Love your review!
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@...>
wrote:
>
> Due to Vaj's benevolence I saw the movie and have a few thoughts. (surprise,
> surprise!)
>
> There are as many ways to view the film as there are perspectives on
> Maharishi in and out of the movement, but even people who are all in should
> see it for the filming of Maharishi's funeral alone. Also not to be missed is
> the scene which caused the biggest fuss, but also showed how the inner
> movement experienced the changing of the guard on Maharishi's death. (I'll
> get back to that.) Maybe insiders have all sorts of tapes of how the other
> half lives in the movement, but I found the footage fascinating. He even has
> shots of the beautiful place I had my TTC phase III in Seelisberg, looking as
> oddly abandoned as it was when I as there. Past its World Government prime
> like one of those old ladies who stands on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center
> in a pink skating dress with her hands held in the air as if she has just
> completed the long program (nailed it) and now is ready for her 10's across
> the board. (Russia gave her an 8 but that was totally political.) The place
> is decked out in Liberace approved style. But its mountaintop placement is
> really striking. That was the most visually impressive place I ever lived.
> (Four months of eye candy.)
>
> Back to the movie. It seems honest to me. He goes through stages of
> mounting concern. He genuinely liked TM. Seeing the initiation day scene
> really brought me back. What magical fun that all was. I wonder if Guru Dev
> would step out of the picture and slay me if I initiated someone again? He
> might use that backwards Nazi symbol as a Chinese throwing star and lop off
> my head. (Sorry easily distracted today for some reason.) Or maybe he might
> try to use that staff on me. I think I could take him if he pulled that.
> Unless he was David feak'n Carridine with that thing, he couldn't swing it
> fast enough to neutralize my mad Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. (Perhaps I shouldn't
> try the puja again until my spontaneous fantasy is not grappling with Guru
> Dev? In my defense it was the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial
> arts weekend, so I watched a lot of man on man action.) I guess he would zap
> me with a laser out of his third eye anyway so the world is still safe from
> me gett'n my Karpora gorum on anytime soon. But my point is that movie made
> me think of it, the scenes are sweet and nostalgic for me. (Like that is
> gunna de-blaspehemize the preceding paragraph!)
>
> His meeting with Lynch is doomed from the start. David comes off as the
> opposite of what I thought he would be like from his cool movies. He seems
> like he has lost all sense of irony and moves his fingers non stop in the
> itsy bitsy spider motion that really doesn't work for anyone over 4. I am no
> stranger to how that routine kills for the munchkin set but it doesn't fly
> for adults. He seems as if he is part stepping into Maharishi TM teacher
> mentally-disadvantaged simplicity, combined by having his ass kissed in richy
> rich world for a very long time. It has been a long time since he was not a
> VIP and his movement adulation has had an unpleasant effect. Or maybe he was
> always just a dweeb. He comes off as very uncool, very unaware of how fey he
> comes across. If I had the power I would strip him of his brilliant movie
> Blue Velvet and give the credit to someone who seems as if they could have
> created such a sly masterpiece.
>
> The scenes of Maharishi's funeral are a must see for anyone. They are just
> stunning and the best record of the event I have seen. The Purusha guys
> giddily jumping in the Ganges with his ashes is riveting. That could have
> been me, I would totally have done that when I was all in.
>
> If someone wanted to cut from this section to where he goes to the source of
> the ganges section they would love the movie, even if they were a hard-liner.
>
> He meets with the slightly Jabba the Hut-like Sarooopananda (SP?) who gives
> the elitist bastard perspective on Maharishi's lack of legitimacy. When he
> curls his lip describing Maharishi as a bookkeeper in the ashram I kind of
> want to slug him. Not out of allegiance to Maharishi, but because I am an
> American dammit and Maharishi's tale in the Hollywood treatment (Not by
> David) would be all about the scrappy little (Mickey Rooney would be a
> convincing casting)Baramachari who decided that tradition was not going to
> hold down his dreams of Golden Domes in his hands as well as those buildings
> they fly(NOT) in. (We will get to his paws on Golden Domes later with
> Judith.) So not being a spiritual guy I was struck at how unusual Maharishi
> was to buck the whole freak'n system. It either speaks to his immense
> grandiosity or his being a real self assured dude like Clint Eastwood in any
> of his movies. But one thing for sure, he knew he was flipping the bird to
> Guru Dev's whole traditional system. I am gunna connect this to Nandkashore
> later when he makes a scene with the rajas. Maharishi somehow walked out of
> Joitir Math with a self-confidence that he could do whatever the hell he
> wanted, with no traditional restrictions. It is kind of amazing really. I am
> temped to give him more innovator credit than charlatan shame at this point
> in my life. (Or maybe I should restrict that to this post. I reserve the
> right to go off on him in the future. He did sell it as a traditional
> practice connected to the elitist world of Guru Dev, and that seems suspect
> at best.) But I can't help bu ponder what allowed him to go rogue? Did he
> see through the Guru Dev deal in the end? He must have thought of him in a
> very original way to be willing to do what he did. Fascinating!
>
> So now we get to the big scene where he is filming the Raja's greeting King
> Tony as the successor for the first time and that is fantastic. The movement
> should have been glad he recorded this moment so well. He caught the drama
> of the changing of the guard. And it is all glowy TM celebration
> bullshittery till Nandkashore speaks up and it goes over like a fart in
> church. I met him when he ran the course in Yugoslavia, acting at the time
> like Maharishi's successor, and then he made us teachers so I got to talk
> with him some. The story is that he slept outside Maharishi's door for
> years. He came to the movement very young. He is a bit oddly feminine. His
> love for Maharishi knows no bounds, and I suspect there were many an adoring
> foot rub in their relationship. When he came to give into lectures with
> Purusha guys in DC he talked about the master disciple relationship till they
> put a lid on him. He couldn't help himself. He was the most adoring guy I
> ever met. He adored Maharishi like Maharishi claimed he adored Guru Dev, and
> then he seemed to get passed over in the end tragically. Passed over for
> Tony! This is the most poignant story within a story. After all those years
> of doing everything right (other than being socially bizarre) the succession
> passed him by. No wonder he was a little pissed and wasn't ready to bow to
> the king. And what he said was so innocuous really. He said he only wanted
> to do what Maharishi wanted, even now and would only go along with what he
> believed that was. Give the guy a break Bevan. (insert tasteless fat joke
> here please I don't have the energy as I feel Nandkashore's pain.) The
> overreaction to turn off the cameras was really unnecessary IMO. They were
> so afraid of the movement looking normally human? (As normally human as you
> can get with a room full of Rajas.) It was no big deal. But once again, in
> their lust for the presentation of perfection, they reveal that the movement
> always prefers pretense to reality. So they made a big deal about something
> which really was something honest. It was a family squabble as Bobby Roth
> effectively spun it. And who cares if the other people see it? That
> tendency makes the movement as uncool as David "wiggly fingers" Lynch. They
> just cannot allow themselves to be seen as humans. They are control freaks.
> It was a stupid blunder which they compound by asking to have film edit
> rights on the documentary. Yeah, that could happen, why even ask? So David
> Lynch launches a lawsuit and makes a fuss for no reason except to look like a
> dick.
>
> It was interesting to see our friend Mark Landau and the famous sandals.
> Kinda surreal. If anything he makes Maharishi seem more magical than I can
> relate to, so I don't know why movement types would really care. Taping
> Judith doing her Indian (American) healing stuff didn't really do her any
> favors. But she was pretty chipper about her love affair and it reinforces
> the sense you get from her book about her credibility.
>
> Everyone who has ever had a yoga fantasy of going to the source of the Ganges
> needs to see that part. Complete with my favorite scene with the sadhus he
> meets on the way who know how to party. ( I wont spoil it, the scene is worth
> the whole flick.) The scenes of that part of the world are amazing and it is
> impressive that he made the trek.
>
> I've gone on way too long, if you made it this far, thanks for your
> indulgence. I was just spilling out my thoughts so now I'll try to tighten
> up a bit for the landing.
>
> You gotta see it if you are, or were into TM. David Sieveking delivered the
> goods on a fascinating moment in movement history. He also plays decent
> harmonica a bunch in the film. What's not to like?
>
