When I mentioned the TV series Jerry Hall's Gurus I hadn't realised it had already been broadcast - way back in 2003. The fact that it's not available on DVD and no one has posted it onto YouTube suggests you're probably right: it's dire.
For a taster there's a short (12 minute) clip here showing Jerry meeting the leader of "Bikram's Yoga College of India" in LA. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qh3j7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qh3j7 I was hoping to find Jerry's encounter with Nancy Cooke de Herrera. But I did see this YouTube clip with Nancy talking about the Beatles in India. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrAttF1lgBM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrAttF1lgBM ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <mjackson74@...> wrote: Jerry may not have wanted to make a travel programme but in many ways that seems to be just what the BBC wanted of her. And why not, you could ask: she's got looks, presence, a surprisingly sharp and unbubbly sense of humour, and looks like she's enjoying herself. Many viewers will want to be her as she suffers spas and facials and five-star foreign hotels and interviews people such as, er, Mick Jagger. But a deep and questing search for spiritual enlightenment it is not - not unless your chosen way of reaching a higher plane is through gritted teeth. The first programme spends time simply rehashing the old story of alleged 'improprieties' perpetrated against Mia Farrow by the mendacious old Maharishi, a man who told reporters back in 1968 that his brand of spiritual peace 'could only truly be appreciated by men of the world with rewarding activities and high income' and thus famously, and quite accountably, wooed the Beatles successfully. Jerry, for all the canny-eyed wit she honestly seems to sport in real life, somehow finds herself on screen spouting insights such as: 'I think this river has something very magical about it. Something very spiritual.' The river is the Ganges. 'So much energy and prayer been done here. Like when you go to a temple, you feel that, so much spiritual energy in the place.' She doesn't actually go in because there's too much pollution. http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/nov/09/features.review27 http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/nov/09/features.review27 From: "s3raphita@..." <s3raphita@...> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, October 7, 2013 9:35 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] RE: MMY and Siddha Tradtions Check this out FFLers! A forthcoming BBC documentary: Jerry Hall’s Gurus (working title) Jerry Hall – actress, super-model and one-time wife of Mick Jagger – presents a three-part series looking at the world of gurus and the celebrities who listen to their messages. Jerry travels the world, making an offering on the banks of the River Ganges and visiting the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh where The Beatles first went in 1968. In Los Angeles she meets Nancy Cooke de Herrera, who looked after The Beatles when they were with the Maharishi in the 1960s. Now a transcendental meditation guru herself, Nancy’s followers have included Madonna, David Lynch and Sheryl Crow. Jerry catches up with Hollywood actress and old friend Anjelica Huston, and she visits Deepak Chopra, the guru who profoundly influenced her and her twin sister when Terry was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. Interspersed with revealing footage of her day-to-day life as actress, model and mother, Jerry Hall’s Gurus (w/t) sees Jerry visit Los Angeles and India as well as at home in London, where she explores the wildly popular trends of Kabbalah, Agapae and yoga. But it is in the Ojai Valley, a mystical haven in California, that Jerry undergoes a Trager session which helps her face up to her past experiences and completes her spiritual odyssey. Starting to drool yet? ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote: Poor Richard. He works so hard. Indian film director Mira Nair (whose titles include the enjoyable Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and Vanity Fair, with Reese Witherspoon) began work on a documentary film about the Beatles' 1968 visit to India. I hope she completes the project as it's a shoo-in to be an entertaining nostalgia trip. ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote: Yes, householder. That's anyone with worldly responsibilities (male or female, head of the household or sweeper of the floor), as opposed to a monk, a recluse who has renounced the world. The Domash essay touches on that distinction, an important one in TM lore. As to whether Guru Dev wanted a "simple variant" of what he himself taught, I don't think we know that. There are all kinds of stories floating around the movement (and among critics of the movement), and most of them are probably bogus. I do think it's clear that Guru Dev didn't teach TM-as-taught-by-Maharishi-Mahesh-Yogi. What isn't clear, at least to me, is whether Guru Dev had any intentional, specific input at all into Maharishi's formulation of and decision to teach TM. My guess is he didn't. The Domash essay carefully avoids raising that issue. And, um, I wouldn't take Richard's posts to confirm anything. Seraphita wrote: "Householder" is the term maybe, rather than housekeeper? The person in charge rather the person sweeping the floor? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com> wrote: Thanks for the link authfriend. I can see why MMY would approve that account! Richard's posts seem to confirm that Guru Dev most likely did have a Sri Yantra. I still think that the tale of Maharishi bumping off his master, stealing his jewelled Sri Yantra and then heading south to meet with Indian magicians who teach him how to unlock its secrets would make a great movie: Maharishi invokes asuras who promise him unlimited wealth and power - the CGI people are given free rein at this point. The asuras' acolyte (film-maker Kenneth Anger) is instructed to prepare the way amongst rock royalty like the Stones and the Beatles . . . and so it goes. Scorcese would lap this up. A while back I read Our Spiritual Heritage: An Informal History of the Masters of the Sankaracharya Tradition by Lynn Nappe (a former TM teacher) - the story of each of the masters of the Shankaracharya tradition. The entry for Guru Dev includes an overview of his meditation advice that is most certainly not TM. Lynne Nappe glosses this by saying Guru Dev's own technique was different but he wanted a simple variant suitable for the "housekeeper". I guess we're all housekeepers . . . housewives or househusbands.
