Mahatma (Sanskriet: maha atman, grote ziel) is een eretitel in het hindoeïsme, jaïnisme en de theosofie.
Gandhi is een voorbeeld van een mahatma.
Theosofie Het woord mahatma werd eind 19e eeuw gepopulariseerd door theosofische literatuur, toen Helena Blavatsky, een van de stichters van de Theosophical Society, beweerde dat haar leraren adepten of mahatma's waren die in Azië verbleven.Kuhn, Alvin Boyd (1930) Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom. Ph.D. Thesis. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. , p. 147. Alvin Boyd Kuhn: '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.' Deze mahatma's zouden grote yogische vermogens (siddhi's) hebben, net als siddha's.
Bibliografie Caldwell, Daniel H. (ed.) A Casebook of Encounters with the Theosophical Mahatmas., 2020 French, Brendan James (2000) The theosophical masters: an investigation into the conceptual domains of H.P. Blavatsky and C.W. Leadbeater. Ph.D. thesis, University of Sydney, Department of Religious Studies. Sydney. Johnson, K. Paul (1994) The Masters Revealed: Madam Blavatsky and Myth of the Great White Brotherhood. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. Johnson, K. Paul (1995) Initiates of Theosophical Masters. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. Kalnitsky, Arnold (2003) The Theosophical Movement of the Nineteenth Century: The Legitimation of the Disputable and the Entrenchment of the Disreputable. University of South Africa. Dissertation: 443 pp. Kuhn, Alvin Boyd (1930) Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom. Ph.D. Thesis. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. .
Categorie:Sanskriet Categorie:Hindoeïsme Categorie:Theosofie