To begin, the term "Gnostic" as a religious designation is a modern one. There were many herecies that grouped grouped under the term. None of these heresies, people will be interested to learn, were taught by Baba, whose teaching is much more in line with early Orthodox Christian teaching.
One of these was the heresy of Docetism, common to early Christian Gnostic sects. This is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die.
This is why Gnostic texts do not describe Jesus' life, but only his sayings. As they do not believe he had a physical birth.
This clearly is not what Baba teaches. Baba makes it clear that the Avatar is God in a real physical form, who actually takes birth and suffers with humanity.
While sects of Gnostics believed in reincarnation as a road to perfection, perfection was only open to an elite class of male adepts, who did not work or have worldly responsibilities. They were supported by the lay members of the sect.
Baba is clear that God-realization is open to both men and women, and is not the privilege of any elite.
The Gnostics further taught that the road to perfection was intellectual, mainly focused on knowing certain secrets, and moving up in rank.
Such intellectual pretensions are anathema to Baba's teaching about the path, and have nothing to do with spirituality.
Gnostics generally believed in a pantheon of gods. Above these is The One, which is entirely abstract and transcends all categories of our intellect. The story of Creation generally taught is that a lower god named Sophia was jealous of The One, and so had sex with him as he slept and gave birth to Yaweh, the Jewish God, who was a kind of monster. Yaweh, in his madness, then created the material world. The result is that women and the world are evil.
Baba does not teach that the universe is evil, nor that any lower demi-God created it, nor that women are tainted. Rather Baba teaches that the world is an illusion. And the fact that one is male or female is also an illusion, as the soul transcends such divisions. Amazingly the Gnostics had their conception of reality and illusion reversed from Baba. The universe, that they saw as evil, was real. And the birth and life of the Avatar they saw as an illusion.
Many Baba lovers claim to be moved by the "Gospel of Thomas," claimed to be an early Christian Gnostic text. It is a short list of quotes, most of which are found in all versions of the Bible, along with a few that aren't. The supposed Jesus quote from this work that people most often claim is so profound is as follows:
Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."Now in actuality, that sentence makes no sense. Fortunately for fans of early Christian Gnosticism, modern books alter the words to make the make sense.
"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."This redacted version, in most New Age books, does in fact make sense. In fact it has been modified to speak a very post-modern conception of 'do your own thing,' and 'let it all hang out,' and 'you mustn't hold anything in.' In fact it is extremely close to the doctrine of 20th century occultist Aleister Crowley's motto:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.Baba does not give this teaching. In fact, Baba teaches restraint with drugs, promiscuity, and excesses of any kind. These, Baba teaches, are binding acts. All true paths teach self control. There is nothing in Baba's teaching that conforms to "what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
In short, the beliefs of early Christian gnosticism were not like Baba's teaching.
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