Joyce Collin-Smith: leaving the cult of the Maharishi Yogi

The final stage of Joyce Collin-Smith’s relationship with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation movement as described in her autobiographical work Call No Man Master is of particular interest to me.

There was a time when she felt far from being ready to abandon the Maharishi. She eventually reached the stage where she felt a deep disquiet whenever she came close to him and met his eyes, and finally there were some last straw incidents that pushed her into completely giving up her involvement with him and his movement.

There are some familiar elements and a few coincidences in what she tells us, and some of the material is useful for adding to the store of information about how and why people leave cults and what happens to them afterwards.

The course in Italy

Everything came to a head when the Maharishi hand picked some people to go on a course of advanced teachings that was to be held in Italy, in the Dolomites. By then, he was charging selected followers hefty amounts for the privilege of learning special techniques.

Joyce Collin-Smith was one of the followers he ordered to go on the course. She felt hijacked, forced into attending.

This was the last course she ever went on. There was a last straw moment or two; the Maharishi went too far and she just couldn’t take any more.

For starters, she realised that he was teaching and presiding over magical practices; not only that, the rituals were very unsafe and undesirable for westerners.

Joyce Collin-Smith: inside the cult of the Maharishi Yogi

Joyce Collin-Smith said that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was both godlike and demonic.

To me, her autobiographical work Call No Man Master has a similar duality: it is both very interesting and very boring. Some of the content fascinates me and resonates very strongly while some of it means very little so I skip over it.

Some of the material has generated commentaries and inspired the making of some original connections while some of it is just more of the same or irrelevant so I have no inclination to say anything about it.

Cults, cult leaders, cult members and cult leavers have been covered in several articles, mainly in general terms. I found Joyce Collin-Smith’s account of her involvement with the cult of the Maharishi Yogi particularly interesting. It is a goldmine; it is independent confirmation of much of what has already been described.

This article covers my ideas about her stated reasons for joining Maharishi and for staying with him for several years despite some reservations and much disillusionment.  Another article will describe how she eventually brought herself to leave him and his organisation for good.

Joyce Collin-Smith and the special powers of the Maharishi Yogi

There is still more to say about Joyce Collin-Smith and her dealings with the Maharishi Yogi.

This article will mainly cover the Maharishi’s special powers.

In her autobiographical book Call No Man Master, she suggests that he remotely caused two deaths. In one case the motive was to remove an obstacle from his path while in the other it was revenge.

As described in the previous article, she believes that Beatles’ agent Brian Epstein was removed because he stood in the way of the Maharishi’s plans and Beatle John Lennon was murdered as a punishment for speaking out openly against the Maharishi.

What did she see and experience during the time she spent with the guru that could have given her this idea? Why did she believe that he had the power to destroy people? Why did she believe that he would use his power so ruthlessly?

Some more extracts from her book provide answers to these key questions. The incidents described may seem trivial to some people, but for me they are very significant and provide independent confirmation of many of my ideas.