I have never made any claims to having any special kind of relationship with Maharishi. My experience was not much different than anyone else's. He was Guru, and best friend, and parents and mysterious and inaccessible and intimate and totally accessible all at the same time. He always inspired awe and respect and affection even when he was being stern and disciplinary.
I met him for the first time on March 21 1975. He was in Ottawa inaugurating the Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. I had been meditating for 2 1/2 years and was making arrangements to head to Europe to become a teacher. We were coming back to the Chateau Laurier after lunch when a pale yellow Chevrolet Impala pulled up and out popped Maharishi. In one of the heaviest snowstorms the area had had that year. He was wearing only his silk dhoti and shahtush shawl. We were shivering though we were dressed warmly ourselves. He was smiling and happy and looked completely comfortable and warm though the temperature was well below freezing. We asked him if he would like to have a coat and he said something to the effect that our concern for him was the only coat he required. I went on, later that same year to become a teacher and met him personally again on the day he made us teachers. One experience that I have I will carry with me to the end of my days. I don't like to share it too much because it is a bit self congratulatory in a way but it does show a bit how subtle he could be in communicating with us. I had returned to Europe from teaching in India in 1982 and was living in a monastery on the Rhine River in Germany. A small group of us had been working on a project with Maharishi and he had gotten into the habit of meeting with us privately and telling us about his day; his work, who he had spoken with, where he had gone or was going to be going etc. One day he disappeared. No warning. No meeting to let us know. Just gone. I was devastated but began to think about it. My logic was that it was done deliberately because he never did anything that was not purposeful so I asked the others in the group what they were thinking. Why do you suppose he left without telling us when for weeks and weeks now he hasn't done a thing without letting us know. No one had anything more to suggest other than that he must have not had time and had to leave before he could inform us. I thought there was more to it than that. My thinking was that if it was deliberate then it must be that he wanted us to be devastated. He must have wanted us to feel the grief of being without him. I thought this purely on the basis of my own experience. That was and continued to be my reaction while he was gone. One evening several days later, I was down in the courtyard watching the setting sun reflecting off of the Rhine. Everyone else was inside watching a lecture I had seen already so I was alone. As i was standing there, one of Maharishi's cars drove up and his cook popped out. I greeted him not thinking anything of it all ( see how swift I can be?). hehehe. Well within minutes the courtyard was filled with people. I asked what are you all doing down here, you're supposed to be watching a lecture. They said someone had seen Maharishi's cook arrive. I said, yes, so what? They said dummy, it means Maharishi cannot be far behind. DOH!!!! I still laugh thinking about it. At that moment Maharishi's car pulled into the courtyard and there was that immediate jockeying for position that accompanies his arrival wherever he goes. I am sure they are doing it now wherever he is. One of the boys who was closest to the car opened the door and Maharishi popped out. Now for me this was the moment of truth. I figured that if i had gotten it right, and that he had left us without warning just to devastate us, then the first thing he would want to know when he got back was how we were. Were we devastated or not? Well sure enough as soon as he got out of the car, he looked around at all of us, about 300 people I think, and asked in his clear soft voice, 'How you all are?' I thought, BINGO!!!! well maybe not bingo but at least i knew that i had read the situation correctly. The man who opened the door was the first to answer and he said ' we are all fine Maharishi' and i immediately thought, no, that's not true, some of us have been devastated and Maharishi doesn't want us all to have been fine with his leaving. It was immediately apparent that Maharishi was not happy with the answer. Without acknowledging the person who said we were fine he turned and started walking inside without saying another word to anyone. I was a few feet away and as he walked by I leaned forward and quietly said to him : "yes maharishi, but we are all much much better now". He stopped in his tracks and turn full face on to me, smiled bright and long and poked his finger at my chest and tapped me 4 times saying 'yes, yes, yes yes!!!!!!' one poke for each yes right on my heart. He then turned and walked inside and you could hear him laughing all the way up the stairs. After a few seconds one of his secretaries came running downstairs and told us to all go to the lecture hall as Maharishi wanted to meet with us. The secretary said that he didn't know what caused the change of heart as maharishi had made it clear after the first reply that he didn't want to meet us but now he was really wanting to be with us. I can still hear those yeses ringing in my ears. I know it is a small experience as far as experiences go with him but it is the one my mind goes back to most often. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1263 - Release Date: 2/6/2008 8:14 PM To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! 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