From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 12:25 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Conversation with Mr. Chivukula Rick -- and he's still never told us how he came to hear about Ravi and choose him for one of his interviews -- He's been an intermittent contributor to the Amma chat group (which, like FFL and the TMO, is not affiliated with her organization), and he always seemed reasonable and sane to me. When I started the BatGap chat group, I mentioned it there and he joined. He wasn't an obsessive poster, but he occasionally mentioned an awakening he had had, or was in the process of having, and he seemed genuine and articulate, so I decided to interview him. Keep in mind that from my perspective, there are many stages or degrees of awakening, and I don't consider anyone I've interviewed to have undergone them all, if that's even possible.
gave him a platform from which to announce his "awakening." Rick's -- and others' -- first impulse was to *defend* his supposed "normal enlightened status" rather than be concerned, which they almost certainly would have been given anyone else spouting such craziness. I did? I seldom use the word "enlightened". Implies too "final" an attainment. The *secondary* impulse we've been seeing here, in my opinion, is a bout of "protect the guru," with any responsibility being not only shifted away from Amma and her organization, but taking it as an opportunity to write bhaktied-out love poems for her. Do you think Amma and her organization should be held responsible for someone like Ravi. If so, explain to me the logistics of how that would work - how the mental health of hundreds of thousands of people could be monitored. As it was, Anatol and I both emailed the head of Amma's US organization, and he said he'd tell Amma. What more should or could have been done? And now Ravi's interview has quietly been "disappeared" from the list, so as not to somehow cast questions upon the other interviews, and on the whole concept of "ordinary enlightenment." I removed it. I think each interview stands on it's own, but if I were one of the people interviewed, I might feel uncomfortable about being associated with someone who was acting as Ravi has been. In light of Ravi's behavior, I didn't think it appropriate to post his interview, both for the BatGap's reputation and for Ravi's well-being. I don't think it's healthy for him to get any more attention or to have anything reinforce his notion that he is a guru. By my definition, a spiritual awakening does not preclude a subsequent mental breakdown. In fact, it may precipitate one if one is unprepared for it. Ravi had done little or no spiritual practice. If this was a Kundalini awakening, and not just a bi-polar episode, he was unprepared for it. His ego appropriated it and went hog-wild.
