More minor misfortunes and an unexpected ending

Accounts of bad days, bad decisions and strings of minor misfortunes have appeared in several previous articles.

There is a little more of the same to report, including a very recent nightmare journey that had an unexpected but very welcome ending.

More electrical malfunctions

Tills have recently behaved strangely when it was my turn to pay. Although they worked for the customer immediately in front of me, one went crazy and had to be reset and the other refused to function at all so the girl on it had to move to another station.

It is interesting that Joyce Collin-Smith says that her friend, the one who could make events turn out to good advantage for herself and her circle, caused problems with electrical apparatus.

Some minor disappointments

It is quite a while since I have had what I think of as a good day. Most of the misfortunes are too petty to report, but a long string of tiny setbacks makes me feel that I am living under a cloud.

On several occasions I have made special a trip to a particular shop I remembered only to find that it had closed down.  I took some unwanted items to my favourite charity shop only to find that they were not accepting donations on that day.

These things have their funny side: I remembered seeing a stall in an indoor shopping centre where they repair watches, so took mine there to have a new battery put in. The watch repair man said he wouldn't do it because it would involve taking the back off and unscrewing things!

These are all very trivial problems; things could be and have been much worse. Not only that: a bad day had a good ending.

Cult members: giving more and more in return for less and less

Something I read  in Joyce Collin-Smith's Call No Man Master  about the Maharishi Yogi reminds me of something I read in Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies about the Elf Queen. 

We start with an amusing anecdote from a serious book; the second extract is a serious statement from a very amusing book.  

From Call No Man Master

Joyce Collin-Smith tells us that the Maharishi Yogi started out by initiating people in return for fruit and flowers, but he went on to demand larger and larger sums of money in return for his teachings. Even the basic courses were very costly, and the lessons in special techniques became steadily more and more expensive. Some people deprived both themselves and their families to pay his exorbitant fees.

These special techniques were supposed to teach people to become clairvoyant, to manipulate the forces of nature and to levitate!

The Maharishi Yogi and some fictional characters

This article will highlight a few special connections I noticed while reading Joyce Collin-Smith’s account of the time she spent with the Maharishi Yogi in the 1960s.

Some of the information she gives us about the Maharishi in Call No Man Master reminds me of what I have written about various fictional characters, including St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre.

Some of it may be small stuff, but the devil is in the details.

The red, white and black connection

These colours of interest have been mentioned in various articles about witches, including one about Emma Cobley from Linnets and Valerians, who was wearing these colours and knitting a red scarf when the children first saw her.

By coincidence, when Joyce Collin-Smith first saw the Maharishi, he was wearing white silk robes and carrying a sheaf of red gladioli. He had long black curling hair.

He had exchanged the gladioli for a red rose when she went to meet him personally.

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.

The Maharishi Yogi, the Beatles and Joyce Collin-Smith

In her book Call No Man Master, Joyce Collin-Smith suggests that the Maharishi Yogi used his occult powers to cause the deaths of two men. One was the Beatle John Lennon and the other was the Beatles’ agent Brian Epstein.

She believed that the Maharishi had the ability to influence events remotely. This belief was based on her own experiences of seeing him and other people in action. I have both read about and experienced many metaphysical phenomena, some of which have been mentioned on here as have some suspicious and/or convenient deaths, so I too believe that a few people have special powers, powers that are often used to harm others. 

Joyce Collin-Smith’s account of these deaths will be followed by some supporting material from various sources.

Joyce Collin-Smith and the Maharishi Yogi

Author, journalist and seeker after esoteric knowledge Joyce Collin-Smith spent six years as secretary and general assistant to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who developed and promoted the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

She served as his driver, cooked his food, washed his silk clothes, tucked him into his bedclothes, made his phone calls, booked hotel rooms, prepared leaflets and posters, took dictation for his books and performed many other exhausting tasks and duties, all in the name of assisting him to realise his inordinate and unrealistic ambitions.

She came to know him very well, and saw at close quarters how he operated and what effect this had on his followers.

Much of her book Call No Man Master is about the time she spent in the Maharishi’s company. Her account of her involvement is disillusioning and sometimes chilling. Casualties and broken people abound. Some damage was spiritual and emotional, but people’s ability to earn a living was also greatly impaired.

Anyone who is interested in cults and cult leaders will find it educational; anyone who is interested in unseen influences will find it fascinating. It contains many elements that have been featured in other articles.

Cult leaders and Call No Man Master

Author and journalist Joyce Collin-Smith’s autobiographical book Call No Man Master is a good source of information about some specific cult leaders.

It may be seen as rather superficial and subjective, but it is still useful for both educating people and confirming what they already suspect or know.

Although her main interests and involvements were in the areas of consciousness raising practices, spiritual development movements, esoteric sects and Eastern religions, much of what she has to say can be applied to cults and cult leaders of any kind.

I am particularly interested in Joyce Collin-Smith’s account of her dealings with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Transcendental Meditation man who was spiritual guru to the Beatles. I can see some very familiar syndromes and connections in this case.

Before we get to the Maharishi, here are some commentaries and ideas inspired by other material of interest in this book:

Call No Man Master

Joyce Collin-Smith chose this title after having spent much of her very long life investigating groups and cults and in the company of various messiahs, spiritual teachers and gurus.

She became disillusioned with most of them, and with good reason. 

Many were found to be hypocritical, self-indulgent and a danger to their followers.