Radio Interview with Benjamin Creme

Questions and Answers

contributed by Lipika Chatterjee, Ph.D.

For the past 20 years, British author and lecturer, Benjamin Crème has been traveling the globe spreading the message about the coming of Maitreya, the World Teacher, who is the long-awaited Messianic deliverer mentioned by all religions, whether they call Him the Christ, the Messiah, the fifth Buddha, Krishna, or the Imam Mahdi. 

On July 27th 2002 he was interviewed on "Coast to Coast" radio. Lipika Chatterjee has graciously provided some of Mr. Crème’s answers to important and very perplexing questions about the issues facing our world today and Maitreya’s role in it. 

Questions and Answers: 

Q 1. How many masters are there in the Spiritual Hierarchy?

A 1. At the present time there are 15 and their number is expected to increase to 40 soon. 

Q 2.  How do you qualify to become a Master?

A 2. You have to go through seven levels of initiation to finally become a master. The historical Jesus is at the present time a seventh level initiate. Maitreya is the leader of the Spiritual Hierarchy and guides all the Masters in their work of overseeing the evolution of Planet Earth. 

Q 3. How will Maitreya reveal himself in different forms to the different countries of the world?

A 3. When Maitreya finally declares himself, he will not use the name ‘Maitreya.’ This is only a working name right now. He will use different names then. (This appears to be a new fact. Crème said he does not know what names Maitreya will use). 

Q 4. What is Maitreya’s vision for our world?

A 4.  That we are all brothers and sisters and we should share with each other all the resources we have been given. His mission is to make us aware of the need to do this sharing. 

Q 5. How does Maitreya hope to accomplish this global vision?

A 5. Maitreya works through his disciples who are present all over the world. In the past, these disciples included people like Plato, Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Beethoven, Madame Curie, Martin Luther King, Einstein, etc. (Crème specifically mentioned these names but, of course, I can think of several others too in other parts of the world). Such people like those mentioned above are all present amongst us today too but Crème said that he has been specifically instructed by the Masters not to reveal their names while they are alive. You can only mention the names of those who are deceased.

Q 6. From a Utopian perspective, Maitreya’s vision of global sharing and brotherhood sound fine. However, how is this going to be achieved from a practical perspective?

A 6. Rigid, totalitarian structures that stand as huge obstacles to the working out of this vision will be gradually dismantled. This might take a lot of time to happen but it will happen. One of these structures that has already come down is that of the former Soviet Union. Maitreya guided Mikhail Gorbachev in going ahead with the implementation of the very revolutionary idea of glasnost. The other totalitarian institutions in our world are the economic totalitarianism of the United States and the religious totalitarianism represented by the Vatican and other fundamentalist groups that have a big hold on large numbers of people. 

Q 7. Why do you call the government of the United States an advocate of economic totalitarianism? After all, the U. S. has a free-market economy that the Soviet Union did not have?

A 7. First, the U. S. uses its economic clout to impose trade regulations and restrictions on developing nations that adversely affect their economy and prevent them from being able to lift themselves out of poverty. Moreover, the U. S. uses up more resources than the rest of the world combined together. With respect to the domestic economy, the U. S. has freedom without justice whereas the former Soviet Union had justice without freedom. 

Q 8. Explain what you mean when you say that the U. S. has ‘freedom without justice’?

A 8. While the U. S. seems to guarantee freedom to its citizens, the free-market economy actually promotes competition among people rather than an attitude of sharing resources. Such a system denies ordinary people access to basic needs like healthcare which is very expensive in the U. S. Economically, the Soviet form of government ensured an equitable distribution of resources among its citizens but the people lacked freedom of thought, word, movement etc. 

Q 9. The U. S. as well as the other rich nations of the world do give a lot of aid to other poor and developing nations but the rulers of those countries are corrupt and exploit their own people. Hence those countries cannot make use of the monetary aid they receive to help themselves economically.

A 9. That is true. The rulers of those countries certainly need to change their ways. 

Q 10. How do you view the continuing and ever escalating hostility between the Israelis and the Palestinians? What do you think of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat? Would you consider him a supporter of terrorism?

A 10. U. S. support of Israel contributes to the continuing crisis. Mr. Arafat is neither a terrorist himself nor a supporter of terrorism. In his early days he may have participated in acts which may be regarded as terrorist but he soon changed his attitude and co-operated fully in bringing about peace accords between the two countries, especially with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The U. S. did not push hard enough at that time for peace in the Middle East and so this accord did not take effect. Moreover, Mr. Rabin was assassinated and everything changed after that. Also, Mr. Arafat cannot fully control the extremely fundamentalist members among the Palestinians, those who perpetrate terrorist acts. 

Q 11. All humans are a mixture of the good and the bad and the bad often predominates over the good. Under such circumstances, if the free will of humans is to be honored by Maitreya, how successful will he be in bringing about the desired changes in our world ?

A 11. If the majority of people exert their free will against bringing about the changes that Maitreya talks about, then He will not be successful in His mission on planet Earth at this time. The free will of the people will always prevail. 

Q 12. What knowledge do you think is essential for all humans to have in order for them to advance spiritually?

A 12. It is absolutely essential for humans to recognize that they are, in reality, souls that are in a process of evolution. They need to realize that God is not responsible for the problems facing our world; these problems are the result of the karma that we have created. The knowledge of reincarnation is a must. It was known to the people of all nations in the past but later suppressed in Christianity and some other religions. 

Q 13. When will Maitreya reveal himself ?

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