Sitting here in a sidewalk cafe in Brussels, I just had an otherworldly experience. The carillion player in the cathedral decided to interject an odd (and some would say inappropriate) tune into his afternoon concert. Instead of Bach or the other classical composers' melodies, what suddenly emerged from the belltower were the sounds of Joan Osborne's "One Of Us." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USR3bX_PtU4 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USR3bX_PtU4> ) Knocked my socks off. My memories of Brussels will have that song as their soundtrack for the rest of my life.
I always loved that song because it really nailed something about the spiritual process I've always treasured -- the de-pedestalization of those we'd previously put up on them. In my experience there are few things more liberating. So here's my question for the thinking souls of Fairfield Life. What if Maharishi was one of us? What if -- instead of the ways we've been taught (or told) to see him, as a Supposedly Enlightened Being, or a "Master," or even an avatar, or the Highest Teacher Ever -- he was just a slob like the rest of us? What if he was just a guy doing the best he could with what he'd been taught, and trying to convey the best of what he'd learned in life to us? In other words, what if Maharishi wasn't enlightened? What if he wasn't "special" in any way? What if he was Just Another Human Being doing his best to solve the puzzle that is life? Would that change in any way how you see yourself? I ask because it wouldn't change a thing for me. My self image and my view of what I gained from studying with him would be the same whether he was enlightened or not, and whether he was "special" or not. Who or what he was really doesn't matter to me. All that matters is that I benefitted from the time I spent with him, and learned a few things. Those things wouldn't change in the least whether I learned them from Joe Blow On The Street or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi On His Deerskin. NOTHING in my life is dependent on the way that I or other people see Maharishi, just as NOTHING in my life is dependent on how I or other people see Rama (Frederick Lenz), or any of the other teachers I met along the Way. They were who they were; I am who I am. I try not to confuse the two, and get as bent behind it as folks I see around me whose self image seems to be so bound to the image of their spiritual teachers that they feel they need to "defend" the teacher or "correct" other people's views of how "special" he or she was, or is. Special, schmecial. Last I checked, studying with God Himself wouldn't get me free beers in any cafe anywhere in the world. Or do anything else to enhance who I was to the other patrons. Why would having studied with a Supposedly Enlightened Being?
