Hinduism is regarded by modern Theosophy as one of the main sources of "esoteric wisdom" of the East. The Theosophical Society was created in a hope that Asian philosophical-religious ideas "could be integrated into a grand religious synthesis." Prof. Antoine Faivre wrote that "by its content and its inspiration" the Theosophical Society is greatly dependent on Eastern traditions, "especially Hindu; in this, it well reflects the cultural climate in which it was born." A Russian Indologist Alexander Senkevich noted that the concept of Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy was based on Hinduism. According to Encyclopedia of Hinduism, "Theosophy is basically a Western esoteric teaching, but it resonated with Hinduism at a variety of points."

In 1895, Prof. Merwin Snell (Catholic University of America) published an article, in which he, calling Theosophy a "peculiar form of Neo-Paganism", attempted to determine its attitude to the "various schools of Bauddha and Vaidika" thought, i.e., to Buddhist and Hindu beliefs.

According to him, there is no connection between Theosophy and Vedism, because the first Vedic texts, the Rigveda, for example, are not containing the doctrine of reincarnation and the law of karma. The Upanishads contain the hidden meaning of the Vedas, and "this is a very important" for understanding Theosophy, since the Upanishads were a basis "of the six great schools of Indian philosophy" which Blavatsky called "the six principles of that unit body of Wisdom of which the 'gnosis', the hidden knowledge, is the seventh." However, according to Snell, only in some cases the Theosophical theory corresponds to the Upanishads, that is, its most important, philosophical, part was "derived from the Darsanas." Thus, Brahman and Maya of the Vedantins, the Purusha and Prakriti of the Sankhya of Kapila, the Yoga of Patanjali, and the Adrishta of the Vaisheshika under the name of karman, all "find their place" in Theosophy. In Snell's opinion, almost all elements of its "religio-philosophical system" are clearly Hindu. Its philosophy is closely linked to the "Vedantized Yoga philosophy, but accepts the main thesis of the pure Advaita school".

In conclusion, Snell wrote that the "process of Hinduization" of Theosophy can be seen by comparing the first and later works of its leading figures. In his opinion, this process has been greatly influenced by the Society "Arya Samaj", new branch of Vaishnavism (see Fig. 1), which especially emphasized the importance of a study of the Vedas.

Prof. Donald Lopez noted that in 1878 the founders of the Theosophical Society directed their efforts "toward a broader promotion of a universal brotherhood of humanity, claiming affinities between Theosophy and the wisdom of the Orient, specifically Hinduism and Buddhism." In Jones and Ryan's opinion, the Theosophists "drew freely from their understanding of Eastern thought, particularly Buddhist and Hindu cosmologies." A British Indologist John Woodroffe noted that the Theosophical teaching was "largely inspired by Indian ideas." Prof. Iqbal Taimni wrote that much of the knowledge about the universe "has always been available, especially in the literature of the ancient religions like Hinduism." But, in most cases, this was presented in the form of difficult-to-understand doctrines. In Taimni's opinion, Theosophy has introduced in them "order, clarity, system and a rational outlook" which allowed us to get a "clear and systematic" understanding of the processes and laws underlying the revealed universe, "both visible and invisible."

According to the Theosophical teaching, the "universal consciousness, which is the essence of all life", lies at the basis of the individual consciousness, and this coincides with the Advaita Vedanta point of view, which states that atman "is identical with Brahman, the universal self". Prof. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke wrote:

"[Blavatsky's] preference for Advaita Vedanta related to its exposition of the ultimate reality as a monist, nontheistic, impersonal absolute. This nondualist view of Parabrahm as the universal divine principle would become the first fundamental proposition of The Secret Doctrine."

A proem of the book says that there is "an Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable Principle on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude." In his book Man, God, and the Universe, Taimni demonstrated several examples showing the coherence of cosmology in The Secret Doctrine with the positions of Hindu philosophy.