Tom Pall wrote: > On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 1:01 PM, turquoiseb <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> Thanks for your reply, Vaj. I cannot disagree with your assessment. One >> thing that never ceases to amaze me is how people can cling to beliefs >> and work tirelessly to preserve the appearance that they are true, long >> after other more reasonable people would have realized that they were >> not. >> >> But for me the "tipping point" into this world of clinging to >> appearances was not the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program itself but >> the rebranding of it in terms of self importance. That, essentially, is >> what the shift from "You perform the Sidhis as a way to realize your own >> enlightenment" to "You perform the Sidhis as a kind of sacred duty, >> because by doing so you become One Of The Most Important People On >> Earth, one of the select few, the holy thud of whose butt-bounces can >> bring about world peace and an Age Of Enlightenment" was. It was a >> radical shift into the world of self importance and the amplification of >> individual ego. >> >> > You've got the timing wrong. I remember the first residence course I was > on which had a governess, one of the first back from Switzerland. This > was when the sidhis were a rocket ship for TM, which had already been > described by Maharishi as the rocket ship to enlightenment. This lady > acted like she didn't shit, let alone did it not stink. All, initiators, > TMers, regarded her as though she was a body of light with flesh on top so > we could see her. She never denied that she could fly, walk through > walls, hear our very thoughts. She actually encouraged the awe about her. > So did the other governors who came back. It appears Maharishi had > really hyped the 6 month course participants up, not unlike the way > initiators had previously been hyped up as being so very special in the > scheme of manifest Creation. The Vedic Atom, including Michael Moore, > came to our area next and they acted like they were God's gift. I got to > see some tapes that were meant for initiators at a former ski chalet > outside of Quebec which usually just ran ATRs. I guess they didn't have > mere meditator tapes so we watched ATR tapes. Maharishi was hyping the > initiators that they were God's gift and coaching them on how to act > "special" so that all would pick up on their being "special". I assume > Maharishi pumped up the participants of the first 6 month courses to entice > initiators to become governors and later TMers to take the arduous path of > 8 weeks of preparatory courses in residence then 8 weeks of sidhi training > in residence, a tough thing for a householder being not nickled and dimed > by the local TM center, but pretty much fleeced of every penny they had. > Indeed this one initiator couple pinned me down and told me that as > initiators they were so much more deserving of taking CIC than I was, so I > just had to go to the bank with them to get a check for the $6,000 course > fee. Ballsy, eh? I now know that the "experiences" we TMers were fed > were bogus, made up to get us to spring for the sidhis. Once again, before > the woo-woo save the world thing started. > I thank God A'mighty that I was spared the "special" teacher tripe on my TTC. It was just the quite reasonable, "You came here to become teachers. So, what's keeping you? Go home and teach already." In everything Maharishi said there was the notion of specialness; we were special, the food was special, the toilet was special. If we had been infested w/ bedbugs, they no doubt would have been special as well. For myself I'm down w/ being as special as a bedbug. Unlike in other endeavors, in teaching TM the less one brings to the table the better. And bedbug status is just about the right level for effective teaching.
But I did have similar experience w/ the ballsy types. Freshly minted governors rode into town, informing us mere initiators that they had been sent by Maharishi hisself to acquire magnificent architectural wonders that might serve as local Capitals for the Age of Whatever. When I pointed out to these jamokes that they had neither a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of they were not dismayed in the least. Around purity, I was schooled, the means would collect themselves. Alas and alack, the real estate agents representing multi-million dollar houses, and clearly not living the fullness of life, didn't quite see it that way. They wanted earnest money from two guys who would account themselves lucky to have a change of clothes. Real estate, one. Ritam, zip. Our heroes conveniently divined from the home of all knowledge that they should haul ass and find a more deserving locale for a Capital. For all I know they're still searching. Perhaps they found honest work. P Duff
