The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume One

The question was put to Rudolf Steiner by Alma von Brandis, a Berlin member who was then living in Dornach, on May 29, 1915, and answered and later sent to Marie Steiner-von Sivers by her. As an 'old' member, she was familiar with the ideas about the Masters as they had been living in the T.S. since Sinnett's 'The Occult World' and 'Secret Buddhism'. In his 'Secret Buddhism', Sinnett had already raised the question of the connection between the Mahatmas and the principles of man. The relevant passage reads: The nature of a Mahatma is difficult to grasp correctly and would hardly be understandable without reference to later sections of this book, so that it seems appropriate to go into it in more detail now. The dual nature within him is so pronounced that his higher powers and wisdom are accessible to those who have a special spiritual connection to him, without the Mahatma having to become aware of their invocation at the time. From this, our thinking opens up to the possibility that the relationship between the spiritual and the human Mahatma may sometimes become such that it is referred to in secret writings as “overshadowing” or influencing rather than as incorporation in the full sense of the word. Furthermore, to further complicate the understanding, we arrive at the fact that each Mahatma is not only a human being of exalted development, but, as it were, belongs to a realm of the great scheme of nature all its own. Each Mahatma must correspond to one or other of seven great fundamental forms, but though we might almost conclude that these fundamental forms could be traced to relationships with the seven fundamental parts in man, I refrain from attempting a full explanation of this assumption. It is sufficient to apply this thought to what we know, in vague outline, of the higher levels of the secret inner structure. It has been asserted in cipher for some time past that there are five Great Chohans or Higher Mahatmas, directing the whole Brotherhood of Mahatmas. When I wrote the foregoing portion of this book, I was under the impression that a supreme head, standing on a still higher plane, ruled over these five Chohans; but now the thought suggests itself to me that this personality is more likely to be a sixth chohan, the head of the sixth fundamental form of the Mahatmas; and this supposition leads immediately to the further conclusion that, to complete the recognized correspondences or relationships, there must be a seventh Chohan. But just as the seventh fundamental particle in nature or in man is a barely comprehensible concept that eludes our thinking and can only be described in vague phrases devoid of supersensible meaning, so the seventh Tschohan will certainly prove inaccessible to any untrained imagination. But he, too, undoubtedly occupies a place in the household of the spiritual world, and I am convinced that such a personality exists, who is occasionally visible to the other Mahatmas. However, pondering this brings little more benefit than greater clarity with regard to the above-mentioned thought that the Mahatmas must not be understood as merely extraordinary people of great spiritual sublimity, but as necessary phenomena in nature, without which a progressive development of humanity can hardly be imagined. ↩

See also on pages 244/45 (lecture Berlin, July 3, 1904) ↩