Apologies to any and all who felt upset by my use of the word vata. And thanks Barry for bringing it to my attention. Hope you all can make allowances for the "new kid on the block." I did make an assumption that others know what vata means. And another assumption that those who didn't and were interested, would either google or ask me.
I also assume that there are those on this forum who don't enjoy my posts, either for content or style or both. I assume that they do what I do in such cases. Skim or skip totally. As for me supposedly believing that ayurveda is the highest form of medicine, at this time I'm taking 6 supplements. ZERO are ayurvedic herbs and one is actually a Chinese herb, which I've used in the past and had great success with. On Monday I had a CAT scan and Tuesday, blood work, both aspects of Western medicine. My actions speak for themselves. Hopefully (-: OTOH, I do quote Maharishi a lot and will probably continue to do so. I very much enjoy his expressions of spiritual teaching. I also enjoy Adyashanti's expressions and sometimes other teachers. But I'm not so familiar with those and consequently don't quote as much. Again, everyone is welcome to skim or skip to their heart's contentment. In addition to being in the Dome, I've also attended Ammachi gatherings. I love to be hugged by her and I enjoy the bhajans. In the past I've participated in something called Waking Down in Mutuality, mainly for the social contact. I don't live in vastu though I have enjoyed being in vastu. I very much enjoy jyotish and read several non TM teachers of that. I also really like Chinese astrology (earth rat) and Western astrology. My point is that not all long term TMers are TBs. To think so is simply a form of prejudice such as has been around as long as there have been humans who disagree with one another. Having a family who does not practice TM, I am well aware that many people think it's weird. Over the years we all have come to more peace about one another's differentness. I don't quote Maharishi to them often. Doesn't fit as well at a Christmas gathering as it does on a spiritual forum. As for flooding the forum, seems to me that can be done with even just ONE post. Finally, some New Age claptrap (another favorite phrase of mine) from Plato maybe. URL provided for those who want to trace quote. Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/29/be-kind/ ________________________________ From: turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 2:43 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] "Maharishisez" (was Re: TV review: "The Newsroom") --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Share Long <sharelong60@...> wrote: > > laughing because vata schmata is something I would say! Glad that you, at least, got that. :-) > Anyway, Ann, I don't know how I can be so Bronze Aged > because I don't know what that means! Aged in a bronze > lined barrel like fine wine or something? As for more > than a little deranged, my vata is often that. But I'm > working on it. My comment was about the tendency of TMers to throw around terms as if 1) everyone knew what they meant, as if 2) everyone agrees that they are meaningful and/or have any relationship to reality, and 3) as if they are actually "saying something" by invoking some a buzzword or buzzphrase taught to them by Maharishi. You have to remember where I'm "coming from," Share. I blew out of the TM movement back during the time when the only "Maharishisez" buzzphrases we had been exposed to and expected to revere as if they were wisdom were: * TM is the best, fastest, and most effective means of gaining enlightenment on the planet. * Any form of concentration during meditation is BAD, contrary to the natural tendency of the mind, and probably evil. * All TMers will achieve Cosmic Consciousness within 5 to 8 years of starting TM. * Stress has something -- anything -- to do with not being enlightened. * If you practice the TM-Sidhis one day you will float in the air, demonstrating real levitation. * If we can get 1% of the world's population to prac- tice TM, we can achieve world peace. (Later downgraded to 1% of 1%, but whatever.) That was pretty much it. Those were the full extent of the Maharishisez Mandates we were expected to believe in and repeat as if they were true. I rejected pretty much ALL of them as invalid within months of leaving the TMO. But now think of all the things I never *was* exposed to, and which modern-day TMers repeat as if they were true, and IMO *only because of "Maharishisez"*: * People practicing the TM-Sidhis in a group emanate such powerful Woo Woo that they can change the weather, reduce crime, and save the world from destruction. * Buildings built according to old Bronze Age super- stitions (which architects point out don't look any- thing like actual Vedic age buildings, and resemble more closely the architecture of the British Raj) are better for you than other, lesser buildings. * Your prosperity and health depend on you living in one of these buildings. This is so important that all major cities in the world (like London and New York) should be torn down to the ground and rebuilt in accordance with these Bronze Age guidelines. * If you enter or leave a building from the wrong direction, Bad Things will happen to you. * Ayurveda is the highest form of medicine, even though we can't show you any scientific proof of this. * Bronze Age descriptions of the different body types are accurate, again even though science doesn't agree. * Astrology is a science, and you should pay the TMO to have your Jyotish chart done so that Bad Things don't happen to you. * Yagyas, in which prayers are chanted and offerings made to Hindu gods, can actually produce results, and are worth the thousands of dollars we charge for them. * TM is *still* not a religion. * England is a scorpion nation and George W. Bush is a rakshasa, but Ferdinand Marcos is a saint. The list goes on and on. My point is that is *has* gone on and on for so long that TMers don't really realize any more how MUCH claptrap and gobbledegook and sheer idiocy they believe and repeat as if it were some kind of cosmic truth in their everyday writing and speech. They actually think this stuff is *normal*. I submit that most of the world disagrees with them. I would bet that if you picked 1000 people at random around the world who had never heard of TM and Maharishi, they would consider *every one of the items on both lists above* to be nonsense, and consider those who believe in them a tad unreliable, if not actually a little crazy. If you wound up telling these doubters WHY people believe all this gobbledegook -- because of the magic word "Maharishisez" -- they'd probably settle on "crazy." I'm just doing what I do here from time to time, and what salyavin and a few others do as well. We point out the *incredible* lapses of discrimination, intelligence, and rational thought that long-term TMers indulge in on a regular basis, so as hopefully to remind them that the things they say and believe are...uh...a little weird. It's FINE to be weird. If you *know* how others outside of the TM Echo Chamber might react to you if you talk and think this way, your language and thought peppered with "Maharishisez" bullshit buzzwords, then IMO you're welcome to continue talking and thinking that way. It's when folks lose sight of how weird this stuff makes them sound to others that I grow concerned for them. > And yes, I do think twice before posting here. If only > to keep track of that dang posting limit. That danged limit is there for a reason. And that reason is still both valid, and necessary. Without it, at least one person on this forum would be flooding it with posts, trying to drown out all other posters with sheer numbers, instead of just with sheer vindictiveness. :-)
