In looking, it seems times are changed noticeably from during the 1990’s and
the 2000’s where organizations of the maha-saints and spiritual teachers were
often fleshed out by TM’ers/ the TM community. Altruistic TM’ers seemed to
have had the ready know-how in training and and experience in volunteering to
help 'make' gurus and spiritual movements then. s/Mothers, chopra, Shri-Shri,
Meera and others. It often used to be that the people up front in these
spiritual organizations were of old TM.
Now in looking it is fairly evident that others have come along in to being
the organizing workhorses of different spiritual movements. You see many fewer
TM’ers up front running things at events or in the crowd or on the organizing
committees. Other folks coming along of more of a middle-age demographic now
do more of the facilitating of the spiritual movements and tours. Also
compared to earlier times some of the groups now have a more solid showing of
the Indo-American community culturally showing up and running things in a way
that was not there so long ago. And there a is now a smattering of spiritually
lit millennials in the crowds. Times change. -JaiGuruYou
Well, met several old TM’ers at these meditations too. Found an old TM
teacher from San Francisco who was at MIU in Santa Barbara meditating here too.
These are long meditations that draw serious meditators to this retreat. Lot
of people and a lot of different paths. New Jersey is far enough rom Iowa that
there are not so many Fairfield meditators that traveled here. Not like last
month in Chicago where there were a few hundred Fairfield meditators at
Ammachi’s meetings or earlier in the year when Fairfield traveled to be with
Mother Meera.
Geezer writes:
I dunno man, that sounds WAY off the program and hardly Dome-worthy!
Went to a Guru Purnima group silent meditation in suburban NJ the other
evening –Summit, Shorthills, Maplewood, Chatam area. Gathering of people from
a couple different yoga studios for an evening meditation as a group. Eclectic
gathering of different mature meditator folks for a nice group silent
meditation. Really nice field effect in an amalgam of some Gurumayi
meditators, chopra meditators, oprah, Quaker, centering, Buddhist, meditators,
and a couple people who learned meditation in recent times through TM center in
the NJ area. Ecumenical silent meditation together in a room for a long
meditation one evening after the workday.
Also Looking in now on a guru Purnima meditation retreat hosted by Karunamayi
also in NJ just across from NYC. About 400 practiced meditators from New
England and Canada with some coming from the West also. Mature eclectic
demographic of practiced meditators for a several day retreat practicing in
long silent meditations as a group. .. it's a nice cultivated spiritual group
effect.
Demographics of both these groups meetings are middle-aged and at least
middle-class. Not many millennials to see in the group though the meditation
retreat does cost money and afforded some time including a weekday workday to
go to, but are not many millennials to be seen. Both groups age-wise were
generally younger (middle-age) than what we more commonly see in our Fairfield
meetings of older greying baby-boom meditators. -JaiGuruYou
