Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tt00257)

Sophia TenBroeck wrote:

> The taking of the rosary given by Sai Baba and showing respect to it, is
> just as Ramdoss explains the most natural reaction of any old fashioned
> India, to a thing of possible spiritual value. There is nothing at all
> of duplicity in the matter, it is a real RESPECT FOR OTHER PEOPLES
> BELIEFS AND RELIGIONS. Sad but true this is on the deline, these days.

 The battle cry of the con artist. There is a difference between a
sincere leader with non-typical ideas and a con artist trying to grab as
much power and money as he can get. How do you tell the difference? It
isn't easy. But if a leader is caught in the act of using deceit in an
action designed to prove his worth as a leader, and demands money and
power from his followers based on these actions, then the evidence
points heavily to con artist. (For those who wish to point out
Blavatsky, she was never caught in the act, and treated her siddhi's as
parlour tricks, not as proof of her spiritual advancement).

 Sai Baba scores extremely high on the Bonewits Cult scale, demanding a
large amount of obedience and donations from his followers, and using
blackmail when a follower seems to be drifting away. He claims powers from
spiritual advancement and has been caught on videotape using stage
magician's tricks to fake the powers (and whenever people familiar with
the methods saw him, they claim that they saw him use the stage magician
methods).

 At this point, it stops becoming a matter of respect, and starts
becoming defending people from a spiritual thief.

 Bart Lidofsky