The commandment meant, "instead of wallowing in doubt, practice knowledge and you will see for yourself it is real". It is real mate. No "room for doubt" when that's happening.I honestly have to say here that if this is the way you think, I hated premies like you when I was a premie myself. What gives you the right to tell Maharaji what he meant by that? I took Knowledge and Maharaji very seriously when I was a premie. That means to take what he says at face value. To trust him. To put your own twist on his words is a sign of lack of faith, arrogance and self-serving manipulation. What give you the right to "correct" Maharaji or clarify what he meant? Do you think you have a better understanding than he has? Who appointed you interpretor of the master?
I remember too well listening to people like you in the Satsang halls who weren't satisfied simply to talk about their experience but felt the need to tell everyone else what it was really all about from some vaulted position of greater understanding and help the rest of us out of our confusion. For these wanna-be Mahatmas Maharaji's words were not enough, they were needed to translate them for the rest of us lost fools.
Sometimes I get the feeling that the reality is that the honest and sincere people are the ones that had no choice but to bail at some point and the people that remain are the ones that never took Maharaji very seriously in the first place because they already had it all figured out for themselves. What's left is some thousands of mini gurus all coexisting in their individual cults of one.
And to answer your question about religions that allow room for doubt
How about Judaism and many forms of Christianity for starters? Buddhism and Hinduism most definitely too. In fact I suspect any mainstream religion allows room for doubt. That is how they stay relevant through the ages. They allow for doubt, discussion and reformation. In fact, I would say that this is one of the really significant differences between mainstream religions and short-lived sects. Jonx, that this isn't obvious to you says to me that you don't know much about religions in general. The very diversity of the present forms of practice in the above-named religions is a testament to their flexibility.
