**Comment below: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >**SNIP**> > Maharishi: "What I have taught, because it has its > eternal authenticity in the vedic literature and > you should know that, how many? 30 - 40 thousand > teachers of TM I have trained and many of them have > gone on their own and they may not call it Maharishi's > TM but they are teaching it in some different name > here and there. So there's a lot of these, artificial > things are going on, doesn't matter, as long as the > man is getting something useful to make his life > better, we are satisfied." > **SNIP** > > Or, you could take seriously what I just quoted above > and realize that MMY is giving his blessing to those > who want to teach independently of the organization. > > He wants to keep control over the TMO's employees, as > any CEO would, but you don't have to be an employee > to teach TM as long as you don't pretend you *are* > an employee--which means, in this case, picking a > different name for what you're teaching. > > As someone pointed out, there doesn't seem to be any > legal reason why you can't say you were trained to > teach meditation by MMY, and you're teaching what he > taught you to teach, except that because you aren't > working for the TMO, you can't use the TM trademark. > > If you value the TM technique and think it helps > people, you're free to continue doing what you signed > up to do in the first place. It seems to me the > only reason you'd have for being shocked and saddened > is that you don't get to promote, and your students > don't get to take advantage of, a lot of the other > stuff the TMO offers. But that would mean you'd have > to value that other stuff equally with the TM > technique. If you don't, what's the problem? > > You don't get to have the legitimacy of the TMO behind > you, but most who are teaching independently are doing > so because they don't think the TMO any longer *has* > legitimacy. You can't have it both ways. > > You *do* have to figure out a way to promote what > you're teaching so it's attractive to prospective > students without the TM name. You need to exercise > some ingenuity, perhaps get together with some other > independent teachers and establish your own brand. > > In a way, it's like proprietary vs. generic drugs. > Seems to me MMY is saying, in essence, that the TM > patent claim has expired (or whatever the legal term > is). Drug companies that developed a drug and > trademarked it can still sell that drug under the > proprietary name once the patent has expired, but > others are free to produce and market it under other > names; they just can't take advantage of the original > drug company's marketing, they have to develop their > own. > > I suspect that one of the major goals, if not *the* > goal, of this lawsuit is to make all this explicit. > So far, everybody has been focusing on what it will > mean independent teachers *cannot* do, but it should > also help establish what they *can* do. And the > restrictions don't appear to be such that they'll > prevent TM from being taught outside the TMO. > > You can look at all this as something being taken > away from you, or you can look at it as something > being *given* to you. Whatever obligations you may > have had to MMY and the TMO have been canceled, and > you get to take this precious knowledge--if you > consider it as such--and spread it as far and wide > as you can. > **END**
Excellent point (and analysis). If a teacher has something about them that confirms to the potential student that she or he really is an authority of some sort on meditation then they (the potential student) will want to learn from them. If the independent teacher cannot promote his/her teaching as being authorized by Maharishi or the TMO then that means the independent teacher really has to personally radiate more consciousness, more personal authority, than was perhaps necessary in the past. If the teacher doesn't have that real authority then even if they have the ability to successfully pass on the technique at initiation they still won't have that many takers. This actually seems to be a good thing for a truly independent teacher, as Judy points out. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
