it couldn't have been to private if a reporter from the Fairfield Ledger was
there
--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 3/15/14, Share Long <sharelon...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Students inquire about pandits during forum FF
Ledger 3/14/14
To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2014, 6:35 PM
Judy,
that is exactly what I meant about the private point. The
speaker could have used the word personal. Or maybe I'm
just being too picky.
I know that Rick has interviewed Hagelin on BATGAP and
hosted his seminar at SAND. That is to whom I hope Rick
passes on useful feedback from FFL.
And though it was said indirectly, the meeting was private
in that it was only for students and faculty.
On Saturday, March
15, 2014 1:16 PM, "authfri...@yahoo.com"
<authfri...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
What did you mean by
"my suspicions got aroused at that bit about it being
private"? The only thing that was mentioned in the
article as being private was the reason they decided Mishra
had to go back to India. Nothing was said about the meeting
the article reported on being
private.
And you did say you hoped Rick
would pass on what's been said
here.
Why the
misrepresentations, Share?
Judy, at the end
of what Rick posted, someone asked if there could be another
meeting for those who weren't able to attend the first
one. To discuss what happened, etc.
Yes,
I think TMers in town are entitled to such a meeting.
I don't think Rick is
passing on info. However, hopefully decision makers read
FFL. I think good points are raised here.
On Saturday, March 15, 2014 12:27 PM,
"authfriend@..." <authfriend@...> wrote:
Wait. What "next
meeting"? You mean the next meeting they have about
whether to send a pundit back to India, or any pundit
disciplinary matter? What are you talking about? What on
earth makes you
think you'd be entitled to attend such a meeting, let
alone ask questions at it? It's none of your
business.
And to whom do you imagine Rick
would be passing on what's been said here? Who do you
think would be the slightest bit interested?
salyavin, yes, my
suspicions got aroused at that bit about it being private.
I'm hoping the next meeting will be open to people like
me and I'll attend and ask some questions. If not, then
I'm hoping that Rick will pass on what's been said
here.
Just as I told turq that I don't expect
100% certainty, nor do
I expect 100% transparency. But imo, there is progress in
that direction.
On Saturday, March 15, 2014 11:05 AM,
salyavin808 <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
My response to what? I think Yagya's are a
load of crap and I really think everyone involved should
take a long hard look at what they are paying for:
“But
no, they can’t just walk to Walmart. They can walk around
inside their campus; it’s about a square mile. If they
were allowed to go everywhere, the
distractions would no doubt interfere with their study and
reading.”
“We’re
at
the smallest group size now since 2007,” he said.
“We’re under 300 pandits. When the group is larger,
there is more bliss, more wholeness.”
Even Fred Travis agrees with me
that the TMO shouldn't be selling something they
haven't scientifically proved. I don't know what
everyone is finding unreasonable about me pointing out that
fact. If it works, prove it, if it doesn't let the poor
guys go home so they can do something useful with their
lives.
In any case:
“Well, it was
a minority,” said Goldstein. “We have been meeting with
individual groups to find out what happened. We’re not
talking about why.
We want to take action. We did not arbitrarily make the
decision to remove this one leader. It was a decision not
made lightly. But it is private.”
It looks
like a giant step to not telling you anything to
me....
But at least somebody there
asked why they should support it if it doesn't work.
That's what you should be yowzering about. I don't
care what people believe, I'm happy for them to believe
anything at all but when it involves people from other
countries being roped in and caged up, lest they get
"distracted", that's when I start to worry.
Especially when the people doing the hiring are supposedly
devoted to science and finding out what's going on in
the world. I hope people ask more questions about it, not
just about this incident but about
why they are there at all and if it is actually doing them
or yourselves any good at all.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<sharelong60@...> wrote :
Yowza! Talk about transparency! If
this isn't a giant step in the right direction of
healthy transparency, then I don't know what is. turq?
salyavin? I
would be interested in your responses to this.
On Saturday, March 15, 2014 9:35 AM,
Rick Archer <rick@...> wrote:
Students inquire about pandits
during forumWant to know what motivated
violent outburstBy DIANE VANCE | Mar
14, 2014Courtesy of: JOHN
REVOLINSKIThis is an aerial
view of the pandit campus in Maharishi Vedic City. A pandit
is a student of traditional Indian law, rituals and
philosophy. About 250 pandits, mostly from India, live at
the pandit campus
where they meditate and perform Vedic ceremonies with the
aim of making the world more peaceful. On Thursday, students
and faculty of Maharishi University of Management (a
separate entity from the pandit campus) had a chance to ask
questions about the pandits and the incident Tuesday morning
in which a group of pandits attacked Jefferson
County Sheriff Gregg Morton in his patrol vehicle. Morton
was not harmed during the altercation.MAHARISHI VEDIC CITY — Tuesday
morning’s events involving pandits in Maharishi Vedic City
and the Jefferson County Sheriff constituted a perfect storm
that was not anticipated, said John Revolinski,
an administrator of the pandit campus.Revolinski and Bill Goldstein,
spokesman of The Global Country of World Peace that runs the
pandit campus, held a question and answer session for the
Maharishi University of Management community at 3:15 p.m.
Thursday at the dining hall.The meeting was called to address
questions about a large group of pandits that surrounded
Sheriff Gregg Morton’s law enforcement county vehicle,
rocking it, trying to break off side mirrors and threw rocks
that broke a rear window while he was in the
vehicle.Morton called for law enforcement
backup and several agencies responded while more pandits
pushed down an entrance gate on their campus and walked onto
170th Street. Law enforcement stayed
on the scene for a few hours, without further
incident.About 20 people, students,
professors and staff, came and went during the 80-minute
session.One audience member, who lives on
the M.U.M. campus, said he was shocked to learn about the
incident and wanted to know who stands
accountable.“If the pandits are here
specifically for peace, and this happens — where the
county sheriff was at risk of injury — why should I
continue to [financially] support the pandit program””
he asked.Revolinski said he
takes responsibility.“I didn’t call the
sheriff, but other administrators who have been here longer
than I have, recommended the sheriff be called as a
preventive measure,” said Revolinski. “The sheriff was
called one other time, more than a couple years ago. It was
before I became an administrator with the pandits, so I
don’t know the exact time.“The sheriff wasn’t called to
protect us; we did not feel in danger,” he said. “It was
a preventive measure that worked before as a deterrent. The
presence of law enforcement the one other time had been
successful.” Timeline snagThe perfect storm came about when
Tuesday’s schedule went awry.“The administration had decided
one of the pandit leaders had to be removed and sent back to
India,” said Revolinski. “It was decided to pick him up
at 6 a.m. [Tuesday] so it could be done before a lot of
people were up and out. However, we couldn’t locate him
until 6:30 a.m.”Revolinski said seven staff
members were there, including him. The pandit, Vidya Shankar
Mishra, was to get into a van and be driven to
Chicago.“I had to leave the group and
get his passport out of the
office,” said Revolinski. “As I returned, he [Mishra]
was being whisked into the van and it began
driving away. I had to jump in a car and follow to hand-off
the passport. We met up down by the Raj
and I handed over the passport to the
van.”He noted 30 to 50 fellow pandits
gathered at the compound’s front gate as the van with the
leader left.“I never felt threatened,”
said Revolinski.Revolinski said he saw law
enforcement vehicles massing and he drove back to the pandit
compound.“I wasn’t there when the
stone-throwing happened, but I was told about it and I
didn’t realize the seriousness until the sheriff explained
what he’d experienced,” said
Revolinski. One incident in seven
yearsGoldstein, who was not present
either when the stone-throwing occurred, but came to the
pandit campus on the northwest edge of Vedic City later
Tuesday morning, said in the seven years of having the
program here, there had never been such an
incident.A pandit (pronounced pundit) is a
scholar of traditional Indian law, rituals and philosophy.
Pandits begin training in India as small boys sent to an
ashram (a place of study) learning Sanskrit and Vedic
scripture. They spend much of their day meditating and
reciting Sanskrit sounds. They believe their meditations and
Sanskrit recitations contribute to a more peaceful world.
All of the pandits are men and most of them in Maharishi
Vedic City are between
the ages of 20 and 40.“The pandits were upset that one
of their leaders was leaving,” said Goldstein. “We’ve
had more than 2,600 pandits here throughout the seven years.
They have been very well behaved. They are here on a peace
project. We had one unfortunate day.”One M.U.M. student said no one has
heard from the pandits.“It would be interesting to hear
their side,” she said. “Why did it seem reasonable to
them
to take such action?”Goldstein said currently there are
250 pandits in the
compound. It was a minority of the group, estimated to be 40
or 50 pandits that milled out of the compound Tuesday and
engaged in
throwing rocks.“Actually, it was more like
30,” said Revolinski.“Well, it was a minority,”
said Goldstein. “We have been meeting with individual
groups to find out what happened. We’re not talking about
why. We want to take action. We did not arbitrarily make the
decision to remove this one leader. It was a decision not
made lightly. But it is private.” Pandits have a
brotherhoodRevolinski said among the pandits
is a cultural feeling of brotherhood.“Some of these guys have been
together for decades,” he said. “Their group behavior
might not be as shocking for them as it was for
us.“We knew removing one of their
leaders was not a popular move,” said Revolinski.
“Groups can get a group dynamic going and their group
dynamic got out of control.”Revolinski said life is moving on,
and he has witnessed hugs and happiness among the pandits,
but most are embarrassed about the
incident.“They are not dwelling on it,”
said Revolinski. “They got their way.”Administrators decided Tuesday
morning to return
Mishra, the pandit leader on his way to the airport, to the
pandit campus for the time being.Goldstein said the pandits have
rules and while the ideal is to create maximum harmony, they
also have to understand they are accountable for their
actions.“How or why or what consequences
… we are working through that right now,” said
Goldstein. “We are looking at what to
do.” Why did it happen?M.U.M. student Luke Hillis said he
would like to know why the pandits did what they
did.“They didn’t get to say
goodbye to their leader and felt righteous indignation,”
said Revolinski. “Law enforcement was
there.”M.U.M. professor Evan Finkelstein
asked how administrators react to requests from
pandits.“Is the way the administration
interacts with the pandits making the pandits happy?” he
asked. “Are they happy how requests are
handled?”Revolinski said he didn’t know
if the pandits’ actions Tuesday were the result of built
up frustrations.“The amount of money hasn’t
changed over the years, but
inflation in India has risen, so yes,
there might be frustrations, but not with the food,” said
Revolinski.“They have a store on the pandit
campus and each one gets so many credits to spend,” he
said. “They can buy shoes, or a belt or a bag of
chips.”Goldstein said the pandits know
before coming to Iowa what the program set up is
like.“The facilities here are quite
nice, better than in India,” he said.Finkelstein asked if the pandits
throwing rocks have a sense of the negativity about how the
public views the
situation.“They were horrified the media
was there,” said
Revolinski.He said he wanted to post the
newspaper accounts of the incident in the pandits’ area,
to show them community reaction, but others talked him out
of it.“Can we help them understand how
their behavior is looked at?” Finkelstein said. “It
would be responsible for us to help with a reaction in terms
of apologizing to the police and in terms of paying for
damages.”“Let’s not get too patronizing
lecturing
pandits about their lives,” said Goldstein. “They have
given their entire lives to this program
and made great sacrifices to be pandits.“Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi, founder
of the university] appreciated pandits
and was gentle, treating them as precious. This type of
non-verbal behavior may not be as serious in their
culture,” said Goldstein.Another audience member said for
pandits to express dissatisfaction by rock throwing provides
indicates a lack of transparency in the
administration.Goldstein said the program has
layers of administration.“The pandits have their own
administrators, then there’s what we call the Western
administrators [such as Revolinski and others] and the
ultimate authority is the Indian
administrators,” said Goldstein. “The pandits even call
the top pandit in India.“Transparency is one of the
issues, one of
the causes of having to send back the pandit leader
[Mishra],” said Goldstein. “We have to feel all levels
of administration are transparent and
trusted.“While we may think of all the
pandits here as Indian, and they are; it’s a very diverse
country and this group is made up of men from all different
parts of India, speaking different languages,” said
Goldstein. Limited freedomM.U. M. student David George said
the administrators must have been anxious
there would be some unrest or else the sheriff would not
have been called to stand by.“The feeling many students have
is the pandit campus is like a prison,” said George.
“Can you explain why they have limited
freedom?”Maharishi’s instructions were to
not westernize pandits, said Revolinski.“It is like their own world out
there,” he said. “They have their own cultural
festivals. They should feel like they are in
their own ashrams in India.“They do like taking rides and
we try to provide a few
outings and create a supportive
atmosphere.”He pointed out that about half the
pandits at any given time are on a second tour of living in
Vedic
City.“Why would they sign up to
return if they didn’t like it?” he
said.“Would many like to interact
with people more? Of course, they are human. But we do that
to preserve their culture and not Americanize
them.”“Freedom to do what?” asked
Goldstein. “They can leave anytime and we’ll send them
back to India. They are not forced to stay.“We have hundreds to a
thousand here sometimes. How do we logistically take them
all for an outing? We can’t let just one or three have the
privilege.
It’s better for their safety to not roam the countryside.
They are not here as tourists.“They come here to be in Vedic
performances,” said Goldstein. “We provide everything
they need on site. Everything they need is available to them
on their campus. If they have a legitimate need to go to
town, they are allowed.“But no, they can’t just walk
to Walmart. They can walk around inside their campus; it’s
about a square mile. If they were allowed to go everywhere,
the distractions would no doubt interfere with their study
and reading.”Goldstein said each and every
pandit signs a contract in India before
traveling to Iowa. The contract specifies the rate of pay,
$250 per month, with $150 sent back to their families in
India, and the daily program.The Transcendental Meditation
global community believes that more people meditating at the
same time and place have more influence than if people
meditate separately.The pandits meditate during the
day at the same times as others gather in the golden domes
at M.U.M. to meditate, to have a bigger impact of creating
peace and harmony, first in each individual and spreading
out into the community.“Out of all the massive
coherence, how does this [Tuesday’s rock throwing]
happen?” an audience member said, rephrasing the question
on many lips Thursday. “I don’t really expect an answer,
but it’s a quandary I have.”Revolinski said the bigger the
group of pandits, the better
coherence.“We’re at the smallest group
size now since 2007,” he said. “We’re under 300
pandits. When the group is larger, there is more bliss, more
wholeness.”M.U.M. alumni director Anna Maria
Cornell asked if more meetings such as the one Thursday
could be held, because she knew of some people who wanted to
attend and couldn’t.Goldstein said it could be
arranged.“We’re still only a few days
past the incident,” he said. “We are still figuring out
what happened and what to
do.”Revolinski said the financial
costs of repairing the
sheriff’s county vehicle would be handled by the pandit
administration organization.
