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Milarepa ............Its not easy to recognize all the regrettable changes which followed our involvement: changes to our once relatively uncomplicated personalities, even so, avoiding obvious details, names and places, this forum provides a way, without feeling exiled.. of clearing the slate...
............And sometimes, such a public statement, albeit an anonymous one, is perhaps the only final way to reverse the obvious, unbalanced bias we implanted into ourself. I refer to the persuasions which led us so far from a perspective based upon the Truth of the Equality of Humankind.
...............This universe is pervaded by a single consciousness, nothing is excluded. Spiritual ideas are that: ideas. Some were devised sincerely to help mankind, some have been warped, offsetting the balance the other way: away from the equality of life and mankind; for gain.
...............The more extreme the ideas of unequal worth of human beings become, the more heinous the invisible destruction and damage that is done to human personalities, self esteem, confidence, social effectiveness, emotional integrity, ceritonin levels, sleep cycles .... bio rhythms ...
peace of mind ...etc... etc....
.........in short, I sense quite a story dangles at the end of your opening thread.
lp
Modified by LP at Tue, Apr 11, 2006, 15:12:59
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I understand that you have thousands of them (10,000 or so?) 
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I stopped singing and took up the mouthie. If I can figure out how to record and put a tune online I shall be happy to amuse you. x
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I'm not one for deep introspection into my own inner depths but I'm pretty sure the reason I did what I did back in the 70's was reasonably simple. I was introduced by a friend who had been introduced by a friend (etc, etc) to meetings where youngish people (mainly ones who had formerly been considered "hippies" or "drop-outs" by the wider Australian society) said they had been revealed the Knowledge of God and because of that they were experiencing the divine bliss that was reported in the scriptures and by many mystics and yogis throughout human history. I only saw them at these meetings and certainly everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely or being incredibly intense going through "spiritual growth" and as I'd been looking for just such a possibility for nearly a decade I continued to go to meetings and found the times I sepnt in them more enjoyable and attractive than the rest of my work, family and surfing life. For myself it was 100% the claims and apparent experience and possible future experience of the premies that attracted me and why not, apart from the inherent implausability, if it had been true and Mahatma Padarthanand had really been able to impart Knowledge of God by the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji it would have been a really, really great decision. Alas.
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yeah it wasn't like we had much choice.. instant God or miss out on a once in an eternity opportunity
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Yeah, that was the option. Take the precious opportunity, or waste your life completely. Those were the options as presented, if you believed them, and why not believe them? But I have to agree with Ocker that it was the premies, a lot more than Maharaji, who attracted me. I figured if they were happy, and they said they were, then I wanted some of that, not that I was unhappy, really, but I was very young and kind of by definition, I was uncertain, and a bit wary, about what life really was, and I was just beginning to discover how complicated, nuanced, and unpredictable life was. So, why not accept this simple forumula for happiness? It was the sincere and ernest witnessing of the premies that was powerful, and why so many people received knowledge in the early 70s. That's all gone now and that's partly why there are so few new recruits to the cult. Premies are jaded, they aren't allowed to say what they really believe to be true about Maharaji and knowledge (no matter how deluded), and that comes accross as stilted, dead, and empty, which it is.
Modified by Joe at Tue, Apr 11, 2006, 18:31:30
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I don't want to miss any opportunity of agreeing with you Joe because I'm sure there'll be disagreements aplenty in the future but as I'm sure you remember they were claiming a lot more than just happiness. I believe "bliss" was the operative word and concepts like "God realisation" were bandied about freely and loosely as it turned out.
The recent posts about mahatmas brings to mind also that in Australia we had Padarthanand who at the time was extremely believable in his role of humble realised soul. If we'd had one of the obviously crazy or unpleasant mahatmas it might have been a different story. In retrospect it might have just been his lack of English language skills that helped him appear so realised but he maded up for quite abit of the obvious weirdness in some of the premies.
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