I was around when the first sutra/"flying" attempts were made. We were all
sitting in chairs in a circle...there was no sitting on foam mats at that time.
(This was in one of the hotels around Lake Lucern....I forget which now.) This
would have been probably late 1975.
I've mentioned this before since its one of my favorite recollections from that
time, but I'll trot it out one more time:
We would meet every day at the appointed time, meditate and then run the
sutras, finishing with the "flying" sutra. After 3 or 4 days of nothing, my
inner comic finally perked up and I rigged up a device made from a coat hanger
that would fit into my tie. I could then manipulate the rising of my tie with
one finger of my right hand (which was cupped in my left in classic "hands in
lap" mode.)
Several minutes before we were to come out I pulled my right index finger, and
like magic, my tie gently lifted up and floated in front of me. I was even able
to give the tie a little quivering motion, like it was "struggling" to stay in
a levitated state.
I kept my eyes closed while people slowly began coming out. I would hear a gasp
to my left, then a gasp to my right...then more people apparently poking each
other and pointing. For a minute or so, the group, having meditated for 1/2
hour in the midst of a deep rounding anyway, followed by sutras.....thought
they were witnessing the true dawn of a new age. I was doing everything I could
to remain calm and keep my eyes closed. But when I heard one of my buddies
start to chuckle I lost it.
Tellingly, about 1/4 of the group thought it was hilarious. The rest were
horrified and made it clear that this enlightenment business was NO laughing
matter. I think that was probably the moment that the first real crack in my
belief system started.
When you get busted for eating ice cream (another story) and laughing....well,
it's time to exit. It took a few more years but I finally did.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, blusc0ut <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "TurquoiseB" <turquoiseb@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, blusc0ut <no_reply@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I think that group-program, from its very outset, was
> > > never meant to create world-peace or anything. It was
> > > always a control mechanism, and that shows. If group
> > > programs would work, the chinese could have never
> > > massacred tibetan monastries, who had thousands of
> > > people meditating together, on a permanent basis.
> >
> > Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. I was also
> > around "back then" in 1977, and agree with you.
> >
> > > One more clue, why that is so, is the fact how it
> > > developed: there was never any emphasis on group
> > > meditation before the sidhis, that is approximately
> > > before 1977. Until that time people simply meditated
> > > in their rooms, and that was perfectly alright. With
> > > the introduction of sidhis, and especially flying,
> > > foam matrazes were needed, and having people hopping
> > > in their beds, with the consequent damages was simply
> > > no option. Originally people came together only for
> > > flying sessions into a flying room or tent.
> >
> > Exactly.
> >
> > > Only around the years 1977, towards the end, beginning
> > > of 1978 the whole ideology of group- practise for world
> > > peace, super-radience or how-ever it was called developed.
> >
> > Exactly again. I bailed from the TMO towards the end
> > of 1977, after coming back from my TM-siddhis course.
> > Up until the time I left, there was never a *hint*
> > of the "Maharishi Effect" or "You're doing it for
> > world peace." That was all invented later, as you
> > say.
>
> Interesting. I knew quite a few people then, who left right after the
> Siddhis/Enlightenment course,some right away to India to either Muktananda or
> Osho. At the time I was still thoroughly immersed in the TM movement. I would
> have bailed out some 4 years later, but ironically, it was meeting a saint,
> who made me stay in the movement some years more, and actually have both
> worlds, until it became clear which way to go.
>
>
> > My theory as to *why* it was invented is a little
> > different than yours. Yes, "group practice" is a
> > control mechanism, and an enforced test of fealty
> > ("You're either with us or against us, and check-
> > ing attendance allows us to see which"), but the
> > whole ME "You're doing it for the world" thang
> > was not trotted out until people had started to
> > realize that the siddhis had very little "payoff"
> > for them, personally. There was no there there.
> > People were starting to quit and drift away from
> > the TMO, because they'd paid big bucks for its
> > most expensive "program," and it did diddleysquat
> > for them.
>
> Certainly the promises were to high by far. We all thought we would fly
> within a few month, get lots of initiations. When I first heard of siddhis
> there were reports of people waking through walls, getting invisible, (I
> still got that sutra, it was skipped later on)
>
>
> > Can't have that. Rephrase things to take the
> > emphasis away from discernible personal benefit,
> > and cast it in terms of "You're doing it for the
> > world." Try to appeal to the higher motives of
> > people to get them to stick around, because the
> > techniques themselves weren't sufficient to keep
> > them around.
>
> This 'appealing to higher motives' was a very conscious thing from Maharishis
> side. I actually heard him say, we should always make very general (not
> specific) appeals, like mentioning 'ideal society' and the like. There is an
> added thing. People started to move to communities to be able to 'fly'
> together. Sidhaland came up.So people become dependend (psychologically) on
> group practice, on the existence of such groups, move their whole lives,
> families, jobs to other places, Fairfield for example, and such become more
> and more dependend on the group.
>
> If you had an individual scheme of enlightenment, you were told that we are
> doing it for the world, we are like soldiers for world peace, that we are
> karmically connected to the world. Sort of like the Bodhisattva ideal, but TM
> movement version. Skip your own individual enlightenment, and wait till day X
> when we get all enlightened. May be you weren't around anymore, when
> Maharishi would answer to questions, why we don't fly yet, that it was
> because of world consciousness. Again the shift from individual to
> collective.
>
> This is called goal displacement
> http://www.ex-premie.org/papers/goal_displacement.htm
>
>
> > That's my theory, anyway. Like yours, it's just
> > a theory. Anyway, welcome to the forum. I look
> > forward to more insightful posts from you.
>
> Thanks, and so do I.
>
