Interesting to note that apparently Maharishi was utterly convinced
that one can receive benefit from the enlightened, even after their
death, which to some extent accounts for his claim that he was guided
by Guru Dev:-
"Now after leaving the body nothing remains in the Relative, just
Absolute. Then how do we invoke and to whom? And if nobody is to be
invoked, then what is the use?
Some such similar question I asked Guru Dev once, what happened was
naturally people come to the ashram from all over india to pay
respects to Guru Dev, once or twice a year according to their own
convenience.
And when they would come they would narrate all sorts of stories, the
child was sick or they had a law suit, all sorts of difficulties and
then thinking of Guru Dev, that thing disappeared.
And hearing all these things for a long time, one night I asked Guru
Dev 'What is this?' These people don't even write to Guru Dev, Guru
Dev doesn't know they are in difficulty on the surface of life and
then how do they report they had a vision or some thought of Guru Dev
and then from that time everything started to be smooth?
If they wrote a letter and the difficulties came to the notice of
Guru Dev and then they got out of their difficulty, I could
understand it, but they don't write letters. they just have the
devotion to Guru Dev and they have some thought of Guru Dev,
And Guru Dev reply was 'It's the department of the Almighty and he
does it' "
continued at:-
http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/sources/text/MMY.htm
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues"
> <curtisdeltablues@> wrote:
> >
> > It underlines the point that enlightenment gives you wisdom.
> > The story I was referring to was when Trotaka revealed his
> > enlightenment to the others. Shankara was insisting that they
> > all wait for him [Trotaka] and the others snickered that he
> > didn't understand it anyway. He came in singing his "cognized"
> ? Trotaka stakham sp? verses revealing his complete knowledge.
>
> Which, coincidentally, just happened to be
> a sappy love song to his teacher, expressing
> his total devotion to him. THAT is what Maha-
> rishi was trying to put forth as the primary
> criterion of enlightenment.
>
> > I memorized them on my TTC, it is a beautiful song. This is
> > from a TTC tape on him. His wisdom came from his enlightenment
> > and he put all the smartypants guys to shame.
>
> And his enlightenment came from being slavishly
> devoted to his "master" and willing to do any-
> thing that this "master" said, without a moment's
> hesitation.
>
> Notice the trend here?
>
> > His verses were so perfect that it blew them away with his
> > mental ability gained not through pulling all-nighters, but
> > by his devotion and enlightenment.
>
> And the "lesson" being clearly taught here was
> that the latter (enlightenment) came from the
> former (devotion). Trotaka didn't have to "crack
> the books" to get smart, all he had to do was
> do whatever he was told to do by his "master."
>
> I'm just reiterating the point I made earlier,
> that Maharishi was trying to cultivate that
> sense of devotion to one's "master" that *he*
> considered "the highest" in his students by
> telling emotional "feel good" stories. This
> story is NOT about Trotaka's intellect; the
> intellect is presented as *secondary*, some-
> thing that happened *as the result* of total,
> unthinking bhakti. In fact, the development
> of the intellect in the other students is
> what is being presented as "secondary." They
> are being presented not as happening as Trotaka
> because they were not as "sold out" to their
> "master" as he was.
>
> I'm not saying that this theory of enlighten-
> ment through devotion is unique, nor am I sug-
> gesting that it's not valid for some people,
> who are "made that way." What I am suggesting
> is that Maharishi, by telling this story over
> and over and over, was trying to establish it
> as *the* path for people who might NOT be
> "made that way." In my estimation he clearly
> saw total, unthinking devotion to one's
> "master" AS the "highest path," because *he*
> was "made that way," and he wanted to remake
> all of his students over to be like him.
>
> I am gracious enough to believe that in the
> beginning he did this because he really thought
> that *his* path -- the only one he was capable
> of because *he* was not a great intellect or
> drawn to any of the other many viable paths to
> enlightenment -- was the best path to teach
> others, "for their own good." But at the same
> time, I think it is important to remember that
> the "master" that Maharishi was teaching his
> students the value of being slavishly devoted
> to was HIM.
>
> I believe that on one level Maharishi may have
> been trying to convince his students that bhakti
> and slavish devotion were good things because
> in his opinion they could lead to enlightenment.
> But on another, I equally believe that he was
> trying to establish that same unthinking devotion
> towards HIM in his students that he was talking
> about in Trotaka.
>
> Forty years later, the unthinking devotion is
> all that remains, with nary an example of it
> having led to enlightenment in sight. (Or at
> least not as recognized by Maharishi or the
> organization he founded.)
>
