--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > Thanks for posting that Geezer. I am kind of fascinated about > > Maharishi's last 10 years in the bubble. I wonder if he went > > a little Howard Hughes in his last decade? Did he have tissue > > rituals and use tissue boxes for slippers? Inquiring minds want > > to know! > > > > Was his health really so fragile in his early 80s that he > > couldn't meet with people personally?
I'm inclined to think it was his physical security they were all concerned about rather than his health per se. > My question would be rather, "Did this isolation > come from his doctors' advice or from Maharishi's > own paranoia?" I've always suspected the latter, > that he was so freaked out about almost dying that > he retreated into a world in which the big bad > germs (and everyone else) were kept at bay. > > > My dad is about his age and he doesn't need to be isolated > > from everyone. I wonder what that was really all about. > > It sure is a long way from any concept of decent health that I > > can relate to, let alone perfect health. > > What I wonder about -- and maybe someone here who > is more in tune with TM movment history can help > me out here -- is how these events (Maharishi's > illness and near-death) relate to his fascination > with physical immortality and the once-touted > "Immortality Courses." The Year of Perfect Health was 1986. It's still very unclear when this illness took place. In different published interiews and articles, Chopra (who is the only person to have discussed the illness in public, as far as I'm aware) has cited the late '80s, 1991, and 1996. (The second part of the title of Chopra's "Ageless Body, Timeless Mind" may reflect Chopra's problems with getting dates correct.) Chopra associates the onset of MMY's illness with the publication of his book "Perfect Health," but that's not possible, for various reasons, some of which I've outlined previously. 1996 isn't possible either, so we're left with late '80s. MMY moved into Vlodrop in 1990, presumably right after his recovery, so he must have fallen ill before then, but certainly not as early as 1986. In any case, there were several years in between his focus on "perfect health" and his illness. <snip> > I guess what I'm wondering is whether almost dying > radically changed Maharishi, and caused him to > some extent to lose his way. I can't remember all > the exact timings, but my hazy memory of TM history > suggests that things might have started to go far > in the toilet soon after these medical events and > Maharishi's retreat into Howard Hughes-like > isolation. This may be the case, but if so it was pretty gradual. A good resource for the historical development of his plans is found here: http://www.alltm.org/Maharishi/Maharishi_achieve.html This page is a summary; at the bottom are links to more detailed timelines of what he was doing from year to year (but it only goes up to 1998). This development can be read as a step-by-step expansion of what he wanted to accomplish rather than as a descent into nuttiness, but everyone will have to make up their own minds about that.
