Ignorance of SB devotees
I've often been asked by various people about comments I've made at various times to the effect that devotees of SB are ignorant, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. I can understand why they may feel offended at such remark.
I've been pondering this for the last couple of days One of the big problems (or blessings?) of leaving SB and his organisation is that I have moved on to such an extent that I can barely remember the status quo that is observed by them, said status quo referring to some of the spiritual beliefs that they hold as well as other bits and pieces. I find myself turning to Google if I need to look up something he said, or if I'm very desperate I'll look it up in some of the books that I still have. But when I come back to dicussion forums or read some SB-related material, I am again reminded of how poor devotees are when it comes to spiritual knowledge. Not only are they confused about various important issues, but it seems that they are not able to spot any contradictions. Those that do and express them as genuine doubts tend to either have their questions unanswered or have themselves shouted down as faithless and other put-downs.
Anyway, sometimes it is not their own fault that they are confused. Most of the time the origin of the confusion lies with Sai Baba himself; first for spouting much of the garbage that he does, and secondly allowing his Books & Publications Trust to put out heavily-edited versions of his speeches. As a result, it is not uncommon to come across an unclear passage in his writings that makes little sense. One while reading an issue of Sanathana Sarathi, I once read a paragraph that was grammatically incorrect! It had been edited so badly that it barely made any sense at all. Now that I look back on those days, I can see how I used to articulate this concerns even when I was still a devotee, asking other devotees for ways and means to resolve all of these problems. I don't recall much helpful assistance. So it seems that, at least from my own experience, things get to be shoved under the carpet and forgotten about even when a sincerely enquiring devotee brings it out into the open.
I've been pondering this for the last couple of days One of the big problems (or blessings?) of leaving SB and his organisation is that I have moved on to such an extent that I can barely remember the status quo that is observed by them, said status quo referring to some of the spiritual beliefs that they hold as well as other bits and pieces. I find myself turning to Google if I need to look up something he said, or if I'm very desperate I'll look it up in some of the books that I still have. But when I come back to dicussion forums or read some SB-related material, I am again reminded of how poor devotees are when it comes to spiritual knowledge. Not only are they confused about various important issues, but it seems that they are not able to spot any contradictions. Those that do and express them as genuine doubts tend to either have their questions unanswered or have themselves shouted down as faithless and other put-downs.
Anyway, sometimes it is not their own fault that they are confused. Most of the time the origin of the confusion lies with Sai Baba himself; first for spouting much of the garbage that he does, and secondly allowing his Books & Publications Trust to put out heavily-edited versions of his speeches. As a result, it is not uncommon to come across an unclear passage in his writings that makes little sense. One while reading an issue of Sanathana Sarathi, I once read a paragraph that was grammatically incorrect! It had been edited so badly that it barely made any sense at all. Now that I look back on those days, I can see how I used to articulate this concerns even when I was still a devotee, asking other devotees for ways and means to resolve all of these problems. I don't recall much helpful assistance. So it seems that, at least from my own experience, things get to be shoved under the carpet and forgotten about even when a sincerely enquiring devotee brings it out into the open.
Copyright © Sai Baba EXPOSED! 2005-2007. Discuss this post!
posted by Swami Saiexposedananda at
04:16
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