Theos-Talk Archives (January 1998 Message tt00337)

Lmhem111:

>About 15 years ago, I tried to join the ES but was rejected because I was a
>Sai Baba devotee. The ES warden, who did the rejecting and who is now
>deceased, said I couldn't join and at the same time be a member of another
>"arcane school".

I've seen this in different situations, with different groups. The
idea, I think, is that when you undertake a form of spiritual training,
that you don't also practice other training or belong to other schools
at the sametime. It would be like mixing medications, without knowing
of their interaction, when seeking to cure a major illness.

An example of this not mixing of schools or approaches can be
found written by Lama Lodo in the Foreword to THE GEM ORNAMENT
by Kalu Rimpoche:

> Long ago, an Indian sage said that while Tibetans spent their
> lives practicing hundreds of traditions and accomplishing none
> of them, Indian people spent their lives practicing only one
> but accomplishing them all. The Tibetans learned from the
> criticism, and H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, like Jamgon Kongtrul the
> Great, His Holiness Karmapa, and other great masters, attained
> enlightenment through devoting all his energies to the practice
> of the teachings of one lineage -- not through diluting his efforts
> by practicing a little here and a little there. These teachers
> were like the mountain climber who sees many paths to the top
> of the mountain, but gets to the top by one path.

-- Eldon