I just published a book about a trip I took to India to attend a 3-month course at the Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh in the spring of '68. I'm not trying to sell the book, but I thought it might be of interest to some of you here and if so you can check it out at the link below. I'd also be glad to answer any questions anyone might have about it. RichardB. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1484002113/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
Looks good. I went to MIU for the whole 4. Student Purusha and all that. Did you ever spend time at FFLife?
Do you mean the online forum? I don't actively participate, but I know Rick A. who liked the book and mentioned it on the forum. MIU was after my time. After I came back from Rishikesh I started the center in Paris, then went on to lecture and initiate in Sweden, then back to California, where I was ultimately defrocked and told to stop initiating because of a letter I wrote to the editor of the newspaper in Sta Barbara. (All this is the subject of my 2nd book.)
Yeah I meant Rick's site. The Movement crashed and burned for me, and for many, though that said, I still have friends I respect in it. I turned to more esoteric Eastern stuff and there I stay. I talked to George H and Prudence F and some others so it may be fun to read your book. Prudence told me why the Beatles wrote Dear P... I haven't seen that tale anywhere else though. Do you recall that why they wrote the song?
I'm not sure Prudence told you the full story, or at least what I saw. My room was the room Maha moved her into when she flipped out, to get her away from all the celebs at the other end of the ashram. (I got moved to the laundry room of the Swedish woman I eventually married.) I actually watched John sing Dear Prudence outside the window of my old room (but she still didn't come out and play). The crashing and burning started during that course in '68. I too still have friends, or at least a friend, in it. Or at least I used to. George was a really good guy. I'd say you were wise to move on.
Well I wasn't a teacher, and after 4 years all up in it there in FF what could remain hidden. However, it was specifically Maharishi's billionaires courses, courting dictators, and trying to snow the whole world, as well as how he wanted to recertify his peeps which all gave me the willies. Or now that I think about it, his upping TM price to 2,000 dollars. I learned it for 140 dollars when I was a kid. Even 300 bucks would have made that impossible for me. That was the thing. Specifically. Tell me about Prudence's freakout. She only told me she was on the program and the Beatles were having lots of fun and they (and Mia) wanted her to get out more, basically. If you have the time or inclination. On another, but related note, I still feel upset that Maharishi forbade Doug Henning from performing because I always loved Doug Henning. He created loads of happiness, and MMY deprived the world, and me, of that. Doug and Debbie were super sweet. My George Harrison story isn't much but I talked to him for about a half an hour about MMY and the Hare Krishna mantra. He had a mala of sandalwood beads (big beads) which had started out grooved but worn smooth through jap. And he wore them everywhere. Very spiritual man.
TM is just a simple mantra meditation. The only thing people are really paying for is the specific word the teach gives to them. Maybe that word has special value, but you can save the money and find a word yourself.
Again, I think you'd get a kick out of the book. Wish I could say "just pay what you can afford," but it's not too expensive online, and the ebook's even cheaper.
Simplicity is not easy to come by. It's 'not just a word.' There are aspects to it, and to the initiation which make it function. But everyday some dipshit says the same thing. Well fuck you all. TM has elements, which I don't feel like talking about now.
