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I can go along with quite a bit of what Rawat said at Ft. Lauderdale - on the surface. There is, indeed, a yearning within human beings to know more, to be more, to unite, to be at a greater peace. And he certainly gives at least a surface recognition that each person must grow on his or her own steam. Resonates, and is certainly not objectionable. On the surface. And as far as it goes. But how is this any different that what everybody already knows? What is different about Rawat that he always leaves unsaid? And what he leaves unsaid is a lot! He denounces the search for enlightenment as human folly and tries to ignore the obvious fact that his whole method is the same thing with the same problems. He (once again) promises a year that is better and different than ever before. And (once again) mentions that it is going to require his audience's help. And we all know what kind of help that is. I am afraid that Rawat is setting himself up for disapointment if he thinks that his particular version of peace is going to gain the wide and unquestioning following that he seems to be forever hoping for. It's not the fault of peace, just the fault of those particularities that Rawat never really talks about but does require - those four techniques every day and himself as the master. Perhaps he never vocalizes certain points because they are so hugely false. The mistake that Rawat makes is indeed huge. What belongs to higher Truth cannot belong to him. What is inside each person cannot be subjugated to him and his method. And when a person accepts to limit their heart/mind's desire for higher truth with Prem Rawat and his techniques, they have made the corresponding mistake. Perhaps not so much in their goal, but in their method. I am afraid that Rawat is fundamentally and forever out of touch with the reality of this world. He and his followers will not be able to make a helpful contribution, no matter how long they try. If he continues for 40 more years, he will accomplish nothing more than what he already has accomplished - gathered a few adherents to a stylized version of common truths. He is an icon, and the world already has enough icons.
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I can't go along with anything he says, & that's because he sold me a turd tricked out in gold foil.
If you can make any sense out of the following, you're a better man than I. Switching tenses like this, & mixing his personal pronouns in the same sentence, leaves the meaning, as ever, clear as mud.
I don't like the 'prison' reference. I don't know what he means by it, & so find it sinister. As for saving a little bit of time for yourself.........thanks Prem, you're so fucking generous, I could weep with gratitude.
Nice pics though, very professional.
return false;
}
" href="http://mnews.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/_i4z8650.jpg">
Who are you? What are you?
Trillions will come, trillions will go.
There will be history, there will be memories.
And there will be people who want truth.
return false;
}
"> Then there will be the ones who try to define truth.
Then there were those who say feel the truth.
This is the realm of Knowledge. There is a few I know in that prison, and their happiness means more to them than any freedom you experience. If you want in your life peace, it is very possible. If you want in
your life joy, it is very very possible. Take a little time in your
life for you. For all that time you spend, save a little bit for yourself. return false;
}
">
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I don't think there's much chance of Maharaji continuing for another fourty years if this picture is any reflection of his state of health. Perhaps he's still taking on the karma of the world - as we were told in the seventies when he had stomach ulcers as a young teenager. A well meaning friend sent me a clipping (from Private Eye or Rolling Stone?) of an article with a cartoon of Maharaji which wrote about his alchohol consumption even then. I thanked my friend by satsanging him into the cult later (shudder). I believed the karma story instead. Mind you, I believed him when he said he was going to bring peace to the world too. It's amazing to me how long I clung onto the hope that he would keep his promise or that he was operating on another level in some way. How trite his 'message' sounds now. It's more than ironic that he denounces the search for enlightenment as 'human folly'. My greatest folly was devoting 26 years to him and trusting he would lead me to it. My wisest move was facing up to my folly while I still had some life and health left. Bunny
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Hi Bunny and WillYou both quote Maharaji as saying: "He denounces the search for enlightenment as human folly". Certainly throughout the 70's 'enlightenment' was what Knowledge and following Maharaji was all about, usually expressed as 'realizing Knowledge' - the big goal, ta-da! So I was intrigued by you both quoting this, but on reading the blog carefully this is what he is quoted as saying: People look for enlightenment. Think about it. Darkness looking for light - as soon as it finds it, the darkness disappears. The two cannot exist together. I read this as the standard cosmic Zen-like idea of enlightenment, D.T.Suzuki's 'absolute subjectivity', the Godhead which transforms me to the extent that I no longer exist when touching it, etc. It may be sublime, or it may be bollocks, but I don't think Maharaji is saying it is human folly to look for it. On the contrary, I am amazed at how much he is saying exactly the same thing as he has always done, albeit in different ways. This was an event just five days ago, not in the hippy dippy Lord of the Universe 1970's! A long-term premie emailed me recently that ex-premies focus so much on Maharaji and what he says, that there is no real difference between premies and exes. There are quite a few ways to respond to that, but I agree with you Will that I can go along with what he says a fair way - but there is a point where I have to peel off, and I find that by the end I am traveling 180 degrees in the opposite direction to Maharaji and his devotees. And yes, Bunny, he does look unhealthy, but I can imagine in the eyes of a premie he is beeeoootiful... -- Mike
www.MikeFinch.com
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People look for enlightenment. Think about it.
Darkness looking for light - as soon as it finds it, the darkness
disappears. The two cannot exist together.
OK, I thought about it - not too long though. Got better things to do.
People look for enlightenment. Darkness looking for light.
So, people = darkness? What? Darkness is nothing but the absence of light, so people are nothing.
That's enough thinking. Bollocks!
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Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose.The worthlessness and inability of premies to be surrendered enough, devoted enough, meditate enough etc is a constant theme throughout the decades. Darkness indeed! -- Mike
www.MikeFinch.com
Modified by Mike Finch at Thu, Feb 16, 2006, 03:55:41
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I agree that Rawat's teaching is amazingly the same as always, just couched in language that he feels will be appealing and acceptable. In place of "realizing the perfect consciousness," he talks about the "peace where there are no questions." Some of us took this possibility very seriously. Shucks, 13 even slept in a drawer! And it's damn hard to stop. Sometimes it gets lonely here in this individual mind that only I am listening to. I want to open it up into universal mind. Can't help it. When Julie says that she is getting closer and closer to her destiny, I think she, too, must be talking about this escape from ignorance into the higher knowledge. And I agree also with the startling thought that there really isn't any difference between premies and exes, at least on one level and probably not at the level that the comment was made. The difference for me is the method. I reject Rawat's method. I reject guruism entirely. And I reject the four techniques or any other such disciplined method. Sometimes I wish Rawat would reject those things as well. If he did so, his message and his public rhetoric I think would have some validity. But as he is, he is absolutely intolerable. Just one example here - yes, his comments about enlightenment are zen-like but their implications are so ugly and so entirely applicable to his own method and what he is putting his own students through. It's just not possible to be the Big Truth for people when you are just a person yourself. It's just not possible. It becomes a big lie. Of course, his comments were presented in an inexact way by Angela, but that hardly matters. Anything that a guru says is just as open to interpretation as a written scripture from antiquity. None of the big T is expressible. You don't get it from scripture, and you don't get it from a living guru either. (And maybe you don't get it at all, it remains to be seen). No, none of this is anything new. It's the mystery of life. It's for all times, and all individuals. There's nothing wrong with our need for beauty and truth. But damn if we don't mess it up badly!
Modified by Will at Thu, Feb 16, 2006, 09:45:27
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1. That people are generally screwed up, confused and unhappy (and that they are all in darkness). It also isn't explained how we all got that way; 2. That "everyone" is looking for "it." (Cue the latest E-Bay commercials with "Daydream Believer" by the Monkies in the background. (BTW, anybody else think those commercials are brilliant?)) 3. Rawat supplies "it."
Modified by Joe at Thu, Feb 16, 2006, 13:21:51
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living in the advertising desert of Germany, I'm pretty out of "it". Though I have to admit, I hardly watch TV anyway. Pretty pathetic for an advertising person.
I found what I assume to be a bunch of the ads here:
http://www.whatis-it.com/
I agree, totally brilliant, especially the anthem with the Monkees song.
One of the problems with trying to be brilliant in the advertising world is that by the time your client gets through with destroying the idea, you're mostly just working on trying to avoid the worst embarassments.
My new strategy is to become a prima donna, okay I already am one, but I'm trying to make work as a strategy.
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I do like the colors of it . Sure beats beige and gray. Perhaps Rawat should use this marketing firm.
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Yes, I agree they are brilliant, although there are people criticizing them as well. On TV in the states, there are a series of commercials running using the Monkees "Daydream Believer" as background music. Seems eBay has bought a lot of advertising on NBC during the Olympics. eBay is certainly a success story. Although you can really hate tv commercials and most are awful (especially car commercials which I think are mostly insulting), some are incredibly creative. I think the Mastercard "priceless" commercials that have been running for a few years now, fall into that category as well. BTW -- got your great calendar. Thanks. Very well done, that. Quirky and cool. I have it in my office. Prima donna can be a very good strategy. Must say, I have used it myself on occasion, though with mixed results. 
Modified by Joe at Fri, Feb 17, 2006, 12:46:29
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I think pretty much everything put out is "official" in the sense that it has approval from the Lord himself, and this is likely not an exception. It is interesting how nothing ever goes wrong in the Rawat world. Events happen beautifully, everyone is happy and fulfilled, and there isn't even the slightest discouraging word. All reviews are five star, it's always inspiring, and everyone just knows that absolutely everyone else who was there feels the same way. [At this point, I throw up.]
Modified by Joe at Wed, Feb 15, 2006, 17:37:27
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It is interesting how nothing ever goes wrong in the Rawat world. Events happen beautifully, everyone is happy and fulfilled, and there isn't even the slightest discouraging word. All reviews are five star, it's always inspiring, and everyone just knows that absolutely everyone else who was there feels the same way. And the crowds keep getting smaller and smaller.
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And the crowds keep getting smaller and smaller.
And the price of a night in a tent keeps getting higher and higher.
anth, also getting smaller and smaller.
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He looks like crap. Sombody should tell him.
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Modified by Premie_Spouse at Thu, Feb 16, 2006, 09:52:33
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Surely not! We'd know. We'd have at least had a total eclipse, a stock market crash and sightings of wild horsemen galloping about with scythes from all around the world.
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What would I want with a young male deer?
Surely you meant "book". OK, I'll bet you a copy of the Aquarian Gospel (transcribed directly from the Akashic Records) against Richard Dawkins, "Ancestors Tale".
Anth the buckworm.
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That was the first video of his I've sat through for yonks, and I kinda feel sorry for the guy, and more especially the premies.
They obviously have no idea just how much it all reeks of cult.
On the surface his speech is fine, if very bland, until he starts talking about his role in the keys, then he just gives it away so much it's funny.
And as for the crowd shots, bejeezus, they don't just smell of cult, they radiate it, scarey stuff.
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When I looked at the pictures of the crowd, my first thought was that I would someday like to do a programme fashion review. Or maybe not. I'd probably make a lot of enemies. The clothes haven't changed much since the late 70's. Raw silk with just a touch of hippie India. Okay sorry, I'm stopping now and skulking back into my closet.
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> The clothes haven't changed much since the late 70's. Raw silk with just a touch of hippie India.< Well no - that's the nature of a uniform. I never got over whole thing of premies dressing up for events like it was Sunday morning church - what a bunch of materialists they are.
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Know for myself how much that hippy/crossover premie mentality affected all that stuff for me, jesus my definition of cool then was a bit scarey.
And it was also exactly one of the angles I meant about feeling sorry for them, and him too believe it or not, they obviously have no idea just how cultic so many aspects of that video were, and would be to most people.
And seeing him try to explain his role in it all to a straighter audience was hilarious, so shifty and Arthur Daley, perfick really
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Thick brown or green denim pinafore dresses almost reaching the floor.Made and designed by a premie business. Sexless.I used to wear them. UGH !
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