Why a God kept me waiting
By
the Rev. John Lambert
Vicar of Cuffley, Herts.
WHEN
THIS poor parson went to meet God he tried to bunk out of
the back door. The Rolls-Royce was ready, complete with
disciple and a blanket to shroud his head. The Guru Maharaj
Ji was not pleased to see the parson and only stopped to
talk to me because I barred the way to his gleaming car.
He hard the sense to see that knocking down a Rev. gent in
his own parish would not be good for his image as the
Perfect Master.
All this took place in his caravan in Tolmers Park Scout
Camp at Cuffley, Herts, where nearly 3,000 devotees waited
patiently for his wisdom before going to Alexandra Palace to
attend his Festival of Love and Wisdom.
But he would have run out on them to escape meeting me if he
could.
All his promises, and he did make them, would have gone by
the board because I can only conclude he was afraid.
Questions from a journalist and in this case a seriously
interested and sympathetic member, were not welcomed.
Which was a pity because what he and his movement teaches
has something to say to our world and is something the
majority of churches are afraid to face.
Babies
The
young people who follow him are gentle, considerate and well
behaved. As I write, hundreds are passing my front door, yet
there is no litter or unnecessary noise. The scouts and
ramblers make far more mess !
Their camp is disciplined, clean and moral. Babies are
there. I took one couple with a five week-old child to the
camp in my car.
Americans, Frenchmen, Jews and Arabs mingle in the same
tents, bound by a love of the Master and the search for
truth.
Ex-drug addicts are thick among them as well as the people
who have freaked out of the rat race. Many had come through
the churches but were disillusioned by what they found.
Mary, Arthur, John and Hamish were people I would be glad to
count as friends. This article will hurt them because they
believe so much in The Man. He is their Messiah, their god,
their saviour.
I feel a rat trying to say to them, and the countless other
young people who may come to think likewise, that in my
opinion he is a fraud. Ten minutes talking to a man who has
tried to dodge you is not long.
But my confrontation left me frightened and depressed.
It began loaded with apprehension. The small group of the
faithful held their breath and the guru was ill at ease.
Gradually his confidence grew as he realised I was not going
to verbally maul him and the answers became slicker and more
packed. There was little logic and constant evasion.
The anomaly of a Rolls-Royce for the Perfect Master did not
trouble him.
"It is the gift of love from my disciples and I will not
offend them."
The suggestion of giving it away to help the poor who were
around him did not register or impress.
To be fair, many a bishop and a Pope has made the same
mistake and lived the same lie. I asked him about this.
He replied: "It is one's attitude to them that is all
important. My car and my clothes are not attached to me by
safety pins."
I asked him if he was really 15 - or 19 as some people
allege. "My passport records that I was born in 1957, so I
really cannot understand all the fuss."
Was he embarrassed by the presents and the wealth he
displayed?
"It is as loving to receive as it is to give."
Laughs
Five
minutes after my interview he appeared to his followers -
with all ideas of premature departure presumably forgotten.
As he addressed them he said how he was criticised for the
Rolls-Royce which, anyway, was falling to pieces. The
faithful laughed.
Someone who suggested that Hare Krishna was a guru of equal
standing was unceremoniously thrown out.
So what is the secret of this phenomena? Why has it
happened? Two events that lie outside the movement have
contributed. One is growing disillusionment with the
materialistic world.
But oddly enough his followers have got to have a
materialistic god which they can see, touch and handle.
Probably what is more damning is that the church is failing
these young people. Many came to it for love, but found only
ethics, dogma and taboos.
The compassion of Jesus was seldom present in the so-called
houses of God.
We who are Christians, whatever our denominations, ought
this weekend to go down on our knees in an act of penitence
for the way we have betrayed these people and exposed them
to such spiritual danger.
In the second instance it is possible these days to make "a
silk purse out of a sow's ear."
Good management and publicity, have made pop stars from
deformed tonsils.
This man is cleverly managed. The secrecy around him is part
of his greatest appeal. Though he denies being God, he is
aware he is allowing a cult to be built up around him as a
deity.
Brick by brick he fashions the pedestal that sets him above
mortal man.
How strong this is can be seen from the fact that because I
have actually spoken with the Master some of his disciples -
who have never got close to him and will not be allowed to -
want to touch me and called me blessed.
Much of his teaching is modelled on Christ and only an
expert would detect the subtle differences.
All heresies, and this is a heresy, have been distortions of
the truth. Fortunately, some good can come out of evil and
there is charisma ... this magnetic appeal that draws. It is
manufactured, the man has not got it in himself.
It is where this well end that the real test will lie and
for people like Mary, Arthur, John and Hamish it will end in
disillusionment and pain.
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