--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Tom Pall <thomas.pall@...> wrote: > > On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 5:44 AM, turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com>wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "at_man_and_brahman" > > <at_man_and_brahman@> wrote: > > > > > > Someone has posted a nearly complete video of the 1975 > > > appearance of Maharishi on Merv Griffin: Grandma Walton, > > > Mary Tyler Moore, and Clint Eastwood. View it now before > > > it is removed, either by the Movement or by Merv Griffin > > > Enterprises. > > > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF3xm-7j3zk > > > > Fascinating. Overcoming my usual disinterest in any > > audio or video of Maharishi, I gave it a look. Because > > I was there (I even found myself in audience shots), I > > was thinking that it might bring back some nostalgia > > for the era, and/or for him. The only thing I wound up > > feeling was an overwhelming sense of "WHAT on earth > > could I have been THINKING to follow this guy for > > so long?" > > > > For me it was like going back and listening to some of > > the music of the late 60s. A little of that music still > > holds up (like Jimi Hendrix). I listen to the rest and > > think "The only thing that explains why I liked this > > stuff is that I was stoned." > > > > Similarly, the only thing that explains to me why I > > ever thought MMY was in the least interesting is that > > I was young and naive and foolish. > > > > It was fun to see Clint again, however. I got to drive > > him around during his visit to L.A. to film this show, > > and have fond memories of that experience to this day. > > > > Seeing Harold Bloomfield -- at-the-time TM poster boy > > who was later arrested for drugging and raping his own > > patients -- not so much of a buzz. Guy was a slimeball, > > even then; no one I knew who had to interact with him > > has any pleasant memories of having had to do so. > > > > Anyway, coming on the heels of watching a similar Beatles > > nostalgia piece in the first part of the George Harrison > > movie, this clip reveals to me that my sense of nostalgia > > is rather selective. Seeing clips of the Beatles does > > nothing for me. Same with seeing clips of Maharishi. I > > don't really regret having been young and naive and > > foolish and spent all that time with him, because I guess > > that if I hadn't I wouldn't be who I am today, and I kinda > > like who I am today. But on another level, all I can do > > is look at the giggling con man and think "What an IDIOT > > I was!" I guess on that level -- and that level alone -- > > I am still learning from him. > > "When I was one-and-twenty > I heard a wise man say, > 'Give crowns and pounds and guineas > But not your heart away; > Give pearls away and rubies > But keep your fancy free.' > But I was one-and-twenty, > No use to talk to me. > > When I was one-and-twenty > I heard him say again, > 'The heart out of the bosom > Was never given in vain; > 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty > And sold for endless rue.' > And I am two-and-twenty, > And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true." -- A.E. Housman
Nice. I guess. I just can't work up any "rue" for MMY. :-) Watching this video and the short clips of MMY from the George Harrison docu were instructive for me. They really are among the only such clips I've seen in years; I've never had the slightest desire to watch any. Same with Rama. I used to still have a box of his audio tapes, but I threw them away in one of my moves, without even opening the box. It's really not that I dislike either Maharishi or Rama. It's that they just don't map to my life in any way these days. On an intellectual level, I can feel grateful for some of the things I learned from them. But on an emotional level, nothing. Nada. Nichevo. Bupkus. Try as I might, I cannot generate the slightest amount of feeling for either of them. It's as if they were a part of my past that has little or no relevance to my present. I've realized lately that this places me somewhat at odds to many people who also studied with them, both here and on the Rama-oriented forum I was active in a few weeks ago but that I've now given up on. For many of the people I "meet" here, or there, their "inner connection" with MMY or Rama seems to be as strong as it ever was. Many still consider themselves AS the students of these teachers. Others still get bhaktied-out and all sappy emotional when remembering them or talking about them. I don't. For me remembering or talking about either is a lot like remembering or talking about a teacher or old friend I had back in college, whom I lost touch with somewhere along the Way and haven't really thought about much in the years *since* losing touch. In terms of a "relationship," there is simply no there there. The connections I think of as relationships are with real, live people in my real life today. For whatever reason, I just don't find myself resonating overmuch with the past. And I don't really feel bad about this. So *many* people on spiritual paths seem to be so immersed in the past and so unable to shake it off. Sometimes I may come across as not respecting this, let alone admiring it, but watching these clips recently have clued me in to more what I'm really feeling. It's that I can't identify with it or comprehend it, because I've never done this. It was never an attempt to "try to forget" any former teacher like Maharishi or Rama; that was never necessary. It was more like when I walked away from them physically, any emotional connection with them followed suit. Out of sight, out of mind. I have no idea whether this is a good thing or a bad thing or something in between; it's just what is. Go figure.
