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'The peace you are
searching for is inside of you.'
'Happiness is not a consequence'
Lower down I challenged a premie for examples of
statements Maharaji has made which held some
‘value’ for him - the very best examples,
if possible. The above insights were proffered by
way of evidence. Evidence of what, I am not sure; I
can discern neither value nor sense in either.
Take 'The peace you are searching for is inside
of you.':
This time-honoured yet banal truism appears in
scriptures ranging from the Vedas to the Bible
(‘for the kingdom of heaven is within
you…’ etc.). Variants are glibly rehashed
in a zillion new-age self-helps as embodying the
Deeper Wisdom. Similar scraps and platitudes are
routinely tossed from every millionaire
Master’s smorgasbord to the undernourished
lapdogs at his silk-stockinged feet. It is simply
beyond me how anyone could cite this
‘teaching’ as being M’s own, let
alone consider it useful or worthy of special note.
For one thing, it presumes I/we/everybody is
searching, and personal peace is the objective of
our search (wrong on both counts in my case).
And which natural philospher would care to claim
authorship anyway? The sentence is meaningless.
Whatever your definition of fulfilment or emotional
well-being, you are not going to feel it
outside of yourself, are you? A bit like
‘the flavour you crave can only be experienced
in your olfactory system’. Big fucking
deal.
Empty epistle number two ('Happiness is not a
consequence') is not only nonsense for anyone
who knows a little bit about the psychology or
neurochemistry of pleasure and emotion. It is also
morally dubious.
It would be one thing to say ‘It is
sometimes possible to feel happy for no obvious
reason’ (Like motherhood and apple-pie, who
would disagree?) and something else entirely to
hold that such happy states are not a
consequence of anything. Whether one’s
own past actions or of simple good fortune. Or that
this standalone happiness exists beyond the grubby
parameters of cause and effect. This latter belief
is an attractive delusion, not least for those
whose lives are unhappy or unblessed when first
encountering the cult.
This 'happiness is not a consequence' claim is
most easily recited when one is free from chronic
pain, hunger or bereavement. Easy indeed to preach
when one is adequately clothed and sheltered - when
one’s existence has a measure of
self-determination and freedom from fear, mental
illness or Alzheimers. When one enjoys the love of
others or can engage in harmonious social
interactions - all the routine caring and sharing
stuff you need no guju to enjoy. (It probably makes
most sense when one is enjoying the consequences of
interesting drugs…)
It further implies that although Marge owns a
Gulfstream jet plane and a 107-foot yacht –
objects which the leisure-loving, unrealised rich
might otherwise seek to enhance their personal
happiness - the guru may possess these without said
possessions affecting his permanent bliss-state one
way or the other. (Of course they don’t. Just
because you walk like a self-centred,
pleasure-seeking playboy and quack like a
self-serving, pleasure-seeking playboy,
doesn’t ipso facto mean you are
pursuing personal pleasure in any size, shape or
girly form, does it?)
And then the inevitable corollary of
‘'Happiness is not a consequence' would
have to be happiness is unaffected by
consequences. Again, of one’s own past
actions but also of their consequences for the
lives of others. You would be unaffected by any
lousy luck which might befall you.
The grim life episodes and sad sagas of too, too
many premies and the effects on folk around them
are well-documented and require no further
elaboration. The same may be said for M’s
happiness being supposedly unaffected by his
premies’ misfortunes – all too often as a
result of their taking his claims and promises
literally (pace this website and its
‘Journeys’ section.)
This much at least is true: M’s happiness
is surely unaffected by the turbulence stirred up
in his wake, be it the children abused by his
saints and sadists or the cyclist he killed, and of
whose killing he immediately washed his hands.
BTW: I was knocked down by two cars
simultaneously and almost salamied whilst cycling
home on Wednesday night. Stole a wing mirror from
both vehicles. And I’m happy to report I that
I wasn't killed, am still in one somewhat cut and
bruised piece and that my injuries, though very
painful, are relatively minor. Both drivers
stopped. Had they not stopped I would hold both in
the guru-grade contempt they would otherwise
deserve. I am especially grateful to the two other
passing drivers who also stopped and noted down all
the relevant details, made sure I was going to be
ok and who also got me home. These are my idea of
‘saints’ - if the word saint has any
meaning outside Southampton.
And I suggest M’s happiness is not merely
enhanced by, but is wholly contingent on the
lifestyle, real-estate, luxury toys and elaborate
guru-support system he has constructed around
himself. That his detachment is not saintly but an
indifference which reeks of insatiable greed and
self-interest. Numerous former PAM’s have
testified as much while not one close
contact has reported having known M meditate –
not even a teensie-weensie little bit to keep his
spirits up between tokes...
(And for any premie to assume M’s personal
happiness is somehow impervious to financial ruin
or social disgrace is to beg the question - at
least until one or other apple should happen to
fall, God willing…)
Happiness is supposedly not a consequence.
Therefore to get happy you need both Knowledge and
Master. Go figure..! If you fail to get happy that,
presumably, is a consequence – but only
of your failure to understand happiness.
This is no Zen riddle or cool paradox. It is a
desperately stupid way of thinking and
believing.
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