--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > on 3/13/05 3:03 PM, at_man_and_brahman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > > > Any guru who prefaces public statements > > with "my children..." loses me pretty quickly. > > > Karunamayi uses the phrase "My babies."
Yuck. > > > > I don't have any deep knowledge of Amma's > > gig, but the very distant view I have is of a > > pretentious attitude toward those who > > approach her. As I recall, for instance, > > someone here quoted her as having > > commented on Maharishi and Muktananda > > that she "created them." Whoa. > > I posted that story. I heard it anecdotally. The saints referred to were > Maharishi and Ramakrishna. I stand corrected. Either way, whoa. > > > > Maharishi, in general, treats other people > > like adults, not as subservient children, > > at least in the way he addresses them. > > In terms of his terminology, yes, but the "caste" differences are greater in > my experience. I've never seen him shovel shit, as Amma has literally done. I understand. > > > > I also question the ethics of any of the various > > gurus who have set up outposts (or inposts) > > in Fairfield. If they truly respected Maharishi, > > I think they would discourage such > > encroachment on the spiritual community > > he founded. > > Who said they had to respect him? The don't, of course. It's just that I get the idea that at least RS offers up words of respect. Of course, he hasn't set up a Fairfield ashram nor visited the town or nearby so far as I know, so perhaps my argument doesn't really apply to him. I do wonder how Amma would feel if Maharishi set up a community right next door to some center of hers. Perhaps she would just give it a big hug. It's interesting that SRF never came into Fairfield. Regarding South Fallsburg, I don't know whether the TM group purchased space there before SYDA or vice versa. That seemed to be a comfortable coexistence, and Maharishi was probably okay with it based on the respect for Nityananda he spoke of when he and Muktananda met in Seelisburg. Also, they were all invited by people who > no longer felt that the TMO was serving their spiritual needs. That's cool with me, as I said before. I'm not against the competitive atmosphere, but I don't think that this or that guru should be active participants, especially since Maharishi has never done that. This is just my opinion, and I admit that I might not be in a very good position to have an opinion given that I haven't lived there for nearly twenty years. A lot has changed in the years since, and I'm not up on all the changes. All I can really say is that, if I ever start a spiritual organization, I would prefer to set up its core in a place that doesn't encroach on competitors, even though the businessman in me knows that it's smarter to set up your new Marathon station next to the Shell and B.P. It's all academic. The reality is that Fairfield is a smorgasboard of spiritual alternatives, has been for a long time, and it will never again be otherwise. MUM/MVC will adapt or die. L.B.'s reaction to my thoughts-- that I am clearly a zealot for "my dear Movement--is correct in that that's how I felt years ago. I have had my eyes opened to so much crap about the Movement in recent years that that is long over. Further, three years of business school, just finished, have awakened me to the laws of supply and demand, and I think that the Fairfield community would make an extraordinary, if weird, case study in so many ways. Nonetheless, HBS is unlikely to include it in the casebooks any time soon. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
