Steve Briggs, Took His MBA to the Himalayan Yogis And Discovered… |452|

anyone who takes an honest looking into this guy's career will be hard-pressed look past the deep, crazy cult leader stuff swirling around him

I don't think that Steve is disputing any of this. But I think that you are missing the point Alex. This is not the lived experience of every person who interacted with Maharishi. Like I said, I think Maharishi was a HUGE positive influence in Steve's life, at least from what I know. And probably many others. Life is not black and white. If you don't embrace paradox, you are not going to understand things on the deepest level. I'm just trying to give you a little Skeptiko push Alex, I know you are a smart, deep guy. I just think you need to take a deeper look at both sides of the coin. I am not defending Maharishi, I am defending paradox as a deep part of reality. If you don't see the good in him, then you are missing part of reality as it is.

Edit:
I am not saying that there is not good and bad or right and wrong. From what I've read, I think that Maharishi did some things that were wrong and hypocritical. I think that he was spiritually gifted, but Enlightened? I'm not sure. Is it possible that his weaknesses were part of the education of [a few] of his disciples? Maybe. Are there spiritual leaders who are less flawed? Very likely. Was he the right guru for a number of people? Probably.
I think that he is a microcosm of the complexity of life.
 
Last edited:
It would seem obvious that it is at least experientially different... and it seems as a conscious agent (individualized consciousness), isn't it ultimately all about experience?
Alex wrote: I just think we have to be super clear about the dangers/risks of being a "follower."

In the bigger picture, the dangers/risks of being a leader may be far greater than those of a follower. Again and again, the ego trips leaders up.

Who is it that teaches us to speak? Generally our mothers do and mothers are considered 'the first guru' in the Indian system.

As Ben mentioned, 'we are all followers to some extent.' I learned a lot from watching my older brother play sports and my dad asked me to teach my little sister how to hit a 2 hand backhand. The human game is all about teaching and learning, cradle to grave.

I get into little spats with my TM friends all the time about TM being 'the only true path.' Just the other day, i was playing golf with a guy and we got into a conversation about how COVID has shut down the mosques, synagogues, churches, whirling dervishes, TM domes, etc. I suggested that people of all spiritual backgrounds work together as one to raise collective consciousness. My golf buddy replied, 'but they don't do TM.' SAD
just in case you wanted a little more :)

How a New Book Exposes the Dark Side of Transcendental Meditation

Claire Hoffman’s ‘Greetings From Utopia Park’ delves into her early experiences with TM movement and reclaiming her spiritual journey



Most people might remember the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the guru who hosted the Beatles, Mia Farrow and Mike Love, among others, on their ill-fated excursion to India in 1967. But for Claire Hoffman, a Rolling Stone contributor and author of the memoir Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood, the Maharishi was the all-powerful leader of the Midwestern community where she was born and raised — albeit a figurehead she’d never met. “He was always this Wizard of Oz-type character,” she says from her home in Los Angeles, where she now lives with her husband and two young children. “He was this giant broadcast face speaking do us in the dome.”

The Golden Domes she remembers were giant edifices for group meditation, the centerpieces of Maharishi International University (now Maharishi University of Management), located on a sprawling campus in Fairfield, Iowa, that had once been home to a Presbyterian college. The Maharishi had taken it over as his center of western operations in the 1970s, a place to host thousands of visiting followers in group meditation — which, they believed, might bring about world peace — and a permanent home to hundreds of others.




RELATED

The Real 'Dear Prudence' on Meeting Beatles in India

Scientology Leader's Estranged Father Preps Tell-All Book


But as Hoffman recounts, Transcendental Meditation, which had begun as a movement that propagated twice-daily, 20-minute meditations as a way to tune out the frantic aspects of modern American life, developed into a top-down organization that recommended expensive classes, house-brand vitamins and moving into Utopia Park, a trailer encampment near campus. In return for their devotion and sacrifice, the Maharishi’s followers — mostly disaffected youth of the 1960s, like Hoffman’s parents — would attain “200 percent of life”: absolute spiritual happiness and material success.

Of course, this didn’t usually happen. In her memoir, Hoffman describes her initial fascination with TM. Her earliest memories are of keeping out of her mother’s way while she meditated, and, as a child, learning to meditate herself. “Meditation for me at the time was a subtle alternate reality to which I liked to escape,” she writes. “A small secret door that would take me away from the world around me.”

rs-243741-utopia-park.jpg


But the realities of her early life were often harsh: an alcoholic father that left five-year-old Hoffman, her mother and her brother with less than $50 in New York City; a mother struggling to support the family on hourly wages from the natural food store after their return to Fairfield; a community so trusting they allowed the neighborhood kids to congregate at the home of a pedophile while the parents attended evening meditation; parents forced to choose between expensive tuition at the Maharishi’s private school, or to let their children be teased and bullied at the public school in town.

Claire's mom, Liz, put my first book together... graphics, layout, everything but editing.
 
that's a kind of "when did you stop beating your wife question" but I'll respond anyway. my spiritual journey it's extremely uneventful compared to yours. I've read lots of books... done a lot of "trainings"... met a few people... walked with tick nat han... hugged with Amma... and then I've tried a lot of different stuff.

so the bottom line is that my cynicism is the sum total of my experience... especially my Skeptiko experience. especially my experience of pushing people and seeing how they react to a little bit of friendly pressure. I'm not a huge fan of mike tyson because he raped those girls but he did have a good quote, " everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."

so my cynicism is a result of kevin annette's battle with than evil church and state for 20 years. my cynicism is anneke lucas who was sold by her mother into a satanic ritual abuse cult in belgium. my cynicism is Ian mcCormick who believes his jesus centered nde experience means everyone else's is satanic. I could go on and on but you get my point.




another loaded statement :) I think my post said that he was an amazing teacher of meditation. but to inject another quotation into the mix... going from football coach bill parcells " you are what your record says you are"

anyone who takes an honest looking into this guy's career will be hard-pressed look past the deep, crazy cult leader stuff swirling around him.
from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...ht-The-Giggling-Guru-shameless-old-fraud.html


Lennon was right. The Giggling Guru was a shameless old fraud
By DAVID JONES

Last updated at 22:43 06 February 2008




To his millions of dream-eyed devotees, he was the ultimate spiritual leader; a masterful guru whose meditation techniques could induce a state of euphoric bliss, and even teach them to defy gravity by "yogic flying".


To a sneering John Lennon, he was a money-grubbing, sex-obsessed fraud who cynically abused his influence over The Beatles and many other awed celebrities who worshipped, cross-legged, at his painted feet during the Flower Power era.
Scroll down for more...

guru060208DM_468x286.jpg




So which one was the real Maharishi Mahesh Yogi? Was he the enlightened saviour he always proclaimed himself to be?
Or the woollybearded, flower-bedecked fraud portrayed in Lennon's acid lyrics?

It's a debate that has lingered like the smell of burning incense for 40 years, ever since the Fab Four perplexed their fans by swopping flairs and kipper ties for flowing robes and love-beads.
And now that the Indian mystic's mortality has been proved with news of his death, at the approximate age of 91 (no one can be sure, for he dismissed birthdays as "an irrelevance"), it will doubtless resurface.

However, as the last writer to have been granted an audience with the enigmatic Maharishi - and, indeed, the only journalist to have been invited inside the strange "alternative nation" where he lived his final years in reclusion - I know who I tend to believe.

My day with the man who probably did more than anyone else to make traditional Eastern beliefs fashionable in the West came in March 2006, when I visited the so- called Global Country of World Peace, in Vlodrop, southeastern Holland.
It must rank as the most bizarre day of my 30-year career.

Before I take you behind the high walls of this closely-guarded community, however, it's worth remembering how an obscure Indian civil servant's son rose to control a vast spiritual fiefdom, with its own ministers and laws, and even its own currency, the Raam.

An empire, moreover, which became hugely lucrative thanks to the one quality the Maharishi never liked to publicise - his remarkable business acumen - aligned to an utterly shameless willingness to put aside his principles and embrace the detested "material world" when it suited his own ends.


He spent his early years in Jabalpur, where he was born, probably in 1917 or 1918.
Back then his name was plain Mahesh Prasad Varma, and, though his family were devout Hindus, there was nothing to suggest that he might become a world-renowned leader.


A bright boy, he gained a maths and physics degree - a qualification he would use with great ingenuity later in life, when he impressed (and invariably baffled) his followers by "explaining" the ability of meditation to change people's consciousness in complex scientific terminology.


By all accounts, his life changed course radically in his late 20s, when he met his great mentor - a "swami" or Indian religious teacher, called Guru Dev.
He joined the ageing holy man on a lengthy retreat in the Himalayas, where he was introduced to a new form of meditation.
When he emerged, he called himself "Maharishi".
Unlike Guru Dev, who was content to wander, barefooted and in ragged clothes, from village to village and subsist on the simple charity of those he taught, his pupil developed more grandiose ideas.

Whether because he thought it his duty to spread his newfound enlightenment to as many people as possible, as he later claimed, or because he had an eye to the main chance, in 1958 he left India on his first "global tour".


For obvious reasons, though, he based himself in Los Angeles.
In those days, California was a Mecca for the Beat Generation, and among these forerunners of the hippies, a plausible, exotic young guru preaching love and peace - and offering a way of achieving a "natural high" without the need for drugs - quickly became a cult hero.


MaharishiAP0502_228x294.jpg




Soon his popularity spread among stressed business executives seeking an alternative to psychiatry, whose methods he scorned.
"You must learn to take life less seriously and to laugh," he told them, chuckling as if he were privy to some sublime cosmic joke.
"The highest state is laughter."


Along with the adulation came money, of course.
At first, the Maharishi asked for nothing and, like his mentor Guru Dev, he lived off donations, albeit more substantial amounts than he would have received in India.
As his renown grew, however, he began to charge "tuition fees", realising his affluent audience could easily afford to pay for his words of wisdom.
With a wink and a giggle, followers were also encouraged to contribute towards his "expenses": printing costs, transport rental, the hiring of halls and so on.


In 1961, one rich woman blithely wrote him a cheque for $100,000: her contribution to a new ashram he wished to build in India.
Another wealthy couple, accountant Roland Olson and his publicist wife Helen, gave him free use of a plush house in Hollywood.

The "Giggling Guru" appeared uninterested in these vast sums and never discussed or handled money himself, leaving it to his disciples.
However, the burgeoning bank balance can hardly have escaped his all-seeing gaze.

By the "beautiful summer" of 1967, when he famously came to the attention of The Beatles, the Maharishi boasted a considerable following, including celebrities such as Mike Love of the Beach Boys (who became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation), folk singer Donovan, Mia Farrow, and even the tough-guy actor Clint Eastwood.


Impressed after hearing him speak in London a few days earlier, on August 25, John, Paul, George and Ringo fatefully boarded a train from Paddington to Bangor, where they were to spend the Bank Holiday weekend on retreat with him.

Disaster struck midway through the seminar, when news came through that Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager, had died from a drugs overdose.
The group, who relied on him to orchestrate every aspect of their lives, were devastated, but the Maharishi treated his death as a minor mishap.


"He was sort of saying, 'Look, forget it! Be happy!'" remarked Lennon later, adding caustically: "F*****g idiot."

At the time The Beatles couldn't see through such insensitive behaviour.
It seemed only to confirm one of their new guru's favourite phrases (which became the title of a George Harrison LP): "All things must pass."

Desperate for an alternative to the increasingly crazy, pressure-cooker world they inhabited, and seeking a new guiding spirit with Epstein's passing, they became deeply immersed in the Maharishi's teaching.

So, the following February, 1968, the four beaming, flower-garlanded band-members flew to India, where they were to spend several months deepening their knowledge of Transcendental Meditation at his ashram in Rishikesh.
They were accompanied by their respective partners and joined by a veritable array of mantra-chanting stars, including Farrow and her sister, Prudence.

For the first few weeks, this intended spiritual awakening went well enough, but Ringo was first to depart - he hated Indian food and his wife, Maureen, couldn't bear the insects.

After five weeks, amid mounting mutterings that the Maharishi was a publicity-seeker with an unhealthy interest in meditating in close proximity to the Farrow sisters, Paul McCartney followed the drummer back to London.
That left John and George, always the most receptive (or gullible?) among the guru's pupils.


In an episode now etched in Beatle folklore, however, they, too, packed their bags in disgust after Mia Farrow fled the Maharishi's cave in tears, claiming that the supposedly celibate swami had grabbed her in his hairy arms and tried to make advances towards her.


"Boys! Boys! What's wrong? Why are you leaving?" the Maharishi is said to have shouted after them.

"If you're so f*****g cosmic, you'll know," came Lennon's withering reply.

Scroll down for more...

MaharishiMedAP0502_468x340.jpg




Thus ended The Beatles' brief dalliance with the Maharishi. Or, at least, so it was widely believed.

The Maharishi always disputed this highly unedifying version of events.
In his one public pronouncement on the matter, he insisted that they were "too unstable and weren't prepared to end their Beatledom".


This stand-off rumbled on for almost four decades, casting a huge question-mark over the Maharishi's credibility and the entire TM movement.


But then, two years ago, the guru's story appeared to be given credence by the self-help guru Deepak Chopra (one of the Maharishi's former disciples).
The Maharishi had actually ordered The Beatles to leave the ashram, Chopra said, because they refused to stop taking drugs.

Chopra had just made his pronouncement when, quite unexpectedly, I was given the opportunity to hear the truth from the horse's mouth.
The Maharishi had not granted an interview since 1992, but after days of negotiations with his moony-eyed media chief, Bob Roth, I was summoned to the Global Country of World Peace.

No passport was required as I "left Holland" and drove to the Giggling Guru's kingdom, but it really was like entering another state; or rather, a parallel universe.

Inside the spacious compound, all the men (I saw no women) wore identical fawn- coloured suits and disconcerting, far-away smiles.
They were polite enough, but the place seemed utterly devoid of warmth.

However, Roth, a reconstructed San Francisco hippie in his 50s, repeatedly assured me that, for all manner of reasons, my karma was "just perfect for this interview".


But all this transparent schmoozing came with a warning.
Questions about His Holiness's personal life were strictly off limits.
Oh, and The Beatles were an absolute taboo.

This didn't seem to leave much room for discussion, but there were more surprises in store.

For the historic interview I was ushered into the so-called brahmastan, a sort of giant pagoda-style wooden palace.


I was flanked by two sternfaced, light-suited "ministers", who introduced me, to the untold thousands of disciples watching this bizarre charade via the live global video-link by which the Maharishi communicated his edicts, as a "distinguished international journalist" - which was certainly a first for me.


Then, just as I was expecting him to make his entrance, a giant screen flickered to life and I was greeted not by a real live guru but by a sort of hologram with a cotton-wool beard and a shiny, teak-brown pate.

Only then did I realise that the Maharishi would be addressing me only via closed-circuit TV from his chamber, presumably somewhere upstairs.

"His Holiness never meets anyone because his doctor is concerned that he might catch germs," Roth whispered.
"He hasn't been outside for years."


In truth, it was more a monologue than an interview.
The Maharishi spouted incomprehensible mumbo jumbo for several minutes-then launched into a diatribe against Britain - a terrible country which believes in "divide and rule" and was responsible for much of the misery besetting the world.


This, he said, was why he had decided to "excommunicate" this country, meaning that his disciples were banned from teaching TM here (a state of affairs which, I regret to report, he later reversed).

My one small victory was that I managed to ask him - ever so politely - about The Beatles.
Given all the bad blood, did he regret his involvement with the band who made him a household name?

Suddenly, all that serenity evaporated and the mystic came over all mortal.
"Forget about it!" he spluttered furiously.
"If at all, (The) Beatles became substantial by my contact.
"I did not become great by association of The Beatles! Beatles make Maharishi great? Pah! It is a waste of thought."


Perhaps so, but there's no denying that this trivial "waste of thought" is one good reason why the Maharishi leaves behind in trust an estate conservatively said to be worth some £600 million.

A few weeks ago, with extraordinary prescience perhaps, the mystic handed control of the TM movement to his anointed successor, a little-known Lebanese former research scientist named Maharaja Nader Ram (formerly Dr Tony Nader).

But his peaceful passing, I am assured, will have little noticeable effect on the empire he created, with its hefty bank balance and estates, including a huge campus university in Iowa.


Meanwhile, with the charge for a three-day TM induction course now running at £1,280, the Giggling Guru's well-heeled "ministers" will doubtless go on living in the material world.

All they need is love, maybe. But money - that's what they want.


-=-=-=

1) So which one was the real Maharishi Mahesh Yogi? Was he the enlightened saviour he always proclaimed himself to be?

I spent countless hours with Maharishi from 1972-2008 (when he passed) and I never heard him proclaim that he was enlightened. He was simply fond of saying that it took a couple of years to attune his thinking to that of his guru.

2) "To a sneering John Lennon, he was a money-grubbing, sex-obsessed fraud who cynically abused his influence over The Beatles and many other awed celebrities who worshiped, cross-legged, at his painted feet during the Flower Power era."

If the Beatles detested Maharishi as much as this journalist claims, why did Geroge, Ringo, and Julian Lennon (and lead singer for the Eagles) agree to perform at a TM gathering at Royal Albert Hall in April 1992. It was George's final live concert, if I remember, and Harrison said some touching things about Maharishi (I attended and it was a lovely evening). Two decades later, Paul and Ringo performed in NYC for another TM gathering. And why would Paul come to see Maharishi privately after his wife passed if he despised Maharishi?

3) "Another wealthy couple, accountant Roland Olson and his publicist wife Helen, gave him free use of a plush house in Hollywood."

Roland Olson was an inspector/accountant for the telephone company. They were middle class working people with a comfortable but modest home. I know their daughters fairly well. Maharishi was given a bedroom in the Olson home and gave TM lectures in their living room.

4) "Then, just as I was expecting him to make his entrance, a giant screen flickered to life and I was greeted not by a real live guru but by a sort of hologram with a cotton-wool beard and a shiny, teak-brown pate."

By 2006 Maharishi was about 90. Most of his devotees don't know this, but I was aware of his failing health. Maharishi was blind, confined to a wheel chair, and on kidney dialysis (suspected to be the result of the poisoning which permanently damaged internal organs). Maharishi was proud and didn't want the outside world to see him in such poor health. At the time of this interview, his mind wasn't what it once was. These are not excuses; they are simple facts.

5) "Roth, a reconstructed San Francisco hippie in his 50s, repeatedly assured me that, for all manner of reasons, my karma was "just perfect for this interview...The Maharishi had not granted an interview since 1992, but after days of negotiations with his moony-eyed media chief, Bob Roth, I was summoned to the Global Country of World Peace."

Bobby Roth graduated with honors from UC Berkeley. No doubt he was in the hippie movement during the 60's, but Bobby has spearheaded The David Lynch Foundation, a non profit organization that has taught tens of thousands of veteran suffering from PTSD, inner city kids at risk, and incarcerated criminals. Bobby is no mooney eyed moron and the David Lynch Foundation does not charge fees for many of their programs.

I could go on addressing the inconsistencies in the article, but what's the point? It's a lovely day and I'd rather be outside.
 
lonevoice, I applaud and appreciate your sharing and your openness. I read all your posts and with care. Thank you...

I am grappling with my own consideration that I have been "dealing with" an external "third party" where the entry point (this lifetime) occurred when I was six years old.

If you are interested, here's my blog post of what I experienced (when I was six) - http://merlynagain.blogspot.com/2016/04/my-anomalous-experience-when-i-was-six.html

Note that even today, I am still not convinced of any theory of the many theories I have explored as to what actually happened, why it happened and what was (is?) behind it. This includes every consultation I have obtained regarding the experience from purportedly "knowledgeable" people.
I greatly value you and your contributions as well!

I did read your blog, but it is way above my pay grade to comment on it.

I send you blessings upon blessings.
 
I greatly value you and your contributions as well!

I did read your blog, but it is way above my pay grade to comment on it.

I send you blessings upon blessings.

...and way above my pay grade to draw any firm conclusions from a.) the experience I had when I was 6 years old and b.) all the "beyond the pale" synchronicity experiences of which I have only shared a tiny fraction of on the blog. If you read any of the other blog entries (some specific to synchronicity) this one is my all time (though simple) favorite - http://merlynagain.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-most-charished-synchronicity.html

Interestingly, a guest of Alex (the wife/husband duo, the MacGregors) asked me if they could share it on their blog (one of my few "Andy Warhol" moments).
 
I don't think that Steve is disputing any of this. But I think that you are missing the point Alex. This is not the lived experience of every person who interacted with Maharishi. Like I said, I think Maharishi was a HUGE positive influence in Steve's life, at least from what I know. And probably many others. Life is not black and white. If you don't embrace paradox, you are not going to understand things on the deepest level. I'm just trying to give you a little Skeptiko push Alex, I know you are a smart, deep guy. I just think you need to take a deeper look at both sides of the coin. I am not defending Maharishi, I am defending paradox as a deep part of reality. If you don't see the good in him, then you are missing part of reality as it is.

Edit:
I am not saying that there is not good and bad or right and wrong. From what I've read, I think that Maharishi did some things that were wrong and hypocritical. I think that he was spiritually gifted, but Enlightened? I'm not sure. Is it possible that his weaknesses were part of the education of [a few] of his disciples? Maybe. Are there spiritual leaders who are less flawed? Very likely. Was he the right guru for a number of people? Probably.
I think that he is a microcosm of the complexity of life.

Well said Ben.
 
This is turning into a kind of personal theater of the absurd. Here I am defending Maharishi when I haven't looked to him for anything in years. That said, I do feel the right and honorable thing to do is to set the record straight on matters of which I have firsthand knowledge.

I often refer to Maharishi as my guru out of respect for the many things he taught me, but my true spiritual guide is Babaji, as in Yogananda's Babaji. If it weren't for the respect Babaji has shown Maharishi over the years, I might never have come full circle in my feelings/attitude for Maharishi.
 
Last edited:
Consider Steve's earlier discussion - Skeptiko #397.

The technique of placing the individual (I sense always male??) in an 8' x 8' concrete encasement for three days, then three weeks, then three months and, if they want, for three years. Training for being able to leave their body and "travel" - as Steve called it - “light body traveling with “a soul”... with aspects of himself like his unified chakra system, etc.... generating his "merkahbah" (one way to spell it, Steve used another).

So now, consider the Kogi - from Colombia. I cannot imagine "they learned this" from Tibetan lamas or visa versa... but the Kogi are famous for their ability "to travel" just like the lamas. So look at this - straight out of mainstream Wikipedia who, in this case, likely has little or no reason to misinform - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogi_people

"From birth the Kogi attune members of their society called Mamos (which means sun in Kogi), for guidance, healing, and leadership. The Mamos are not to be confused with shamans or curers but to be regarded as tribal priests who hold highly respected roles in Kogi society. Mamos undergo strict training to assume this role. Selected male children are taken from birth and put in a dark cave for the first nine years of their lives to begin this training.[5] In the cave, elder Mamos and the child's mother care for, feed, train, and teach the child to attune to "Aluna" before the boy enters the outside world."

Similar technique (sensory deprivation) - same result... the spirit of a being is able to "leave the body." Where it might travel seems wide open. To when it might travel seems no less possible... both quite accessible to those who are open to the infinite flexibility of consciousness.
 
Consider Steve's earlier discussion - Skeptiko #397.

The technique of placing the individual (I sense always male??) in an 8' x 8' concrete encasement for three days, then three weeks, then three months and, if they want, for three years. Training for being able to leave their body and "travel" - as Steve called it - “light body traveling with “a soul”... with aspects of himself like his unified chakra system, etc.... generating his "merkahbah" (one way to spell it, Steve used another).

So now, consider the Kogi - from Colombia. I cannot imagine "they learned this" from Tibetan lamas or visa versa... but the Kogi are famous for their ability "to travel" just like the lamas. So look at this - straight out of mainstream Wikipedia who, in this case, likely has little or no reason to misinform - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogi_people

"From birth the Kogi attune members of their society called Mamos (which means sun in Kogi), for guidance, healing, and leadership. The Mamos are not to be confused with shamans or curers but to be regarded as tribal priests who hold highly respected roles in Kogi society. Mamos undergo strict training to assume this role. Selected male children are taken from birth and put in a dark cave for the first nine years of their lives to begin this training.[5] In the cave, elder Mamos and the child's mother care for, feed, train, and teach the child to attune to "Aluna" before the boy enters the outside world."

Similar technique (sensory deprivation) - same result... the spirit of a being is able to "leave the body." Where it might travel seems wide open. To when it might travel seems no less possible... both quite accessible to those who are open to the infinite flexibility of consciousness.


WOW, the similarities with the Tibetan tradition are remarkable. Thanks for sharing this, Chester.
 
WOW, the similarities with the Tibetan tradition are remarkable. Thanks for sharing this, Chester.

I have known of the Kogi since year 2000 and also knew of their reputation for seeing themselves as "Earth's older brothers" and their ability to traverse the globe and beyond via "out of body travel." The information was featured by one of those folks who also has become quite controversial and for many reasons. It seems to be more of a trend than an exception.

It seems so clear and thus easy to understand that a compromised human being might still have helpful information and, in fact, be helpful for others and perhaps, in their current lifetime, make profound changes whereby karmic resolution in future lifetimes is less difficult to traverse. In fact, I sure hope so because I am certainly compromised if I consider my own past within this current lifetime.

If each lifetime adds to the totality of our being (at the level of our soul), I cannot imagine a more important thing to "keep in mind" once each of us are aware of this possibility. One thing that stands out with regards to those who embrace this possibility... they can choose to develop their soul with a self-centric focus or, they can, choose the opposite which I have heard described as a kosmic-centric focus (and, of course, everywhere in between is available).

In perennial philosophy (and traditionalism) can be found the term, "direct apprehension." Once experienced, to the degree this experience leaves an impression upon the individual is to the degree they understand the "kosmic-centric" operational protocol and more and more act from this world view. If one of life's purposes is to awaken to the soul, it seems one of the purposes of the soul is to embrace the paradox of the 'one and the many' - infinite expressions of a foundational sole essence.

I don't think "knowing this" (if it can be) is something one can acquire via discourse though we love to talk about it. It seems that ultimately, "the final work must be done within." I hope this work is a never ending process because I enjoy 'being.'
 
good enough for me.

-- God doesn't like crowds.
-- God doesn't like cults.

There is some truth to that Alex, although I think that there is a level of judgement of good and bad, and another level where God is in all things and experiences all things without judgement.

One of my favorite quotes:

“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
F Scott Fitzgerald
 
...and way above my pay grade to draw any firm conclusions from a.) the experience I had when I was 6 years old and b.) all the "beyond the pale" synchronicity experiences of which I have only shared a tiny fraction of on the blog. If you read any of the other blog entries (some specific to synchronicity) this one is my all time (though simple) favorite - http://merlynagain.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-most-charished-synchronicity.html

Interestingly, a guest of Alex (the wife/husband duo, the MacGregors) asked me if they could share it on their blog (one of my few "Andy Warhol" moments).
Dr.Gary Schwartz, a polymath at the U of AZ who has done scientific experiments regarding and involving benevolent spirits in the afterlife (Julie Beischel got her start with him) has written a recent book on synchronicities. It is in my Kindle library waiting to be read.
 
This is turning into a kind of personal theater of the absurd. Here I am defending Maharishi when I haven't looked to him for anything in years. That said, I do feel the right and honorable thing to do is to set the record straight on matters of which I have firsthand knowledge.

I often refer to Maharishi as my guru out of respect for the many things he taught me, but my true spiritual guide is Babaji, as in Yogananda's Babaji. If it weren't for the respect Babaji has shown Maharishi over the years, I might never have come full circle in my feelings/attitude for Maharishi.
Can you tell us how you communicate with Babaji? TY!
 
Dr.Gary Schwartz, a polymath at the U of AZ who has done scientific experiments regarding and involving benevolent spirits in the afterlife (Julie Beischel got her start with him) has written a recent book on synchronicities. It is in my Kindle library waiting to be read.

I'm too old fashioned and always have to hold the book in my hand... In fact, I am patiently awaiting Dr. Zinser's book which, if I had ordered the day I discovered that interview (instead of a few days later), I might be reading it now BUT, sometimes things seem to happen at the best, right time... I learned today that Steve's book is on the way! :)

Super Synchronicity - Schwartz.png
 
Last edited:
Steve, are the nagas seen as mythical, or as real entities much like angels* in the Western tradition? If they are real, why do you think so many demons are getting past them?

Who mended the tear in the veil you mentioned?

*I had never had firsthand experience with angels but was always drawn to Gabriel. Then when I did an ADC guided meditation, Gabriel showed up along with my loved ones. It turns out he is one of my Guides. Dr. Gary Schwartz did a rigorous scientific experiment with disincarnate spirits and discovered that Gabriel was one of them.
 
Steve, are the nagas seen as mythical, or as real entities much like angels* in the Western tradition? If they are real, why do you think so many demons are getting past them?

Many view nagas as mythical... most people do. In every tradition we find serpents and snakes associated with gods and other beings.
From a Vedic standpoint, they are absolutely real... mentioned again and again in the literature of India. They are much lower than angels. More of a mixed bag of good qualities but also malevolent. Certainly not demons but also not angels. There are temples to nagas in different parts of India. It's a race of beings that many find difficult to imagine or to believe exists, even for most Indians. Nagas are shapeshifters.


Who mended the tear in the veil you mentioned?

Higher beings and nature spirits, I imagine. I visited the area for 10 days and departed. Never got back there... It was not repaired when I left, but these tears heal over time.

*I had never had firsthand experience with angels but was always drawn to Gabriel. Then when I did an ADC guided meditation, Gabriel showed up along with my loved ones. It turns out he is one of my Guides. Dr. Gary Schwartz did a rigorous scientific experiment with disincarnate spirits and discovered that Gabriel was one of them.

Dr. Schwartz' findings do not resonate with me. Gabriel also happens to be the 'patron' of writers so I feel an affinity for him. I'm not speaking from direct experience on this one, but as I understand it, Gabriel is an Archangel which is among the highest levels of angelic beings along with Elohim.

I consider you extremely fortunate to have AA Gabriel as a guide. That is truly wonderful!
 
Steve, are the nagas seen as mythical, or as real entities much like angels* in the Western tradition? If they are real, why do you think so many demons are getting past them?


Many view nagas as mythical... most people do. In every tradition we find serpents and snakes associated with gods and other beings.
From a Vedic standpoint, they are absolutely real... mentioned again and again in the literature of India. They are much lower than angels. More of a mixed bag of good qualities but also malevolent. Certainly not demons but also not angels. There are temples to nagas in different parts of India. It's a race of beings that many find difficult to imagine or to believe exists, even for most Indians. Nagas are shapeshifters.


I can't say how or why demons get past the boundary, but demons are powerful and very clever. Demons have escaped from incarceration areas that are heavily guarded. How is beyond my understanding.

Who mended the tear in the veil you mentioned?

Higher beings and nature spirits, I imagine. I visited the area for 10 days and departed. Never got back there... It was not repaired when I left, but these tears heal over time.

*I had never had firsthand experience with angels but was always drawn to Gabriel. Then when I did an ADC guided meditation, Gabriel showed up along with my loved ones. It turns out he is one of my Guides. Dr. Gary Schwartz did a rigorous scientific experiment with disincarnate spirits and discovered that Gabriel was one of them.


*I had never had firsthand experience with angels but was always drawn to Gabriel. Then when I did an ADC guided meditation, Gabriel showed up along with my loved ones. It turns out he is one of my Guides. Dr. Gary Schwartz did a rigorous scientific experiment with disincarnate spirits and discovered that Gabriel was one of them.[/QUOTE]

Dr. Schwartz' findings do not resonate with me. Gabriel also happens to be the 'patron' of writers so I feel an affinity for him. I'm not speaking from direct experience on this one, but as I understand it, Gabriel is an Archangel which is among the highest levels of angelic beings along with Elohim.

I consider you extremely fortunate to have AA Gabriel as a guide. That is truly wonderful!
 
*I had never had firsthand experience with angels but was always drawn to Gabriel. Then when I did an ADC guided meditation, Gabriel showed up along with my loved ones. It turns out he is one of my Guides. Dr. Gary Schwartz did a rigorous scientific experiment with disincarnate spirits and discovered that Gabriel was one of them.

Dr. Schwartz' findings do not resonate with me. Gabriel also happens to be the 'patron' of writers so I feel an affinity for him. I'm not speaking from direct experience on this one, but as I understand it, Gabriel is an Archangel which is among the highest levels of angelic beings along with Elohim.

I consider you extremely fortunate to have AA Gabriel as a guide. That is truly wonderful! [/QUOTE]

Gabriel is one of the blessings that keep me going.

Gary S. and others were amazed and gratified that He showed up in Gary's experiment. Is it the unlikeliness of this that does not resonate with you?

Would it help if I sent a link to the experiment?

I read up on nagas briefly and found much of what you say here. Does the Vedic literature state that beings of such an ambivalent nature are responsible for the boundary keeping demons out? If so, what is their incentive??

I delved into esoteric Islam (Rene Guenon) for a time. His was the only reference I have seen in the Western tradition to a boundary keeping demons out. He claimed that the world religions, despite their flaws, kept that boundary quite secure until the secularization following the Enlightenment. With the demise of religion, the demons were free to swarm across the barricade, contributing to the last and worst phase of the Kali Yuga. Oi vey, so many viewpoints! (Guenon also equated jinn with demonic entities globally--he would not use any other word for them!)
 
Back
Top