[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[curtisdeltablues]

> But you see Curtis, lots of animals are now being born as humans.
What do
> you think is happening to all those species going extinct? I clearly
> remember a past life as a dodo bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo

I am spending my current incarnation as a dodo bird!


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Behalf Of curtisdeltablues
> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 8:10 AM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous
> Incarnations
> 
>  
> 
> " I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> > that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> > guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> > that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> > *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> > scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors? :-)"
> 
> Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more people
> alive today than any time in history. (Let me guess, other planets
> with people on them waiting to get on to earth?) I guess the people
> who remember their past lives just happen to come from here. But with
> only one billion estimated in 1802 in the world, our current 6 bill
> makes the odds that only those people remember not one but often many
> past lives pretty far out doesn't it? 
> 
> But you see Curtis, lots of animals are now being born as humans.
What do
> you think is happening to all those species going extinct? I clearly
> remember a past life as a dodo bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: What Does The self Fear Most?

[jim_flanegin]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Edg,
> 
> Happy that you got off on my rap enough to write
> all this, and happy that it made you happy to
> write it. But you're still selling, and I'm not
> a prospective buyer. I was just walking through
> the market digging all the sights and sounds and
> wandered past your booth.  :-)
> 
> I would never be so silly as to believe that there
> was such a thing as "one truth," let alone try to
> express it. I'll leave that to you...
> 
> Unc
> 
You're all heart.:-)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[lurkernomore20002000]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 Each day is a new life, a new beginning, a new chance to look at
> things freshly, a new opprotunity to be free of "yesterday's stuff".
> The "life" I lived 30 years ago is quite different from my recent and
> current lives.

That's your name.

lurk
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[new . morning]

I have had at least 18,000 or so past lives. I remember many of them,
some sort of blur together. Some totally forgotten. Some are quite
similar, others are as different as day an night.

Each day is a new life, a new beginning, a new chance to look at
things freshly, a new opprotunity to be free of "yesterday's stuff".
The "life" I lived 30 years ago is quite different from my recent and
current lives.

Re: [FairfieldLife] FFL Unresponsive

[Bhairitu]

Since I just switched to AT&T Yahoo DSL from Earthlink I shouldn't get 
anymore hard bounces unless they think their own servers are gone.  ;-)

Vaj wrote:
> Yes, it's on again off again kinda thing. I often lose my email due to 
> "bounced" emails for some reason.
>
> On Jun 8, 2007, at 2:11 PM, Rick Archer wrote:
>
>> A new member signed up several days ago and at first opted to get the 
>> daily digest but then changed it to individual emails, but she’s 
>> still not getting individual emails. Another member went on vacation 
>> and changed his setting several days ago to “no emails,” yet he’s 
>> still getting individual emails. Are others experiencing problems 
>> like this? Is this typical?
>
>



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Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[Peter]

I did a process through the art of living (SSRS) that
helps you unstress impressions from previous
lifetimes. It was pretty interesting. The past lives
that came up were a roman general (I was involved in
logistics and troop support, not direct combat.) I
died of a heart attack in that one. I worked on the
pyramids as a physical laborer, but I was mentally
retarded (I'm serious!) and died at 18 from falling
off a large stone block and fracturing my skull. I
lived a long life in Norway in the mid 1800's the son
of a wealthy land owner. In that lifetime my current
father was my son who drowned when he was 10 and my
daughter is now my wife (I know, Freud would have a
field day with those dynamics) I was also Rick Archer
in a previous life and in a future life I'm going to
be Curtis!

--- emptybill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Helen Wambaugh did a lot of data gathering using a
> simple 
> recollection technique in large groups over a couple
> of years. She 
> obtained past-life recall memories for 30,000+
> people. The 
> overwhelming response she catalogued does not fit
> our usual 
> prejudgments bases upon the self-deluded musings of
> the new-agers we 
> all have met.
> 
> Based upon her data, very few people experienced any
> historically 
> relevant lifetime and of those who did, they usually
> were only 
> accessories to people with power or influence. The
> mass totality were 
> typically simple folk - village dwellers or farmers
> of various kinds.
> 
> empty
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> wrote:
> >
>  In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB
> wrote:
> > > I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to
> claim
> > > that they were *famous* people in the past.
> > > Wasn't anyone ever the scullery maids and the
> cooks and 
> thejanitors?  :-)
> > >
> 
> snip
> 
> > Thanks for opening up an interesting topic. I
> share your skepticism 
> > and that of others that somehow we were all famous
> people in a past 
> life-there weren't that many of them for one thing,
> maybe 10,000 on 
> the outside, throughout history. Also, many people
> in the past either 
> thought they would be famous and now are not, or
> vice versa.
> > 
> 
> snip
> 
> > And I am positive I was mostly one of the unwashed
> and forgotten 
> masses doing menial work during the majority of my
> near countless 
> past lives. :-)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To subscribe, send a message to:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> Or go to: 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/
> and click 'Join This Group!' 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> 
> 




  
___
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[FairfieldLife] Watch the video trailer for Michael Moore's SiCKO

[do.rflex]

SiCKO Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJyyyRYbSk

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[martyboi]

I know someone who claims he is sometimes aware of living several 
lives simultaneously right now - and sometimes there's even a little 
leakage, so that he has trouble keeping it all sorted. Did that 
event happen to the me in this body, or to the me in another one of 
the bodies?

So perhaps, whatever it is that reincarnates - takes on several 
bodies at a time. Having a single incarnation at a time seems a 
little inefficient in a grand universe like this anyway.

>From the point of view of the Self, there's only one soul 
reincarnating as everyone anyway! 

Everyone was (is) somebody special!


"Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more 
people
> alive today than any time in history. >

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[emptybill]

Helen Wambaugh did a lot of data gathering using a simple 
recollection technique in large groups over a couple of years. She 
obtained past-life recall memories for 30,000+ people. The 
overwhelming response she catalogued does not fit our usual 
prejudgments bases upon the self-deluded musings of the new-agers we 
all have met.

Based upon her data, very few people experienced any historically 
relevant lifetime and of those who did, they usually were only 
accessories to people with power or influence. The mass totality were 
typically simple folk - village dwellers or farmers of various kinds.

empty


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:
>
 In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB wrote:
> > I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> > that they were *famous* people in the past.
> > Wasn't anyone ever the scullery maids and the cooks and 
thejanitors?  :-)
> >

snip

> Thanks for opening up an interesting topic. I share your skepticism 
> and that of others that somehow we were all famous people in a past 
life-there weren't that many of them for one thing, maybe 10,000 on 
the outside, throughout history. Also, many people in the past either 
thought they would be famous and now are not, or vice versa.
> 

snip

> And I am positive I was mostly one of the unwashed and forgotten 
masses doing menial work during the majority of my near countless 
past lives. :-)

[FairfieldLife] Bill O'Reilly and "karma"

[shempmcgurk]

I watched O'Reilly's show this week and during one of his "talking 
points" segments he was talking about someone who had done something 
wrong -- I forget who, perhaps it was Paris Hilton and her DUI -- and 
he used the term "karma" to explain that whatever is befalling that 
person was his or her "karma".

What struck me as a result of this was how far the term had edged its 
way into everyday American lexicon, for if someone as, shall we say, 
right-wing as O'Reilly was using it then pretty much everyone would be.

Of course, "karma" is virtually the same as the Judeo-Christian concept 
of "as ye sow so shall ye reap" and as a strictly practical matter the 
former with two syllables is a much more succinct way of saying the 
latter, worth 6 syllables of energy.  And the English language doesn't 
have a one-word summary-word like "karma" that sums up the whole As Ye 
Sow concept, so it's perfectly natural that "karma" has become part of 
our language.

[FairfieldLife] Re: question for the Buddhists

[t3rinity]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Like Chogyam Trungpa before
> him, Sogyal Rinpoche seems to be capable of being
> very human while writing some of the best Buddhist
> teachings going. His "The Tibetan Book of Living
> and Dying" is an absolute classic. Go figure.

That book was largely edited by Andrew Harvey, who is a very good
writer himself. Andrew to me once complained (when we still were
close) that Sogyal didn't properly attribute the editing to him in the
book, while he did the most work, making the book out of his lectures,
but just mentioned him, while making his disciple the main editor. I
do think that some good writing craft is part of the success of the
book, and that needed more than just a good disciple editor.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[emptybill]

If you go back and follow your link to the wiki page, then go down to 
the last three (3) lines just above the references section at the 
bottom, you will see the following information:

According to 2002 data:[14]
·   The number who have ever been born is 106,456,000,000 
·   The world population in mid-2002 was …..6,215,000,000 
·   The percentage of those ever born who were living in
2002 was 5.8%

If accurate, that means there are plenty of jivas to hang out here - 
too many in fact. 

As denizens of modernity, one of our problems in evaluating such 
possibilities is that our cosmologies are extremely truncated. We 
think in terms of course materiality when in fact Indic metaphysics 
and cosmology (particularly hindu and buddhist) consider matter to be 
as much a qualitative value as it is a quantitative measure using the 
gross senses. The word "loka" is usually translated as *world* but 
actually means *locale*. In this view, the physical solar system is 
only the gross mapping of our locale at the level closest to our 
physical sense organs. The local universe of Bhu-mandala is therefore 
considered immense when compared to the standard model.

A possible follow up question may also be
intriquing - where are the other 100+ billion jivas?

empty


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> " I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> > that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> > guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> > that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> > *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> > scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors?  :-)"
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Guru Dev's deathbed instructions to Maharishi . . .

[t3rinity]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> Thanks, very interesting. What is you email adress ?
>
My nick is also my Yahoo-identity - send an email there.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[bob_brigante]

One of Patanjali's sutras (not one of the sutras taught by the TMO 
currently) is about knowing past lives:

III. 18.

By the practice of the threefold discipline on the inherent tendencies, 
and by the direct perception of such tendencies, knowledge of previous 
existence arises.

http://www.dailyreadings.com/ys3-2.htm

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[John]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> TurquoiseB wrote:
> > 
> >
> > Or, for that matter, if you've got some idea who *you*
> > might have been in a previous incarnation, do tell. 
> How do you know that it isn't genetic memory (if there is such a 
thing) 
> or a "past life" non genetic.  For instance if you somehow wound up 
with 
> talents your parents didn't have and believed that it came from a 
past 
> life and then discovered your great great grandfather also was a 
master 
> in that field it could be genetic.  Maybe we are able to remember 
some 
> of the experiences our ancestors had.  When teaching music I would 
have 
> an occasional student with extraordinary abilities when neither 
parent 
> were musically inclined.  At the time I had to credit that to 
reincarnation.
> 
> I may well have studied tantra in a past life as I seem to have 
come 
> into this one with some techniques that I didn't know were tantric 
until 
> I learned tantra.   And know at least to what I've been able to 
> ascertain of my ancestors non of them learned tantra. :)
> 
> There is also an interesting theory about reincarnation that when 
one 
> dies the atoms scatter and creatures when born pick up these atoms 
and 
> they are what are giving one the sensation of a "past life."
>

Your idea of genetic memory sounds logical to me, although I'm still 
awed by the possibilities of reincarnation.  The human DNA structure 
is complex and IMHO can contain strains of abilities acquired by 
one's ancestors.

Given that humans have lived on this earth for millions of years, it 
is safe to assume that all of us are related to one another in one 
way or another.  For example, I've read on National Geographic a few 
years ago about a well preserved mummy that was found in present day 
China.  The mummy was not Asian and appeared to look like a Celtic 
woman, with the acouterments similar to those found in Europe.

Nonetheless, I'm still fascinated by the idea of reincarnation, 
especially from those who claim to be from another planet or 
universe.  For instance, there is a story in Shrimad Bhagavatam of a 
man who claimed to have been an exalted being from Ghandarva loka. He 
said that he was punished by the prajapatis (executives of the 
universe) to live a life of sudra in his next life because he enjoyed 
the association of many beautiful women and sang the wrong tune 
during the adoration (kirtan) of Vishnu.

Further, along this line of thought, I'm currently entertaining the 
possibility that Atlantis, as Edgar Cayce had described it, might 
have existed from another day of Brahma, which translates to millions 
and millions of earth years.  This is the reason why we cannot find 
any current evidence of a civilization that equaled those achieved by 
the people of Atlantis.

This Atlantean civilization supposedly was more sophisticated than 
the most developed countries currently on earth.  The Atlanteans had 
flying machines and harnessed nuclear power.  Unfortunately, they 
misused this power through wars and destroyed their own civilization 
in the end.

Is this history being repeated again in the 21st century (CE)?

  

[FairfieldLife] Re: question for the Buddhists

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Kenny H" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Hi There, I have a question for you. The author of the book, "The
> Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" is Sogyal Rinpoche. Is this his
> actual name and if you looked him up in an index would his name be
> listed as:
> 
> Rinpoche, Sogyal
> 
> or is one of these words/names a title?
> 
> Thank you!!

'Rinpoche' is a title, meaning 'precious one.' It
has far less of a meaning in the West than in a
strong, structured Tibetan tradition. In many
such traditions, one really has to *earn* the
title of 'Rinpoche,' and it would be considered
an affront of the highest order to call yourself
'Rinpoche' without having deserved the title.
Flash forward to the West, where no one has much
of any idea about the traditions in question, and
anyone can call themselves what they want. 

So. Are there people out there on the spiritual
smorgasbord circuit who call themselves 'Rinpoche'
who never did anything to deserve the title? You
betcha. Is Sogyal Rinpoche one of them? I don't
think so. His title seems to have been well-
earned; AFAIK he's a legitimate Tibetan Dzogchen 
master of the Nyingma tradition. His organization,
Rigpa, is worldwide; there are even branches near
where I live in France.

That said, he has not been above controversy him-
self, having been accused in 1994 by a female 
devotee of having coerced her into a sexual rela-
tionship with him. One blogger, who runs a site
called the Integral Options Cafe, refers to him
as "a perfect example of a flawed man who was still 
a valuable teacher." Like Chogyam Trungpa before
him, Sogyal Rinpoche seems to be capable of being
very human while writing some of the best Buddhist
teachings going. His "The Tibetan Book of Living
and Dying" is an absolute classic. Go figure.

[FairfieldLife] question for the Buddhists

[Kenny H]

Hi There, I have a question for you. The author of the book, "The
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" is Sogyal Rinpoche. Is this his
actual name and if you looked him up in an index would his name be
listed as:

Rinpoche, Sogyal

or is one of these words/names a title?

Thank you!!

Ken

[FairfieldLife] Re: The Valley of the Saints

[Richard J. Williams]

> > Then, I told Ned Wynn and Rick Stanley. Later, I made a 
> > mistake and took Allen Ginsberg to see the Maharishi at 
> > Helen's (Helen Olsen, 'A Hermit in the House', Donnelley 
> > 1971). Maharishi warned Allen about LSD and told him that 
> > recently half a dozen hippies had come to his room and 
> > that they smelled so bad that he told them to go into 
> > the garden.
> >
Shemp McGurk wrote:
> Who is the "I" in your paragraph above?  
>
Me. But I haven't talked to you in about four years since 
Judy waxed you real good over on A.M.T. and you split with
your tail between your legs. What's up with that?

> You?
>
Who do you think I was talking about - Lon P. Stacks or 
Victoria Bonds? I've been pretty busy myself latley packing 
for my move to the Upper Kashi.
 
> Because Allen Ginsberg didn't meet Maharishi at Helen's 
> house in Los Angeles, as you claim above, but in London:
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/2v2em5
>
Maybe so. 

Apparently Allen was in London in February 1968, but he 
was in Los Angeles, California in January 1967. I took 
Allen to see the Marshy at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
The next night we went to see the Fuggs. Allen was shaking 
all over, afraid that the feds were going to arrest him any 
minute, so I suggested we meditate in the back yard with
the Marshy. 

About a week later I taught Allen how to meditate when 
we were on a flight to San Francisco to work with Doug Sahm.
Allen called for me at the stage door of the Cow Palace.  
Sahm was playing a concert there with the Jefferson Airplane. 
Later that night I taught Allen how to chant the Hare 
Krishna mantra in Mike Love's hotel room at the Airport 
Holiday Inn. 

"When he arrived for a short stay before returning to India, 
he was given a hero's welcome, and was greeted by a couple 
of thousand people at Los Angeles International Airport. He 
gave a lecture at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, which 
was full to the bursting point, and is said to have met 
prominent muscians such as Mick Jagger and members of the 
Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Everywhere he went, 
he spoke to packed houses, extolling the power of the young 
generation to turn the wortld on to his meditation" (Mason 125).

Source:

'The Maharishi'
By Paul Mason
Element Books, 1994

According to Ned Wynn, the author of "We Will Always Live 
in Beverly Hills", I was one of the biggest drug dealers 
in Hollywood at one time. I gave drugs of all kinds, 
including Pharmaceutical Methadone to all the rock bands 
including the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and 
Jim Morrison and the Doors, just to name a few. Except I 
never took any drugs myself - I've always been a Tequila 
man, chased with Mescal.

According to Ned, I once gave a lid to Bob Dylan at a 
motel downtown and gave a tab to Timothy Leary backstage 
at a Donovan concert. Every time that the Rolling Stones 
came to town they called me for drugs and hookers. At one 
time, according to Ned, I was the most valuable player 
in town! I drove a flashy car and I had a big fat wallet 
full of cash. According to Ned, I used to have four wives, 
one of whom was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian Princess.

That is, until I met the Maharishi at Mother Olsen's house 
and discovered TM in her back yard. I got enlightened on 
the spot. From that moment on I passed out leaflets for 
the Maharishi promising enlightement in about 5-7 years, 
instead of passing out LSD. According to Ned, it was I 
who helped the Maharishi write his Commenatary on the 
Bhagavad Gita up at Lake Arrowhead, along with Debbie 
Jarvis.

I told Allen Ginsberg and Rick Stanley all about TM and 
he told Ned Wynn; I told Ray Manzerek and Mike Love, 
Jackson Brown and John Kay and they all started TM becasue 
I told them that it was better than any drug. I even 
introduced Allen Ginsburg to the Maharishi, big mistake.

According to Ned Wynn, I was instrumental in getting the 
Maharishi to start Maharishi Ayer-Veda! I coined the phrase 
TM and SCI and helped found MIU in 1971 in Santa Barbara 
with Robert Kieth Wallace. According to Ned, I used to 
drive Jerry Jarvis to lectures all over California and 
I helped him found SIMS in 1965. According to Beaulah 
Smith I was TM initiate #212 in the U.S. and one of the 
first TMers in California, right after Nancy Cooke de 
Herrera.

You've read her book, right?

I didn't think so, but since you're so intersted in 
my story, you can read more about me in another popular 
paperback book by Martin Ebon which was  entitled 
"Maharishi, His Life/His Times/His Teachings/His Impact", 
which I helped him edit.

The soft cover edition of this book is very rare and 
has an oval black and white likeness of Maharishi on 
the cover, a photo which was taken by me at the Olsons' 
house in 1964. Inside, on the frontispiece it says: 
"Martin Ebon has compiled a fascinating record of this 
phenomenal Hindu monk - his life, his work, his impact."

Included in the book is an interview with two of the 
Beatle

[FairfieldLife] Re: What Does The self Fear Most?

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Marek Reavis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Turq, excellent points (below) and I feel that both Edg and you 
> are both following Basho's point of seeking what the "men of old" 
> sought.  
> 
> What makes both Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta different (IMO) 
> from other teachers, Maharishi included, is that they both 
> emphasize the seeker's own immediacy and self-sufficiency in 
> sadhana as opposed to intermediaries (either by technique, 
> teacher, or ritual).  Essentially they both say "you've got 
> two good legs right underneath you; now walk over in that 
> direction and you'll find what you'll find", whereas
> other teachings (just to arbitrarily over-generalize) 
> emphasize the "follow me and walk this way" approach, 
> ("mind the thornbushes over there; nice view right about 
> here, etc.").

I completely agree. I like that about both of these
guys a great deal, and I also like the tendency to
*not* see the seeker as someone who is "broken" and
who needs to be "fixed" to realize their enlighten-
ment. That had an *immediate* resonance for me when
I first encountered their thinking; I had far more
resonance for it than I'd had for the I-spiritual-
teacher-you-peon-do-what-I-say-and-follow-me model.

> It's my feeling, congruent with whatever experience I've 
> had, that either approach *does* lead to the same place 
> (as Doctor Bronner says, "All One") but I'm not really 
> concerned whether or not that's true or real or universal, 
> and I'm certainly not concerned in convincing anyone of 
> that either.  

Gotta agree there. If they don't lead to the same
place, they lead to two somewheres that look enough
alike so that travelers who have gone there can
talk about their respective experiences over a beer
or two and understand each other.

> Similarly, it doesn't seem to me that you and Edg are on 
> different sides of the issue; or if you are, it's the two
> sides of the same coin.

Yup. And in my case, the coin is still in mid-flip.
I don't see it as coming down on *any* side of the
coin anytime soon, at least not soon enough to 
settle any side bets made on "heads or tails."  :-)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[Janet Luise]

> Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more people
> alive today than any time in history. (Let me guess, other planets
> with people on them waiting to get on to earth?) 

Yes,
Meher Baba said there were so many more people on earth now because
they wanted to be on earth at the same time as his incarnation.
 According to him there are 3 types of planets that people are
evolving on.  100% intellect - 0% heart, 75% intellect - 25% heart and
an EARTH 50% of both.Earth is the only place one can get
God Realization 
  (& if we succeed in destroying this earth, the next one
  is only 2/3s or 3/4 finished so everything will just have
  to wait until it's ready)
People from those other places really weren't quite ready for earth
but have come here and ARE responsible for those overly scientific
inventions that we can't quite handle.

For anyone doing longtime rounding with the TM technique I don't see
how you could NOT unstress past live experiences.  But it's like
counting your freckles or hairs on your head — not that useful a pasttime!

And having said that, let me talk abou them!
When the Sidhi program first started the flying room was FULL of NOISE
as past live stresses came out.   If anyone in German wondered why
some people were strictly SIMS (Students IMS) and other WYMS (World
Youth MS) the flying rooms gave the answer.  WYMS Germans were the
ones saying "Sieg Heil"  & other WWII language noise.   A strong
German lady I know used to agonize in the flying room.  "Die elefanten
sind en rustchen gekommen"  The elephants are sliding —based on the
horendous task of Hannibal getting getting elephants over the Alps to
fight ROME.
And I'd sure volunteer my ex as being General Patton! (but that's
archetypal)
I remember almost every great Philosopher, Poet, Scientist in Germany
being claimed by SOME teacher of TM...  

I've unstressed well over 100 past lives & only one was even slightly
famous but
I can think of several reasons for people thinking they had been
famous people.

1. insanity
2. egotism (disease of individualized consciousness)

3. Archetypes  -  Some famous person like Napolean stands for the
archetype you're working on right now so you think I WAS that person.
Interesting
http://www.herowithin.com/arch101.html

4.  From the CLAN of,  or in the area at the same time as some famous one
If you lived under the protection of the CAMPBELL CLAN for instance
you might identify yourself with the head of them however you were
related.

5. Clear experiences of past impressions 

[FairfieldLife] Re: What Does The self Fear Most?

[Marek Reavis]

Turq, excellent points (below) and I feel that both Edg and you are
both following Basho's point of seeking what the "men of old" sought.  

What makes both Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta different (IMO) from
other teachers, Maharishi included, is that they both emphasize the
seeker's own immediacy and self-sufficiency in sadhana as opposed to
intermediaries (either by technique, teacher, or ritual).  Essentially
they both say "you've got two good legs right underneath you; now walk
over in that direction and you'll find what you'll find", whereas
other teachings (just to arbitrarily over-generalize) emphasize the
"follow me and walk this way" approach, ("mind the thornbushes over
there; nice view right about here, etc.").

It's my feeling, congruent with whatever experience I've had, that
either approach *does* lead to the same place (as Doctor Bronner says,
"All One") but I'm not really concerned whether or not that's true or
real or universal, and I'm certainly not concerned in convincing
anyone of that either.  Similarly, it doesn't seem to me that you and
Edg are on different sides of the issue; or if you are, it's the two
sides of the same coin.

The great majority of folks who post on FFL (and I suspect those who
lurk here, as well), are Westerners who, despite our stints as
disciples in the Eastern tradition, are just too steeped in the
Western *ideals* of individualism and eclecticism to remain lockstep
followers of any teaching or teacher forever, even though we may have
developed a lasting taste for Indian food and/or Hindu Gods.  That's
neither a good thing or a bad thing; just is what it is.  For whatever
reason we were tinderbox-dry proto-seekers when we first heard of
Maharishi or Yogananda or Krishnamurti or meditation or yoga or
whatever the spark was that ignited the wildfire of interest in and
dedication to the idea of self-realization that we all succumbed to in
our youth.  

This phase of the world meditation movement, however, strikes me as
being far more interesting (and substantial) than the heady time of
World Plans and Merv Griffin mass initiations.  There are so many
people living in the world right now, going about their everyday
lives, who have been lastingly infected with not only the *idea* of
self-realization, but actually have had first-hand experience with
techniques that, at the very least, facilitate self-inquiry and
self-exploration.  Regardless of how long or how well they meditated,
millions and tens of millions of people have purposefully sat down,
closed their eyes, and looked into the self at some point in their
lives.  That's just way cool.  And important, too, or so I feel.

Really appreciate the dialoque, thanks.

**

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Just to finish up from last week, just for the fun
> of playing with ideas, *not* to argue or claim the
> "rightness" or "superiority" of those ideas or 
> anything like that. The "short version" is:
> 
> Thanks but no thanks on Ramana, Edg. I've read him 
> before, and there was no strong resonance for me 
> there. For one reason, I'm more into saturating my 
> self with its *own* ideas (poor as they may be) 
> these days than with other people's, and second 
> because I honestly believe that most Advaita I have 
> read's ideas are based on an unchallenged basic 
> assumption that, in my opinion, renders anything 
> based upon that assumption suspect. But thanks for 
> the suggestion, and for the fervor of your post.
> 
> Longer version below, just for fun...
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung  wrote:
> >
> > Turq,
> > 
> > I wish I had the writing skills to do what I want to do in 
> > this post.  
> > 
> > But, NO ONE has such skills.  
> 
> I'm not convinced it's even *about* writing skills.
> 
> > All the scriptures of the world were written by the smartest 
> > folks possible...
> 
> That's an issue on which we shall have to agree to
> disagree. I find that many of them were written by
> uptight, life-averse recluses who wanted to convince
> others to live just like them, terrified of the world
> in which they dwelled.  :-)
> 
> > ...and none of them ever produced anything in text that would,
> > you know, pick one's soul up like a crying toddler and, just 
> > with a whisper or two to the intellect, free one FOREVER.  
> 
> I would go so far as to say that the same is true of
> spiritual teachers. IMO not one of them in history has
> ever had that power, or that effect. Realization 
> happens on its own, and those to whom it happens may
> *attribute* it to the particular spiritual teacher 
> they work with, but I'm not convinced it happens that 
> way. It's like the olde Indian metaphor of the crow 
> and the coconut. The crow lands on a branch of the 
> palm tree and a coconut falls from another branch 
> of the same tree. Is there a cause-and-effect 
> relationship between the two events? Well, the answer 
> is "not necessarily." There is

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[jim_flanegin]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin"  
wrote:
> >
> > And I am positive I was mostly one of the unwashed and forgotten 
> > masses doing menial work during the majority of my near countless 
> > past lives.:-)
> 
> And this life is different? :)
>
Well the money's better, and I do have indoor plumbing...:-)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Reversal of subtle pranas key to transcending...

[jim_flanegin]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rory Goff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
> > It's not necessarily a good thing to confuse future-self and 
present- 
> > self.
> 
> See, this was part of the Awakening for me -- That Awakening to 
> viscerally realize That is the container of time and space, of the 
> illusion of evolution itself. Where it counts, time and space 
don't. As 
> the I I had been identifying with grew ever closer to surrendering 
to 
> the ever-present That, it became progressively more infuriated. It 
> became more and more clear that That is realizable only on That's 
> terms, not on the terms of the co-dependent arising llusion's. 

yeah, I found my stories were growing encyclopedic in length and 
depth before they all fell apart. No one else was buying into them 
either. It was also really hard to do meditation since everytime I 
emerged from it, I was that much closer to the awakening reality I 
kept trying to deny. Oh well, so much for death, eh?:-)
 
> 
> Obviously utter emptifulfillment lies in That, and only in That, 
and in 
> the surrender of the illusion into That, but to enter That, I 
cannot be 
> particularly special in That. I cannot be particularly unique in 
That. 
> I cannot be particularly esoteric in That. I cannot 
have "achieved" 
> anything at all in That. I can only be utterly ordinary in That, 
so 
> unspeakably ordinary as to be as ungraspable as That Thatself. 
This 
> emptifulfillment was rightly seen as a death-wound to (and by) the 
> codependent arising illusion. 
> 
> In His paradoxical embodiment of the sublime and the ridiculous, 
the 
> divine and the demonic, the special and the ordinary, MMY dealt me 
the 
> coup-de-grace, but His sword was so sharp that I had time to walk 
away, 
> time to weep and rage at the exquisite agony, before my head fell 
off.
> 
> Not the Teaching I expected, not the Awakening I imagined, but 
instead, 
> the coup de grace -- the Cut of Grace. That's what severed the 
outward-
> reaching ties of body, prana, mind, and Soul. The Cut of Grace, 
the 
> Graceful Cut. He had the Grace to put me out of my misery. 
> 
> :-)
>
Yes, completely unexpected and unimaginable at the time, and yet 
obviously perfect after the fact, for as you say, the Reality (vs 
the illusion) was/is in charge. 

PS I had always imagined a steady, orderly pregression through the 
seven states of consciousness as defined, ticking off each symptom 
in turn, then...ta da! Liberation- the angels sing, the lights go up 
and lo, I am enlightened!! 

Instead it was more like wearing a blindfold from the backseat 
inside a speeding car, rocked from side to side, occasionally 
tilting my head back to peer down my nose at a slit of sight out the 
window, glimpsing higher states, moving through dark tunnels and 
around blind curves, until the car crashed or evaporated or became 
me or something and I was left to blissfully exclaim, "Eureka!" :-)

Re: [FairfieldLife] Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[Bhairitu]

TurquoiseB wrote:
> 
>
> Or, for that matter, if you've got some idea who *you*
> might have been in a previous incarnation, do tell. 
How do you know that it isn't genetic memory (if there is such a thing) 
or a "past life" non genetic.  For instance if you somehow wound up with 
talents your parents didn't have and believed that it came from a past 
life and then discovered your great great grandfather also was a master 
in that field it could be genetic.  Maybe we are able to remember some 
of the experiences our ancestors had.  When teaching music I would have 
an occasional student with extraordinary abilities when neither parent 
were musically inclined.  At the time I had to credit that to reincarnation.

I may well have studied tantra in a past life as I seem to have come 
into this one with some techniques that I didn't know were tantric until 
I learned tantra.   And know at least to what I've been able to 
ascertain of my ancestors non of them learned tantra. :)

There is also an interesting theory about reincarnation that when one 
dies the atoms scatter and creatures when born pick up these atoms and 
they are what are giving one the sensation of a "past life."

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[new . morning]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> And I am positive I was mostly one of the unwashed and forgotten 
> masses doing menial work during the majority of my near countless 
> past lives.:-)

And this life is different? :)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[jim_flanegin]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
> I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors?  :-)
>
Thanks for opening up an interesting topic. I share your skepticism 
and that of others that somehow we were all famous people in a past 
life- there weren't that many of them for one thing, maybe 10,000 on 
the outside, throughout history. Also, many people in the past 
either thought they would be famous and now are not, or vice versa.

The only few things I know about my past lives is that:
1. for one or more I was Asian.
2. I was an artist, possibly in my last life.
3. I had some training in some sort of meditation in one or more 
lives.
4. I died from falling from a great height in a past life, also 
possibly my last one, or in several. 
5. I was alive in the roaring 20's.
6. I was an an american indian at least once.

And I am positive I was mostly one of the unwashed and forgotten 
masses doing menial work during the majority of my near countless 
past lives.:-)

RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[Rick Archer]

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of curtisdeltablues
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 8:10 AM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous
Incarnations

 

" I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors? :-)"

Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more people
alive today than any time in history. (Let me guess, other planets
with people on them waiting to get on to earth?) I guess the people
who remember their past lives just happen to come from here. But with
only one billion estimated in 1802 in the world, our current 6 bill
makes the odds that only those people remember not one but often many
past lives pretty far out doesn't it? 

But you see Curtis, lots of animals are now being born as humans. What do
you think is happening to all those species going extinct? I clearly
remember a past life as a dodo bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Bubic Flying?

[Janet Luise]

but breath taking isn't it?  Does anyone else remember the Opening
Ceremony at the Utah Olpymics with the Blessings from all the
different native American tribes living in Utah .ending with that
American Eagle soaring all around the stadium?  That was so impressive.

Does anyone still have that on video tape or know where I might find
it? I played that many times before leaving it in the video machine
keyed up to the best part, not knowing that Q had an automatic timer
to record Buffy Vampire Slayer!Gh

[FairfieldLife] Re: Guru Dev's deathbed instructions to Maharishi . . .

[nablusoss1008]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, t3rinity <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams"
>  wrote:
> >
> > > And came back. 
> > >
> > If so, I wonder why Marshy would have come back to 
> > the Upper Kashi from Madanapalle.
> 
> Sorry, Willy, saw this post just now.
> 
> No, I didn't mean he returned to Uttar Kashi, rather he returned to
> Madanapalle, and at least two times after going to Kanya Kumari. One
> time I was told, he came with an entourage of 15 people who took
> residence at the Brindaban Lodge, which was actually already full, 
but
> miraculously the place was available when he arrived. This Narayan
> Ayer told me, who was also a hotel manager (not sure if it was of 
the
> Brindavan Lodge, or a smaller place nearby, where Maharishi stayed 
at
> his first visit and came in contact with him). He also told me that
> Maharishi initiated 200 people there, and the was catching a plane
> from Madras, even though he was two hours late.
> 
> All this happened before he sat foot in the west.
> > 
> > And, I wonder how Marshy's Aunt got to the Upper 
> > Kashi to talk to Marshy about the trip to Madanapalle? 
> 
> No idea, but he could have met her after he left. Or he knew she was
> ailing and ad heard of the facilities in Madanapalle and thought to
> combine it with his pilgrimage. It is also quite feasable, that - if
> Maharishi really got the 'order' at GD's deathbead, to make a
> pilgrimage in orer to get the proper blessings and the right start.
> This would be a very indian way of doing it. You know very well how
> Indians look for auspicious timing when they start any undertaking.
> When Aishwarya Rai married recently, first thing the newly wed did 
was
> to pay a visit to the south indian temple of Tirupati (which btw is
> also nearby Madanapalle)
> 
> > 
> > And, this brings up another issue. If Marshy was 
> > at the Upper Kashi and observing "silence" how did 
> > he communicate with his Aunt? Using sign language?
> 
> Probably telepathy. But honestly, he could have met her just 
afterwards.
> 
> > Did they have telephones in 1954 at the Upper Kashi?
> > 
> > Maybe she called him on his cell phone or maybe she
> > sent Satyanand or Uncle Raj up to see him. If so, that
> > would really be a long walk for Uncle Raj. The Aunt 
> > could have probaly walked herself to Madanapalle by
> > the time Uncle got up there to the Upper Kashi!
> > 
> > And, why wouldn't her husband, Uncle Raj, have taken
> > Marshy's Aunt down to Madanapalle? I wonder what's up 
> > with that? Come to think of it, why would the Marshy
> > have gone up to the Upper Kashi in the first place if 
> > his Aunt wasn't well.
> > 
> > And how would the Aunt have known Marshy was even up
> > at the Utter Kashi?  
> > 
> > Does anyone know what happened to the Aunt? I didn't 
> > even think that the Marshy had any Aunts that he was 
> > on speaking terms with. Was it Aunt Varma or was it
> > Aunt Srivastava? Did the Aunt practice TM? And I 
> > wonder if the Aunt availed herself of Maharishi's
> > Ayer-Veda. What, exactly, ailed the Aunt?
> > 
> > So far as I can tell, the story about his Aunt is 
> > probably just a story. I can't recall Marshy having 
> > mentioned this and I've spent hours listening to 
> > him and reading his books and watching his videos. 
> > Apparently Uncle Raj didn't mention an Aunt at the 
> > Upper Kashi when he was in Canada at the TM Center. 
> > I wonder why not?
> 
> Well, I was told by the Narayan Ayer this story, who is still alive
> and ready to talk to anybody about it. He is still a devotee of
> Maharishi. I can give you his address and phone number if you want.
> Send me an email if you are seriously interested. You could also
> simply visit the Maharishi Mandir near the Ganapathi Temple, 
opposite
> old Brindaban lodge (not in function any more), going off Gandhi 
Bazar
> where it makes a z-curve.
> 
> > The only person that I know of that mentions his 
> > Aunt is Dr. Coplin. The Aunt isn't mentioned by 
> > Robert Hollings in his book 'Transcendental 
> > Meditation', a book which I presume was approved 
> > for publication by the TMO since it was once 
> > available from the MUM Bookstore.
> > 
> > Work Cited:
> > 
> > 'Transcendental Meditation'
> > An Introduction to the practice and aims of TM
> > by Robert Hollings
> > The Aquarian Press, 1982
> > ISBN 0-85030-240-4
> > p. 82 - 83
> 
> Fine, but the non-inclusion of facts or events isn't proof for their
> non-existence. Personal eye-witness is about the best proof you can 
get.

Thanks, very interesting. What is you email adress ?

[FairfieldLife] Re: Reversal of subtle pranas key to transcending...

[lurkernomore20002000]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rory Goff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj  wrote:
> > It's not necessarily a good thing to confuse future-self and 
present- self.
> 
> See, this was part of the Awakening for me 

I was thinking the it would be fun to spoof the 60's song "The 
Happening", but when I looked at the lyrics, it already could be 
retitled, "The Awakening"

lurk
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Smelling the insides of '60s era cars

[lurkernomore20002000]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:

snip

 What struck me -- and the reason I am moved to post on thi subject 
was that when I would stick my head in I got an immediate "sense  
memory".  I don't know if that is the correct term to use, but  
the "sense" was the sense of smell: the combination of the leather, 
plastic and metal that were used in production in the '60s all seemed 
to gell together and give off an emanation that brought me right back  
to when I was a kid!

I know.  That happens frequently to me to greater or less degrees.  
But a year or two ago, I was looking at compilation of Dick and Jane 
books one of my kids had.  For a few moments I was right back in the 
first grade reliving in what seemed great detail that whole period. I 
mean, I was "right there" again. BTW, I know, as probably most here, 
that exact smell you're tallking about.  I remember speeding down the 
highway in my Mom's black cadillac, no seatbelt of course.  Or 
sometimes we would be in my Dad's Courvair, but that did not seem to 
have quite the same "smell package"

lurk   
> 

>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[lurkernomore20002000]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
 And Mark Twain once 
> said, "I have been born more times than anybody except 
> Krishna."

This is a keeper.

>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[new . morning]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more people
> alive today than any time in history. (Let me guess, other planets
> with people on them waiting to get on to earth?)  I guess the people
> who remember their past lives just happen to come from here.  But with
> only one billion estimated in 1802 in the world, our current 6 bill
> makes the odds that only those people remember not one but often many
> past lives pretty far out doesn't it?  
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population  Here is a chart of the
> world's population that is very revealing.  If reincarnation was real
> we should be getting so many detailed reports from these other
> planets, really wacky stuff.  But then I might just be missing that
> section in the bookstore!  Instead we get reports about people being
> one of the tiny groups of people we know about!  I think your
> skepticism is warranted.

Well, lives were much shorter then so 3+ lives could of been had in
the duration of one current life. And given the high infant mortality
rate, lots of souls kept "churning" repeatedly being born, only to die
within hours, days or weeks of birth. But that doesn't solve the math
problem, just lessens it some. :) And maybe there were a lot more
multiple personalities -- one for each soul. :)

The amazing thing I see in estimates such as this (and linked page in
your linked page) is that in the Indus Valley civilization 3000 bce or
so, "Krishna Incarnation" 2500 BCE ?, and scholarly defined start of
Vedic period 1500 BCE or  so, the populations of india would be around
4 million, 5 million and 9 million respectively -- give or take a
million or two. (Assuming Asia was 2/3 of world population and India
was 40% or so of Asian population).The whole of India with 4-9 million
peolpe! No wonder vedic india is described as a golden age. 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Reversal of subtle pranas key to transcending...

[Rory Goff]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It's not necessarily a good thing to confuse future-self and present- 
> self.

See, this was part of the Awakening for me -- That Awakening to 
viscerally realize That is the container of time and space, of the 
illusion of evolution itself. Where it counts, time and space don't. As 
the I I had been identifying with grew ever closer to surrendering to 
the ever-present That, it became progressively more infuriated. It 
became more and more clear that That is realizable only on That's 
terms, not on the terms of the co-dependent arising llusion's. 

Obviously utter emptifulfillment lies in That, and only in That, and in 
the surrender of the illusion into That, but to enter That, I cannot be 
particularly special in That. I cannot be particularly unique in That. 
I cannot be particularly esoteric in That. I cannot have "achieved" 
anything at all in That. I can only be utterly ordinary in That, so 
unspeakably ordinary as to be as ungraspable as That Thatself. This 
emptifulfillment was rightly seen as a death-wound to (and by) the 
codependent arising illusion. 

In His paradoxical embodiment of the sublime and the ridiculous, the 
divine and the demonic, the special and the ordinary, MMY dealt me the 
coup-de-grace, but His sword was so sharp that I had time to walk away, 
time to weep and rage at the exquisite agony, before my head fell off.

Not the Teaching I expected, not the Awakening I imagined, but instead, 
the coup de grace -- the Cut of Grace. That's what severed the outward-
reaching ties of body, prana, mind, and Soul. The Cut of Grace, the 
Graceful Cut. He had the Grace to put me out of my misery. 

:-)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[curtisdeltablues]

" I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors?  :-)"


Not to mention the "math" problem that there are so many more people
alive today than any time in history. (Let me guess, other planets
with people on them waiting to get on to earth?)  I guess the people
who remember their past lives just happen to come from here.  But with
only one billion estimated in 1802 in the world, our current 6 bill
makes the odds that only those people remember not one but often many
past lives pretty far out doesn't it?  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population  Here is a chart of the
world's population that is very revealing.  If reincarnation was real
we should be getting so many detailed reports from these other
planets, really wacky stuff.  But then I might just be missing that
section in the bookstore!  Instead we get reports about people being
one of the tiny groups of people we know about!  I think your
skepticism is warranted.

For me the stories of memories of past lives are a testament to the
wonderfully generative and compellingly creative quality of our minds
and memories.  There is a great story about Bridy Murphy who had gone
to a world's fair and seen a detailed medieval village in miniature as
a child.  Years later she remembered details about her "past" life in
those times it was taken as proof of the theory until the true nature
of her "memories" were uncovered.  Our minds are fascinating! 
  




--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
> >
> > Who knows? It's interesting to think that one's physical 
> > remains from previous lives are probably still scattered 
> > around the world in various graves.
> 
> I was once standing in a museum, on a "field trip" 
> there with a buncha other Rama students, and found
> myself fascinated by an Egyptian mummy. It wasn't
> that pretty a mummy :-), just a buncha bones and
> brown skin wrapped in rags, but I was fascinated 
> anyway. At that moment Rama walked by, poked me 
> in the side, and said, "Yep, that was you."
> 
> That and the proverbial three bucks...Starbucks, etc.
> 
> I personally have no memories of the Egyptian period
> or any intuitive "feel" for having been there, so it 
> might even take five bucks at Starbucks.  :-)
> 
> As a kid I had dreams five or six times a month for
> maybe ten years of myself swordfighting, using a long
> sword held two-handed, in a fighting style unlike 
> anything I'd ever seen in the movies. It took me
> seeing my first Japanese samurai film to "get" the
> fighting style, and where and when the dreams might
> have been glimpses of. Might have been. I can't be
> sure, of course. I've had similar dreams of life in
> Tibet, again starting from an early age, again 
> before I knew that there was such a place as Tibet
> or what it looked like.
> 
> The only one I'm fairly sure of is that I paid my
> dues as a Cathar perfecti at one point. When I go to
> the Cathar chateaux and other areas frequented by 
> them here in France, I tend to have rather intense
> visual flashbacks, and can often tell the people
> touring the chateau with me what we'll find in the
> next rooms and what they'll look like, before we
> get there. None of us has been there before this time
> around. They're usually freaked out by this; I have 
> begun to accept it as fairly normal. Go figure.
> 
> That said, all of these flashes don't really mean
> much of anything, do they? They don't help us much
> with our self discovery this time around much, unless
> we can pinpoint some samskara in the past that still
> needs work in the present.
> 
> I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
> that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
> guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
> that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
> *number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
> scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors?  :-)
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Posting Totals

[Rory Goff]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "boo_lives" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> But then who will protect us from Al Gore?
>
Quit trying to scare us with the horrors of Silent Shemp!

:-)

Re: [FairfieldLife] Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[Sal Sunshine]

On Jun 9, 2007, at 12:42 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:

> So, who else -- in the public eye and thus people we'd
> be familiar with, or in the TM/spiritual scene, for the
> same reasons -- do you know who has speculated publicly
> as to who they might have been in a past life?

I think Abraham Lincoln once speculated he might have been Andy Rymer.

> Or, for that matter, if you've got some idea who *you*
> might have been in a previous incarnation, do tell.

[FairfieldLife] Re: England is merry again - TM instruction officially resumed

[boo_lives]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "george_deforest"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> NEW POLICY:
> 
> TM teaching to start again in schools in England and Wales
> National Coherence Days to be restarted
> 
> The teaching of Transcendental Meditation and associated programmes
> can once again proceed, unrestricted, in dedicated Maharishi Schools
> for the pupils and their parents, in England and Wales. The same
> applies to outside schools where the pupils are learning
> Transcendental Meditation collectively as part of a special school
> programme.
> 
> National Coherence Days â€" a special whole-day programme of extended
> practice of Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi programme â€"
> have been recommenced in England and Wales, with the first taking
> place around the country on Sunday 1 April, and the next on 20 May.
> 
> This initiative comes under project one of the Six-Point Plan of the
> Global Financial Capital, the goal of which is to create indomitable
> coherence and positivity in national consciousness and raise the
> nation to Invincibility. The most immediate way to accomplish this is
> for existing Sidhas and Meditators to enjoy group practice on a daily
> basis, whenever possible, in their own locality and to come together
> for these monthly events and other coherence-creating programmes.
> 
> Also under project one, the Maharishi European Sidhaland is hosting a
> National Invincibility Month starting in April with a special focus
> over the Bank Holiday weekend Friday 4 to Monday 7 May. All Governors
> and Sidhas are warmly invited to join the coherence-creating group in
> the Maharishi Golden Dome (phone 01695 50306 for details)
> 
> source:
> Transcendental Meditation News - Great Britain (April 2007)
> http://www.tmnews.net
> 
Last winter I spoke with someone from england who was on the course in
ffld for a month and they said how nice it's been in england since the
tmo dumped them -- the sidhas still got together for program and to do
things together but w/o having to constantly do crazy high pressure
tmo projects all the time.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Posting Totals

[boo_lives]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Behalf Of shempmcgurk
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 12:41 AM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Posting Totals
> 
>  
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
>  , gullible fool  
> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > Rick, Shemp is already over 35, yet I am still getting
> > requests to approve moderated posts by him.
> 
> No, you're not.
> 
> I've never made requests to approve moderated posts. I've "sent" 
> posts after I reached my limit but I never requested that 
> anyone "approve" them.
> 
> When you reach your limit, I put you on moderated status. Then,
every time
> you post something, the moderators get an email announcing that a
moderated
> post needs approval or rejection. I just delete those. The consensus
here
> seems to be that I should delete your extra posts to discourage you from
> writing them. The consensus also seems to be that you are
discourteous and
> immature for refusing to abide by a guideline that everyone else has
agreed
> to.
>
But then who will protect us from Al Gore?

[FairfieldLife] Re: Guru Dev's deathbed instructions to Maharishi . . .

[t3rinity]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > And came back. 
> >
> If so, I wonder why Marshy would have come back to 
> the Upper Kashi from Madanapalle.

Sorry, Willy, saw this post just now.

No, I didn't mean he returned to Uttar Kashi, rather he returned to
Madanapalle, and at least two times after going to Kanya Kumari. One
time I was told, he came with an entourage of 15 people who took
residence at the Brindaban Lodge, which was actually already full, but
miraculously the place was available when he arrived. This Narayan
Ayer told me, who was also a hotel manager (not sure if it was of the
Brindavan Lodge, or a smaller place nearby, where Maharishi stayed at
his first visit and came in contact with him). He also told me that
Maharishi initiated 200 people there, and the was catching a plane
from Madras, even though he was two hours late.

All this happened before he sat foot in the west.
> 
> And, I wonder how Marshy's Aunt got to the Upper 
> Kashi to talk to Marshy about the trip to Madanapalle? 

No idea, but he could have met her after he left. Or he knew she was
ailing and ad heard of the facilities in Madanapalle and thought to
combine it with his pilgrimage. It is also quite feasable, that - if
Maharishi really got the 'order' at GD's deathbead, to make a
pilgrimage in orer to get the proper blessings and the right start.
This would be a very indian way of doing it. You know very well how
Indians look for auspicious timing when they start any undertaking.
When Aishwarya Rai married recently, first thing the newly wed did was
to pay a visit to the south indian temple of Tirupati (which btw is
also nearby Madanapalle)

> 
> And, this brings up another issue. If Marshy was 
> at the Upper Kashi and observing "silence" how did 
> he communicate with his Aunt? Using sign language?

Probably telepathy. But honestly, he could have met her just afterwards.

> Did they have telephones in 1954 at the Upper Kashi?
> 
> Maybe she called him on his cell phone or maybe she
> sent Satyanand or Uncle Raj up to see him. If so, that
> would really be a long walk for Uncle Raj. The Aunt 
> could have probaly walked herself to Madanapalle by
> the time Uncle got up there to the Upper Kashi!
> 
> And, why wouldn't her husband, Uncle Raj, have taken
> Marshy's Aunt down to Madanapalle? I wonder what's up 
> with that? Come to think of it, why would the Marshy
> have gone up to the Upper Kashi in the first place if 
> his Aunt wasn't well.
> 
> And how would the Aunt have known Marshy was even up
> at the Utter Kashi?  
> 
> Does anyone know what happened to the Aunt? I didn't 
> even think that the Marshy had any Aunts that he was 
> on speaking terms with. Was it Aunt Varma or was it
> Aunt Srivastava? Did the Aunt practice TM? And I 
> wonder if the Aunt availed herself of Maharishi's
> Ayer-Veda. What, exactly, ailed the Aunt?
> 
> So far as I can tell, the story about his Aunt is 
> probably just a story. I can't recall Marshy having 
> mentioned this and I've spent hours listening to 
> him and reading his books and watching his videos. 
> Apparently Uncle Raj didn't mention an Aunt at the 
> Upper Kashi when he was in Canada at the TM Center. 
> I wonder why not?

Well, I was told by the Narayan Ayer this story, who is still alive
and ready to talk to anybody about it. He is still a devotee of
Maharishi. I can give you his address and phone number if you want.
Send me an email if you are seriously interested. You could also
simply visit the Maharishi Mandir near the Ganapathi Temple, opposite
old Brindaban lodge (not in function any more), going off Gandhi Bazar
where it makes a z-curve.

> The only person that I know of that mentions his 
> Aunt is Dr. Coplin. The Aunt isn't mentioned by 
> Robert Hollings in his book 'Transcendental 
> Meditation', a book which I presume was approved 
> for publication by the TMO since it was once 
> available from the MUM Bookstore.
> 
> Work Cited:
> 
> 'Transcendental Meditation'
> An Introduction to the practice and aims of TM
> by Robert Hollings
> The Aquarian Press, 1982
> ISBN 0-85030-240-4
> p. 82 - 83

Fine, but the non-inclusion of facts or events isn't proof for their
non-existence. Personal eye-witness is about the best proof you can get. 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Idea for a Fun Thread: People's Previous Incarnations

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Who knows? It's interesting to think that one's physical 
> remains from previous lives are probably still scattered 
> around the world in various graves.

I was once standing in a museum, on a "field trip" 
there with a buncha other Rama students, and found
myself fascinated by an Egyptian mummy. It wasn't
that pretty a mummy :-), just a buncha bones and
brown skin wrapped in rags, but I was fascinated 
anyway. At that moment Rama walked by, poked me 
in the side, and said, "Yep, that was you."

That and the proverbial three bucks...Starbucks, etc.

I personally have no memories of the Egyptian period
or any intuitive "feel" for having been there, so it 
might even take five bucks at Starbucks.  :-)

As a kid I had dreams five or six times a month for
maybe ten years of myself swordfighting, using a long
sword held two-handed, in a fighting style unlike 
anything I'd ever seen in the movies. It took me
seeing my first Japanese samurai film to "get" the
fighting style, and where and when the dreams might
have been glimpses of. Might have been. I can't be
sure, of course. I've had similar dreams of life in
Tibet, again starting from an early age, again 
before I knew that there was such a place as Tibet
or what it looked like.

The only one I'm fairly sure of is that I paid my
dues as a Cathar perfecti at one point. When I go to
the Cathar chateaux and other areas frequented by 
them here in France, I tend to have rather intense
visual flashbacks, and can often tell the people
touring the chateau with me what we'll find in the
next rooms and what they'll look like, before we
get there. None of us has been there before this time
around. They're usually freaked out by this; I have 
begun to accept it as fairly normal. Go figure.

That said, all of these flashes don't really mean
much of anything, do they? They don't help us much
with our self discovery this time around much, unless
we can pinpoint some samskara in the past that still
needs work in the present.

I'm always amused by the New Age tendency to claim
that they were *famous* people in the past. The Rama
guy claimed he was Cardinal Richilieu; I can't see
that *at all*. And Shirley MacLaine's been any
*number* of famous people. Wasn't anyone ever the
scullery maids and the cooks and the janitors?  :-)