It occurs to me, uncharacteristically, that many of us here have reacted to Nabby's enthusiasm about the any-day-now coming of Maitreya less than graciously. We have kidded him and poked fun at him for his beliefs and the fervor with which he pursued them. In this post I hope to present another view of that fervor, one that I hope will help us to treat him more appropriately in the future when the subject comes up.
Nabby, in my opinion, is strongly faith- or bhakti- oriented. When it comes to Maitreya, he is a supplicant, on his knees before his Master, ready to serve him in any way possible. Nabby ceaselessly strokes Maitreya in his posts, filling his own mouth with whatever is necessary to serve Maitreya faithfully. And he gets flack for this. More than once he has taken one (and sometimes two) on the chin for Maitreya. And he never complains about this; he just sucks it up and continues doing whatever Maitreya demands of him. If he is correct, and keeps pounding away at this holy task, sure enough someday Maitreya really will come. Both Nabby and we will look up and see the expression of serenity and ecstasy on Maitreya's face as he finds his release into the world after so long. We'll prob- ably see a similar look of ecstasy on Nabby's face. And when that happens those of us who have laughed at Nabby in the past will be proven wrong, and will have to say to him, "Nabby, you said a real mouthful." At that point Nabby will probably reply, "Mmmmph mmmpph," which is Creme-ese, for "My pleasure. I was just trying to fill the emptiness in your lives the same way Maitreya has filled the emptiness in mine." So cut Nabby a break. He's just sucking it up for the team, being a real bhakti, and treating his Master the way a Master should be treated. Just hope for Nabby's sake that when Maitreya finally comes he'll settle for that, and not ask for a Second Coming.
