Theos-Talk Archives (November 1995 Message tl00069)

According to Eldon B. Tucker:
>
> In the following lines I will be quoting the Rinpoche then
> drawing a theosophical analogy to the practice.
>
Few things are as dangerous as a false analogy and some of
yours cause my alarm bells to ring very loudly. So for what
it's worth--
> ----
>
> > The first root downfall is to contradict our guru.
>
> The most important committment in a spiritual practice is to our
> teacher which we are expected to be dedicated to. For us as
> Theosophists this may be Blavatsky or Purucker or whichever
> theosophical figure -- living or dead -- that acts in that role
> for us.
The Rinpoche is speaking exclusively of a living guru with whom
we have a personal relationship. To apply such a principle to
a dead person whom we only know through his/her books is
extremely hazardous IMO. A living guru who knows you can
prescribe for you based on personal observation. To take stuff
from books in such a way is like practicing do-it-yourself
surgery from reading medical books. You MIGHT do OK and you
might screw yourself up royally.
>
> When we accept someone as our theosophical teacher we should give
> that teacher our complete confidence.
If you have a personal connection with living teacher you can
see in this light more power to you. But complete confidence
in ANY books is not the dharma. standard disclaimer--IMHO
> the theosophical philosophy we must take care in what we say with
> people not ready to *live* the theosophical life.
Perhaps we should take more care about allowing ourselves to
pass judgment on others in this way.

Most of your parallels are fine and your choice of Purucker is
one that seems reasonable. As a living teacher he was perhaps
the most productive in Theosophical history since HPB never stayed in one
place long enough to develop the long-term relationships with
students that GdeP did. But before deciding that you can
translate that past teaching into a living reality analogous to
what the Rinpoche is describing I'd ask several questions:
1 What would the Rinpoche say about this?
2 What would Purucker's surviving students e.g. Grace K. or
Emmett S. advise?

Personally I'm developing a connection with Cayce that's
similar to what you are talking about with Theosophical
sources. But his emphasis is always: test through application
and accept only WHAT IS TRUE FOR YOU. Like a physician he
prescribed FOR INDIVIDUALS. And any individual CAN and MUST
"contradict the guru" when advice given to somebody else just
doesn't fit or work for oneself.

Good luck.