From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Master Morya, in the teachings of the Theosophical Society is one of the "Masters of Wisdom" and in the Ascended Master Teachings is one of the Ascended Masters. He is known as the "Chohan of the First Ray" (see Seven Rays). Morya first became known to the modern world when H. P. Blavatsky revealed him, and Master Koot Hoomi, to be her guides in establishing the Theosophical Society. A known relation is Morya Gosavi was a 14th century saint of the Ganapatya sect. He was a great devotee of Ganesha. He was originally from a village called Shaligram in Karnataka. He built the Mayureshwar temple at Morgaon, near Pune. The starting of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage is attributed to him. The words Ganapati Bappa Morya are attributed to him. He was a contemporary of Chattrapati Shahu Maharaj and Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhatt. He took sanjeevan samadhi at Chinchwad, Pune.

Madame Blavatsky’s First Encounter with Master Morya

Manly Hall summarizes information from several sources in his account of Blavatsky’s first meeting with her Master: “The year 1851 was of extraordinary significance to the Russian mystic. Madame Blavatsky was now twenty years of age and was visiting in London during the season of the International Exposition. She had already broken the bonds of family and country and stood at the very threshold of her adventurous life. As she was walking one day, she saw an approaching number of Orientals, part of a group at that time visiting the court of Queen Victoria. In the midst of the Hindus was one of surpassing height and dignity. As her eyes turned toward him, a wave of astonishment swept over her. Her heart almost stopped beating, for she recognized in this Hindu of grave demeanor the strange protector of her childhood visions, the one whose glorious countenance had shone down upon her from invisible worlds. Her first impulse was to rush forward, to speak to him, to fall at his feet, but with princely gesture he bade her remain where she was and give no sign. So, helpless under the spell of his power, she stood still until he had passed.

“To the uninitiated, the handsome Oriental was merely a Rajput prince, but to Madame Blavatsky he was the Master Morya—one of the world’s Great Souls and an Adept of the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, whose members are dedicated to the service of the spiritual needs of mankind. It was the evening following her first physical meeting with the Mahatma M that Madame Blavatsky, impelled by a force she could not then understand, strolled slowly through Hyde Park. She was lost in reverie, turning over and over in her mind the almost unbelievable adventure of the day. Suddenly she looked up and there before her stood the very person who had formed the subject of her reverie. Madame Blavatsky was a creature of destiny and, as the steel is drawn to the lodestone, so the Russian mystic was impelled by fate into the way prepared for her. ‘In London, by the Serpentine,’ wrote Madame Blavatsky in her diary, ‘I met the Master of my dreams.’ Concerning the Rajput Adept, known to Madame Blavatsky as the Master Morya, he seems to have also used the name the Blue Teacher; and according to the conservative records of that day, was 125 years of age at the time of this visit to England. The portrait of Mahatma Morya  at the top of the page was painted [by Schmiechen] under the direction of Madame Blavatsky.

The Red-letter Mahatma

Several of the physical and mental traits that typify 19th-century depictions of Master Morya appear in an account by the theosophist Charles Johnston of a conversation he had with Madame Blavatsky. In speaking of the handwriting of the Mahatma Letters shown him by Sinnett, Johnston quotes himself as telling Blavatsky, “‘There were two: the blue writing, and the red; they were totally different from each other, and both were quite unlike yours. I have spent a good deal of time studying the relation of handwriting to character, and the two characters were quite clearly marked. The blue was evidently a man of very gentle and even character, but of tremendously strong will; logical, easy-going, and taking endless pains to make his meaning clear. It was altogether the handwriting of a cultivated and very sympathetic man.’ ‘Which I am not,’ said H. P. B., with a smile; ‘that is Mahatma Koothoomi; he is a Kashmiri Brahman by birth, you know, and has traveled a good deal in Europe. He is the author of the Occult World letters, and gave Mr. Sinnett most of the material of Esoteric Buddhism… But what about the other writing?’ ‘The red? Oh that is wholly different. It is fierce, impetuous, dominant, strong; it comes in volcanic outbursts, while the other is like Niagara Falls. One is fire, and the other is the ocean. They are wholly different, and both quite unlike yours. But the second has more resemblance to yours than the first.’ ‘This is my Master,’ she said, ‘whom we call Mahatma Morya. I have his picture here.’ 
And she showed me a small panel in oils. If ever I saw genuine awe and reverence in a human face, it was in hers, when she spoke of her Master. He was a Rajput by birth, she said, one of the old warrior race of the Indian desert, the finest and handsomest nation in the world. Her Master was a giant, six feet eight, and splendidly built; a superb type of manly beauty. Even in the picture, there is a marvelous power and fascination; the force, the fierceness even, of the face; the dark, glowing eyes, which stare you out of countenance; the clear-cut features of bronze, the raven hair and beard—all spoke of a tremendous individuality, a very Zeus in the prime of manhood and strength. I asked her something about his age. She answered: ‘My dear, I cannot tell you exactly, for I do not know. But this I will tell you. I met him first when I was twenty,—in 1851. He was in the very prime of manhood then. I am an old woman now, but he has not aged a day. He is still in the prime of manhood. That is all I can say. You may draw your own conclusions.’ ‘Have the Mahatmas discovered the elixir of life?’ ‘That is no fable,’ said H. P. B. seriously. ‘It is only the veil hiding a real occult process, warding off age and dissolution for periods which would seem fabulous, so I will not mention them. The secret is this: for every man, there is a climacteric, when he must draw near to death; if he has squandered his life-powers, there is no escape for him; but if he has lived according to the law, he may pass through and so continue in the same body almost indefinitely.’”

Somewhat corroborating the “fierce, dominant” image of his friend, Master Koot Hoomi writes as follows. “In noticing M’s opinion of yourself as expressed in some of his letters…you say he has ‘a peculiar mode of expressing himself to say the least.’ Now that ‘way’ is simply the bare truth, which he is ready to write to yourself, or even say and repeat to your face, without the least concealment or change…and he is—of all men I know—just the one to do it without the least hesitation! And for this, you call him ‘an imperious sort of chap very angry if he is opposed’… I am prepared to concede the definition in a limited sense, and to admit and repeat with you (and himself at my elbow) that he is a very imperious sort of chap, and certainly very apt sometimes to become angry, especially if he is opposed in what he knows to be right. Would you think more of him, were he to conceal his anger; to lie to himself and the outsiders, and so permit them to credit him with a virtue he has not?… [You] will hardly if ever be able to appreciate such characters as Morya's: a man as stern for himself, as severe for his own shortcomings, as he is indulgent for the defects of other people, not in words but in the innermost feelings of his heart; for, while ever ready to tell you to your face anything he may think of you, he yet was ever a stauncher friend to you than myself, who may often hesitate to hurt anyone's feelings, even in speaking the strictest truth.”

The Mahatma Letters contain several examples of Master Morya’s uncompromising candidness, including sharp criticism of caste and orthodoxy in the “Prayag Letter” sent to a group of Brahmins in Allahabad. He himself acknowledges, “If I once am forced to speak I must say ALL, or say—nothing.” However, numerous letters signed or dictated by Morya in The Mahatma Letters and Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom give the picture not of a haughty tyrant but of a capable leader whose dealings with people are characterized by insight, magnanimity, gratitude, and loyalty. Such letters bear out the observation of Countess Wachtmeister that the Masters are “tolerant and charitable… in all their dealings.” The Master shows a detailed grasp of worldly affairs, and his prediction regarding India’s liberation has proved to be correct. He explains things esoteric with patience and care, even suppressing his dislike of writing letters and modifying his admittedly poor handwriting for the sake of his correspondents. The Master also possesses a good sense of humor, and enjoys playing tricks.

The name Moriya probably derives from mayura or mora, which means peacock. The peacock image connects this warrior clan with Karttikeya, the Hindu war god, whose vehicle is a peacock, and possibly with the Buddhist “Peacock Lord,” a Wisdom King (Kujaku-myoo in Japan, the female Mahamayuri in India).

Leadbeater and Master Morya

The British clairvoyant, Charles Webster Leadbeater, was a close co-worker of Annie Besant and arguably the most influential member of the Theosophical Society-Adyar in the first three decades of the 20th century. He joined the TS in November 1883, after reading Sinnett’s Occult World. He wrote a letter to Master Koot Hoomi, offering himself as a disciple, and after receiving a favorable reply, quit his position and moved to the headquarters of the Society in Adyar near Madras. Leadbeater traveled in Ceylon with Blavatsky and Olcott from December 1884, and created a sensation by being the first Christian clergyman to convert to Buddhism. In his book The Inner Life he writes that there is a population of human-like beings on the planet Mars.  In the following years he helped Olcott in reviving Buddhism in Ceylon and Burma, and assisted in the work at Adyar until returning to Britain in late 1889. StarDoves pilgrimaged to Adyar in 1990 . . .  meditated at the gravesites of Besant and Leadbeater. And at the beach where His most well-known activity was the discovery, in April, 1909, of Jiddu Krishnamurti, 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. 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 (Zoroaster), Christ, and Muhammad divulge a new dispensation, a new religious teaching. Theosophists believed that the teacher was a spiritual being called Maitreya who would dwell in the body vessel. Again, an interesting correlation is that StarDoves were present at Krioshnamurti's last public discourse a day before his passing over to heaven worlds in Ojai in February 17, 1986.

That Master Morya is said to never incarnate as a female is due to his association with the First Ray, one of seven cosmic principles. His disciple, T. Subba Row, in giving the initial theosophical teachings about the Seven Rays, states: “I do not think there will ever be a female Adept of the First Ray, because it belongs entirely to the positive pole.” Row associates the First Ray with Vedic Brahmanism, with the Buddhist deities Amitabha and Avalokiteshvara, and with the Christos, the Trinity as a whole.

In The Masters and the Path Leadbeater states: “Master Morya…is the representative of the First Ray at the level of the Chohan Initiation… He stands with all the unshakable and serene strength of His Ray, playing a great part in that work of guiding men and forming nations…” In a “table of Rays and their characteristics” communicated to him by “Master Djwal Kul,” he gives “Fohat,” “Shechinah,” and “Brahmanical” as three keywords associated with the First Ray. Ernest Wood, who expands on the foundation that Leadbeater has laid, adds “Freedom,” “Courage,” “Will,” and “Government.” Alice Bailey follows along the same lines, frequently mentioning “Will” and “Politics,” as well as "Power" and “Synthesis,” anent the First Ray, and recognizing Morya as its representative.

The Temple of the People and Agni Yoga

Not all of the theosophical groups claiming to have contact with Master Morya highlighted that contact or taught about the Master’s connection with the First Ray. The Temple of the People, a theosophical organization that began in Syracuse, New York in 1898 and later moved to Halcyon, California, was largely under the guidance of Master Hilarion. Master Morya is said to have played a role in calling the first head of the Temple, Francia La Due, to the work. Five of the lessons in the first volume of Teachings of the Temple are attributed to him. Master Morya, who provided the plan for The Secret Doctrine and the Stanzas of Dzyan upon which the book was based, also provided the Stanzas of Dzyan that became the basis for the Theogenesis stanzas and commentaries issued by the Temple.

The role of Master Morya is still more central in the Agni Yoga teaching, all the books of which he transmitted to Helena Roerich by clairaudience. The first two volumes of the teaching are entitled Leaves of Morya’s Garden (Листы Сада Мории in the original Russian). Especially in the first book, the Master often speaks forcefully in the first person, enjoining his disciples to love him and strive in his name. However, except for the title of these two books, the name “Morya” does not appear in the seventeen volumes of the Agni Yoga series in English. The shortened form, M., is found 30 times in the first volume, four times in the next, and only once thereafter, when Master Morya’s discussion with Queen Victoria is alluded to. Those familiar with theosophical history might recognize Master Koot Hoomi as “My Friend,” who appears in a few passages. There is also a paragraph where the speaker clearly identifies himself as Akbar. It is easy to imagine a connection between Akbar, the great emperor who united modern India, and the emperors of the Maurya (or Morya) dynasty who did the same thing in ancient India; but in the Agni Yoga teaching nothing is stated explicitly about Master Morya’s past lives.

Ascended Master El Morya

In 1930 Guy Ballard had an encounter on Mt. Shasta with a person who identified himself as Comte de St. Germain, one of the masters introduced to the world by post-Blavatsky theosophy. St. Germain said that he belonged to a Brotherhood of Ascended Masters, which included among others Jesus, the Buddha, Maitreya, and Morya—or El Morya, as he came to be called. The teachings transmitted by St. Germain to Ballard became the basis of the "I AM" Activity, a worldwide religious movement. Ballard collected them in such works as Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, publishing them under the penname “Godfré Ray King.” Ballard’s work became the nucleus for the Ascended Master Teachings promulgated by such organizations as The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit Lighthouse, and The Temple of the Presence.

To give one of many such examples, in 1958, the very year that he founded The Summit Lighthouse, Mark L. Prophet transmitted the following message from “Beloved El Morya.” "I AM the Chohan (Lord) of the First Ray and my Activity concerns the bringing into visible, tangible, and practical manifestation right here the Will of Good for the planet Earth and all her evolutions. Believe me, dear hearts, when I say that most people who hear of me for the first time (and, alas, some who have heard of me many times!) regard me as some mystical being in a fairy tale who for fancy's sake alone they hope exists. However, in their hearts they secretly question my reality. Now, many of you know that I AM a Real, Living, Vibrant Being of Divine Love and Light who when in embodiment in similar situations to yours today, before My Ascension, once faced the same kinds of conditions and feelings of joy and sorrow which some of you are facing. When I finally made My Ascension into the Realm of the Ascended Host (in 1898), that victory was accomplished only after I had fully repaid all my karmic debts to life through service rendered by drawing forth the Full Purity and Power of My Own beloved I AM Presence.”

In terms of its style, content, and intellectual level this message is much closer to the writings of Ballard than Blavatsky, the Mahatma Letters, or Agni Yoga. The same may be said of the Ascended Master Teachings in general. The messengers of the teachings attributed to El Morya are familiar with the theosophy of earlier generations and adopt much of the same terminology and symbolism. However, there is an emphasis on God and a deistic worldview almost entirely absent from earlier theosophy, as well as a marked tendency to bring the Masters and their names to the fore.

El Morya has played a key role in all of the organizations. He is said to have called Geraldine Innocente to the work that eventually resulted in the founding of The Bridge to Freedom; called both Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet to the work that gave rise to The Summit Light House and Church Universal and Triumphant; and acted as a principle sponsor for The Temple of the Presence. Newer organizations emerging from the movement continue to claim that they receive messages from him.

There is a vast body of Ascended Masters literature claiming to be transmitted or inspired by El Morya, including: The Dayspring of Youth, The Lord God of Truth Within, Ashram Notes, The Chela and the Path, and Morya. The sheer number of these works makes it necessary to discriminate and choose carefully, especially in light of the fact that Master Morya’s most celebrated disciple, Helena Blavatsky, had little good to say about channeled literature. Words attributed to El Morya advise: “Test, test, test every activity in which you place your faith, and that to which you give the power of your attention, before you are led into the unhappy experiences which can result from blindly accepting, as truth, that which is presented to you from the seen, as well as the unseen.”

Master MorYa would like to mention Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880–December 15, 1949), known as Alice A. Bailey or AAB, was born as Alice LaTrobe Bateman, in Manchester, England--at 7:32 AM GMT, according to Dane Rudhyar. Because Alice was especially adept with working the Ascended Master DK and Master MorYa told me, Raja, that Djwal Khul (variously spelled 'Djwhal Khul', 'Djwal Kul', or simply 'DK'), is supposed by some Theosophists and others to be a Tibetan Master in the tradition of ancient esoteric spirituality. The texts describe him as a member of the 'Spiritual Hierarchy', or 'Brotherhood', of Mahatmas, defined as the spiritual guides of mankind and teachers ancient cosmological, metaphysical, and esoteric principles that form the origin of all the world's great philosophies, mythologies and spiritual traditions. According to Theosophical writings, Djwal Khul is said to work on furthering the spiritual evolution of our planet, using highly developed powers of meditation known as siddhis. Thus on April 1st he will be very happy to have a Siddhi Master come to be with us from India named Nandhi, he is old enough to be my son, having been born the same year as one of my sons.  Yet, here he is a Siddhi Master and EL MorYa is proud to have him with us in the StarDove Network.