THE SECOND GENERATION LEADERS OF THE (ADYAR)

Catherine Wessinger

When the parent Theosophical Society, with international headquarters in Adyar, Madras (later ), India, was founded by Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891) and Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), there was ten- sion between charismatic authority – derived from a normally unseen Hierarchy of Masters of the Wisdom (also known as Mahatmas) – and rational-legal authority – derived from elective office. This tension was present within both founders and in their relationship. Both Blavatsky and Olcott claimed to have communications with the Masters and both endorsed elected leadership in the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky, who formulated the major doctrines of , claimed the most on-going contact with the Masters, and Olcott, who served as the elected first presi- dent of the Theosophical Society, also claimed contact with the Masters. The second generation and third generation of leaders continued to work out the tension between charismatic authority (the belief that some- one has access to an unseen source of authority) and rational-legal author- ity in the evolving leadership and doctrines of the Theosophical Society. In the process of doing so, (1847–1933), who served as the second president of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) from 1907 until her death, Charles W. Leadbeater (1854–1934), whose authority rested exclu- sively on his claimed psychic abilities, and J. Krishnamurti (1895–1986), their protégé as the vehicle for the appearance of the World Teacher made religious and philosophical contributions with influences far beyond the Theosophical Society. For a time, Besant and Leadbeater shifted Theosophy beyond belief in progressive evolution, which was taught by Blavatsky, to a “progressive millennialism” (Wessinger 1997: 50–51; Ashcraft 2011), the expectation of an imminent transition to a collective salvation accomplished by humans working according to the plan of superhuman agents – in this instance, the Masters, who were believed to be guiding evolution on Earth. The pro- gressive millennial vision centered on the World Teacher probably con- ceived by Leadbeater and then vigorously promoted by Besant, has influenced numerous subsequent figures in the broader Theosophical 34 catherine wessinger and movements, including (1880–1949) and Benjamin Creme (b. 1922). Besant and Leadbeater popularized Theo­ sophical doctrines that have become characteristic of the New Age move- ment, contemporary Neopaganism and Wicca (Ellwood & Wessinger 1993: 82–83; Wessinger, deChant & Ashcraft 2006; Lucas 2011a), and UFO reli- gions (Flaherty 2011; see also the chapter by Mikael Rothstein in the pres- ent volume). If Alice Bailey can be considered an important mother of the New Age movement, Annie Besant, the foremost second generation leader in the Theosophical Society (Adyar), is the grandmother of the New Age movement, since Bailey’s progressive millennialism and related Theo­sophical doctrines replicated key themes taught by Besant.1 Krishnamurti, after distancing himself publicly from the role of the World Teacher in his career as international philosopher, likewise, has had an enduring influence on contemporary alternative spirituality, including an outlook deriving from and Neo-Advaita (Lucas 2011b). Sociologist Max Weber discussed how charismatic authority becomes “routinized” into structures of rational-legal authority or traditional authority (Weber 1964: 328–36, 358–73). During the controversies involv- ing the second and third generation of leaders, charismatic authority in the parent Theosophical Society was routinized into rational-legal author- ity. The members of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) ultimately opted to affirm the rational-legal authority of elected officers in the operation of the organization over the charismatic authority of claimed contact with the Masters.

Intertwining of Personal, Doctrinal, and Institutional Histories

Annie Besant, Charles W. Leadbeater, and the Young Krishnamurti As a young woman in England questioning Anglican theology, Besant concluded that until humans developed a faculty by which God could be perceived, then for practical purposes one must be an atheist (Besant 1877: 119). This reasoning prompted her conversion to atheism in 1874 and her involvement with the National Secular Society of Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891). Besant was drawn to monistic philosophies, and as an atheist she was a monistic materialist. She took courses at London University to

1 Leadbeater’s interest in the manifestation of the World Teacher in society diminished when Krishnamurti was no longer under his influence; see Tillett 1982: 187.