Modern Theosophy expresses the ancient wisdom tradition found in all religions. When H. P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society in 1875, told English journalist A. P. Sinnett she had gained her paranormal knowledge from more evolved beings called the Mahatmas, Sinnett asked to communicate with them himself. The result was a remarkable correspondence carried on from 1880 to 1885 with Mahatmas Khoot Hoomi and Morya. Recorded in The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, the answers of these Teachers form an essential part of Theosophical literature. At the time, the Letters stormed the bastions of racial and religious prejudice, and they continue to fascinate those seeking to probe the mysteries of the universe and the nature of consciousness. Here is the most comprehensive, magisterial discussion of The Mahatma Letters since they were first published in 1924. Eminent Theosophist Joy Mills bases her commentary on Vincente Hao Chin’s 1999 edition of the Letters, helpfully arranged chronologically to enable following the exposition as it originally unfolded. Mills quotes Sinnett in emphasizing that the Mahatmas’ purpose was not to put the world into possession of occult knowledge but to train those who proved qualified . . . so that they might ascend the path of spiritual progress. Her focus, then, is on not only knowledge of the magnificent Occult Science but more significantly the ethical and moral values we must embrace to be of service to the world. She offers her reflections on over 140 letters in the hope that they may prove useful to fellow-students on the journey toward the spiritual heights. May these letters call you as they have continued to call me to keep on exploring, for truly there is no other way to go!

This is a new release of the original 1930 edition.

At the Feet of the Master was the first book published by Jiddu Krishnamurti. Written when he was 14 under the name "Alcyone" and published in 1910, it has been translated into 40 languages. There has been some debate over whether the author was Krishnamurti or his mentor C.W. Leadbeater. Krishnamurti never said that he wrote the work, and in the foreword he says: "These are not my own words but of the Master who taught me." He was referring to Leadbeater's claim that the Master Kuthumi was releasing the instruction to the young boy during the night while he was asleep. The book is considered a theosophical classic.

THE following pages are derived from "The Book of the Golden Precepts," one of the works put into the hands of mystic students in the East. The knowledge of them is obligatory in that school, the teachings of which are accepted by many Theosophists. Therefore, as I know many of these Precepts by heart, the work of translating has been relatively an easy task for me. It is well known that, in India, the methods of psychic development differ with the Gurus (teachers or masters), not only because of their belonging to different schools of philosophy, of which there are six, but because every Guru has his own system, which he generally keeps very secret. But beyond the Himalayas the method in the Esoteric Schools does not differ, unless the Guru is simply a Lama, but little more learned than those he teaches. The work from which I here translate forms part of the same series as that from which the "Stanzas" of the Book of Dzyan were taken, on which the Secret Doctrine is based. Together with the great mystic work called Paramartha, which, the legend of Nagarjuna tells us, was delivered to the great Arhat by the Nagas or "Serpents" (in truth a name given to the ancient Initiates), the Book of the Golden Precepts claims the same origin. Yet its maxims and ideas, however noble and original, are often found under different forms in Sanskrit works, such as the Dnyaneshvari, that superb mystic treatise in which Krishna describes to Arjuna in glowing colors the condition of a fully illumined Yogi; and again in certain Upanishads. This is but natural, since most, if not all, of the greatest Arhats, the first followers of Gautama Buddha were Hindus and Aryans, not Mongolians, especially those who emigrated into Tibet. The works left by Aryasanga alone are very numerous.