The Theosophical Maitreya has been assimilated or appropriated by a variety of quasi-Theosophical and non-Theosophical New Age and Esoteric groups and movements; they have advanced their own views on the entity's reappearance.
[1] The concepts described by Sinnett were amended, elaborated, and greatly expanded in The Secret Doctrine (published 1888), a major work by Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891), a founder of the Theosophical Society and contemporary Theosophy.
In the decades of the 1890s and 1900s, along with Charles Webster Leadbeater (eventually a close associate) and others, she became progressively convinced that the next impulse from the hierarchy would happen sooner than Blavatsky's timetable; these Theosophists came to believe it would involve the imminent reappearance of Maitreya as World Teacher, a monumental event in the Theosophical scheme of things.
[11] The Adyar (Chennai)-based international leadership of the Society eventually overcame the protests, and by the late 1920s, the organization had stabilized, but in the meantime, additional World Teacher-related trouble was brewing.
In 1909 Leadbeater encountered fourteen-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) near the Theosophical Society headquarters at Adyar and came to believe the boy was a suitable candidate for the "vehicle" of the expected World Teacher.
[12] Krishnamurti was subsequently groomed extensively for his expected role as the probable World Teacher, and a new organization, the Order of the Star in the East (OSE), was formed in 1911 to support him in this mission.
[13] Additional negative repercussions occurred in 1929 when Krishnamurti repudiated the role the Theosophists expected him to fulfill, dissolved the Order of the Star, and completely disassociated himself from the World Teacher Project; soon after, he severed ties with the Society and Theosophy in general.
[14] These events reputedly prompted Leadbeater to declare, "the Coming [of Maitreya] has gone wrong",[15] and damaged Theosophical organizations and the overall standing of Theosophy.
[16] Following the Krishnamurti debacle, major Theosophical organizations and writers became increasingly muted, at least publicly, on the subject of the reappearance of Maitreya and the possible next impulse of the reputed spiritual hierarchy.
These encompass original Theosophical literature as well as later additions and interpretations by various non-Theosophical commentators and groups – such as the I AM Activity and Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939–2009).
[21] Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) founder of Share International, a Maitreya-promoting organization,[22] made a number of extraordinary statements and predictions based on reputed telepathic messages from Maitreya that failed to come true; as a result he had been considered a figure of amusement in the press.