stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

SPIRITUAL CHOICES 411
Baba further told an illustrative story of a guru who had ordered
one of his disciples to kill the latter’s own child. Having obediently
complied and buried it according to instruction, the sage
then told the same disciple to go home, where he would find the
child alive, as he soon did.
“And they all lived happily ever after.”
Though an extreme example of the methods a Master may
use in order to show his disciples the illusory nature of this
phenomenal world, it illustrates the unquestioning faith
which a disciple should have for his Master, and how utterly
detached and obedient he is expected to be (Adriel, 1947).
That, then, is obviously the degree of obedience which Meher
expected from his own followers, in order for them to be regarded
as being “loyal” to him—as Adriel was, and presumably Anthony
himself still is. (Yogananda told a similar “true story” in his Autobiography,
regarding a man who threw himself off a Himalayan
precipice at Babaji’s command, to show his obedience. When subsequently
brought back to life after passing that “test,” he became
one of Babaji’s “immortal” band of disciples. As manipulative fairy
tales go....) Indeed, the following absurd recommendation from Anthony
(et al., 1987; italics added) would seem to support that proposal,
regarding loyalty:
The idea of a master having perfect consciousness is uncomfortable
and unwelcome—and therefore not taken seriously
—because the perfection implies total faith, surrender, and
obedience to the master, no matter what one is told to do.
Indeed, as Baba himself (1967) explained:
It is only possible to gain God-realization by the grace of a
Perfect Master.
And such grace is gained, of course, only through unconditional
obedience. (Note: Anthony [et al., 1987] never actually met
Meher in the flesh, and is thus in a uniquely poor position to recommend
surrender and total “obedience to the master.” Rather
than practicing such in-person subservience, he has simply had a
few mystical experiences which he precariously takes to have been
initiated by the deceased Baba. In such a situation, it would indeed
be easy to have “total faith” that one has found a “Perfect Master.”