Theos-Talk Archives (August 1999 Message tl00005)

At 08:59 AM 8/3/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>I am wondering if all this is just misunderstanding. While Buddha himself
>>claimed he was a human being like all of us, there are followers who tread
>>Buddha as a God. It is quite possible that it is the followers's
>>misunderstanding and overstatement of treating Sai Baba as a God.
>
>
>I think this may be a bit of a cultural/religious misunderstanding ... the
>mostly eastern concepts of realization, or becoming suffused with inner
>divinity, or achieving the state of consciousness in which one is fully
>identified with all of life might be seen as "being God" - though people
>making the statement in this concept mean it in the sense that we are *all*
>"God", and that we are just at different stages of the full awareness of
>that interior divinity. When this relatively sophisticated concept gets
>translated into the relatively dense conceptual paradigm of the western
>world, it can get misinterpreted and reduced to "He's claiming to be
>God!". -JRC

The problem arises when in theosophical circles one holds the firm view
that it is ok to hold *blind* *beliefs* about certain acceptable names
while it is not ok to treat someone like Sai Baba even handedly for what he
has done and has been doing for the welfare of the Humanity.

Again when the misinterpretation comes from one who has grown up in the
West is understandable; it is more difficult to understand when it comes
from those who should know East better.

....mkr