Criticism===
There has been a great deal of controversy concerning the existence of adepts. Blavatsky's critics have doubted the existence of her Masters. See, for example, W. E. Coleman's exposes.

[[K. Paul Johnson]] in his books<ref>Johnson (1994), Johnson (1995) – p. 49.</ref> speculates that the "Masters" that Blavatsky wrote about and produced letters from were actually idealizations of people who were her [[mentor]]s. Aryel Sanat,<ref>"Aryel Sanat (Miguel Angel Sanabria) is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the American University in Washington, D.C." // [https://books.google.com/books?id=0dHP2f_6k4YC&q=editions:jYIKHxJulMgC About the author of ''The inner life of Krishnamurthy'' in 1999.]</ref> author of ''The inner life of Krishnamurti: private passion and perennial wisdom'', wrote that Johnson "claims in all of his books that there were no Masters at all in early Theosophical Society history, and that Helena Blavatsky invented them (as others had claimed she had invented her travels)". Sanat wrote that Johnson "deliberately ignores the main sources of evidence for their real physical existence".<ref>See [http://www.theos-talk.com/archives/200005/tt00087.html ''Theosophy World.'']</ref> What Sanat thought these were is not made quite clear.