Comment below: **
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > And what of Mararishi's oath to us? You know, that promise all of us > > thought was made by him to be pure, honest, whole, wise, loving, > > expansive, simple, scientific, scholarly, traditional, ancient, and > > enlightened? > > This is excellent Edg. Promises go both ways in non abusive > relationships. I think if we had been a bit older we could have seen > that he was just winging it all and not take it all so seriously. But > youth wants absolutes and he served us a plate full! I remember > Vincent Snell in Yugoslavia telling me that MMY tends to be "overly > optimistic", with a wry, knowing look. I didn't get it then, but I do > now. He wasn't a kid when he met MMY, so he had the salt shaker of > age to see MMY in more realistic terms. > > > > > He broke his promises, all of them to some degree, to us long, long, > > decades ago, when money became the TMO's bottom line. > > My new pet theory is that MMY was trying to re-create the grandeur > that he felt in Joitir Math with Guru Dev. He was locked out of that > possibility by caste, so he created his own kingdom with golden hats > and the showy splendor of his youth. > **snip to end** Curtis, this last paragraph of yours (above) sounds about right to me. One thing that always bothered me (particularly as an artist) was just how unappealing Maharishi's aesthetics were. Of course, in matters of taste there can be no dispute, and Maharishi comes out of a popular culture of excess and grandiosity, which I can personally really get into; but the aesthetic of the TMO is a peculiar amalgam of rococo and blandness that has neither elegance nor power, and it comes directly from Maharishi, of course. It's not even as interesting as what Trump does, or what you'd see in an old-time Masonic temple, nor as scarily Mussolini-esqe as Scientology's take on pomp, pageantry and power (check out the set in this 24-second video of Tom C. at a Scientology awards ceremony: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/16/tom-cruise-scientology- vi_n_81773.html or http://tinyurl.com/2ygu6s ). Those guys are following the take-no-prisoners, all-glory-to-the-reich, fascist- style credo and putting some serious money behind it (and check out those snappy military salutes!). Anyway, as you point out, Maharishi apparently just wanted to be around pomp and ceremony and as many shiny things as possible; and, unfortunately, just like so many folks who amass gobs of money and need to show it. That doesn't jibe with my own sense of elegant design, and to me seems to be a contradiction to the appealing simplicity of his original message and the elegance of the meditation itself. Thanks for all your postings; haven't posted much myself recently just because you and several others here have been articulating far better than I could my own feelings and thoughts. I'm more or less a Curtis dittohead. Marek
