---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote :
PSST, Doug! TM is not supposed to be a religion. Why would it need to be practiced religiously? The religious aspect of devotional practise is engaged in by people who don't actually get anything out of it. Appearing to be 100% behind the guru's teaching is a way of saying to the world that you must be enlightened because of how you act and hoping that the real thing will follow someday. It's kind of a belonging thing too. If you are a needy type the TMO provides a strong set of beliefs for you to cling onto among the swirling chaos the rest of us cope with without any problem. On 08/06/2015 04:12 AM, dhamiltony2k5@... mailto:dhamiltony2k5@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: OTP: 'On or off the program' depends a lot on who you are talking with here in Fairfield, Iowa. Meditation and gradations of being 'on or off the program' in Fairfield, Iowa, culturally this works as a nuanced communal question around meditating Fairfield, Iowa. ..Do you meditate [TM] or not? Are you regular in your practice of meditating? Do you do the TM-Siddhis? Regularly? Do you have a valid Dome badge or not? Do you go to the Dome? Are you a re-certified TM teacher, or not? Not? Not? Om no, ..you must be 'off the program'. Context is everything in the judgment. re:419364 Geezer writes: Me: So you were in Chicago seeing another guru? SO off the program! And what, exactly are "serious meditators"? You: 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! back_formore writes: Is there still a "program"? Does "a program" only exist in FF? What is "a program"? It's been so long I don't remember and perhaps "programs" have changed since I was doing anything faintly TM'ish - like 30 years ago. Are you still on "a program"? Re: 'Off the program'. I met a person at the recent Karunamayi silent meditation retreat who at the end of the retreat commented that friends would 'freak out' and be quite 'upset' with this person if they knew this person had come to the retreat. There were a lot of people from the greater NYC/New England area from different spiritual practices and movements at the retreat. I asked this particular individual what they meant and how the 'friends' with their spiritual group would 'language' that this person was coming to a meditation retreat and being with another teacher.. (?) The answer given was there would be a judgment of being “irresponsible” and a “failing in completion” of their personal work as taught by their group. The young Nityananda has been around the NY metro area for some time and has a following there. In contrast this summer this individual went to public meetings with Karunamayi and then Ammachi too in NYC. This person has been part of the Nityananda group for many years, been to India with them, and has a network of long friendships within that group. This person in reflection was saying to others at the meditation retreat to have never had a meditation or experiences like what was going on with the retreat. The Nityananda thing evidently is not meditative and is a lot psychological. Evidently a straying “off the program” was becoming.. 'Irresponsible' and 'Failing in Completion'. ..'Off-the-Program'! or an awakening of sorts. -JaiGuruYou And, the movement hosted a Guru Purnima too in Fairfield. 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
