| News | |
The Christ is back and lives in London |
09/04/2004 |
| By Christian Bodhi | |
According to an esotericist Benjamin Creme and former US diplomat Wayne Peterson, the Christ has returned to the world as a universal spiritual teacher whose personal name is Maitreya and he lives in London. Christ who? Have you ever thought what would happen if the Christ would return and enter the modern world just as he did over two thousands years ago? Would he get crucified again? Would he be arrested for posing a threat to the modern political interests? Would we ask him to cut the hair and find himself a job, save the money in the bank and be a ‘normal’ person rather than wander around unemployed? Or would he become a superstar and be forced to sign a contract with a show-business corporation? Would various sects and religions proclaim him to be an antichrist because he does not acknowledge them as the chosen ones who have been right about everything all the way long? Well, it seems the Christ would have a tough time on his return, unless, of course, he had superhuman powers to protect himself against the know-it-all and want-it-all 'post-modern' world. But if the human free will is to be respected the Christ could not use the same powers to persuade people to follow his teachings, hence he would have to work ‘low profile’ until he is invited officially by the representatives of the public will. Some religious people might ask: Why the human free will should be respected by the Christ who wields God’s power and knows what is the best for us all? Well, maybe because Christ himself is a forgiving Christian, expecting from Men to see reason and understand their own hearts and express divine potential which lays dormant within everyone which can only be demonstrated by the means of free choice or self-determination. One cannot grow and blossom by force, at least that much have we learnt from psychology. Anybody who treats others with true love will support their independence: physical, emotional and intellectual. Such a Christ, respectful of human choices, is claimed to live today in London by an esotericist, painter and writer Benjamin Creme, as well as a former Unites States diplomat Wayne Peterson. They claim, based on their direct experience and knowledge, that a person called Maitreya, who came from the Himalayas in July 1977 and settled in London, is the World Teacher, a new Buddha for the Buddhists, Krishna or Kalki avatar for Hindus, Imam Mahdi for Muslims, the Messiah for the Jews, and the Christ for Christians. All major religions expect a new incarnation of their messiah or avatar, and according to the Creme and Peterson that is the same person - Maitreya. This is quite a different picture of the Christ’s second coming than the one the Christian Church teaches, for the Bible describes that the Christ will return on a cloud with an army of angels at the end of the world - at least that is the usual interpretation of the scripture. So either Creme and Peterson are wrong, or the Christian theology has taken the biblical stories too literally. To most people Creme and Peterson’s claim is extraordinary at best; it seems to be out of any theological context and entirely alien to the worldview of a modern man. History and theory In actuality, the story about Maitreya is not something coming out of the blue and unexpectedly. Firstly, Gautama Buddha (~563-483 BC) professed that the next great Buddha would be Maitreya Buddha. So if we could have Buddhas in the past then it is logical that we can have them in the present as well. Secondly, in 1875 in New York the Theosophical Society was formed by the principal founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), with the purpose to disseminate the teachings of the Mahatmas (great souls) in preparation of humanity for the return of the group of enlightenment men and women into an open service of mankind, whose leader was the World Teacher - Maitreya. Blavatsky suggests that theosophical science and cosmology was the teaching behind all major religions, which has been cultivated relatively secretly and preserved through the intimate relationship between the teacher, usually called the Master, and the pupil or disciple from times immemorial. Theosophy is mainly based on a complex Hindu Yoga system stating that a human soul keeps incarnating until it becomes a master; a being which has reached perfection as far as this planet is concerned and it does not need to reincarnate any more. When somebody becomes a master he/she can leave Earth and follow other paths of evolution or stay and help other beings to evolve. Some Masters are out of incarnation, those who are in incarnation have immortal bodies, which is the result of their mind-over-matter powers. The Masters have managed to live relatively undisturbed, usually in deserts and mountains for centuries - they can be found only by those who have a good reason to meet them. The Masters and their disciples, led by Maitreya the master of all the Masters, form a hierarchy which has a purpose to lead and inspire the progress of mankind. The Spiritual Hierarchy is based on compassion and cooperation, and has been working relatively invisibly throughout the ages until now. Blavatsky declared that she was a direct disciple of the Masters of Wisdom, and was instructed in their science and imparted with a task to present it to the public because humanity was perceived to be intellectually ready for it. Since Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was one of the first to explicitly reveal Masters’ existence and teachings, her two most famous books were appropriately titled Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888). From 1919 to 1949 Alice A Bailey has written a series of books which further clarify the teachings of Theosophy. Bailey claimed that a Tibetan Master was telepathically dictating about twenty books to her. Some of these books such as Reappearance of the Christ and The Externalisation of the Hierarchy deal directly with the re-emergence of the Hierarchy and the return of Maitreya into an open public environment. Independently, Helena (1879-1955) and Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), originally from Russia, spent many years in India where they familiarised themselves with eastern wisdom. They were contacted by a Master and Helena Roerich received the teachings by direct telepathy from Him. Roerichs also lived in Europe and America where their work, in the form of books and paintings, became known and they made many social and business connections. Between 1924 and 1939 they founded Agni Yoga teachings in which they presented information about the Spiritual Hierarchy and the plans for Maitreya’s return to the world. There were, of course, many Indian holy men and women teaching Theosophy. In America, 1935, a great Indian Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda founded Self-realisation Fellowship which taught universality of all religions and existence of the great beings who achieved their spiritual status and immortality by diligent spiritual discipline through countless incarnations. Though Yogananda was of Hindu tradition he claimed that he encountered Christ and that holy men and women of all religions were one family working for the progress and wellbeing of humanity. Yogananda's knowledge, apart from his own experience, was imparted by his teacher Swami Sri Yukteswar who in his book The Holy Science (1894), presented a complex spiritual system which merged both Christian and ancient Vedic teachings: The purpose of this book is to show as clearly as possible that there is an essential unity in all religions; that there is no difference in the truths inculcated by the various faiths; that there is but one method by which the world, both external and internal, has evolved; and that there is but one Goal admitted by all scriptures. Theosophy is not just a modern synthesis of eastern Vedanta and western methodology, it has been present all the time in European civilisation. There were many mystery schools in ancient Greece and Rome with similar teachings to Theosophy like teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, Pythagoreanism, Orpheism and Platonism. One clear account is a book about Apollonius of Tyana. Apollonius was an extraordinary man, a philosopher and miracle worker who travelled extensively in Greece, Rome, Egypt, Persia and India, meeting extraordinary evolved men like him who had super-human powers and roles within humanity just as described in modern Theosophy. Because of Appollonius’ superhuman powers he was sometimes mistaken for Jesus. His life was depicted in the biographical book ‘Life of Apollonius’ by Philostratus, written at the beginning of the third century AD. In the Renaissance period many of ancient theosophical ideas were revived, and some people such as a philosopher Giordano Bruno paid with their lives for upholding them. The reason for the Hierarchy working relatively hidden and unknown to general public before Blavatsky, Bailey and Roerich’s explicit revelations lies in karmic and cyclic necessity. The New Age, we are told, which has started at the end of the 20th century, requires that the Masters and humanity cooperate openly for the sake of further spiritual progress of mankind. The Masters are a representation of everyone’s future; by accepting their existence and their help, humanity as a whole recognises its true nature. A renewed ancient approach So the universal approach to religion and belief in enlightened beings who guide humanity is not an invention of one or two people, but rather an essential component of more intellectually lucid spiritual systems from antiquity. Benjamin Creme and Wayne Peterson are therefore a continuation of these not too well known and understood teachings, which are called by many names: Theosophy, Ageless Wisdom, Perennial Wisdom, White Magic (magic used for benefit of mankind), Esoteric Buddhism, Yoga and so forth. One of the main differences between Orthodox Christianity and Theosophy is a doctrine of reincarnation and karma which is an essential part of Theosophy, but not of Christian Theology today, even though reincarnation was a part of Judaism as well as of early Christianity until early references to reincarnation mentioned in the New Testament were removed in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine who made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire. In the sixth century the Second Council of Constantinople declared reincarnation to be a heresy. So the Western world gradually suppressed the idea of reincarnation in favour of Theological and later scientific dualism: life vs. death in an unbridgeable antagonism. In the Theosophical system God or Absolute manifests itself through individualised beings, yet is not really a person as we conceive it, especially not a vengeful one. Hence this approach to the concept of God is more Pantheistic: the Universe is a representation of the Absolute and Man is a representation of the Universe. All beings have in themselves a spark of the Absolute which is their innermost creative conscious self. Therefore, according to this view, to say that the Christ is one and only son of God is a travesty against the truth. All men and women are the sons and daughters of God, and there cannot be any being in existence which is not. Through the process of reincarnation human beings gain experience which awakes their inner divine potential, making them ever more creative and spiritually empowered. Those who are called Elder Brothers are humans among us who are much older than the majority and therefore have awakened their spiritual abilities to a greater degree. So the Christ in the Theosophical system is not the one and only son of God, but a human being who has evolved to the point of being able to embody the Cosmic Christ Principle. Only one soul out of our humanity has managed to do this at the moment and that is Maitreya who holds the position of the World Teacher, being not just a religious teacher (religious and spiritual are not equivalents) but a universal spiritual teacher for all people religious and non-religious alike. That is why Maitreya’s message is so humanistic; his concern is about solidarity, equality and justice in the world, not about which religion or ideology one should adopt. "Take your brother's need as the measure for your action, and solve the problems The evidence Now, many might justly ask where is the scientific evidence that the Masters and Maitreya actually exist, and if they do then why aren't they talking to us openly? Well, here is where things go vastly complicated. There is no direct easily available and firm evidence that the Masters and Maitreya even exist. All evidence is admittedly indirect and anecdotal, like peaces of a puzzle which helps one get only an idea of what the whole picture might be. The existence of the Masters has been experienced by many people, but it cannot be produced on demand. One can find them if one is persistent, but they are not available for public or scientific scrutiny. The reason for this is again Free Will, i.e. humanity has its own life which cannot be by force directed towards a realisation that we have a spiritual nature and that some human beings are so extraordinarily spiritually emancipated that they are qualified to be called spiritual adepts. The story goes that in the ancient past humanity was in a closer and open relationship with the Masters, but due to historical circumstances and occult necessity the Masters withdrew from public work and acted as hidden guides, inspirers of the human race behind the scenes of the world. In order for them to return to open public work, they need to be invited by the representatives of the public, which at present is the media. If they are invited by our free choice then our free will is respected and not infringed. Maitreya, the leader of all the Masters, has made necessary steps to make this easier; he came out from the seclusion in Tibet and settled in the Asian Community in London where he can be found by serious investigators; as it was allegedly by a BBC TV team which made an interview with him which has never been broadcast. Maitreya has surrounded himself by Swamis (Indian holy men) of which some act as his associates who spread his teachings, comments and predictions about world affairs, some of which is published in Share International magazine. This is mainly how we know what his message is. According to Benjamin Creme, Maitreya, by using his superhuman powers, appears all around the world to groups and individuals in various human forms, giving healing and support. One such more noticeable occasion was when an extraordinary person looking like Jesus appeared on a gathering of six thousands people organised by a spiritual healer Mary Sinaida Akatsa in Nairobi 11 June 1988. The occasion was witnessed by the Mr Job Mutungi, editor of the Swahili edition of the Kenya Times: The tall figure of a barefooted white-robed and bearded man appeared from nowhere and stood in the middle of the crowd. … I stared back at the stranger in the meeting without blinking. Strange, sporadic light wafted on top of his turbaned head, his feet and his entire body.
The news appeared on the CNN and elsewhere, but quickly died out as there were more important things than Christ’s return, such as business deals, football etc. The problem seems to be that the story of Maitreya and the spiritual Masters is unattractive to people who label themselves 'scientific' as well as many of those who label themselves 'Christians', hence it is difficult to present this information to the public who in their lack of knowledge about the spiritual side of things find this story to be too 'extraordinary' and not much related to the common notion of 'reality'. Nevertheless, there are some ‘miracles’ happening around which according to Creme and Peterson should be interpreted as the signs of Maitreya’s presence in the world. Phenomena such as healing springs which are charged by Maitreya’s visit to that area, crosses of light on houses and windows, recent global ‘milk miracle’ where statues of Hindu gods were drinking milk, apparitions of Madonna in vision or as an image on buildings or as crying or bleeding statues, appearance of gods names in fruits, and many other miracles, are the signs of the Maitreya and other Masters’ imminent reappearance. ‘Movers and Shakers’ know about Maitreya There appears to be a spiritual connection on the high political level; both in the past and present there have been politicians aware of the Masters and Maitreya's existence and work. The US president Franklin D. Roosevelt had a link with the Masters, which was revealed in the letters exchanged between his Vice President Henry Wallace and Nicholas Roerich. These letters in American political history are known as “Guru Letters”. Wallace, who was very interested in eastern spirituality, was given advice on World War II affairs through Nicholas and Helena Roerich by the Masters, who said that they as the forces of light were on the side of the allied nations. There is no doubt that Henry Wallace passed these messages to Roosevelt, as Wallace was a member of the President’s secret “War Cabinet” and despite being disliked by many contemporaries for his unorthodox religious views was a good friend of Roosevelt who in 1940 even threatened his party that he would not run for a President without Wallace as a Vice President. Both Wallace and Roosevelt were sharing their unorthodox spiritual beliefs, and there seems to be much more to this story as it was Roosevelt and Wallace who arranged that the American one dollar bill has an image of a pyramid with an all-seeing-eye on top. At the historical date of January 1, 1942, twenty-seven nations signed the Declaration of United Nations. It was Roosevelt who first suggested the name United Nations. According to Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme, the United Nations are created under inspiration of the Masters as an institution which stands for more than just peace; it strives, in the spirit of brotherhood, for progress of the whole mankind on an economic as well as spiritual level, embodying the true Christ’s teachings, which are implemented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ..when the United Nations has emerged into factual and actual power, the welfare of the world will then be assured. What is that welfare but love in action? What are right human relations but love among men, groups and nations? What is international cooperation but love on a world scale? Those are things which the love of God in Christ expressed, and those are things which we are working here today to bring into being. There seems to be much more happening in the corridors of power regarding this subject than it is generally known. Wayne Peterson who has contacts with highly placed people in the White House speaks about his experiences: . . . I was contacted by a representative of this group [Masters], in a most unusual manner, and offered the chance to meet their leader Maitreya, the World Teacher. That one-hour meeting changed my life forever, and it was so profound that I was reluctant for many years to talk of this and subsequent meetings with members of this remarkable group. Gradually, however, as I began to open up at private meetings and dinner parties in Washington and abroad, I found that my experience was not so unusual. I was able to discuss Maitreya and his ideas with personal friends of the Pope, businessmen close to the U.S. president, foreign government leaders, and a number of influential people both in the U.S. and overseas. Many of them have had special experiences similar to mine. Peterson further claims that his friend, who worked for the Word Bank, gave a talk to head of states in a meeting in Europe, presenting Maitreya's ideas about sharing the resources among the nations without actually mentioning Maitreya himself. He was invited to a private talk next day with a smaller group of statesmen who conveyed to him that they knew about Maitreya whose ideas he was presenting the previous day. They expressed their belief in Maitreya but said not to be ready to publicly demonstrate their support of Maitreya's mission. Only one person said not to mind if his name was used publicly in relationship with Maitreya and that was Mikhail Gorbachev. (Peterson, p.100) Interestingly Creme claims that it was Maitreya who inspired Gorbachev to open up Soviet Union and end the Cold War. Nelson Mandela is another world leader who is said to be aware of Maitreya’s work. Creme suggests that it was Christ who came to Mandela at the time when he was in prison and asked him to request an audience with the president of South Africa - the country which at that time was under apartheid. Soon after, almost miraculously, South Africa went trough a revolution and became a democratic country with Mandela as the leader. Conclusion Certainly one can ask: if there is so much going on about this, why officials do not talk more publicly about it? Here we have, I believe, something very interesting and important to learn. In the past we have had authoritarian systems operating on all levels from family to political leadership, and from education to religious life. Even without referring to the precepts of Eastern Wisdom, it is dawning to us that a way forward for our civilisation is an emphasis on personal growth in the form of self-expression and self-realisation. In this way a healthier society can be built, for the members of such society would be living in a greater harmony with themselves. There are many educational institutions today which are implementing this new approach of respecting the individual’s experience and uniqueness. For instance, one such approach in education is called constructivism, which suggests that the instructor should encourage students to discover the principles, from the given information, for themselves, rather than to impose ideas on students and in that way condition them and damage their creative development and independence. In relation to revealing the information about Maitreya, there are three things to consider: human free will has to be respected, the growth has to come spontaneously from within, and truth cannot be imposed, it has to be recognised. When Wayne Peterson was asked why officials did not speak about Maitreya, he replied: Because, for example, if the Queen of England went on Radio and TV and said "I know that this man named Maitreya who lives in London is the Christ reappeared", half the British Empire would believe it was true, just because the Queen said it. Maitreya says, "I don't want this, that's the old way of doing things. I want each man and woman to experience me in their hearts and know this is true, not because they heard it from someone who is influential". When a sufficient number of people are familiar with this story and expectant of the further development on Maitreya’s re-appearance, the condition will be set for Maitreya and other Masters to enter the public arena without creating a revolution, but rather participating in a revolution or process which we have started out of our own awakened wisdom and by our own free choice. I know that the information here is not sufficient evidence for the existence of Maitreya and the Masters, but I hope that it might be sufficient to consider the possibility. Christian Bodhi, April 2004 Bibliography: |
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