--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "wayback71" <wayback71@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > On another level, there is the issue of expurgation. At one > > > point in my life, I would say that I had probably listened > > > to or watched as many tapes of Maharishi as anyone on this > > > forum. I was in charge of the Western Regional Office, and > > > thus in charge of its tape library, which contained thousands > > > of tapes. All of them were essentially "my private video and > > > audio library." I could take them home and listen to them > > > anytime I wanted, and was such a TB dweeb that I actually > > > did. :-) > > > > > > But then, about 1976, the first "recalls" and attempts at > > > systematic expurgation started. We started getting demands > > > from "International" to send them our copies of certain > > > tapes. And when I say "demands," I mean demands. If we did > > > not comply, they sent someone over to the US to collect them > > > from us. We were then told that they would be replaced by > > > newer, "better quality" versions of the same tapes. > > > > > > This was only partially true. About 50% of the "recalled" > > > tapes never appeared again in any format. And the tapes that > > > were actually "replaced" invariably had "shrunk" somewhat. > > > It was not uncommon for a tape that originally had lasted > > > for 40 minutes and touched on some interesting or touchy > > > subjects to come back to us in a "new, improved" version > > > that was only 20 minutes long, carefully edited to make it > > > seem that there had been no editing. > > > > This did happen - tapes being recalled and some never > > replaced. > > The capper was that when "replacements" were made available, > the Regional Office or the individual TM Centers from which > the original tapes were confiscated *had to pay for them > again*.
Yes, a milder version of local centers raising money for and buying land or buildings, only to have proceeds from the eventual sale of the center go to International. If they ever again needed a center, they had to start all over raising money just to rent something. > > > Do you recall specifically what was edited out on a few of them? > > When this "revisionist history" process first started it was > clearly tied to the recent "TM is a religion" controversy and > lawsuits in the US. Most of what was edited out involved MMY > talking about God, or putting down the Western version of > religion. > > At the same time, topics that deviated from the SCI or SIMS > point of view were edited out. This involved "SRM-ish" topics > such as reincarnation or saints and deities and talks in which > Maharishi used traditional Hindu terms for concepts instead > of English terms. > > Once the "first wave" of this revisionist history passed, and > the individual teachers and TM Centers realized they'd been > had, they wised up. When we at the Regional Office would get > the latest dictum from International saying that we had to > get all teachers to give back their copies of tapes X, Y and > Z, and we'd call the centers asking for these tapes, we'd be > told that they had gotten "lost," and that the teachers or > centers no longer had them. They were lying, and we knew they > were lying, but we actually agreed with their position and > reported back to Seelisberg what we'd been told. It was a > nudge nudge, wink wink kind of thing. > Yes, this happened. Do you have any knowledge about who exactly at International made these decisions about recalls? Was this MMY's idea?
