--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson wrote: > There are others like former TM teacher Bob Fickes who say the puja > ceremony helps to refine the awareness of the initiator and gives the mantra > its potency. He has said without the puja the mantra won't have the proper > vibration or potency.
That's how we were told on our TTC. That's exactly the logic given to the TM teachers at the time. > Still others, specifically Raja Badgett Rogers has said that the mantra > doesn't work unless there is the offering or dakshina of the fruit, flowers > and money, and it is the offering, the gift, that makes the mantra work and > of course the flowers and fruit are part of the puja. The logic of this, with the speciphic emphasis on money here in this context makes my hair stand on end, really! We weren't told this on TTC, it must be a new thing. It is a merchants attitude to God/ Spirituality. 'I give you enough money, and you render my mantra effective.' This has been called spiritual materialism by Chögyam Trungpa. Reminds me of catholic indulgence. IMO this twisting is exactly how knowledge is lost. In the same vein is the idea that scientific research 'belongs' to somebody who sponsored (bought) it, and therefore 'belongs' to him, like somebody here recently posted.
