Why I’m Grateful to Sexy Sadie
February 6th, 2008 by Rose Rosetree 
“It’s not a religion,” said Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. “Unlike other meditation techniques, it won’t make you withdraw from life. This will only make you more successful. Just 20 minutes twice a day and, in 5-8 years, you’ll be enlightened.”
Maharishi lied. The Beatles, his most famous students, would eventually call him “Sexy Sadie,” lamenting that “You made a fool of everyone.”
But Maharishi, who taught Transcendental Meditation, still helped millions of people like me. Yesterday, in Holland, he died.
As a new meditator, I first met the silk-clad guru at a month-long retreat at Poland Springs,
Those who promise to deliver God always have a special appeal. Although I teach aura reading now, back in the day I didn’t. What was an aura? I had no clue. Nonetheless, I was impressed when a friend told me that she saw auras regularly, but had never seen one like his: 10 feet all around, pure shimmering gold, the color of Divine connection.
Falling hard, I went on to become an “initiator” and, later, a “Governor of the Age of Enlightenment.” I taught new meditators and helped old ones. Spending some seven hours a day on TM eventually became my routine, and I moved to DC expressly so I could do the advanced flying technique with a large group of Sidhas (meditators who had achieved special spiritual powers).
None of this seemed odd to me at the time. I knew we weren’t mainstream. We were “The Movement” that would bring peace to the world.
Only later did I learn that all cults consider themselves “The Movement” that will bring peace to the world.
During those innocent years when I was a true believer, promoting TM with all my heart, I even did media interviews. That included a big radio show where stage fright gripped me mid-sentence. Time froze, along with my open mouth.
I can still remember the horrified interviewer peering in. Only this wasn’t like Lord Krishna’s mother who, according to legend, looked into her son’s mouth and saw the universe. This open mouth of mine represented dead air time, 15 long seconds of horror before anyone in the studio managed to talk.
PLAYING THE FOOL
All of Maharishi’s teachers played the fool, one way or another. In
My chiropractor, also a Fundamentalist, would throw in religious instruction for free as he crunched my bones. I still can remember his avid concern. “How do you know that the Devil isn’t tricking you?”
But I didn’t feel tricked. I felt bliss.
For 17 years, I taught part-time in
In Miami, I scored the first program teaching a TM-based course in a public high school. In
For a year, in Massachusetts, I wrote the first (and only) syndicated column in TM history, attempting to be the Dear Abby of higher states of consciousness.
Every six months, I would return to study with the smiling man in the white dhoti. He’d been informed of my various precedents, just as the national office kept careful statistics of all the new members brought in by me and my colleagues. In group meetings, I’d ask my guru questions or read devotional poetry. Outside Maharishi’s door, I would wait for hours at a time, unsuccessfully seeking a personal audience.
Only once did Maharishi call me by name. “Karen.” It wasn’t my name.
MAHARISHI’S LEGACY
TM is still taught, though its popularity peaked in the 70’s. In the TM-based university in
“I’ve never seen more depressed people in my life,” Donna told me.
And why not? They’d been promised the moon, yet received only a few dazzling rays of sunshine. Seemingly, they had squandered years in pursuit of enlightenment, a permanent state of bliss vividly described by their guru but never received. Personally, out of hundreds of “meditators” I’ve known, only one has achieved that kind of enlightenment. Alas, it isn’t me.
Yet I don’t regret a day – or a decade – that I spent doing TM and teaching for Maharishi. We did help people to open up spiritually. The basic technique, I believe, is sound. Only it’s so powerful that it’s much better to do that technique once a week for the famous 20 minutes. Anything more will make most meditators hopelessly spaced out.
Some ex-TM teachers have become teachers on their own: John Gray, Barbara DeAngelis, Harold Bloomfield, my late friend Peter McWilliams. Deepak Chopra hasn’t done badly. In my smaller way, I’ve been part of this strange grouping, teaching anything but TM – in my case, aura reading, face reading, and skills for empaths.
We rebel teachers do not speak his name. But Maharishi was no Voldemort. He was one of the great world gurus who came to America from the East.
Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Kriya Yoga, was the first, pure until the end. He’s long gone, as are the more scandal-ridden Swami Satchidananda, founder of Yogaville, and Yogi Bhajan, the white-turbaned Sikh who taught Kundalini Yoga and sold breakfast cereal.
So many great teachers, so many millions of followers, so many flaws – yet the knowledge they gave us was priceless. Now is no longer the age of gurus. These Maharishis have led us to an age of self-authority, where each of us finds our own way spiritually.
And here we can find a parallel to another little thing that happened the day that Maharishi died. With John McCain’s strong showing on Super Tuesday, did you hear the death knell for Fundamentalist rule of the Republican party?
For decades, politicians have tried to guru America, as have our more overt religious leaders. Maybe our country as a whole has begun to graduate. Leaving a cult like TM – or the more mainstream cult known as “Fundamentalist Christianity” – could that be the real start of a life?
Rose, I’m curious how you define “Fundamentalist Christianity”.
Beautifully written Rose. You may have crossed paths with my husband during those TM years. Would you consider reading MMY’s aura then and in his last year for this blog?
Wow! What a story. The gratefulness portion of it is what rings in my ears.
You have utilized really well what you learned over those years and were well on the way to becoming the teacher you are now..empowering others to be their best, “their,” not like you, or anyone else.
I am grateful, for this country’s growth, that the grip of Fundamentalist Christian influence has lessened.
HI, TLCHANG. Always a treat to hear from you. I would define “Fundamentalist” in any religion as when someone lives RIGIDLY within a belief system, as reflected in having third eye chakra databanks mostly blocked-off.
Fundamentalists have a cult-like definition of their religion, in my view, but there are many other cults that don’t involve religion at all.
Regarding cults, whether religious or otherwise, I have written about that in detail in “Let Today Be a Holiday,” and you can even preview the chapters by clicking onto http://www.rose-rosetree.com. Once you’re on the home page, click on the book cover and go from there.
That book contains help for releasing oneself from that kind of rigidity in life.
A practical clue about whether someone is in a cult or not is behavioral. Is that person willing to have friends — real friends, considered peers, even intimate quality friendships — with people who do NOT share the same beliefs.
I know that, back in the day, I didn’t altogether respect, or share genuine closeness, with anybody who wasn’t involved in TM.
Every religion has people who live the truth of that path. They connect spiritually with others, within that path or not. And that openness to truth, rather than safety-from-labels, shows in an all-around wide open, gorgeous third eye chakra.
That’s what I think. What do YOU think?
BRENDA, good to hear from you. Maybe I did cross paths with your husband. Most people, even within TM, do not realize that Maharishi trained over 10,000 TEACHERS.
I’m not drawn toward reading him in a blog at this time. I’d rather read your husband any day!
(However, to keep myself from being deluged with blog requests, I must re-state a policy on one of the Blog Rules pages here, that I only read public celebrities here, but it is always possible to order a Personnel Profiile, Aura Report, etc. from http://www.rose-rosetree.com.)
COLLEEN, you really do read with your heart, don’t you!
It is too early to sound that death knell, but yes, I am hoping that America regains that important separation between church and state.
BTW, I know you have read my novel, “The Roar of the Huntids.” Most Blog-Buddies haven’t yet, and if you are fascinated by the issue of religious coercion coming through American government, plus you’d like to read a happy ending, you might want to read that novel.
You can preview the first chapter, I believe, by going to my website, http://www.rose-rosetree.com, clicking on the cover, going from there.
Colleen, I’ll be meeting you in person tomorrow at the Intensive for Empaths and it’s going to be such fun, after all those years of occasional phone sessions plus getting to know you via this blog.
Rose,
I am also looking forward to meeting you. I did not have time to go shopping for any new clothes beforehand as my work schedule has been heavy in order to give me a lovely long weekend, that I did not request…it was just there and perfect to attend the intensive. I thought a lot about coming in December, and voila…it’s here. I’m sure it will thrill my soul.
Dear Rose,
Knowing what a profound influence “Sexy Sadie” has had on you, I can imagine how you must feel with his passing.
In the words of Edith Piaf, “I regret nothing, not the bad, nor the good that has been done to me…. to hell with the past…” Rough translation.
ANABELA, your compassion and loyalty just shine through. How sweet!
As a filmmaker, what did you think about the movie about Piaf, BTW? Did you receive my Feb. zine with !Aura!Film Crit of the Best Actress Nominees?
Thanks for writing, as for you, Gorgeous COLLEEN!
Dear Rose,
Marion Cotillard was amazing. I loved the film. Biopics are normally not great films, but LA VIE ON ROSE did better in this respect.
I didn’t receive the zine this month for some reason!
Rose, I like that definition. I hadn’t thought of it in terms of 3rd eye issues, but that totally makes sense.
To me Fundamentalism (Christian or otherwise) is a near equivilant to fanatacism: a stongly emotional, rigid belief structure that is fear-based and intolerant of differing views. When it comes to Fundamental(fanatical) Christians, this is particularly ironic since “real” Christianity is based on love, not strict ‘rules’ or fear.
I find it unfortunate that ‘true followers of the path’ as you call them, are many times unfairly lumped with the more fanatical element, be they Christian or Muslim or what have you (note the increased prejudice and suspicion towards practitioners of Islam since 9/11 for instance). It seems to me that if one is not discerning, that can lead to another form of ‘Fundamentalism’, which by my definition is apparently closely akin to misinformed prejudice…
Thinking out loud here…
xx Tara
TARA, thinking out loud and thinking/feeling clearly. Like the artist you are!
I wondered if you would have developed as far as an aura-reader if you hadn’t done years of TM meditation, after all meditation is said to speed up the spiritual evolution of a person. Before doing all this you didn’t even read auras. You say that Maharishi didn’t manage to enlighten his followers, but he got you pretty near to it when I think of the quality of your readings. I also think that it is NOT the taks of a guru to make his followers get enlightened, they have to do that themselves, so if they are not enlightened at the end it’s their own fault.
BTW you don’t complain that you wasted your time at university, although you never worked in the field you studied, and you don’t complain that the professors didn’t reach their goal, letting you be successful in your chosen field. I wonder if the male students would ever have considered working as secretaries.
KARIN, no regrets. BTW, in college my goal was to become a writer when I grew up.
Thank you for your incredibly appreciative words about the quality of my woo-woo work.
”ELVIS” has this to say: Came across your piece on Maharishi and couldn’t believe you were talking about the same man I’ve known since 1971.
That “5-8 years” meant 5-8 years of constant rounding! At any rate, the wise teacher often paints the brightest possible future to keep his students inspired and moving ahead. Maharishi once confided that if he had told us how long a road it was, we would never have taken the first step.
As for your own disappointments, I can only say what Maharishi repeated said. Regular program yields regular results.
Irregularity yields irregular results, spaciness etc. Steady, sincere practice for a long time does the trick. Anything else, and there are no guarantees.
RE: Sexy Sadie?
The Beatles were actually asked to leave Maharishi’s course in India because they were using drugs. Before his death, John Lennon called Maharishi to apologize for his behavior. Paul and George learned the Sidhis in the late 1980s and apologized in person. Deepak Chopra, who was there with George, related the story in The Times of India (See below). A Beatles business associate made up that rumor just to get them to leave India. (See last week’s NYTimes article 2.7.08 by Allan Kozinn). Jerry Jarvis also mentions this in the History International documentary.
Ready for some facts?
-Around the turn of century, Paul took his daughter for a private audience with Maharishi.
-George gave a $130,000 music scholarship to Maharishi University of Management in his will.
-Prudence Farrow, Mia Farrow’s sister, is still teaching with her husband. She recently finished a Ph.D in Sankrit.
-Donovan, Mike Love, Julia Lennon, and the others who were in India with the Beatles are still happily meditating along with over 6 million other people around the world. Donovan has been touring Europe with filmmaker David Lynch to popularize meditation and sidhis as tools to bring world peace.
ELVIS, I do thank you for sharing your thoughts, plus the quote from Deepak Chopra that I will display as a separate comment, next.
I do want to say that you and all those happy meditators are welcome to your experiences. Wonderful!
I can only share my truth. TM is a cult. And one of the signatures of any cult is deception. Your own comments have given a perfect example of how Maharishi lied to his students:
“The wise teacher often paints the brightest possible future to keep his students inspired and moving ahead. Maharishi once confided that if he had told us how long a road it was, we would never have taken the first step.”
Admit it. You are saying, in effect, “A wise teacher lies.”
Maharishi helped me in many ways, including his example having taught me that, in my far humbler role as a spiritual teacher, I will not choose to lie. Period.
When I discovered many significant ways in which Maharishi had lied to me and our students, my world came crashing down around me and it took several years for me to recover. I was stronger for all that, but I emerged crystal clear that whenever I have a relationship of sacred trust, lying is unacceptable. (Actually, I consider ALL my relationships to be a kind of sacred trust, and I don’t choose to lie to anyone. Thank you, Maharishi!)
RWP, you don’t mention in your email if you are an “initiator,” as I was until I resigned. I can assure you that in the many years of my life that I spent on training courses and advanced programs for teachers, “rounding” away, that I NEVER heard Maharishi say that the 5-8 years he promised as a requirement to be enlightened through his technique meant “5-8 years of straight rounding.”
Besides that, I can assure you that, as one of his teachers, I was expressly taught to make the “5-8 year promise” whenever I taught people. What does that show about the integrity of this guru’s promises?
Similarly, consider Maharishi’s claim that “Mantras (sounds assigned during initiation in TM) are meaningless sounds whose effects are known.”
Right in my first teacher training course in Mallorca, a young Sanskrit scholar asked, “Maharishi, you know that all the mantras you assign are the names of Hindu gods. How can you tell people that there are no religious implications?”
I could write at length about other promises made, and broken, by Maharishi. But I don’t want to appear to be writing a screed. Here I will just conclude with one very simple fact.
I find it laughable that you (and other TMers) claim that “Irregularity yields irregular results, spaciness etc. Steady, sincere practice for a long time does the trick.”
Some of the spaciest people I have ever met (including myself, for years!) have been the most devout and regular meditators.
As an aura reader, I find that the reason for this is readily apparent. Maharishi’s basic TM technique typically creates a huge third-eye and crown experience while breaking down the functioning at all the other chakras. Could you ask for a clearer definition of “spacey”?
“ELVIS” sends us this clipping.
‘Maharishi ushered in spiritual renaissance’
7 Feb 2008
Deepak Chopra
NEW YORK: The Maharishi didn’t die like mere mortals do. He just went into what we call ‘maha samadhi’.
On January 12 this year, his 91st birthday, he announced that his work in the world was over and he was going into silence. He didn’t speak to a single soul after that day. And today, he has passed so elegantly.
Maharishi began the spiritual renaissance. He was one of the most significant figures of the century. Personally, I owe everything to him. Everything I have learnt, I have learnt from him. He has influenced some of the most important people of this century.
I remember taking George Harrison to meet him in 1993. George had gone to apologize for the bad behaviour of the Beatles back in 1969. When George apologised, the Maharishi said there was nothing to be sorry about. He said the Beatles were angels on Earth with their music and he could never be angry with them.
Another incident that comes to mind is back in 1996 when I rushed him to hospital in London. The doctors declared the Maharishi dead but he came back. When an urgent blood transfusion was required, I was found to be the only one with matching blood type.
It’s enough to say I am who I am because of my Guru. I’m grateful that I was part of his dream. If there is such a thing as ‘devaloka’, they must surely be celebrating and welcoming a great sage.
“ELVIS” also wishes to share this article:
Deepak Chopra on Maharishi
February 6, 2008
Even though I last sat with Maharishi more than ten years ago, he left an indelible impression, as he did on everyone. His extraordinary qualities are known to the world. Without him, it’s fair to say, the West would not have learned to meditate. During the Cold War era a reporter once challenged him by saying, “If anything is possible, as you claim, can you go to the Soviet Union tomorrow with your message?” Without hesitation, Maharishi calmly replied, “I could if I wanted to.” Eventually he did want to, and meditation arrived in Moscow several years before the Berlin Wall fell. In his belief that world peace depended entirely on rising consciousness, Maharishi was unshakable.
Over the fifty yeas of his public life, Maharishi never lost his charm and lovability. He had these qualities to such an extent that Westerners took him to be a perfect example of how enlightenment looks — kind, sociable, all-accepting, and light-hearted — when that is far from the case. His presence was more mysterious than good humor can account for: you could feel it before entering a room. You could be walking down the hallway to his private apartments with the weight of the world on your shoulders and feel your worries drop away with every step, until by the time your hand touched the doorknob, by some magic you felt completely carefree.
He adhered to the vows of poverty and celibacy that belonged to his order of monks, despite the fact that he amassed considerable wealth for the TM movement. What gets overlooked is that he viewed wealth as a means to raise the prestige of India in the materialistic West, which was both canny and realistic of him. In the end the movement’s money went to preserve the spiritual heritage of India by opening pundit schools and building temples. Maharishi was deeply concerned that he might be the last embodiment of a sacred tradition that was quickly being overwhelmed by modernization.
It’s shameful to say, but gurus are a dime a dozen in India and are often treated like retainers by the rich and powerful. Nothing could be farther from the truth in Maharishi’s case. He was venerated by the venerable and considered holy by the holy. His capacity to explain Vedanta was unrivaled, and if he accomplished nothing else in his long life, his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita insures his lasting name, because with acute analysis he cuts through to the heart of every verse. Imagine that someone arose in the West who definitively settled all the disputes over the New Testament and went on to exemplify the nature of Jesus. Then you might get some idea of Maharishi’s impact as a guru.
Around 1990 I was commissioned to write a book about him; it turned out to be the only assignment I could never complete. Even after spending hundreds of days in his presence, one could not capture him, either on paper or in one’s mind. The Gita is right to say that there are no visible signs of enlightenment, but I would go further. The enlightened person ceases to be a person and attains a connection to pure consciousness that erases all boundaries. My deepest gratitude goes to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for showing me that this state of unity exists outside folk tales, temples, organized religion, and scripture itself. To live and breathe in unity consciousness is unfathomable, but in at least one case, I am sure it is real.
Sorry, “ELVIS” and Dr. Chopra, but I must invite any open-minded person to read Maharishi’s translation and commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita.
I read that and his other bestseller “The Science of Being and the Art of Living,” and back in the day, practically memorized them.
If you read them without the cult mentality, as I started to do years ago, it’s nearly comical how every few pages, Maharishi says, in so many words, “and that is why the solution to all problems in life is to practice Transcendental Meditation.”
Deepak Chopra’s writing has been far more helpful to me, long term, than the words of his guru.
“ELVIS” also sends us this article:
The Times of India
When Maharishi threw the Beatles out
February 15, 2006
NEW DELHI: This is a true story of love and bitterness, recrimination and reconciliation. Its a story of glamour and spirituality, drugs and rock n roll. Its about four men whom the world worshipped, and the mentor they first adored, then abhorred. Its a story that has never before been told in its entirety, though gossip and rumours have swirled around it for years.
Why exactly did relations between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi sour? As an erstwhile disciple of the Maharishi, and a close friend of the Beatles, spiritual master Deepak Chopra is probably one of the few people who knew the real story.
He said, “The Beatles along with their entourage, which included Mia Farrow were doing drugs, taking LSD, at Maharishi’s ashram, and he lost his temper with them. He asked them to leave, and they did in a huff.
————————-
The Times of India
‘Beatles are angels on earth, said Maharishi’
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
It was an emotional meeting. As Chopra tells it, Harrison first presented Maharishi a rose. This was followed by a long silence.
Then Maharishi asked, “How have you been?” George replied, “Some good things (have happened), some bad things.”
Then he added, “You must know about John being assassinated.” Maharishi replied, “I was very sorry to hear about it.”
After some time, Harrison spoke. “I came to apologise,” he said. “For what?” asked Maharishi. “You know for what,” replied Harrison.
“Tell Deepak the real story,” said Maharishi. Harrison said, “I don’t know about it 100%, but here’s what I know transpired.” And he narrated the incident about the Beatles being asked to leave.
Chopra smiled. “Part of the Beatles lore is that when they made their first appearance on American TV, on the Ed Sullivan show, there was no crime in the US for that one hour.
Maharishi told us, ‘When I heard this, I knew the Beatles were angels on earth. It doesn’t matter what John said or did, I could never be upset with angels’. On hearing that, George broke down and wept.”
There was another long silence. Then Harrison told Maharishi, “I love you” and Maharishi responded, “I love you too.”
The two left, and Harrison later phoned Chopra and told him, “A huge karmic baggage has been lifted from me, because I didn’t want to lie.”
ELVIS just sent this email:
Turns out, Chopra was grossly exaggerating his story as he has in the past.
He never gave any blood in that transfusion. (See below for more)
Seems that he’s still trying to puff himself up.
I disagree with most of what you’ve said but it’s not worth an argument.
Please also remove my initials from all the posts.
Thank you.
The following letter is from Gyanendra Mahapatra, an outstanding Indian Governor responsible
for single-handedly creating the first group of 8,000 pundits in India. He is a Maharishi-trained
TM-Sidhi instructor and teacher of Advanced Techniques.
Dear Friends:
I am an Indian physician who was Maharishiji’s personal physician at the time that Dr Deepak Chopra was assisting Maharishiji in England,
as per his article entitled “The Maharishi Years -the Untold Story”. I must inform you that his article is replete with untruths and inaccuracies.
I was at Maharishiji’s side during the entire
incident. Some of the details of the article that I know to be untrue are as follows:
*there was no blood transfusion from Dr Chopra;
*Maharishi was not on a ventilator and was not pronounced dead as claimed;
*he did not have kidney failure at all at that time;
*Dr Chopra’s father attended Maharishi in India, but not in London;
*there was no helicopter involved;
*Dr Chopra did not carry Maharishiji in his arms into the hospital.
Dr Chopra was handsomely paid for his services by the movement. These facts can be corroborated by Prakash and Kirti from the Indian TM movement and Maharishiji’s medical records would bear this out as well. There were two other Indian physicians involved, both of whom were instructed in TM by Farrokh. They can confirm the facts as well.
Dr G. M.
I think whatever spiritual path people take is a personal choice. Each path has its own unique characteristics and beauty. But all spiritual paths espouse love and tolerance for others.
When people fall into self-righteousness regarding their religious beliefs, I personally feel that they have missed the boat. Religion is a package, but the core of every religion is the same - love others, treat them with respect and kindness, treat others as you would like to be treated, and so forth.
I have never found any religion to preach differently. I have only found that some of any religion’s followers can get distorted by rigidity.