Well Spoken! I raise my glass also, R.G.
demaris4 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Seems to me to be as good an explantion of the history as any other.
and expressed well, and explains a lot -- even if your basic notion is
not even correct, it makes sense of the good, the bad, and the beautiful.
> > >
> > > What if the whole history of the TM movement were an
> > > outgrowth of a young bhakti's attachment to the object
> > > of his love, and desire to have that love "requited"
> > > in the form of appreciation of the work that he did
> > > on his behalf?
> > >
> > > I don't think many of us here know much about Guru Dev
> > > and his personality. People make assumptions about his
> > > enlightenment, but hey!...even the enlightened have
> > > personalities. What if his was a bit on the gruff side,
> > > as some of the photos hint at, and he was less than
> > > emotionally open to those around him? Or, what if,
> > > having been brought up in a tradition in which one does
> > > not often praise those around them openly because that
> > > might lead to the development of ego in odd ways, he
> > > never praised those who worked with him and for him?
> > >
> > > And what if one of those who worked for him were a young
> > > bhakti who was just head over heels in love with Guru Dev
> > > (and please get your minds out of the gutter...I am NOT,
> > > even for a moment, suggesting any kind of 'unnatural' love
> > > here, merely head-over-heels bhakti) and who worked his
> > > butt off for him every day, doing menial jobs and what-
> > > ever needed to be done around the ashram?
> > >
> > > What if the process of doing that -- performing selfless
> > > service -- got the young bhakti high as a kite and even
> > > opened for him a few glimpses into higher states of con-
> > > sciousness? And what if that were cool, but what the
> > > young bhakti *really* wanted, more than anything else in
> > > life, was for Guru Dev to turn to him one day and say,
> > > "Mahesh, you're the best?"
> > >
> > > And what if that never happened? What if the object of
> > > this love just up and died one day, without ever having
> > > said it? What if the young bhakti were so distraught
> > > that he threw himself into the Ganges, trying to follow
> > > his beloved teacher to the grave?
> > >
> > > Time passes. The young bhakti is still fixated on Guru
> > > Dev, still heavily attached to him, and still wanting to
> > > serve him, because service is really the only thing that
> > > really got him high. Besides, in his heart he's still
> > > hoping to hear Guru Dev say someday, "Mahesh, you're
> > > the best."
> > >
> > > Think about Maharishi's fascination with the story of
> > > Trotaka, and about the importance he has given that story
> > > in his teachings. What was the outcome of that story?
> > > Someone saying, "Trotaka, you're the best."
> > >
> > > So the young bhakti puts together some meditation tech-
> > > niques and begins to teach them. He goes to the West,
> > > finds it receptive to these techniques, and an organiza-
> > > tion forms.
> > >
> > > And as it forms, he subtly (and probably unconsciously)
> > > shapes it to resemble the situation he grew up in.
> > > There is One teacher, One source of knowledge, One chain
> > > of command, and this time he's the One. And almost from
> > > Day One, a strong part of the dogma he teaches is that
> > > this set of teachings is "the best."
> > >
> > > As more and more people join the organization, the dogma
> > > extends to measures to try to ensure that no one within
> > > it has much opportunity to learn otherwise. Prohibitions
> > > about reading books from other spiritual traditions arise;
> > > after time they are actually enforced with shunning within
> > > the organization or, if the need arises, removal from the
> > > organization. And a subdogma arises about how the faithful
> > > should *think* of those who have been removed from the
> > > organization, or worse, have chosen to leave it on their
> > > own. They are to be pitied for having lost the Way, and
> > > they are to be shunned if encountered, and they are to be
> > > badrapped to others if their name comes up in conversation.
> > >
> > > The image of "the best" is preserved. And the young man
> > > whose spiritual teacher would never tell him that he was
> > > "the best" becomes the person whom most of the people in
> > > the organization consider "the best." And then, karma being
> > > the real pain in the ass that it is, the young man gradually
> > > becomes an old man, and along the Way has to deal with what
> > > being considered "the best" can DO to an ego.
> > >
> > > These are just random thoughts on a holiday afternoon here
> > > in Paris, sitting at a sidewalk caf� sipping a fine Saint
> > > �million Grand Cru and thinking about Maharishi. You're
> > > getting them as they flow by, unpolished, un-thought-
> > > through. They're Just Another Caf� 'What If' Story.
> > >
> > > But I like the story because it makes me smile, and think
> > > even more positively about Maharishi than ever.
> > >
> > > What if all of this were true? What if, to some extent, the
> > > whole history of the TM movement were really based on a young
> > > man's attachment to his spiritual teacher, and his desire to
> > > hear four simple words: "Mahesh, you're the best?" What if
> > > that really *were* what it was all about?
> > >
> > > Well in my book that would be just fine. Look at what
> > > the man did. He managed to turn millions of fellow human
> > > beings on to the joys of meditation and the pathway to
> > > enlightenment. In one way or another, he will continue to
> > > do so even after his own death. That's a nice thing to have
> > > done with one's life, *whatever* the reasons for doing it
> > > might have been.
> > >
> > > The karmic value of any actions are in the results of the
> > > actions, not in the intent of those actions. The value of
> > > performing the service is in the service, not in the motiva-
> > > tions for the service. And as far as I'm concerned, Maharishi,
> > > the results of your actions and your service may well "weigh
> > > out" on the positive side on the olde karmic scale. Go easy
> > > to your rest.
> > >
> > > And, just in case my caf� ramblings have any resemblance
> > > to reality, and Guru Dev never said it to you, I shall raise
> > > my glass to you and say it myself: "Mahesh, you're the best."
> > >
> > >
> > > Uncle Tantra, 5 mai 2005, Paris
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