--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Does anybody know of M's views on keeping pets? I've heard him say that they > are a drain. I always thought he meant of some kind of spiritual energy, but > I'm beginning to believe he actually meant a drain of resources and time, > being a distraction from program.
*********** MMY sits on a deerskin to insulate himself from the energy drain from creatures living at a lower level of life. Charlie Lutes told this story many times: MMY was late to a lecture and Charlie had neglected to carry the deerskin from the room to the lecture hall. Charlie sez, I'll go get the skin, but MMY says, never mind, I'll just sit down -- he sits, then jumps up immediately, and sez Charlie go get the skin. While Charlie was running up to the room, MMY is just standing, nodding welcome to the room of people. For TMers, handling pets is a drain on energy in the same way that ordinary people are a drain on a yogi. Of course, pets can be a distraction during TM, but the advice not to handle them is based on this energy drain thing. Because people are fond of pets in many cultures, the TMO only says not to meditate with animals, in order to avoid making people think that Fluffy has to go in order to do TM. Sooner or later, people who continue to do TM will notice the draining effect of handling animals, so they'll discontinue the practice with or without advice on the issue -- ditto with other bad habits, smoking, etc (because people are stressed and twisted in different ways, your mileage may vary, of course, as is obvious with numero uno spokesman David Lynch, who restarted his cigarette habit twenty years after he quit). There are many energy drain things that the TMO does not bother to publicize, but which are part of traditional Vedic culture. For instance, in India one is advised not to look at one's own excrement, and sure enough, on those occasions when I do glance at the toilet trout, there's a diminution of awareness. Sounds ridiculous to us, but just because our idiotic nonsustainable "scientific" culture does not understand how the universe works does not make Vedic culture untrue.
