Thanks for the clarification. Two points: (1) are they or anybody "actually" Enlightened? (or people like Sathya Sai Baba, Muktananda, Osho,...etc); and (2) What is the significance of this attainment when coupled with moral turpitude or disturning behavior. ... Another question when comparing such persons to traditional Christian "Saints": does it not seem there's a big difference between the persons mentioned (and others); and some of the so-called Saints in terms of (a) moral behavior and (b) demonstration of Sidhis such as levitation and healing. But I hasten to add that demon-possessed persons have been seen to levitate. ... My conclusion: one must examine a variety of factors, all together; before coming to an overall conclusion - lest we become a devotee of somebody like Dr. Lenz simply because he can levitate. ... Besides, in any such discussion, people seem to be premised on a prior but questionable conclusion: that MMY is an "authority" on the subject, especially when it comes to others and the question of morality. .
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote: Don't know about Rhymer, but Maharishi didn't make any public announcements about Robin's enlightenment. It was to an audience of CPs on (I think) an ATR, a comment he made about Robin's own account of what had happened to him a few days previously that everyone present, including Robin, took to be Maharishi's endorsement of his enlightenment. (Plus which, about seven years later Maharishi denied it when Robin forced him to make a recorded deposition in Robin's lawsuit against MIU.) << M said Robin Carlsen and Andy Rhymer were enlightened. >> -------------------------------------------- On Fri, 2/7/14, steve.sundur@... mailto:steve.sundur@... <steve.sundur@... mailto:steve.sundur@...> wrote: Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Raam To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, February 7, 2014, 10:26 PM Speaking for myself, I never felt I was guaranteed enlightenment. Yea, I know all about cc in 5 - 7 years, but I never put much stock in that,nor did I know others who did. Perhaps that was the extent of the misrepresentation, it you're looking for a "smoking gun", at least as far as the "gaining enlightenment" part. Otherwise, I think people got involved either for a vision of possibilities, or because because they were looking for "something", and this seemed to offer some potential. But as for declaring such and such a person as "enlightened", that would appear to be pretty out of place in any tradition I'm familiar with. Spiritual growth is a pretty personal matter, not something you're likely to crow about. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > > Now, wait. This sort of sounds like a set up. I say this because you have always been a proponent of the "these (supposed) states of consciousness are all subjective and can't be proven". So, why would such a declaration be important to you? It wouldn't be the least bit important to me. But you'd think it might be important to Maharishi (who sold this supposed state of consciousness for close to 50 years) to be able to point to even one of his students who embodied it. After all, if he didn't, people might begin to think that the sales pitch was a pile of crap.