Robes of Silk Feet of Clay - book about Mahesh Yogi
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: February 04, 2014 06:26AM
[www.amazon.com]
of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A level headed account of an unusual affair, April 25, 2012
By Shiva Kali - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Robes of Silk Feet of Clay : The True Story of a Love Affair with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian Guru Followed By the Beatles and Mia Farrow (Paperback)
I was a follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (MMY)in my late teens and early twenties. Back then, I thought he was the greatest of all sages - a world teacher of the highest order. Then, for various reasons I became very disillusioned and left him and his organization. For years afterwards, I tended to demonize him and criticize his organization. Eventually,I settled for an uneasy ambivalence. From time to time, I would read things about him pro and con and found that people where either against him or for him. There wasn't much middle ground.
In this book, Judith walks the middle ground. She doesn't demonize or deify MMY. She sees his humanity through and through. Her embrace of him as a human being is very refreshing. She sees his strengths and his weaknesses with a mature eye. There is no blame in her story. She shares her experience of being his lover simply and without much drama. I got that she still loves him as a teacher of meditation and as a man. But I also got that she sees his flaws and his very human side that was underneath the 'enlightened master' facade. She somehow embraces the beauty of him as well as his hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Reading this book helped me gain a better perspective on MMY. I feel that neither the pro nor the con perspective truly worked for me. Judith's very human portrayal works very well for me.
If you have been or still are involved in MMY's organization, this book is an important read. It shows us the human Mahesh behind the veneer of the 'enlightened' Maharishi
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Corboy Note:
Interested readers would do well to read about MMY's earliest years in London, before he hit the jackpot with the Beatles.
Get and read Call No Man Master, by Joyce Colin-Smith
[www.bookfinder.com]
Mrs Colin-Smith was MMY's secretary in the early 1960s. She paints a picture of a man who was ruthlessly ambitious from the start, using people as means to an end. She also described how the early TM meditations led many people to become apathetic, or to lose interest in and capacity to follow careers where they had formerly enjoyed themselves and been highly appreciated.
In those early days of his career, MMY does not appear to have done any ministry or outreach to the emigre Hindu community in London. He targeted white Westerners. And his first effort was to entice members of Ouspenksy's study group who were bereft after Ouspenksy's death.
Dr Roles, according to Colin-Smith, caught on that MMY was trying to take over the Ouspensky group -- and its resources, which were considerable. Roles thwarted MMY by making it clear that people had to choose-anyone following MMY could not simultaneously remain a member of the Cole House Ouspensky group led by Roles.
Those interested in MMY's pattern of using and discarding people who supported him and helped him can also consult Beyond Gurus a memoir by a former MMY devotee and helper, Nancy Cooke de Herrera.
Mrs de Herrara did very much via her financial support and excellent social connections to assist MMY. She was subtly marginalized after she and others complained that the atmosphere in teacher training was becoming increasingly dictatorial.
of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A level headed account of an unusual affair, April 25, 2012
By Shiva Kali - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Robes of Silk Feet of Clay : The True Story of a Love Affair with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian Guru Followed By the Beatles and Mia Farrow (Paperback)
I was a follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (MMY)in my late teens and early twenties. Back then, I thought he was the greatest of all sages - a world teacher of the highest order. Then, for various reasons I became very disillusioned and left him and his organization. For years afterwards, I tended to demonize him and criticize his organization. Eventually,I settled for an uneasy ambivalence. From time to time, I would read things about him pro and con and found that people where either against him or for him. There wasn't much middle ground.
In this book, Judith walks the middle ground. She doesn't demonize or deify MMY. She sees his humanity through and through. Her embrace of him as a human being is very refreshing. She sees his strengths and his weaknesses with a mature eye. There is no blame in her story. She shares her experience of being his lover simply and without much drama. I got that she still loves him as a teacher of meditation and as a man. But I also got that she sees his flaws and his very human side that was underneath the 'enlightened master' facade. She somehow embraces the beauty of him as well as his hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Reading this book helped me gain a better perspective on MMY. I feel that neither the pro nor the con perspective truly worked for me. Judith's very human portrayal works very well for me.
If you have been or still are involved in MMY's organization, this book is an important read. It shows us the human Mahesh behind the veneer of the 'enlightened' Maharishi
--------
Corboy Note:
Interested readers would do well to read about MMY's earliest years in London, before he hit the jackpot with the Beatles.
Get and read Call No Man Master, by Joyce Colin-Smith
[www.bookfinder.com]
Mrs Colin-Smith was MMY's secretary in the early 1960s. She paints a picture of a man who was ruthlessly ambitious from the start, using people as means to an end. She also described how the early TM meditations led many people to become apathetic, or to lose interest in and capacity to follow careers where they had formerly enjoyed themselves and been highly appreciated.
In those early days of his career, MMY does not appear to have done any ministry or outreach to the emigre Hindu community in London. He targeted white Westerners. And his first effort was to entice members of Ouspenksy's study group who were bereft after Ouspenksy's death.
Dr Roles, according to Colin-Smith, caught on that MMY was trying to take over the Ouspensky group -- and its resources, which were considerable. Roles thwarted MMY by making it clear that people had to choose-anyone following MMY could not simultaneously remain a member of the Cole House Ouspensky group led by Roles.
Those interested in MMY's pattern of using and discarding people who supported him and helped him can also consult Beyond Gurus a memoir by a former MMY devotee and helper, Nancy Cooke de Herrera.
Mrs de Herrara did very much via her financial support and excellent social connections to assist MMY. She was subtly marginalized after she and others complained that the atmosphere in teacher training was becoming increasingly dictatorial.
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