"Cultural Restrictions?" That's the one thing I notice about a lot of the people on FFL is they apparently have never made the acquaintance of Indians outside of MMY and maybe a few of the monks that hung out around him. A few may have visited India and some of them apparently with blinders on. What East Indians SAY and what they DO are two different things. I bet there are people here who believe that India is a big holy land. Try thinking of it more as a carnival midway and you'll have it right.
For some reason I make friends easily in the Indian community. They are a very open bunch and we often discuss things like "godmen" (the Indian cynical term for money grubbing gurus). It's good to get an understanding of the community and how it is changing as they decided to dump centuries of spiritual practices and become "more western." Another good source of understanding the Indian community is to watch some Bollywood movies especially some of the new ones that deal with modern India "coming of age". Some of these are even available on Netflix WI. I've also rented and purchased DVDs from local Indian groceries. Those films can be a hoot to watch (though I often click for the next chapter to skip over the dancing around trees). The average Indian would not be surprised at all at a "godman" dumping his celibate vows. Money can easily sway Indians and so can sex. ;-) Joe wrote: > It sounds very much like this was going on in the early 60's. In Joyce-Collin > Smith's book "Call No Man Master" she speaks of the change in the London > center where MMY lived from his open door policy to occasionally locking his > door alone with attractive young women. > > Whether it ever happened in India before he came to the west we'll probably > never know but I kind of doubt it, since word would have leaked out not to > mention all of the cultural restrictions. In the west, he could get away with > the "helping your evolution" or "energy transfer" line. Speaking of lines, it > appears his was "Come, I'll give you my love." > > -
