--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard M" <compost...@...> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote:
> >
> > And who else would you hold responsible for the
> > general attitude that led to Levi Butler's death
> > at MUM. The way the story was told in the press
> > (documentation), the MUM Dean who was supposed to
> > be watching the person who had just attacked another
> > student left him on his own rather than "miss program." 
> > From whom did this person *get* this completely 
> > inappropriate sense of priorities other than from
> > Maharishi? From whom did he get his obvious sense
> > that nothing bad could happen if he just meditated
> > as usual?
> 
> No, no, no. I don't buy into that line of thinking for a minute. 
> I'm surprised at you. Yes, on that account the dean WAS culpably 
> irresponsible. But nowhere whatsoever have I ever, ever, 
> considered MMY taught  - or as you would probably say 
> *foistered* - an attitude of "meditate* and sod your 
> responsibilities". 

We must agree to disagree about this. I have
been present in the room many times when Maharishi
told someone to ditch their responsibilities to
family, friends, work, and anything else so as not
to miss a meditation. He was even more explicit in
telling them not to care about "worldly responsi-
bilities" if they were preventing them from attend-
ing a course or otherwise doing what he wanted them
to do. And I know that there are any number of 
others on this forum who will back me up on this.

> I know what's coming next of course: "You see you're only a 
> Siddha Richard and so you don't know the *real* teaching". 
> I guess you're thinking the Dean did.

Your comment *does* make me wonder if you ever spent 
any time around Maharishi. I cannot believe that you 
did if you honestly believe what you said above. Like
Judy and ed11 and Lawson and many others here, you
really *did* only get the "trickle down to the peons"
teachings. Live with it.

> I object to Vaj's "MMY's got blood on his hands". 

It's pretty outrageous, but so was Maharishi. Again,
were you there when suicides on TM courses were 
quickly covered up? I was. Who do you think ordered 
the coverups?

> I think that's about as serious an accusation as you 
> can make. You respond by simply weakening the concept 
> so far that it would apply to probably all of us: 
> "Someone implicitly (not explicitly) said something that 
> indirectly (not directly) resulted in someone not 
> stopping someone else form harming someone - apparently 
> (according to the press)".  
> 
> Again, I'm astonished you can't see Vaj's "MMY's got 
> blood on his hands" as the vexatious, nasty, irresponsible, 
> and perverse piece of work that it is.

Oh, I see that. But what I *also* see is you
reacting to it emotionally, out of attachment
to Maharishi. Would you object if someone said
that about George W. Bush? Or about Dick Cheney?
How about Tony Blair?

They've *all* got blood on their hands. Many
times over. What makes it OK for someone to use
such a phrase when referring to them, but not OK
when referring to Maharishi?

Is it because Maharishi was supposedly a spiritual
teacher, or someone "religious?" OK, how about
"Pope Pius XII has blood on his hands for not doing
more to stop the Holocaust?" How about (as was 
implied here recently by ed11) "The Dalai Lama has
blood on his hands for not stopping the Chinese
invasion of Tibet?"

I *understand* that not "treating Maharishi with
respect" pushes your emotional buttons. But some
of us really DON'T have much respect for him. For
us, his faults outweigh the good he did, and we
were around him enough to see him do lots of actual
bad as well. We DON'T respect that.

> And that's my rant. And if he'd said the same thing about 
> the Dalai Lama I would hope my opinion of his "integrity" 
> would be no higher.

enlightened_dawn11 said essentially the same thing
about the Dalai Lama recently. And you didn't seem
to notice. If you did, you didn't say anything, 
did you? Where was *your* integrity then?

Could it possibly be that you have no emotional
attachment to the Dalai Lama and you do to Maharishi,
or rather to your idea of him?

I say "idea of him" because some of the things you
have said do not indicate that you ever spent much
time around him. Neither did many of the "defenders"
of his "good name" on this forum. ed11 and Judy have
never been in the same room with him, and know him
only from audio or video tapes or books. Nabby has
at least met the guy a couple of times. *He* might
be qualified to have an opinion about Maharishi's
actions, based on having been there when he acted. 
But ed11? Judy? You? How much did you actually
*see* with your own eyes?

Interestingly, look at some of the people on this
forum who *did* spend a lot of time around him, the
ones who did time in Purusha or on International
Staff or in other high-ranking positions in the
TM movement. Do you see *them* getting their panties
in a bunch over Vaj suggesting that Maharishi "had
blood on his hands?" 

No, you don't. I suggest that the reason for this is
that these people aren't working from a fantasy of
the man developed from far, far away; they actually
worked with him up close and personal. And they don't
seem to be terribly offended by Vaj. The ones who 
seem to be offended, in fact, are the people WHO
NEVER MET HIM, not even once. 

Is Vaj over the top in his attempts to "push your
buttons?" You betcha. 

But did he *create* those buttons? No. You did.
And, if you're like ed11 and Judy, from afar.



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