--- In [email protected], "Kirk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > It's like Maharishi going nudge-nudge to his > > fellow Indians and saying, "See? They really > > ARE as stupid and gullible as we always thought > > they were." > > -----No offense, but that's getting to be a trite observation.
But an accurate one. When even the *Indian* press makes snide and derogatory comments about the Rajas and how they dress and comport themselves, that pretty much clinches the deal for me. > We do know that Maharishi above all else liked dignity. I would say instead that Maharishi valued above all else the *illusion* of dignity. He would have been perfectly comfortable as the Wizard of Oz, pulling strings from behind the curtain, convincing people that he was the All-Powerful Oz. What he didn't like was having the curtain pulled back to reveal that it was just an ordinary man behind it. Maharishi's focus was on "pomp and circumstance," with dressing things up to make them *look* dignified. Someone with inner dignity doesn't have to do that. > He liked to feel he was of the ilk of Vashishta and > other rishis of the Vedas who inspired kings to sacrifice > their whole kingdoms for a drop of wisdom. I would agree with this. > Then not finding such lavish treatment... Treatment of himself, that is...how he expected to be treated when he left India. > ...he devised a solution. Recreate the whole world in the > ideal of which he was hankering for - a dignified world. > A world which would go to war for the love of a woman. > Instead of a world which sends women to war. Poetic, I guess, but you lost me on this one... > Maharishi was a conservative - no duh - the likes of which > will not be followed again on this planet. Here I'm with you 100%. <snip> > Maharishi was more like the Taliban in mental makeup > than anything else. Exactly, and for similar reasons. The Taliban are so self-absorbed and convinced that they are RIGHT that they cannot even *conceive* of any other way of seeing things than theirs. It's "their way or the highway." That was Maharishi in a nutshell. While preach- ing reverence for tradition, he wanted to tear down all of the historical buildings and monu- ments in all of the capitol cities of the world because they weren't "in compliance" with HIS ideas of vastu and "natural law." ALL other spiritual teachings were lesser than his. ALL of them. ALL other techniques of medi- tation or spiritual development were lesser than TM. Not ONE of the others was on the same level as TM and his teachings. Not one. He felt so strongly about what he believed being "right" that he literally advocating making TM *mandatory*, making it illegal NOT to do TM. Who else thinks like that? The Taliban.
