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[[Category:Mahatmas]]

Morya (frequently referred to simply as M.) is [[H. P. Blavatsky's]] Master and one of the Mahatmas that inspired the founding of the [[Theosophical Society]]. He engaged in a correspondence with two English [[Theosophist|Theosophists]] living in India, [[A. P. Sinnett]] and [[A. O. Hume]], when [[Koot Hoomi|Mahatma K.H.]] went into retreat for a few months. This correspondence was published in the book [[The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett]]. He was [[H. P. Blavatsky]]'s Master.


== Personal features ==

[[Charles Johnston]] interviewed [[H. P. Blavatsky]] and asked her about the Masters. In the following excerpt Johnston describes his impression about Master's M. handwriting as opposed to that of Master K.H., and then [[H. P. Blavatsky|Mme. Blavatsky]] gives some information about her Master:

<blockquote>"The red [handwriting] . . . is fierce, impetuous, dominant, strong; it comes in volcanic outbursts, while the other [Master K.H.'s] is like Niagara Falls. One is fire, and the other is the ocean. They are wholly different, and both quite unlike yours [Mme. Blavatsky's]. But the second has more resemblance to yours than the first."<br>
"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 marvellous 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:<br>
"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."<ref>Collected Writings VIII (???????????) 399-400</ref></blockquote>

In one of his letters to [[A. P. Sinnett|Mr. Sinnett]], [[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] describes Morya as follows:

<blockquote>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.<ref>Mahatma Letters ????????</ref></blockquote>

Again, according to [[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] Morya "is better and more powerful than I"<ref>Mahatma Letters ????????</ref>

Master M. knew very little English and didn't like to write.

== Relationship with Mme. Blavatsky ==

[[H. P. Blavatsky]] was a disciple of Master M. The Countess [[Constance Wachtmeister]] wrote in her ''Reminiscenses of H.P. Blavatsky'' how she met him:

<blockquote>During her childhood [Madame Blavatsky] had often seen near her an Astral form, that always seemed to come in any moment of danger, and save her just at the critical point. HPB had learnt to look upon this Astral form as a guardian angel, and felt that she was under His care and guidance.
In London, in 1851, she was one day out walking when, to her astonishment, she saw a tall Hindu in the street with some Indian princes. She immediately recognized him as the same person that she had seen in the Astral. Her first impulse was to rush forward to speak to him, but he made her a sign not to move, and she stood as if spellbound while he passed on. The next day she went into Hyde Park for a stroll, that she might be alone and free to think over her extraordinary adventure. Looking up, she saw the same form approaching her, and then her Master told her that he had come to London with the Indian princes on an important mission, and he was desirous of meeting her personally, as he required her cooperation in a work which he was about to undertake. He then told her how the Theosophical Society was to be formed, and that he wished her to be the founder. He gave her a slight sketch of all the troubles she would have to undergo, and also told her that she would have to spend three years in Tibet to prepare her for the important task. HPB decided to accept the offer made to her and shortly afterwards left London for India.<ref>Wachtmeister, Constance, ''Reminiscenses of H.P. Blavatsky'' ????</ref></blockquote>

It is possible that [[Constance Wachtmeister|Countess Wachtmeister]] has either confused [[H. P. Blavatsky]]’s previous visit with her father to London in the '40s. Mme. Blavatsky wrote to [[A. P. Sinnett|Mr. Sinnett]]: "I was in London and France with Father in '44 not 1851." Though in thid letter she explains that she does not remember well what happened in years past, she told Mr. Sinnett how she met the Master:

<blockquote>I saw Master in my visions ever since my childhood. In the year of the first Nepaul Embassy (when?) saw and recognised him. Saw him twice. Once he came out of the crowd, then He ordered me to meet Him in Hyde Park. I cannot, I must not speak of this. I would not publish it for the world.<ref>Barker, T. A. (ed) ''The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett'' ???? 150</ref></blockquote>

== Blavatsky on the Name "Morya" ==

The name Morya is the same as that of the [[Maurya]] clan, which ruled India from 322-185 BCE. The invincible [[Chandragupta Maurya]], founder of the [[Maurya Empire]], united the Indian subcontinent, while his grandson, [[Ashoka the Great]], adopted Buddhism and sent missions to other parts of Asia as well as the Mediterranean world. In the [[Mahaparinibbana Sutta]], an early Buddhist text that records the end of Gautama Buddha’s life, the “Moriyas of Pipphalavana” are said to have “built a great stupa for the embers” that remained from the cremation.<ref>Maurice Walshe, trans., ''The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya'' (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995) 276-277 (Mahaparinibbana Sutta 16.6.25-26.</ref>[http://www.vipassana.com/canon/digha/dn16.php] This passage suggests that there was already a connection between the Maurya clan and Buddhism. Blavatsky claims that long after the fall of the Mauryan Empire, the Mauryas (or Moryas) continued to have a deep connection with Buddhism. In 436 CE an [[Arhat]] (Buddhist saint) named Kasyapa, who belonged to the Morya clan, left an Indian convent in Panch-Kukkutarama with the fifth of seven golden statues of the Buddha, which he carried to a lake in Bod-yul (Tibet), thereby fulfilling an ancient prophecy. Seven years later the first Buddhist monastery was established on that spot, although the conversion of the country did not begin in earnest till the 7th century. Most of the abbots of that monastery “were the descendants of the dynasty of the Moryas, there being up to this day three of the members of this once royal family living in India.”<ref>“Shakyamuni’s Place in History” in ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'' V 245-246</ref>

Blavatsky explicitly affirms a link between the [[Shakya]] clan, to which Gotama Buddha belonged, and the Moriya clan, stating that the former founded a town called Moriya-Nagara. She adds that the Rajput tribe of Mori owes its name to being “composed of the descendants of the first sovereign of Moriya, Nagari-Môrya,” and that the Moryas are [[Kshatriyas]], unlike Master Koot Hoomi and the Rishi Koothumi who are “Northern Brahmans.”<ref>"The Puranas on the Dynasties of the Moriyas and the Koothoomi” in ''H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings'' VI 40-42.</ref> The name Moriya probably derives from ''mayura'' or ''mora'', which means peacock.<ref>P. Thankappan Nair, “The Peacock Cult in Asia,” in ''Asian Folklore Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 2 (1974), 124, Nanzan University.</ref> 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).


== Col. Olcott's meeting with the Master Morya ==

In a letter from [[Henry Steel Olcott|Henry S. Olcott]] to [[A. O. Hume|Allan O. Hume]] about the Mahatmas, printed by A.O. Hume in his "Hints on Esoteric Theosophy":

<blockquote>One evening, at New York, after bidding H. P. B. good night, I sat in my bed-room, finishing a cigar and thinking.  Suddenly there stood my Chohan beside me.  The door had made no noise in opening, if it had been opened, but at any rate there he was.  He sat down and conversed with me in subdued tones for some time, and as he seemed in an excellent humour towards me, I asked him a favour.  I said I wanted some tangible proof that he had actually been there, and that I had not been seeing a mere illusion or maya conjured up by H. P. B.  He laughed, unwound the embroidered Indian cotton fehta he wore on his head, flung it to me, and --- was gone.  That cloth I still possess, and it bears in one corner the initials ( ___ ) of my Chohan in thread-work.<ref>Hume, A.O., "Hints on Esoteric Theosophy" No. 1 (???????????, 1882, 2nd Edition) 76-86.</ref></blockquote>


== Account by C. W. Leadbeater ==

In his book The Masters and the Path [[C. W. Leadbeater]] describes Master M as follows:

<blockquote>He is a Rajput King by birth, and has a dark beard divided into two parts, dark, almost black, hair falling to His shoulders, and dark and piercing eyes, full of power. He is six feet six inches in height, and bears Himself like a soldier, speaking in short terse sentences as if He were accustomed to being instantly obeyed. In His presence there is a sense of overwhelming power and strength, and He has an imperial dignity that compels the deepest reverence.<ref>Leadbeater, C. W., ''The Masters and the Path'' (???????????) ????.</ref></blockquote>


== Notes ==

<references/>


== Additional resources ==

*[http://blavatskyarchives.com/olcottandmahatmas.htm# Colonel Henry S. Olcott's Testimony about His Meetings with the Master Morya] in Blavatsky Study Center