These effects greatly reduced the efficiency of
his disciples and prevented them from carrying out his instructions effectively.
How could this have happened to someone so
knowledgeable about spiritual exercises?
I am also interested in what she tells us
about the big difference between the sort of people the Maharishi wanted to
attract and many of the people he actually attracted - at least in the early
days of his movement.
What was going on here?
It all seems to have backfired on him; he got
the exact opposite of what he wanted.
The effects on the meditation practitioners
There are many references to the unwanted behavioural
characteristics of the people around the Maharishi Yogi. These were not innate;
it seems it was the meditation that changed these people for the worse.
In Joyce Collin-Smith’s own words:
“…they had always been competent people
before. It began to dawn on me that a certain vagueness, an unwillingness for
action, an avoidance of responsibility pervaded certain sections of the
Spiritual Regeneration Movement.”
“I had also noticed other previously busy
people growing more lethargic and withdrawn.”
“A desire to withdraw from life, and to be
committed to no one and to nothing, seemed to be growing in them. They were no
longer as interested or active in the world as they had been.”
“On the whole few initiates seemed to have
improved in any definite way as a result of the practices. They had simply
become more self-absorbed and withdrawn.”
These people were in no fit state to further
the Maharishi’s plans.
He needed dynamic, enthusiastic, energetic, efficient and organised disciples who would go out and conquer the world on his behalf. He
wanted them to establish TM centres everywhere starting with Buckingham Palace
and 10 Downing Street but instead they just sat around, apathetic and
detached.
They found full satisfaction in the
meditation and wanted to remain in the contemplative state
almost continually; they were unwilling to work or do anything in the world. Even
professional people were affected by the curious lethargy that overcame the serious
and regular practitioners of Transcendental Meditation.
Attracting the wrong people
There are many references to the unwelcome
attributes of many of the people attracted to the Maharishi Yogi. He said
openly that he wanted important people with power, money and influence, but
what he got was something very different.
In Joyce Collin-Smith’s own words:
“Though some sensible and businesslike people
came, most did not stay long. The most faithful devotees were a rag, tag and
bobtail of society, many quite impractical, impecunious and belonging to the
slightly lunatic fringe.”
“He was also attracting far too many neurotic
or mentally abnormal people, who took up a great deal of his time… ”
She said that it was his flowery oriental
manner that deterred ‘sound’ people, but there may be some kind of subtle law at
work here. Many very different people, L. Ron Hubbard and Charles Fort for
example, have also reported attracting people they didn’t
want and not attracting the interest of the sort of people they did want.
The householder versus the recluse
Joyce Collin-Smith tells us that the
Maharishi Yogi was well aware that some mantras and meditation techniques could
be dangerous when used by people they were not intended for.
He warned his followers not to use mantras
that belong to a tradition of recluses, the sort of people who live in dim
caves in the Himalayas for example. Practices that are suitable for solitary
people with no attachments to the world can cause a lot of damage if followed
by the sort of people known as ‘householders’, as they cause inertia and withdrawal
from the world. He had seen this in India, where people were too passive to do
anything about the many social problems.
He knew very well that people with
connections to and commitments in the outer world, people with families to
raise and tasks to perform, should avoid any meditation practices that stop
them from performing their duties and turn them into recluses.
Many people have said that we are human
beings, not human doings. That is all very well, but the Maharishi wanted his
people to be up and doing and his techniques were intended to help them remain
calm while they were about his business in the marketplace.
So what went wrong?
Why did so many people become detached,
apathetic and idle?
Joyce Collin-Smith herself became unable to
pursue her career as a novelist.
Could it be that the Maharishi’s techniques
were experimental and he hoped rather than knew for certain that they were
suitable for ‘householders’?
Could it be that he did not understand the western temperament and psychology?
Joyce Collin-Smith noticed something that the
Maharishi was apparently unaware of: the meditations he taught were counter-productive.
Why didn’t he see what was happening on his watch?
Why didn’t he realise that
it was all backfiring?
Could it be that the special powers he used
to prevent people noticing what he was doing also prevented him from seeing
what his disciples were doing - or not doing? A smokescreen can work both ways.
This was all in the early stages of his campaign
to conquer the world. He managed to get the balance right later.
