Mahatma is Sanskrit for "Great Soul." This epithet is widely applied to people like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (who was so qualified by Rabindranath Tagore) and is used to refer to adepts or liberated souls.

The word was popularised in theosophical literature in the late 19th century when Madame Helena P. Blavatsky, one of the founders of the Theosophical Society, claimed that her teachers were adepts or Mahatmas who reside in Tibet. The Ascended Masters are sometimes given this title by Theosophists.

The Mahatmas are not disembodied beings, but people involved in overseeing the growth of individuals and the development of civilisations.

"the title of 'Mahatma' that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply pained me, and there is not a moment I can recall when it may be said to have tickled me." - M.K. Gandhi, The Ashram, Sabarmati. Autobiography - the story of my experiments with truth, introduction. 1983, Dover publications, inc., New York. Translated by Mahadev Desai.