World-Mother
In much the same way that Jiddu Krishnamurti was proclaimed to be the World Teacher by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater, Rukmini Devi Arundale was proposed for the role of World-Mother. She wrote in a Foreword to Joseph E. Ross's book Spirit of Womanhood:
The name, 'World-Mother,' was new to me when I first heard those words in 1925. I did not realize that such a a Personage was worshipped in the West and did not understand the significance from the Western point of view. It is natural for me and many millions of Indians to worship the Goddess known in Sanskrit as Jagadamba - literally meaning 'Mother of the World.'[1]
She went on to explain that the feminine spiritual quality is recognized in all women in India, so that even the humblest woman is addressed by strangers as "Mataji" or "Amma," meaning "mother." "Spiritual beauty is embodied in the ideal of the mother, and beyond, by the World-Mother.[2]
C. Jinarajadasa wrote of the term "World-Mother" as "an official of the Great Hierarchy, a devi or goddess or angel, whose function is to represent certain embodiments of the feminine aspect of the dual nature of the Divine."[3] A group within the Theosophical Society in Adyar, India's Esoteric Section attempted in the 1920s to create an organization supporting rituals bringing forth the priestly qualities of women. "The first woman to be completely devoted to this work was the late Dr. Mary Rocke, who actually created a ritual of worship by women who were to dedicate themselves to the ideals presented to them by the Holy Mother. As Dr. Rocke could not herself for many reasons undertake the work of creating an organization, it was undertaken by an English lady, [Lady Emily Lutyens ] then in Australia. But this member slowly lost interest in the work. The work was then passed on to another lady, [Rukmini Devi Arundale] who undertook the responsibility, but who also similarly lost interest in it."[4]