Excellent post. Thank your friend for allowing you to place this story with us.
While your friend's response, although measured in the middle, retreated into moralism, in the end your own response accorded well with the greater view present in dharmic culture. It is a view both mature and balanced. By the way, this story you recounted reminded me of the movie "Invincible" wherein subtle methods of Nazi propaganda were artistically copied to present a Jewish picture of religious fidelity in contrast to the amorality of the goy. The same view of the goy was presented in the movie Cabaret. I find this hilariously ironic. What is also funny is that in film and thought, Nazis are presented as human demons. However we aren't demons are we? We could never do this - could we? This is an important question because if the Nazis were simply demons then there is nothing we can learn from their actions. Of course we are educated smartniks of the 21st Century. We know those Nazis were human. What is not so obvious is that Shakti was driving them all and was and still is the driver of the whole creation. Shakti worshipers praise Her with their lips but not with insight. In place of insight they substitute sentimentality. Yet the fact remains that we live in a self-devouring universe and few things are as vicious or frightening as the shocking cruelties played out in nature every moment. We expect more than vicious cruelty from humans but Shakti shows no such concern for us any of us. So to finish, you show surprising equanimity of view about this subject. Maybe you will some day bring that same balanced view here onto this forum and give up the projectile vomiting (for which you seem to believe you have received a special adhikara). Hope you do. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Feb 26, 2009, at 4:12 PM, cardemaister wrote: > > > I have a feeling that Maharishi knew something about > > Hitler's "real nature" that us "ordinary people" can't know... :0 > > > From FFL message # 16079: > > Maharishi on Hitler > > This is from a Jewish friend who was full-time in the TMO for many > years, including Purusha and International Staff in Vlodrop and > elsewhere. He's now with a different teacher. We had a private > discussion about this a couple of months ago and I asked if I could > post this. He said I could but asked that I not mention his name. > > -------- > > Some time after being on Purusha, I discovered, to my great amazement, > that some German Purusha were wearing swastikas under their ties, > celebrating Hitler's birthday, and generally feeling very bully about > the whole thing. I remembered what Frank Pappentine told me a few > years back during our 6-month course in Arosa (we were good friends > during that course): that Maharishi had met with the Germans in > Seelisberg and told them that the Allies presented Hitler as a great > demon to suppress the German morale, that the facts were different and > that Hitler was, in fact, a good strong leader. > > I heard that from Maharishi myself, in Washington DC in 1983, when a > reporter asked him what he thought of Hitler. He said, that Hitler was > actually a good strong leader who unified Germany, it's just too bad > that he did so much indiscriminate killing. > > All these caused me quite a shock at the time, and finally I decided > to confront a question that had bothered me from childhood: how could > intelligent, sophisticated Germans (and some of the leaders of his > party and the SS were indeed sophisticated and intelligent) follow > him? Some of them were reputed to be lovers of classical music, > devoted husbands, doting fathers, fond of animals and loved to tend > their rose gardens -- but had no problem going to work in the morning, > work being the extermination of yet another transport of thousands of > Jews. > > I asked one of my German "friends" to get me some Nazi literature > about Hitler, that I was interested in learning more about how THEY > viewed him. One of them got me a few magazines which were published on > high-quality paper, with no ads (so a lot of money was involved). The > magazines were all in German. I struggled through the articles, and > was particularly struck by two of them: one about Hitler's love > affairs, and another an account by his driver, who was the last person > to see Hitler alive. > > The one about the love affairs was interesting: it turned out, that > although he was partially impotent -- some of his aids were constantly > on the lookout for any medical doctor who could provide him with a > preparation to increase his potency -- once he had an affair with a > woman, that woman was so enamored with him, that when he left her she > committed suicide. This has happened a number of times. It even > happened in the case of a British woman, who was in England when > Churchill declared war, so she could not return to Germany and > committed suicide from agony. Such was his charisma and power over > people. > > But what was much more revealing to me was the account of his driver. > As he was describing Hitler's last hours, he was speaking about the > terrible loss and bereavement that he experienced -- and there was > something heartbreaking about his devotion to Hitler. I'm serious: I > completely identified with his intense emotions. I was only familiar > with such powerful emotions in relationship to God or to one's Guru -- > but here was a person who was relating to Hitler in this way, and was > still lamenting his death so many years later, knowing all that he had > done! > > I later on saw a BBC 6-hr documentary program on the rise of Nazism. > They interviewed a person who worked with him closely at one point. > And that person spoke about Hitler with the same passion that one > speaks of one's Guru. He described his experience of interacting with > Hitler -- there's no other way to describe it, except a spiritual > experience -- and said, in this regard: "I saw this side of Hitler, > Hitler's most beautiful side; and no one can take it away from me. > That is the Hitler I know and cherish". > > Why am I saying all this? Because that was the first time I understood > how Hitler could have done what he had done. People who came in > contact with him had a spiritual experience, and you know how such a > profound experience often makes you surrender your discriminating > ability. And you can even do atrocities. > > It was also the first time I realized that the power of spiritual > people to give experience is potentially dangerous. It made me > realize, that had I been a non-Jewish German at the time of Hitler, I > could have potentially joined to Nazi party -- if that was the > transmission that came out of Hitler. > > ------------ > > My response to this was: > > This is interesting stuff. As you know, the Vedas depict many great > demons, such as Ravana, as being extremely charismatic, learned, and > highly evolved. In some cases the story is told that the demon had the > choice of being born into a series of righteous lives or one demonic > life in which they would be killed by the Lord and thus liberated. > They chose the demonic life. I don't presume to know the karmic > mechanics behind the holocaust. The perpetrators of it, and especially > Hitler, certainly seemed evil by all normal standards, but the > universe is a strange place. Who can say with certainty where Hitler's > soul is now? Is he suffering in hell or was he really some great soul > that chose to play a role very distasteful by civilized standards? I > would like to think he's suffering in hell, but who really knows? It > seems the light and dark forces are always balancing each other out. > There need to be great souls on both sides. In the ultimate analysis, > is one side really "good" and the other "bad," or is it all just a big > Lila? I'd say yes, in the relative, good and bad both exist and I'd > rather be on the good side. But is that God's perspective, or just my > limited relative viewpoint? Ultimately, isn't it all just God playing > all the roles to entertain Himself? Obviously I have more questions > than answers. > > ---------- > > My friend's response was that that attitude was a cop-out which > allowed people to rationalize all sorts of mischief by gurus and other > leaders. >
