Rudolf Steiner on Brotherhood

We will only fully comprehend Theosophy—the idea of brotherhood—when we can sit together amiably in a group where there is the greatest variety of thoughts....That is just the strong point of theosophists—to remain on a basis of fellowship, even when they hold different opinions.

—The Original Impulse Behind the Theosophical Movement: the Brotherhood Idea, Berlin, January 29, 1906, H &C, p. 355

Theosophy should not be a dogma, but an expression of love. People should help each other—that is, put love before opinions—and that will introduce a common spirit into human evolution. That is a practical side of what must be developed in the theosophical movement.

—Why is There a Theosophical Movement Today?, Leipzig, April 25th, 1906, History and Contents of the First Section of the Esoteric School, p. 270

"Theosophy per se, nor yet its humble unworthy vehicle, the Theosophical Society, has anything whatever to do with any personality or personalities! For real Theosophy IS ALTRUISM, and we cannot repeat it too often. It is brotherly love, mutual help, unswerving devotion to Truth. If once men do but realize that in these alone can true happiness be found, and never in wealth, possessions, or any selfish gratification, then the dark clouds will roll away, and a new humanity will be born upon earth. As all work for one and the same object, namely, the disenthralment of human thought, the elimination of superstitions, and the discovery of truth, all are equally welcome."

— H.P. Blavatsky

Zarathustra

As known in Anthroposophy, the great leader of the Persian Cultural Epoch was Zarathustra. There were many Zarathustras which followed the original in disciplic succession, so confusion can arise over this.

He who was Zarathustra, is still to be highly regarded in our current Western spirituality- now know as the Master Jesus. Together with the Master Christian Rosencreutz, they make up the two great teachers of this time.

Of course the religion still exists in the fire worshiping Parsis (Arabic for "Persia"). The Parsis still carry beautiful traditions of fire worshiping, like carrying a candle around the house as a blessing and purification every day. It was one of the first religions to understand that "cleanliness is next to Godliness".

It had to be Zarathustra, who long before witnessed the descending Christ Spirit, who then took such a crucial role in the Incarnation.

Below is the prophecy from the Avesta of the Saviour of the future Astvatorota/ Astvat-ereta/arata- Saoshyant:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saoshyant

"the mighty, royal, promising-bearing
Sun-ether-ayra, God-created,
Who will pass over into the resplendent Saviour
And the others, his Apostles;
Who carries the world onwards,
And overcomes old age, death, corruption and sloth,
Who helps to eternal life,
To eternal fructification,
To freedom of the will, (to mastery of the will)
When the dead rise again,
When the living Conqueror of death appears
And through the will the world is brought forward.

- Quoted by F.W. Zeylmans von Emmichoven

"Second Coming" Prophecies

Dear Friends,
Here are some of the "Second Coming" prophecies made by Valentin Tomberg in 1933, quoted by Robert Powell in his Hermetic Astrology.

"shame - in an elemental and powerful form - will take hold of human beings. The human being will become conscious of all his shortcomings, and no one else will be able to comfort him. Human beings will then go out to seek comfort from nature. One will be able to see someone going up to a tree and embracing it - seeking comfort from it - and, standing thus, how he will weep bitterly.

"And people will then be right in seeking comfort from dumb creatures, for creatures (the beings of nature) will become transformed through the presence of Christ. At present nature has lost all hope of being redeemed, but will be filled anew with hope through the breath of the presence of Christ. Nature will become good, and will again radiate trust and kindness towards man, instead of fear and mistrust as is the case now. Wonderful changes will take place in nature. Springtimes will come which will be different from all other springtimes - with goodness which will be felt in the air and in the breath, in the breathing of the ground, in the buds and green leaves. These springtimes will be filled with a blessing that nature has never experienced before.

"Towards autumn nature will bestow her fruits in generous abundance- the sap will be life-giving and seeds will be ripe and full. For Christ will be there for nature. His presence will work in such a way that- even if it takes place only for a moment - all struggle, hate and fear will withdraw from nature.

"Extraordinary changes will become noticeable in the atmosphere. There will be regions where the air will be such that many people will be cured -cured of their illnesses through the air they breath in.. Changes in the behavior of children will manifest themselves in surprising and mysterious ways. Thus, it will happen that a circle of children playing will become quite still and will stand there motionless and in deep silence for a while... Even if communism still exists in Russia, remarkable occurrences in the school-life of communist Russia will take place. There large groups of children will suddenly experience something, concerning which they won't know what to say, but which will place them in a reverent and devout mood.

"Christ will move from the West to the East in wave-like lines. He will begin in America and will continue through Europe to the north-east of Europe. From there he will continue eastwards as far as China, where the resistance is strongest. His coming is not for all regions of the Earth simultaneously, but progresses step by step. Thereby each further step of his movement will signify a stronger force, a growth in the transmission of the Christ-Power. Only after traversing the whole of the Earth in this way will he appear to individuals in different parts of the world. Clairvoyant occultists will see him earlier, where he will be present only in the kingdoms of nature, but for many others the first experience of him will be in the human kingdom, after his expansion throughout nature is accomplished."

Rudolf Steiner's Estrangement from His Body

Rudolf Steiner's failing health must be viewed in the context of the increasing alienation of his physical body to the spiritual parts of his being. This led to various health problems and pain.

There was the apparent poisoning (or was it really just allergic reaction to the food or drink he was ingesting at the time, going by his comments given in a lecture soon after- "all food can become poisonous") on January 1st 1924.

From a couple of letters to Marie Steiner:

"And I have to avoid everything 'destructive'. I can see how easily I can be set back when something disruptive occurs, particularly with regard to the gastric system. "

"As you know, I have become very estranged from my physical body since January 1923. That is why an increasing amount of nursing is necessary."
- 26th October 1924

"Wegman and Noll are kept pretty busy with my 'treatment'. I have to suffer a lot with the pain of the treatment and feel how much I am unsuited to spending time on my own care in this way."

"M.d.M., I told you some time ago how, since January 1923, the link between the higher parts of my being and my physical body was no longer complete; living in the spirit I lost, as it were, the immediate connection with my physical organization. Not with the physical world. On the contrary: my ability to make a healthy assessment of the latter grew stronger and also more comprehensive. But precisely because everything in the spiritual realm continued unhindered, also as regards the physical world, the hostile forces are making an assault on my physical body."

- 15th October 1924

Earlier Uses of the Word "Anthroposophy"

The term was used in a Latin book which appeared in Basel Switzerland, in 1575: Arbatel de magia veterum. it is defined there as the "knowledge of natural things" and the "wisdom in humane things". This may be the earliest reference. 

Thomas Vaughan, the twin brother of Henry Vaughan, used the term in his Anthroposophia Theomagica in the 17th century.

"The brothers were born at Newton in Breconshire in 1621. In his years in London Vaughan devoted himself to alchemical experiment and theory. He published a series of treatises, the first three of which appeared in 1650. These were Anthroposophia Theomagica: or a Discourse of the Nature of Man and his State after Death; Grounded on his Creator's Proto-Chemistry and verified by a practical Examination of Principles in the Great World, Anima Magica Abscondita: or a Discourse of the universal Spirit of Nature and Magia Adamica: or the Antiquitie of Magic.

All three were published under the name of Eugenius Philalethes, as were Lumen de Lumine: or a New Magical Light, which appeared in 1651, and Euphrates: or the Waters of the East, published in 1655. In 1652 there had been published Aula Lucis: or The House of Light, attributed to one S.N., but identified by Henry Vaughan as one of his brother's works (S and N being the final letters of Thomas Vaughan's Christian name and surname)."

Rudolf Steiner used the term in 1902-3 in a lecture cycle From Zarathustra to Nietzsche. History of Human Evolution Based on the World conception of the Orient up to the Present or Anthroposophy- no manuscript of these lectures is available.

Twelve GEMSTONES of the Book of Revelation

The great vision in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation where the woman appears clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head, is a prelude of a coming event: the celestial Jerusalem descending from heaven. The New Jerusalem consists of gold (“clothed with the sun”), each of its entrances is made out of one pearl (“the moon under her feet”), its surrounding wall rest on twelve foundation stones adorned with the twelve gemstones (“a crown of twelve stars upon her head”).

The correlation between stars and gemstones is an indication of the high spiritual level we are confronted with when dealing with gemstones. It is the level which may appear before our inner eye when we look at the essential differences between human beings, animals, plants and rocks. The human being has its ego on earth. In animals we may observe a wisdom far greater than ours, but there is a complete lack of personal responsibility: the ego of the animals, their wise group soul, is in the astral world. In the plants we have before us pure life forces, gently touched by astrality in the flowering processes. The astral body of the plants is in the astral world. The plants’ ego is in a still higher world, the lower Devachan. Finally, in the crystal we may have the feeling that a shade of life processes is around it at the moment of crystallization. The etheric part of the crystals is in the astral word, the astral “body” in the lower Devachan, the ego in the higher Devachan.

The feeling that the physical appearance of crystals is connected with spiritual beings of a very high level, may account for the magical attraction which gemstones have had throughout human history. Modern spiritual approach should bear this in mind.

Jasper, the first of the twelve gemstones, consists mainly of silicic acid. In fact, the whole circle of apocalyptic gemstones is, chemically, composed either of silicic acid or silicates, i.e. combinations of silicic acid. What is the character of silicic acid? It is the main component (60%) of the earth’s rocks, especially of the continents. That means that it provides, unselfishly, the foundation on which we stand, walk and live. On the other hand the purest form of silicic acid, rock-crystal, is of such a high transparency that even ultraviolet rays pass through. In the technical sense, mankind has learnt to use this unselfish transparency of silicic acid to produce glass from quartz sands. It is significant that unselfishness is the basic feature of the twelve gemstones. In jasper the pure silicic acid is colored by extremely fine grained particles of iron oxide. Iron is the bearer of the ego force in human blood, oxygen is the life substance. It might be concluded that in jasper we have that kind of unselfishness which is permeated with and borne by ego-force, the kind of unselfishness which is found in the life and work of the greatest artists. It is the unwavering condition of creative work. Strikingly, jasper is one of the two gemstones which characterize the highest divine being in chapter four of the apocalypse: “A throne stood there in heaven and one who sat on the throne. His appearance blazed like jasper and carnelian. And a rainbow shining like emerald encircled the throne.”

Jasper is totally opaque. In the circle of the twelve gemstones there are six opaque, or nearly untransparent, and six totally translucent rocks, the opaque always facing a translucent one. The translucent gemstones are, in a sense are more connected with thinking, the opaque with the forces of the will. Each two opposite gemstones are, in a sense, complementary in their qualities. Between the two may arise for our inner eye a congenial quality which is connected with realm of feeling.

Chrysolite, opposite to jasper, is the seventh gemstone of the apocalyptic circle. Jewelers call it peridot. It has a high transparency and a beautiful golden green color. According to a jeweler’s book on gems (Mab Wilson) “ there is no blue in the green, even in the darkest version of itself. Place it in the shade and it still remains sun-touched”.

Chemically it is an iron magnesium silicate. Where do we find the combination of iron and magnesium playing a major role in nature? In chlorophyll, the green substance of the leaves in which the sun produces oxygen out of carbon dioxide.
Evidently, this gemstone has a close relation to sun, to light in general.

Magnesium in fact is an element with an enormous light potential. We experience the relation, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner, between chrysolite and the sense of sight.

The qualities of jasper and chrysolite are clearly complementary. Unbiased sensorial obversation is in urgent need of ego-conscious unselfishness, the result in between the two poles being the way to truth. 

Lapis Lazuli takes the second place in the ring of gemstones. In the text of the Apocalypse it is called sapphire, but there are some good reasons to surmise that in the old days lapis lazuli was called sapphire whereas the gemstone to which now the name of sapphire is applied, was still relatively unknown in the Mediterranean area of that time. The first reason in fact is that Roman and Greek authors of the first centuries A.D. describe sapphire as heavenly blue with gold specks. That is an exact characterization of lapis lazuli and has nothing to do with what we now call sapphire. The second reason is that sapphire in the present sense would be the only gemstone in the ring which is not a silicate or a form of silicic acid. Finally, if we introduce normal sapphire in the circle, it would present an exception to the general order in which there is always a totally transparent gemstone facing an opaque or hardly translucent one.

The most conspicuous property of lapis lazuli indeed is the heavenly blue color with the golden specks of very small pyrite crystals, often compared with the blue sky and golden stars. It is the kind of blue which expresses devotion, that form of reverence which goes deep into the will forces. True and pure devotion should be rooted in firm ground and should be borne by ego force. Both these aspects appear in lapis lazuli. In its very complicated chemical composition normal salt plays a part, and on the other hand we find in the golden pyrite an expression of the ego force of iron which has conquered the sulfur process, a true Michaelic impulse.

Beryl, facing lapis lazuli in the ring, is really in many ways is opposite. It is a very hard (harder than quartz), totally transparent, hexagonal columnar crystal with often a greenish hue which however disappears when the crystal is heated. Chemically it is a beryllium aluminium silicate. Beryllium is one of the most resistant elements. It plays a major role in nuclear power plants.

Beryl’s hardness and transparency, its upright columnar form (in North America crystals of more than eight meters have been found), its sunlike hexagonal symmetry, give a beautiful image of high intelligence. In the story of the Holy Grail (the ancestor of the Grail family is called Beryllus) we are told that devil cannot stay for even a moment if this stone is present: there is nothing adversary forces fear more than being seen through.

The very diverse qualities of lapis lazuli and beryl are highly in need of each other in human life. Devotion in the will forces should be guided by clear, high intelligence. On the other hand, intelligence badly needs devotion. And what is between the two extremes? It is the right way, that way which is called righteousness in the Bible. In fact, it is the way of inner development as described in Rudolf Steiner’s book “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds”: starting with the path of devotion and reverence and leading to the highest levels of knowledge.

Chalcedony, the third stone of the circle, is essentially pure silicic acid. Typical for chalcedony is its structure. It is an extremely fine structure consisting of fiber-like crystals with in between some disseminated opal-silica. The total aspect of this often bluish gemstone is of an embracing gesture. This, in fact, is the essence of chalcedony: it represents the embracing power of the soul, an embracing power which is unselfish (silic acid), which is filled with soul power (opal is the gemstone of the soul) and which is not exclusive on the will side (chalcedony is not totally opaque like jasper).

Topaz, the opposite of chalcedony, has a high transparency, is hard and appears in a great variety of colors. “So rich and warm is its golden tone one hesitates to call it a pastel” ( Mab Wilson). Topaz is a fluor aluminium silicate. Fluor is one of the fiercest elements, aluminium is next to silicon, the most common element in the Earth’s crust. It is the essential component of clays and clayey material.

In topaz we may recognize the colorful, immensely variable world of mankind’s ideas. There is a connection between idea and taste. There are as many diverse and divergent tastes as there are ideas. Certainly, one cannot act tastefully in life, if one has no ideas. Rudolf Steiner indicates that there is a connection between topaz and the sense of taste.

The relationship between topaz and chalcedony is, again, quite obvious. What are ideas more in need of than being furthered and protected by the enveloping qualities of our soul forces? It is only by these forces that they can grow and develop. And in the human breast, the realm of our feeling capacities, peace may arise, that kind of peace which is an active and productive force and not only the absence of conflict.

Emerald, the fourth gemstone, is essentially beryl. Why does it take such an outstanding place among the gemstones if it is in fact only a beryl? Because of its color! Emerald green is a color in itself, and emerald will not change its color even by considerable heating. This color is due to the presence of extremely fine disseminated chromium. Chromium, the highest superlative of iron.

If we think of the high intelligence represented by beryl and the highest ego force represented by chromium, we easily see why emerald may be called the gemstone of the Christ.

In the already quoted passage (see jasper) of Apocalypse chapter four the throne is encircled by a rainbow of emerald. Seemingly a contradiction in itself because a rainbow contains all colors whereas the green of the emerald is one unique color. From a spiritual point of view this is not a contradiction: The highest ego which of course is unique, comprehends the total number of human egos in all their individual colors.

Chrysoprase, opposite, but really very much opposite emerald, is a totally opaque gemstone, in fact a chalcedony beautifully green colored by finely disseminated nickel oxide. It has a green color in which blue is clearly present, the kind of green which arises from the dark and is underway to the light. Nickel is the metal which makes iron tough. Both the color and the peculiar character of nickel characterize man’s endeavor to go the way of inner development.

It is interesting to note that chrysoprase in a gemstone quality was, until recently only found in Saxony, in the middle of Europe (together with bright red jasper and amethyst it is found in the gemstone clad chapels which Charles IV of Bohemia had built in Prague and in his castle Karlstein in the middle of the fourteenth century). In the last decades however chrysoprase of high quality has been found and successfully mined in Queensland.

The relation between chrysoprase and emerald is obvious. The way to higher development is necessarily the way to the higher ego, that is to Christ. On this way arises the true faith, that means the faith in ourselves, in our higher ego, in Christ.

Sardonyx, the fifth gemstone, consists of very fine-banded layers of white chalcedony and red carnelian. Already from Roman times, both sardonyx and the quite similar agate-jasper were the famous material from which cameos were cut using the red layer as foundation and sculpturing the portrait in the white chalcedony layer, or vice versa. In really typical sardonyx there is such an extremely fine-banded sequence that we are reminded of the phenomenon of sound vibration made visible in stone. In fact, our listening is a sequence of lively attention and silent concentration in our soul. It becomes clear why Rudolf Steiner indicated that sardonyx is related with the sense of hearing, and is at the same time the gemstone of inspiration.

Hyacinth, facing sardonyx in the ring of the twelve gemstones, is a marvellous fiery red, totally transparent stone. In chemical terms it is zirconium silicate. Zirconium is an element with an enormous light capacity. In the previous century zirconium light was used in the same way as magnesium light. At the same time, zirconium is an element with great resistance (it is used in nuclear plants) and a good transparency: it is the raw material for production of enamel.

Evidently hyacinth has a relation to light, but in a totally different way than chrysolite. The latter is more connected with sun-processes, the former has the light in itself, even to the extent to produce some radioactive radiation.


The capacity to produce light from inner sources may in a way be considered as an image of the capacity of imagination.

The relation between sardonyx as the gemstone of inspiration and hyacinth as the gemstone of imagination is of course clear, also in the sense that imagination (the transparent hyacinth) has a closer connection to our thinking, and inspiration (the practically untransparent sardony) is distinctly linked to the forces of the will. The way which leads to imagination and from imagination to inspiration is the way which makes our one-sided view of the world whole again. Between hyacinth and sardonyx there is the way of wholesomeness. The Bible uses the word “soteria”, translated by salvation.

Carnelian, also called cornelian or sard, is the sixth gemstone. It is a chalcedony coloured by iron hydroxide. The name carnelian stems from the wonderful red color, a real incardanine. It is indeed a gemstone related to the process of incarnation. Max Stibbe, one of the first Waldorf teachers in Holland, considered the sequence of gemstones on the high-priest's breastplate as a reflection of the spiritual way of the old Jewish history. These twelve gemstones begin with carnelian, the gemstone of consanguinity, and is finally leading to jasper, the gemstone of unselfishness. That means: the blood had to be kept pure in such a way that it would provide unselfishly the body and the substance in which the incarnation of Christ could take place. The twelve gemstones of the apocalypse represent the way of Christendom, beginning with the ego endowed unselfishness of jasper and completing its way in amethyst, the gemstone of the love of one's neighbor. Stibbe's problem was, what is the role of carnelian in the Apocalyptic sequence? Here we should look at the ultimate goal of incarnation: that is resurrection, the "Geistesmensch".

In the aspect of gemstone of resurrection carnelian is one of the two gemstones representing the highest divine being in the vision of Apocalypse chapter four.

Amethyst is the final gemstone of the Apocalyptic ring. Since 610 A.D. it has been the gemstone of the bishop's ring in the Roman Catholic church. It mainly appears in pyramidal hexagonal violet crystals. The color stems from iron together with titanium and manganese, two of the higher congenial elements of iron. So, we have before us a scale of higher ego aspects together with the violet color which involves the blue of devotion and the red of the blood forces. Add to these the sun-like hexagonal symmetry and we have the basic features of what in the Gospels is called love of one's neighbor. The Greek word amethustos means: sober, not inebriated. How true it is that love of one's neighbor should be free from any intoxication.

By the way, amethyst is the third gemstone with hexagonal crystals. The three: amethyst, emerald and beryl form a triangle within the circle. The Greek author Lucian, in the second century A.D., describes in his Vera Historia the city of the Islands of the Blessed. The walls of this city are of emerald, the temples of beryl, and the altars therein of single amethysts.

Complementary qualities appear in amethyst and carnelian, love of one's neighbor is both conditional to and as a result of the way which leads to resurrection. They are the response (German: Antwort) on the Word of God.

Bringing now together the qualities which arise between the pairs of gemstones we recognize the "armor of God" St.Paul describes in the sixth chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians:

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

- Dr. Simon van der Heide, Haarlem, Holland- past Secretary-General of the International Union of Geological Sciences.

His Image in Refulgent Helios Burns

Greater or lesser he appears by turns,
As men are great or small;
His Image in refulgent Helios burns,
And in the dewdrop’s ball;
The tide-waves of the constellations toss
About His great white Throne;
Yet as a Child He met the Planet’s loss,
And bore its griefs alone.

-:T.L. Harris:-

We are the Voice of God

I bent unto the ground
And I heard the quiet sound
Which the grasses make when they
Come up laughing from the clay.
“We are the Voice of God,” they said:
Thereupon I bent my head
Down again that I might see
If they truly spoke to me.

But around me everywhere
Grass and tree and mountain were
Thundering in a mighty glee,
“We are the voice of deity.”
And I leapt from where I lay,
I danced upon the laughing clay,
And to the rock that sang beside,
“We are the Voice of God,” I cried.

- JAMES STEPHENS -

About the Elder Brothers of Humanity

An early reference describing these adepts is in the works of Paracelsus:

There are persons who have been exalted (verzueckt) to God, and who have remained in that state of exaltation, and have not died...

In the writing of the German mystic C.von Eckharthausen we find:

These sages, whose number is small, are children of light, and are opposed to darkness. They dislike mystification and secrecy; they are open and frank, have nothing to do with secret societies and with external ceremonies.

They possess a spiritual temple, in which God is presiding. They live in various parts of the earth, and do not meddle with politics; their business is to do as much good to humanity as in their power, and to drink wisdom from the eternal fountain of truth. They never quarrel about opinions, because they know the truth. Their number is small. Some live in Europe, others in Africa, but they are bound together by the harmony of their souls, and they are therefore as one. They are joined together, although they may be thousands of miles apart from each other. They understand each other, although they speak in different tongues, because the language of the sages is spiritual perception.

- Disclosures of Magic (1790)

An historical example is Saint Germain. He was never seen to eat. (They do take liquids however.):

A master doesn't need solid food, and temperaments no longer influence or control him. He uses the choleric temperament to do his magic deeds, he lets the things of the physical world pass by him like a sanguine, he'll behave like a phlegmatic in his enjoyment of life and he'll brood about his spiritual findings and experiences like a melancholic. But it'll take us awhile to get that far, so we should try to bring our whole life into harmony with our spiritual striving. 

- From the Contents of Esoteric Classes,  Rudolf Steiner

We see also at the end of the Gospel of St. John that John, the Beloved "tarried":

Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

- John 21:22-23.

And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?

- John 11:25

Christ was not talking of life beyond the grave. He was not talking of the resurrection. He was talking to Martha concerning Lazarus, who was already buried.

The bodies of the Elder Brothers, though appearing normal, are differently constructed to that of the bulk of humanity. There has to be a pattern set in place for the future and it is this they bear.

Some quotes from the B.Hive:

"Such men do not cease to be human. There are glamorous misconceptions which pronounce a Master to be so divine he is as separate to you or I; or so far removed that he is above the comprehension of the daily contests. However this is not the case, they have not the angelic withdrawal, and are sensitive to the individual stirrings and affectations of any man.

"Secrecy is a great protector. It has been in the past, that the respect is issued as is warranted, and details of movements and even heritage are uncalled-for.”

"Just as the royal family goes about with consorts to guard, it is the veiling attendants which move about the Masters, shielding them from undue arrest. Even we have regarded much of their business to be their business.

"It is as this also: The work of one Master is uniquely different in his approach and conduct to that of another - and this is of necessity we might add. But the two specific tasks are dependent upon the success of the other, and are in no way confused by the extreme distinctions."

 "The true test of the teaching is of the teaching itself. No Master may claim infallibility. For this would negate all possibility of change.

“'Master' is a relative term - and implies also, one who has trod the boards at an earlier period - and therefore is relative only to time, and not to quality of super-character, or pompous title. Duty performed is different to duty inherited."

end of quote

"Of a Master it is said: He is born in the same body; he uses it for hundreds, even thousands of years. This is the case with the vast majority of leading Individualities. An exception is formed by certain Masters who have their own special mission; with them the physical body remains, so that death does not occur for them at all. These are the Masters whose task it is to watch over and bring about the transition from one race to another."

-Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, page 54: There is more on page 53

“The yogis hold that men who are able while living to acquire a tremendous power of good samskaras [seed causes; tendencies; habits] do not have to die, but even in this life can change their bodies into god bodies. There are several such cases mentioned by the yogis in their books. These men change the very material of their bodies, they rearrange the molecules in such a fashion that they have no more sickness, and what we call death does not come to them. Why should this not be? Physiologically, the eating of food means assimilation of energy from the sun.... The yogis contend that they are able to assimilate energy by the power of the mind alone, that they can draw in as much of it as they desire without recourse to the ordinary methods.”

-From “Raja Yoga” Swami Vivekananda 

“A mahatma may decide to keep a body –the form body of the physical– in which he can communicate with and be seen by humanity. Then he overcomes in his physical body time and death in the physical world by immortalizing the form of the physical body, not physical matter as such. He puts the body through a course of training and provides it with particular foods which he gradually diminishes in quantity. The body increases in strength and gradually throws off its physical particles, but maintains its form. This continues until all the physical particles have been thrown off and the body of form stands, the conqueror of death, in the physical world where it may be seen by men, though it lives in the form-desire world [Heaven, Rudolf Steiner’s Etheric Christ] and is known as an adept, an adept of a higher order. This body is the one which has been spoken of in theosophical teachings as “nirmanakaya.”

-From "Adepts, Masters, and Mahatmas" Harold Percival