The () was an international organisation based at Benares (Varanasi), India, from . It was established by the leadership of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras (Chennai), in order to prepare the world for the arrival of a reputed messianic entity, the World Teacher or Maitreya. The OSE acquired members worldwide as it expanded in many countries; a third of its diverse membership was unaffiliated with the Theosophical Society. The precursor of the OSE was the (, also at Benares) and the successor was the (, based at Ommen, the Netherlands). The precursor organisation was formed after leading Theosophists discovered a likely candidate for the new messiah in the thenadolescent Jiddu Krishnamurti (18951986), a South Indian Brahmin who was installed as Head of the Order. Almost two decades later Krishnamurti rejected the messianic role, repudiated the Order's mission, and in 1929 disbanded the OSE's successor. The founding and activities of these organisations, as well as the largely unexpected dissolution of the OSE's successor, attracted widespread media attention and public interest. They also led to crises in the Theosophical Society and to schisms in Theosophy. Krishnamurti's later multi-decade career as a notable independent philosopher has been a factor in evaluations of the OSE and its mission.
Background
One of the central tenets of late 19th-century Theosophy as promoted by the Theosophical Society was the complex doctrine of intelligent evolution of all existence. This was said to be occurring on a Cosmic scale, incorporating both physical and non-physical aspects of the known and unknown Universe, and affecting all of its constituent parts regardless of apparent size or importance. The theory was originally promulgated in the Secret Doctrine (published 1888), a book by Helena Blavatsky, one of the founders of contemporary Theosophy and the Theosophical
According to this view, Humankind's evolution on Earth (and beyond) is part of the Cosmic evolution. It is reputedly overseen by a hidden hierarchy, the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, whose upper echelons consist of advanced spiritual beings. Blavatsky portrayed the Theosophical Society as one of the hierarchy's many attempts (or "impulses") throughout the millennia, to guide Humanity in concert with the intelligent evolutionary scheme to its ultimate, immutable objective: the attainment of perfection and the conscious participation in the evolutionary process. Blavatsky stated that these attempts may require an Earth-based infrastructure (such as the Theosophical Society), to pave the way for the hierarchy's physically appearing emissaries, "the torch-bearer of Truth". The mission of these reputedly regularly appearing emissaries is to practically translate, in a way and language understood by contemporary humanity, the knowledge required to propel it to a higher evolutionary
History
Early history
Blavatsky also wrote about the possible impact of Theosophy and the Theosophical Society in her book The Key to Theosophy (published 1889):
Based on this and other Blavatsky writings, Theosophists expected the future advent of the "next impulse"; additional information was the purview of the Society's Esoteric Section, which Blavatsky had founded and originally
After Blavatsky's death in 1891, influential Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater expanded on her writings about the spiritual hierarchy and the Masters. He formulated a Christology in which he identified Christ with the Theosophical representation of the Buddhist concept of Maitreya. Leadbeater believed that Maitreya-as-Christ had manifested on Earth in several occasions, using in each case a specially prepared person as a "vehicle". The incarnated Maitreya assumed the role of World Teacher of Humankind, dispensing knowledge regarding underlying truths of
Annie Besant, another well-known and influential Theosophist (and eventual close associate of Leadbeater's), had also developed an interest on the advent of the next emissary from the spiritual hierarchy. During the decades of the 1890s and 1900s, along with Leadbeater and others, she became progressively convinced that this advent would happen sooner than Blavatsky's proposed timetable. They came to believe it would involve the imminent reappearance of Maitreya as World Teacher, a monumental event in the Theosophical worldview. However, not all Theosophical Society members accepted Leadbeater's and Besant's ideas on the matter; the dissidents charged them with straying from Theosophical orthodoxy and, along with other concepts developed by the two, their elaborations on the Theosophical Maitreya were derisively labelled Neo-Theosophy by their