--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Tom Pall <thomas.pall@...> wrote: > > http://www.experiencefestival.com/wp/article/outsider-vs-insider-doctrine-of-the-hugging-saint
This is an interesting article. I'd heard some of this before from a former Amma devotee I knew in France. She "blew the lid off" of the "stuff we show the outside world vs. stuff we don't" dual nature of the Amma org long before I ever heard much about her here. The fascinating thing from my side is that it reminds me of a story I once wrote. In Tibetan Buddhism there is a tradition of supposedly higher, non-physical beings "taking over" the bodies of humans. That's their view of what is going on with the Tibetan State Oracles. On another level entirely, there is a tradition of some men and women "allowing" these "higher beings" to "take over their bodies" and dance for followers. My story was written while commuting every week from Santa Fe to Detroit. The Detroit airport just sucked, and I didn't want to spend any more time there than absolutely necessary. So I discovered a strip club that was brilliantly located across the street from the rental car return lot. You could turn in your car, then walk across the street and wait for your flight in the strip club. They even had monitors up above the bar so you could check on the status of your flight. Then they would drive you to the airport in their limo. I spent many a happy hour sitting at the bar of that strip club writing stories, and chatting with the dancers. Never once got a "private dance," never once sat by the stage to watch them dance; sitting at the bar was fine for me. Anyway, there was one dancer there who was really GOOD. I talked with her a lot, and found that she had trained as a modern dancer for years, and it showed. So one day I thought of a story with her as the protagonist. Sorta. She's up there on stage dancing for the guys at the strip club, and suddenly one of these ancient Tibetan goddesses takes over her body. At first it's confusing for the goddess, because looking around at the bar, this is just not like the temples she's used to dancing in. :-) But she kinda gets into it, pulls out all the stops, and does a dance for the patrons of the strip club that blasts them with mega-shakti and leaves all of them stunned and a couple of them enlightened. I had a lot of fun writing it, and my friend the stripper was quite flattered. Anyway, that's what I thought of when I read the accounts of Amma playing dressup. Now you know how low-vibe I really am. It's much worse than my detractors here would have you believe. :-)
