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anything M has said ever not been
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Has
anything M has said ever not been
true? |
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Date: Wed, May 03, 2000 at 22:18:31 (GMT) you all talk about when he says if you quit practising Knowledge you're going to break into a million pieces. you all seem like a bunch of broke motherfuckers to me. if any ex-aspirant has any real questions i'll try to help you answer them. because truly I don't have a question in the world. M says Knowledge is the answer that will answer all your questions and it has been for me. and I'm not just hiding from facts or the way I really feel. Some guy talks about Christ being a compilation of myths. c'mon man- Christ, Buddah, Mohammed, Krishna, Kabir. and M. If you look through their life stories is it all fun and games? To some, it was the greatest game ever played. To others, they dropped out. All I know is, you can't score any points on the sidelines.
Date: Fri, May 05, 2000 at 16:11:59 (GMT) From: Nigel Email: fitzroy@liverpool.ac.uk To: Everyone Subject: 't' asked an excellent question! Message: So often premie questions can be pretty lame, but down below 't' asked the following: Has anything M has said ever not been true? Rather than dismiss it outright, I think this deserves some kind of considered response, don't you think? The best place to look, of course, is in a transcript of M's own address. NB: this does not come from his long-ago childhood when, as we all know, the god-child was a walking, talking bullshit machine. The following satsang is rather more recent - alarmingly so for any premie who still believes Maharaji gave up the 'Superior Power in Person' game twenty years ago… > Dear Premies... Now, we have heard a lot. Mahatmas (instructors) have put forward a great deal of things. And today Padarthanand has also spoken... ...So, you have just heard the questions put by the people, 'What should we become? Should we become students, disciples or devotees?' When satsang was over, Padarthanand came back-stage, I asked him to come to me. I said 'Why don't you explain to people the difference in becoming a student, a devotee and a disciple?' Just ask them. Enough of questions have already been asked. And I think in most of the cases some instructors might have given wild answers, quite off the mark as if fetched from far off places, which made neither head nor tail, which carried no meaning and might have confounded the audience: 'Oh, what mahatmaji (the instructor) has said, I could not comprehend at all. But maybe it is true because it has been said by mahatmaji.' So it is just like that because I have seen enough of this world. > Good question, Prem, 'Why don't you explain to people the difference...' (and poor old Padarthanand - looks like the Hamster is still into the public humiliations trip...) Hey, why don't you explain to everyone the difference between becoming a student, a devotee and a disciple. Jonathan Cainer, for one, might appreciate the clarification. A little further down... > Have you seen worms? Have you seen ants? I can understand what it means to be born as an ant or worm in your next birth. That's why it has been said: 'It is with great good fortune we secure this human body. It is rarely attained even by gods, as scriptures say. It is actually the means to practice Knowledge and the gateway to salvation...' > This is 1991. Prem Rawat is in his mid-thirties, living in the west; he has even watched nature documentaries. Yet it seems he still believes in reincarnation, salvation through realisation, and this very sweet notion that living things are somehow always provided for: > I admit all these things. But you just tell me one thing. Do ants go to their jobs? No. Do they get stuck in traffic jams? No. Do they pay taxes? No. Do they need to vote? No. Do they face all these worldly problems? No. Do they get two square meals a day? Yes. [Really?] Do they have a place to live? Yes. So you just tell me one thing. There are those people too who sleep on the pavements and pass their time in trouble and tribulations. Now whose situation is better? The situation of ants or the situation of those people on the pavements? You tell me, those poor people who have no place to live, no food to eat, how do they fare in this world? Have you ever seen ants begging alms? Oh, everything is provided to ants. Have you ever seen ants saying- 'Yes sir. Yes sir!' Have you seen ants doing flattery without purpose? Have you seen ants saying, 'Please forgive me, oh forgive me?' So, you just tell me, on one side there is this human being and on the other is that ant. And for ants there are no restrictions. They are going on without any restraint. Then whose lot is better? [Hmm, do dossers on the pavement get stamped on by schoolboys? Can ants know the joy of devotion?] Hey, there is a mulberry tree here and sweet mulberry fruits fall on the ground. A man needs a ladder. Isn't it so? Either he needs a ladder or a stick, so that he may hit the mulberry tree to make the fruits fall down. But since I came here, I have seen small pieces of fruits-not the bigger ones automatically falling down, for all those ants. > And if they fall down for the ants, what's to stop a human being picking them up? - Even a man without a ladder? (Did 2000 westerners really shell out thousands of dollars, marks or pounds to travel to India and listen to this drivel? Were you there, t? Did you learn something?) During this address, Maharaji makes numerous references to this 'ideal design' argument which suggests Prem's world view is shaped by Creationist, rather than evolutionary thought: > The creator has left nothing incomplete far animals or birds or for men. One thing he has left to human being and that is that you can know. But where has human being utilized this privilege or potentiality of knowing things? What have human beings learned? Just see, in all spheres of life whatever man has done has caused downfall. Wars. I am flabbergasted. Oh, there is a war at this time! I think most probably two months ago everything was going fine. Everything splendid. The Berlin wall there was also demolished. And it went on this way only for two or three months at the most. After that a dead stop. Could all these intellectuals, learned ones and other people manage everything smoothly without warfare only for three months? What is this? > Actually, Prem, it was you who promised to run the world smoothly, without warfare, 'in your lifetime...' So leave the intellectuals, alone, heh? You might not be able to join their ranks, but at least I haven't noticed any of the world's great minds offering simplistic solutions to intractable problems. [cont…]
Date: Fri, May 05, 2000 at 16:56:29 (GMT) > Now, let us talk something about our inner self. Not anything outside. Do you know how to go inside? Do you know what the path of devotion is! Because the modern devotees happen to be half gods and half devotees. When it is convenient, they become gods, and when they feel like it, they become devotees. That depends which role is more lucrative. > And what the f*** is that supposed to mean: 'half gods, half devotees..?' A bit like centaurs, perhaps? Lord of the Unicorns, indeed... > When they find that something is being distributed to devotees, they assume the role of a devotee; and when they see that something is being offered to gods, they put on the mantle of gods. They act according to their convenience,. What is the meaning of becoming a devotee? What is the meaning of becoming a student? What is the meaning of becoming empty? That is most important to realize. My Master has revealed this Knowledge to me. Such a beautiful Knowledge. And how did he give it? We were playing outside. These days lots. of aspirants are waiting there. But there was no question of aspiration. We were busy playing outside. Somebody came and said, 'He (Shri Maharaji) is calling you.' In my family there was a sort of a regulation that when he called, it means something serious. In those days, during the time of Shri Maharaji, there was a pet dog named Tommy. We were very young. And that dog used to hite everybody. He was always chained. He used to run after every one to bite them. But when Shri Maharaji came back from tours and was sitting in a chair, that dog used to sit there quietly. He (the dog)', knew quite well that if he would be nasty, he would be punished. [That doggy reference is totally irrelevant to this anecdote. I think Prem is having a wee wallow in nostalgia, here.] Anyway, the message came, 'He is calling. He is calling in the parlour. ' Now, 'calling in the parlour' indicated ,something else. If he called us into the dining room, that had other significance. If he called us to the verandah, that had different implications. If he called us into the bedroom, it meant something else - But 'calling in the parlour' was a signal of very .serious significance. His calls differed in degrees in terms of the purpose and seriousness of the situation. So he called us, 'Sit down. Do you want Knowledge?' He asked. 'Yes sir,' [Aah... whatever happened to good old Victorian discipline and respect..?] was the answer. 'Take it. This is technique one, this is the next technique and this is another one...' He gave the techniques and then said, 'Now go away. That is all. Did you understand?' That's all. But somewhere we needed to be empty. Had there been no emptiness inside, it would have been almost impossible to understand anything. [Relax Prem, you're empty…] 'Go and do practice.' No tall talks. Within minutes he explained everything and then said, 'Well, go and play.' [Yeah, we got that the first time] And what did we give him? I did not have even a fruit. I had nothing in the name of offering to him. First he asked, 'Do you know how to do meditation?' I replied, 'Yes.' Then he said, 'Take this and this...' But how can I describe how much grace has Maharaji showered on my life! And I know it fully well that so long as I stay a vessel of his grace, the grace would accompany me, till then. And if I cease to be the vessel, the grace would abandon me… > Ah yes, 'the Grace' (doesn't it take you back?) and that whole package of magical thinking that is stirred up like a nest of snakes whenever we stop to consider the blessing which our Master provides for us by means unseen... > ...Let me tell you ,something which occurred once to me. I was at an airport where l had gone for training. The training was completed. I had a small airplane and I had to fly to Miami in this airplane, which had come back from Amsterdam the night before. There was something wrong with the plane. Its one engine was not starting. And this happened in Dallas. The weather was terribly hot. l had made all the plans' in detail and was determined to go - 'How I would leave from the airport. I would leave in a car. And this man with me would return the car. Then I would sit in that airplane and start it. I would reach Miami. There I would land. And people would take back that airplane.' The whole plan was duly chalked out by me: at what time l would leave and at what time 1 would reach there. And then I would take a meal and go to sleep. All that was meticulously planned by me. Anyway, I reached the airport. Till then I did not know at all whether the engine had some fault. So I was quite complacent. I went to start the engine but it wouldn't budge. How is it! The engine is not starting. And I was sitting in the cockpit all the time trying very hard to start it, sweating profusely all the while. The shirt got completely drenched with sweat. The sweat is dripping down, coming into the eyes; there is a burning sensation in the eyes. I was desperate. [Jeez, that is some crown of thorns...] Just let it start and no sooner it starts, I will take off and when I begin to cruise at a higher altitude, it would be cool. Then it would be O.K. But the engine just stuck there, it did not start. Then I left the airplane in a hurry and asked that person who was accompanying me to go and buy at least two tickets. [money no object then…] I told him to find any flight. All the seats in the plane were full. But somehow he got two tickets as two passengers did not turn up. That's why only two tickets were available. So we flew. > Ok, you all got that? The plane wouldn't start, which causes the Master intolerable suffering, caused by sweat in the eye department, so Prem sends a minion to check last minute cancellations. They are in luck: two tickets -just what tbey needed - just like thousands all over tbe world pick up on last minute cancellations, daily. But was it luck in this instance..? > I was reflecting upon the whole chain of incidents. I was reproaching the crew who brought that plane, 'Oh these rascals, they brought this airplane. They had flown it yesterday. They were fully aware that the engine was defective, had they even let me know before, the problem would have been rectified the previous night. They are great scoundrels.' And I was sitting in that airplane. Well, it flew towards Miami then I thought, what was the reality? On one .side I could blame everybody, and at that time I was thinking that somebody would pay for it. Then again I remembered that I had my own plan, and that Supreme Planner had his plan too for me. There were thus two plans. There was one plan of mine and another plan of my Master. So I recollected that how could my plan succeed in face of the plan of my Maharaji? Whatever plans I had made, they were bound to crumble. But what a great fortune was that in the plan of Maharaji also, I had to go to Miami. He did all that. And I did not know even from what calamity he saved me. [my emphasis] It was also possible that there might have been more problems in that airplane, which I did not know. But I am ready to accept whatever Maharaji has in store for me. That l don't know. A devotee doesn't know. > Let's unpick this a little. Leaving aside the paradox of Prem not knowing what Master has in store for him, yet he, presumably, as Master, knows what is in store for his own devotees, let's look instead at the underlying philosophical assumption. Both in his talk of ants being provided for and in this airport near-catastrophe, there is the assumption of all being as it should be, of the Supreme planner having everything under control. Omniscient and Omnipresent - an interventionist power in person... I remember listening to Anne Johnston telling aspirants how Maharaji had worked ut every little detail of her life with such precision that she no longer had to think about anything. She surrendered, and the Grace took care of the rest... I also remember that on tbe same day in 1978, twenty thousand lranians were killed in an earthquake; ordinary people, religious and non-religious people alike; little kiddies, sweet old ladies - all crushed by falling masonry while they were having their tea, taking a bath, listening to a bedtime story or whatever... I remember the twinge of dissonance as I listened to Maharaji's mahatma speaking of his eternal benevolence, but I suppose I must have quelled the momentary doubts by taking the cosmic view: whatever happened to those poor Persian souls must be no more than a blip on the face of eternity...just Karma for past-life offences, or something. Otherwise, you'd have to ask yourself how supreme is the supreme planner? How benign? Did he/she/Maharaj Ji craft those cunning little bugs that worm their way into the of eyes of African kiddies and cause river blindness? The HIV virus? How about the gene for Huntingtons? Or if animals are provided for, how come 99% of all species that ever lived are now extinct? Creatures become extinct when they are no longer provided for. Does Prem know that? - or would that be a bit too intellectual for him? Looks like a supreme planner with pretty warped sense of humour. I remember CD mentioned the Infinite being 'mischievous...' Looks more like, at worst, sadistic cruelty or, at best, blind indifference to me. And it goes on, and on... same old Hindu garbage... blah, blah, divine authority of Master, ancient lineage, drivel, drivel... till in a grand messianic flourish, Prem ends his address thus: > So far I have not met anyhody who is worthy of this Knowledge and worthy of the of the Master… > All I can say is anyone who can swallow this stuff without retching deserves a big shiny medal. t: M's world-view is still chock-full of superstitious, unsubstantiated garbage and extravagant claims regarding his own divinity. Or perhaps that IS you idea of truth..? |
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