A Sanskrit compound with Brahma meaning “The ultimate reality” and Vidyā “wisdom”; thus it means “Divine wisdom.” Helena P. BLAVATSKY says in The Key to Theosophy (p. 2), that “Theosophy is the equivalent of the Sanskrit Brahma-vidyā, divine knowledge.” Elsewhere she writes, “The word ‘Veda’ is derived from the root vid, ‘to know’ or ‘to cognize.’ One of the names of the Veda is brahma-vidyā, meaning literally ‘cognition of,’ or ‘wisdom concerning Brahma,’ as the Ṛig-Veda is ascribed to the pen of that god himself, and the other three Vedas to his own direct revelation. Brahma-vidyā translated means ‘theosophy’” (CW XII:344 fn).

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