Is it just me or is anyone else getting sick and tired of Barry constantly dissing the Marshy? I mean, here is a guy that worked for Marshy for over 14 years, selling mantras and passing out leaflets promising enlightenment in 5-7 years, and then he went over to put up posters for Freddy for another 14 years, promising instant enlightenment. If everything Barry says about the Marshy is true, then that makes Barry one really dumb guy to be critizizing his old guru now.
TurquoiseB wrote: > Ahem. "Maharishi's efforts?" > > Do I hear a bit of self-importance projected onto > the world here? :-) > > Why not Yogananda's efforts, or Ramana Maharshi's, > or even (perish the thought) the efforts of the > people that Vanity Fair considered important > enough in the world of yoga to take photos of? > > Oh, but I forgot...it's not really *their* efforts > that made hatha yoga popular. That's an erroneous > view held only by the ignorant. They were only able > to make an impact on society and make hatha yoga > popular because Maharishi hired a gym teacher to > write a small pamphlet of simplistic yoga postures. > > > There are many, many spiritual movements and revitalized > > religions that have emerged recently as a result of the > > new infusion of spiritual energy that MMY and Guru Dev > > brought about during the last 50 or so years. > > And again, the people who actually did the work *to* > revitalize these spiritual movements deserve none > of the credit; their success is due only to the work > of a guy they've never met and, in the case of most > of the younger generation of yoga practitioners, prob- > ably have never even heard of. And, given the fact > that the TM movement now preaches only to the already- > converted and effectively no longer teaches even TM, > they never *will* hear of Maharishi. In the larger > spiritual "scene" of today's world, he's a nonentity. > > > As he said so long ago with reference to the inevitable > > questions about other religions practiced when one does > > TM, that the other religions would find their essence > > if the practitioners did TM. And so we are seeing these > > results. Wonderful!:- > > And you're going to post the reasons you believe all > these people practice -- or have ever practiced -- TM > exactly when? :-) > > I'm sorry, but I've seen this tendency for devotees of > one spiritual teacher to *co-opt* the achievements of > other spiritual teachers and other spiritual movements > (let alone creative people) so often, and in so many > spiritual organizations, that it's beginning to wear > on me. > > The Beatles became a success only because of Maharishi. > Ditto Donovan and the Beach Boys and David Lynch. If > it weren't for Maharishi and his "contribution" to > their work, they'd have never have become famous. > Yeah, right. > > I've watched the Hare Krishnas try to co-opt George > Harrison's creativity and credit it to A.C. Bhakti- > vedanta Swami Prabhupada. I've seen Scientologists > claim that the "real" reason that Tom Cruise and > John Travolta and other stars are successful is > because of L. Ron Hubbard. I've seen people claim > that John McLaughlin's guitar ability is only due > to Sri Chinmoy, and so on and so on. Yeah, right. > > Does anyone besides myself notice a trend here? The > consistent statement, no matter which spiritual trad- > ition it comes from, is along the lines of, "This > famous yoga teacher/musician/actor/politician/film- > maker/whatever is only able to do what he does because > of *MY* teacher. Therefore *I* am important because > *I* follow that teacher." > > Yeah, right. > > News flash -- if you want to feel *inspired* by the > achievements of creative people and leaders in the > world of spirituality, that's cool. But when you try > to co-opt their achievements and credit them to a > teacher they've never worked with and probably don't > know from Adam, just because it makes you feel more > important, that's kinda crossing a line in my opinion. > > One gets the "credit" for accomplishments by actually > accomplishing something, not by claiming that your > teacher did. >
