Helena Blavatsky: The Secret Doctrine

Impact

The Secret Doctrine and the Theosophical Society have had a tremendous impact on certain populations, particularly in North America, England, Germany, India, and Sri Lanka. Theosophists still exist today, but Blavatsky’s ideas have permeated more widely as well, particularly in encouraging the second flowering of Spiritualism in the 1920s and 1930s and the development of New Age in the 1960s. A number of new religious groups claim to have received direct communication from the Masters: the German Anthroposophical movement, the English Liberal Catholic Church, and the American “I am” movement.

More broadly, scholars have traced the impact of Theosophy in abstract art, in interfaith dialogue, and in the Indian independence movement. Theosophists were among the first Westerners to live in India and tell Hindus and Buddhists that their beliefs were not only valid but also the basis of all knowledge. This concept provided inspiration to a number of key Indian intellectuals who called for independence from colonial Britain in the first several decades of the twentieth century. The Theosophist Bhagwan Das was an important public advocate for freedom from British rule, and Annie Besant, the president of the Theosophical Society in India, was a tireless promoter of Indian self-rule. As well, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, was tutored as a teen by a Theosophist and later wrote about the deep intellectual debt he owed the movement.