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Maitreya [804334] , one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, is a being regarded by those adherent to Theosophy to be the most spiritually advanced being of human origin that has so far evolved during this Earth round (period of spiritual evolution), except for Buddha. (Sanat Kumara doesn't count, because he is said to be from the civilization that Theosophists believe exists on the etheric plane of Venus that already is hundreds of millions of years in advance of our civilization.) It is believed Maitreya has attained the seventh Level of Initiation. In the teachings of Benjamin Creme and Alice A. Bailey he is also referred to as Christ (see the section below called “Maitreya’s overshadowing of Jesus”). The Theosophical concept of the Maitreya is modeled on the Buddhist Maitreya.

Maitreya is also believed by Theosophists to hold an office in the Hierarchy of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom called The World Teacher, the function of which is to encourage and inspire the development of religious leaders, and various world religions such that each people or specific civilization (i.e., Classical civilization, Western civilization, Chinese civilization, Hindu civilization, Persian civilization, Islamic civilization , etc.) will have the religion that is best suited for them.

In the Ascended Master Teachings, Maitreya, besides being called Lord Maitreya, is also referred to as the Cosmic Christ.

Development of the Theosophical concept of the Maitreya

Madame Blavatsky spoke of a Christ Principle that is the force for good in the Cosmos and is within the “inner man”. Between the time of Madame Blavatsky’s death in 1891 and his discovery of Krishnamurti in 1909, C.W. Leadbeater formulated a Christology in which he identified Christ with the Buddhist deity known as Maitreya and maintained that this deity held an office known as The World Teacher within the Hierarchy of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.

Maitreya’s previous incarnations

It is believed by Theosophists that, besides having had numerous incarnations in Atlantis, that after the fall of Atlantis, Maitreya incarnated as a Hierophant in Ancient Egypt , as Krishna, as a high priest in Ancient India , and that he also incarnated in the body of the Master Jesus during the three years of the Ministry of Jesus.

Maitreya’s resurrection

Benjamin Creme asserts that Maitreya was the first human being to achieve the third Initiation and that he did so in Atlantis. No Theosophical guru has specified the precise date when Maitreya resurrected (i.e., reached the fifth level of Initiation), but it is usually assumed to be in late Atlantean times. Assuming this to be the case, this means that in all the post-Atlantean incarnations of Maitreya mentioned above, he appeared as an avatar.

Maitreya’s overshadowing of Jesus

The followers of Benjamin Creme and Alice A. Bailey believe in the Nestorian/Gnostic Christology promulgated by C.W. Leadbeater which asserts that Maitreya overshadowed the Master Jesus during the Ministry of Jesus, such that there were two beings (two souls) in one body--Maitreya was Christ and the Master Jesus was Jesus of Nazareth; the combination of the two beings--two entities in one body--functioned as Jesus Christ. Those adherent to the Ascended Master Teachings, a group of religions based on Theosophy, believe in the existence of the Maitreya; however, they believe that although he encouraged the mission of Jesus, he did not actually overshadow Jesus.

Maitreya’s plan to overshadow Krishnamurti

According to C.W. Leadbeater, Maitreya’s original plan in the early 20th century was to return and manifest thru Krishnamurti like he originally did thru the Master Jesus. C.W. Leadbeater’s discovery, in April 1909, of Jiddu Krishnamurti, occurred on the private beach that formed part of the Theosophical headquarters in Adyar

, India. Krishnamurti and his family had been living in the headquarters for a few months before this discovery. Leadbeater proclaimed that Krishnamurti was to be the vessel for the indwelling of the coming World Teacher that many Theosophists were expecting. This new teacher would, in the pattern of Moses, Buddha, Zarathustra , Christ, and Muhammad divulge a new dispensation, a new religious teaching for the coming Age of Aquarius. Theosophists believed that Maitreya would dwell in the body vessel of Krishnamurti like he formerly dwelt in the Master Jesus during his ministry. Krishnamurti was extensively trained for his mission and an organization was set up called the Order of the Star in the East to provide a special vehicle for Krishnamurti’s mission to be an incarnation of the Maitreya. However, in August 1929 Krishnamurti renounced his mission (presumably one possible reason was that Krishnamurti, when the Maitreya overshadowed him, was supposed to walk on water before thousands of people at the Star Amphitheatre at Balmoral Beach

in suburban Sydney, Australia

; he must have felt, to put it mildly, a great deal of trepidation at the prospect of being expected to do this) and thus, Theosophists believe, since free will is paramount, the Maitreya could not manifest through Krishnamurti as he had originally planned to do.

The Second Coming of Christ (the Maitreya)

In the Alice A. Bailey material, she asserts that World War II was a cosmic conflict between good and evil. The Masters of the Wisdom, representing the Forces of Light, were on the side of the Allies; the Dark Forces were on the side of the Axis. According to Bailey, Adolf Hitler was possessed by the Dark Forces. With the defeat of the axis by the allies in 1945, the stage was set for the appearance of Maitreya to inaugurate the New Age.

In January 1946, Alice A. Bailey prophesied that (since Krishnamurti had rejected being overshadowed) Christ (in her books she refers to Maitreya as The Christ or The World Teacher, not as Maitreya) would return himself by manifesting a physical body of his own on the physical plane “sometime after AD 2025”, and that this would be the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Christ.Alice A. Bailey stated that St. Germain is the manager of the executive council of the Christ (Like C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey refers to St. Germain as the Master Rakoczi or the Master R. in her books.). This executive council is a specific group of Masters of the Ancient Wisdom charged with preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ and the consequent inauguration of the Age of Aquarius. According to Alice A. Bailey, when Christ returns, he will stay the entire approximately 2,158 year period of the Age of Aquarius, and thus the New Age equivalent of the Millennial Age, during which Christ (Maitreya) will reign as the spiritual leader of Earth as the Messiah who will bring World Peace, will not be just a single millennium but will be the Aquarian bimillennium.

In August 1946, Alice A. Bailey prophesied that Christ would return in an airplane from "the place on Earth where He has been for many generations" and that after doing so, he would appear on worldwide television.

Benjamin Creme's claims regarding Maitreya

Benjamin Creme (originally a member of the Aetherius Society), is a follower of Alice A. Bailey who claimed, beginning in 1975, to be able to telepathically channel Maitreya. Creme stated that Maitreya telepathically communicated to him that he had decided to return to Earth earlier than the post-2025 date given by Alice A. Bailey. On 6 September 1977, Creme began receiving messages from Maitreya regarding the process of his forthcoming emergence. These revelations are compiled in the book Messages from Maitreya. According to Creme, Maitreya materialized a physical body for himself in early 1977 in the Himalayas

and then on Friday, 8 July 1977 he booked an airplane flight from Pakistan

to London

. When he landed in London, this was the esoteric Second Coming of Christ (since Maitreya had not yet revealed himself to the world). He then took up residence in secret in the Brick Lane

neighborhood of that city. He does not need to eat because he is capable of living off prana (thus he is a breatharian); however, he can eat if offered food. Maitreya has no navel and is 6 feet 3 inches tall. Creme put advertisements in many of the world’s major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982 (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere

), at which time Christ (Maitreya) would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television. When this did not happen, Crème’s organization regrouped as Share International to prepare for the near-future Emergence of the Maitreya, when, it is believed, the Day of Declaration to inaugurate the Age of Aquarius will occur. Creme asserts that Adolf Hitler was the Anti-Christ and his defeat in World War II made possible the return of the Maitreya. According to Creme, the Age of Aquarius will be the "Age in which the love nature of God, [originally] revealed by Christ in Jesus, becomes manifest on a world scale". Maitreya manifests in visions to various people--an average of 26 per day. Maitreya miraculously appears physically before gatherings of between a few dozen and several hundred people of various religious groups an average of about three times a month. [804335] Sometimes when Benjamin Creme is lecturing, he allows Maitreya to briefly overshadow him, and when this happens, some of Creme's followers report seeing Creme surrounded by a golden aura. Maitreya's main mission during the Age of Aquarius will be to promulgate the Principle of Sharing, such that the technologically advanced nations share their wealth with the poorer nations so that everyone will have adequate sustenance. It is believed by the followers of Creme that the Maitreya has vast superhuman powers and also that he is in regular telepathic contact with the space brothers in their flying saucers ; it has been asserted by Benjamin Crème that the Maitreya is physically invulnerable and is capable of teleporting anywhere in the solar system. Creme's followers believe that Maitreya, in collusion with the flying saucers of the space brothers, is the cause of the crop circles (the modern manifestation of which began to appear in 1975, the year that Creme claims that Maitreya began to telepathically contact him); more crop circles appear in England

than any other country, it is asserted, because Maitreya spends a large percentage of his time in London.

Criticism of Benjamin's Creme's claims regarding Maitreya

Creme has made a number of predictions based on telepathic messages from Maitreya that have failed to come true, leading to him being considered a figure of amusement in the press.

Skeptical view

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.

Also see the article “Talking to the Dead and Other Amusements” by Paul Zweig New York Times October 5, 1980, which maintains that Madame Blavatsky's revelations were fraudulent.

However, the Maitreya 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.

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