Mention of the Great Teachers, also called the Great White Brotherhood, conjures up images of highly evolved beings visiting Earth to assist man in his attempts to realize his spiritual nature. From my readings, that’s exactly what the Brotherhood does. We are very fortunate to have a council of Masters who devote their energies to monitoring our progress and personally intervening with individuals and world events in times of need.
The Brotherhood goes by many names and is chronicled by authors as diverse as Alice Bailey (referring to them as the seven Kumaras), Baird Spalding (calling them the White Brotherhood and the Thirteenth School); Dane Rudhyar (the seven Avatars); Omraam M. Aivanhov (Universal White Brotherhood); Madame Blavatsky (the Dhyan Chohans, Great White Lodge); and of course, the ancient authors of the Rig Veda who referred to them as the seven Sapta Rishis (masters). Gurdjieff also makes indirect references to the Brotherhood.
Questions are often raised as to whether there is a racial bias in the term Great White Brotherhood. Frater Achad addresses this concern well: “…the reference to the word ‘white’ has nothing to do with skin color or any race. It does indicate the radiance of the soul’s spiritual color (its aura). ..The Divine dresses many colored bodies”.
As we explore the Brotherhood, a few writers stand out. The accounts that follow begin with ancient Asian texts and continue with more recent authors.
Yogic Tradition (India): Probably the oldest references to the Great Masters are found in India in the Rig Veda. Here they are known as the seven Sapta Rishis, who are said to guide humanity from the inner worlds. These Rishis are said to have been the first disciples of Shiva, the Adi (first) Yogi.
Sufi Tradition: The Sufis’ association with the Brotherhood has been extensively documented, most notably through publications by the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) and Octagon Press. The Naqshbandis have been the most prominent “order” of Sufis involved in supporting the work of the Brotherhood, whom they refer to as the Hidden Directorate. The Naqshbandis also speak of the Qutb, a spiritual leader, or Axis, whose presence allows the continuation of the world.
Classical Greeks: Plato, considered himself an Initiate, made reference to the “Seven Spirits before the Throne of God.”
HP Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, 1888: The iconoclastic Madame Blavatsky did much to pave the way for contemporary esoteric spirituality. The Secret Doctrine, her greatest work, is a fascinating chronicle of ancient cultures and integrates much of the common essence that runs through the world’s great religions.
Much of his attention was focused on the great Masters. She explains that (the Dhyan Chohans) “are all Anupadaka (without parents), that is, self-born from the divine essence… (They) number seven, of whom only five have manifested so far (Buddhism Sinnett’s Esoteric), and two are to come in the sixth and seventh root races”. Through her extensive research, Blavatsky points out that the divine “seven” expressed themselves in some way in all the religions of the classical world.
Baird Spalding, Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East, 1924, 1948: Spalding is perhaps one of the most respected documentarians of the Great White Brotherhood. Volume I describes the author’s personal experiences with various Himalayan Masters. These Masters can materialize at will, communicate via telepathy, and exhibit some of the most sacred behavior ever seen. They would seem to represent the highest echelons of the White Brotherhood.
In Volume 4 of the series, Spalding addresses some misconceptions about the White Brotherhood. He says that “…they never make themselves known as such… As long as the constructive forces work in ‘secret’, they go unnoticed by those who want to destroy their effect. There will come a time, however, when they (the enlightened) they will work more openly… when there are enough enlightened people to know and understand what they are doing… At this time of such powerless disintegration, and only then, are the activities of the Brotherhood likely to come out into the open. to strengthen the Truth in the minds of all people.”
Nicholas Roerich, Shambhala, 1930: Roerich was a Russian mystic and an artist of the spiritual and metaphysical. He wrote at least four books that popularized the Great White Brotherhood and documented his extensive travels through Central Asia in search of the legendary Shambhala or Agartha, which some say is the physical headquarters of the Brotherhood. Some Roerich researchers have speculated that his writings were heavily inspired by Ossendowski and Blavatsky.
Dane Rudhyar, Astrology of Personality, 1936: The deeper we delve into the Great White Brotherhood, the more intriguing the findings. According to Rudhyar, a student of the famous esotericist Alice Bailey, the seven Avatars comprised all that God now exists. Rudhyar suggests that when God “became” the Universe, God’s spirit incarnated in the seven Avatars, as well as in the Universe itself.
GI Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men, 1963: Gurdjieff is fascinated by the ancient brotherhoods and mystical monasteries of Central Asia (Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, etc.). Much of Meetings with Remarkable Men is devoted to his dogged search for the secret teachings of these mysterious brotherhoods. The brotherhoods that Gurdjieff visited appear to be spin-offs of the Great White Brotherhood.
One of the monasteries that Gurdjieff managed to locate and visit was the “World Brotherhood” in Kafiristan, which appears to be in northern Pakistan. According to Gurdjieff, it was a brotherhood “to which any man could enter, regardless of the religion to which he had previously belonged… Among the adherents of this monastery there were ancient Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Lamaists and even a Shamanist. All were united by God in Truth.” He indicated that some of the brothers in this school were between 200 and 300 years old. One of the teachings of the monastery that Gurdjieff adopted concerned the importance of learning through experience, so that what is learned becomes inherent in one’s being.
Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946: Yogananda did not speak of the White Brotherhood per se, but spoke at length of avatars and “Great Beings”. He explains that the “descent” of the Divine into the flesh results in the presence of an avatar. Yogananda gives us a beautiful account of Babaji, a living yogi and avatar of the Himalayas who “has maintained his physical form for centuries or millennia.” Babaji teaches the potential for bodily immortality and has vowed to remain in his physical body forever (during this world cycle). According to Yogananda, Babaji is “always in communion with Christ.”
Frater Achad, Ancient White Mystic Brotherhood, 1971: Frater Achad (Rev. George G. Price) was a retired minister and channel. According to Achad, “For as long as man has existed, the ancient mystical White Brotherhood after the Order of Melchizedek has existed… It is birthless, ageless and deathless… It is not a mundane organization, without earthly lodges nor materials, buildings… They are very high spiritual beings from many planets in the universe, including this planet Earth.
“Its members are destined to teach and enlighten the leaders of the Earth, seers, prophets, kings, presidents, educators, philosophers, etc. They always guide through inspiration… They were referred to in the sacred (Judeo-Christian Muslim) books… as angels… The elders who preside over the White Brotherhood are the Master Jesus and the beloved Gautama Buddha… The Brotherhood it exists ‘to develop humanity’s perceptions of its own inherent Divine nature'”.
JJ Hurtak, The Keys of Enoch, 1977: According to Hurtak, “…the Brotherhood of Michael, the Brotherhood of Enoch and the Brotherhood of Melchizedek, lead the seventy Brotherhoods of the Great White Brotherhood… They will take the Exodus to others stellar systems to begin a new genesis in the next order of creation. At this time the Great White Brotherhood will come to take its own seed, since twenty million years ago it planted its crystal seed within the galaxy.
Omraam Mikael Aivanhov, A Philosophy of Universality, 1980: Aivanhov was a Bulgarian teacher who lived between 1900 and 1986. He called his community of students (10,000 worldwide) the Universal White Brotherhood. Aivanhov acknowledges that “The true Universal White Brotherhood on high is made up of all highly evolved beings that have ever existed.”
Georg Feuerstein, one of Aivanhov’s biographers and a leading scholar of spirituality and yoga, refers to the Universal White Brotherhood as “that invisible college of superior beings concerned with the spiritual evolution of humanity.”
S. Subramuniyaswami, The Lemurian Scrolls, 1998: Satguru Subramuniyaswami gives the Brotherhood a prominent place in his recent epic, The Lemurian Scrolls. Transcribed from the Akasha and acclaimed by the Hindu community, the book offers a comprehensive account of the Brotherhood during Lemurian times.
Subramuniyaswami explains that a Brotherhood of gurus has been present on Earth throughout human history to guide our evolution. He indicated that this secret order lived in monasteries in past yugas (ages), but now moves freely throughout the world in various walks of life. “Through their great telepathic powers, they (meet) in council more frequently… Their purpose on the planet, after dissolving their monasteries at the end of the Treta Yuga, has been to establish new patterns and innovate systems.”
According to Subramuniyaswami, “The rishis must guide all the servant beings of this planet in the (Satya) Yuga, thus completing their mission.”
When we see the continuity of the accounts of the Rishis, the White Brotherhood, the Great Masters, we cannot help but feel grateful for their dedication to help us in our attempts to grow towards the Divinity from which we come and to which we are. evolving I believe the Brotherhood is as active today as ever, perhaps especially today, as the Earth and the people on it face seemingly unprecedented challenges.
In my experiences with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a master yogi from South India who has visited the United States in recent years, I have observed that he always concludes his program with a heartfelt expression of gratitude to “the Masters” who have guided us. When one sees the depth of Sadhguru’s commitment and his achievements in his life thus far, it seems very plausible that he works directly with these beings.
I clearly believe that the Masters are with us today and love us very much, and that they and their appointees are here for us whenever we call on them for help and spiritual direction.