Spokespeople for TM organizations extoll Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a great spiritual leader, scientist, humanitarian, world leader; as a man of nearly divine brilliance, wisdom, holiness, insight, vision, and so on.
So I thought it might be useful for TM-Free to compile a list of outrageous quotations from Mahesh, as a way of deflating the TMO's claims.
Also, maybe this list will be helpful for people who are working on their recovery from TM mind control.
Here's my favorite quote from Mahesh:
"Having achieved world peace, we are now on the way to creating Heaven on Earth...." (From www.maharishi.org/adv_techniques/index.html. This web page was last updated April 2007.)
Please contribute your most outrageous quote(s) in the "Comments" section. List the source or context if you know it. Paraphrases from memory are fine too; please note "from memory" and context if possible.
Showing posts with label world peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world peace. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Lying: A Core Practice of Transcendental Meditation. (A Seven-Part Series.) Part 1: Broken Promises
When I learned TM in 1971, my initiator promised me that if I practiced TM for 20 minutes twice a day I would become enlightened in eight to eleven years.
I've heard that Maharishi originally taught, "3-5 years." When enlightenment didn't come after 5 years, he said, "5-8 years." Then "8-11 years." What did he say after that?
What did he promise you?
Later we were taught that TM 20 minutes twice a day plus the occasional weekend residence course would bring us to enlightenment.
When Maharishi first introduced the "Six-Month Courses," which were the predecessors to the TM-Sidhis courses, he said, "One six month course is enough to enlighten some people, two six month courses is enough to enlighten most people, and three six-month courses is enough to enlighten a horse!"
He also promised us that by learning his TM-Sidhis program we would be able to walk through walls and to become invisible. (Later these two promises were eliminated.) Also that we'd have increased friendliness, compassion, happiness, physical strength, control of hunger and thirst, ability to see the motion of the stars, ability to see into our body any illnesses and to heal them, and to levitate.
He also promised us that if we did TM, we would have "support of nature," which translated more or less as having our wishes fulfilled almost without effort.
We were told that our houseplants would grow better, and that unhealthy behaviors would spontaneously drop away. (How long has the cigarette smoker, David Lynch, been practicing TM?)
He promised we would be able to "do less and accomplish more."
He promised us that if we did the TM-Sidhis we would have "perfect health." Also immortality. (Ask Gina, contributor for this website, for stories of Sidhas dying of horrible diseases in Fairfield.)
He also promised us that by "flying" together we would create world peace and good will between the family of nations. Also that it would bring favorable weather condition. (Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, global warming, anyone?)
He also promised that TM would raise our intelligence, improve our health, our family life, our social relationships, and our financial success.
He also promised us that practicing TM twice a day for 20 minutes would lead to spontaneous right action - that what we did would be "life-supporting" for ourselves and for those around us.
He promised that TM would make Christians better Christians, Jews better Jews, Moslems better Moslems, Hindus better Hindus, Buddhists better Buddhists....He promised that TM was not at odds with any religion.
He promised that TM asked no change in lifestyle: not in beliefs, not in diet, not in clothes, not in socializing, not in sexual activities, not in medical preferences, not in daily activities....
He promised that TM worked for everyone. And that it had no negative effects on anyone.
He promised that the ceremony (puja) during personal instruction was not religious in nature. He promised that TM itself was not religious in nature. He promised that the mantras were not religious in nature. He promised new student that they would not have to participate in the initiation ceremony.
He taught that "that which we put our attention grows stronger." Medical clinics, counseling clinics, and workplace safety measures were all reduced to discourage "putting our attention on negativity."
We were promised that 1,000 people "flying" together would make world peace. Then 5,000. Then 5,000 pundits flying and chanting together. Then many communities of flyers and chanters all over the world would create world peace.
He promised that eliminating south-facing doors would eliminate most obstacles to success and disharmony.
He promised that communities having a large percentage of people meditating would have a very harmonious civic life. (See the Fairfield Ledger newspaper, Fairfield Iowa, with a giant percentage of the population practicing TM and the TM-Sidhis. Read the police blotter and other daily reports for suicides, rapes, murders, mental hospital commitments, traffic accidents, robberies, fires, drug use, adultery, divorces, etc.)
What promises did Maharishi and the TM organization make to YOU? Which promises did they keep? Which ones did they break?
I've heard that Maharishi originally taught, "3-5 years." When enlightenment didn't come after 5 years, he said, "5-8 years." Then "8-11 years." What did he say after that?
What did he promise you?
Later we were taught that TM 20 minutes twice a day plus the occasional weekend residence course would bring us to enlightenment.
When Maharishi first introduced the "Six-Month Courses," which were the predecessors to the TM-Sidhis courses, he said, "One six month course is enough to enlighten some people, two six month courses is enough to enlighten most people, and three six-month courses is enough to enlighten a horse!"
He also promised us that by learning his TM-Sidhis program we would be able to walk through walls and to become invisible. (Later these two promises were eliminated.) Also that we'd have increased friendliness, compassion, happiness, physical strength, control of hunger and thirst, ability to see the motion of the stars, ability to see into our body any illnesses and to heal them, and to levitate.
He also promised us that if we did TM, we would have "support of nature," which translated more or less as having our wishes fulfilled almost without effort.
We were told that our houseplants would grow better, and that unhealthy behaviors would spontaneously drop away. (How long has the cigarette smoker, David Lynch, been practicing TM?)
He promised we would be able to "do less and accomplish more."
He promised us that if we did the TM-Sidhis we would have "perfect health." Also immortality. (Ask Gina, contributor for this website, for stories of Sidhas dying of horrible diseases in Fairfield.)
He also promised us that by "flying" together we would create world peace and good will between the family of nations. Also that it would bring favorable weather condition. (Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, global warming, anyone?)
He also promised that TM would raise our intelligence, improve our health, our family life, our social relationships, and our financial success.
He also promised us that practicing TM twice a day for 20 minutes would lead to spontaneous right action - that what we did would be "life-supporting" for ourselves and for those around us.
He promised that TM would make Christians better Christians, Jews better Jews, Moslems better Moslems, Hindus better Hindus, Buddhists better Buddhists....He promised that TM was not at odds with any religion.
He promised that TM asked no change in lifestyle: not in beliefs, not in diet, not in clothes, not in socializing, not in sexual activities, not in medical preferences, not in daily activities....
He promised that TM worked for everyone. And that it had no negative effects on anyone.
He promised that the ceremony (puja) during personal instruction was not religious in nature. He promised that TM itself was not religious in nature. He promised that the mantras were not religious in nature. He promised new student that they would not have to participate in the initiation ceremony.
He taught that "that which we put our attention grows stronger." Medical clinics, counseling clinics, and workplace safety measures were all reduced to discourage "putting our attention on negativity."
We were promised that 1,000 people "flying" together would make world peace. Then 5,000. Then 5,000 pundits flying and chanting together. Then many communities of flyers and chanters all over the world would create world peace.
He promised that eliminating south-facing doors would eliminate most obstacles to success and disharmony.
He promised that communities having a large percentage of people meditating would have a very harmonious civic life. (See the Fairfield Ledger newspaper, Fairfield Iowa, with a giant percentage of the population practicing TM and the TM-Sidhis. Read the police blotter and other daily reports for suicides, rapes, murders, mental hospital commitments, traffic accidents, robberies, fires, drug use, adultery, divorces, etc.)
What promises did Maharishi and the TM organization make to YOU? Which promises did they keep? Which ones did they break?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Critiquing Transcendental Meditation's "scientific research"
Question: How valid is TM's scientific research?
Answer: Not very.
A Brief Overview of TM Research:
According to the Transcendental Meditation organization (TMO), "...More than 600 scientific studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research institutes in 33 countries. These studies have been published in over 100 leading scientific journals worldwide, and they objectively document the profound physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme in every area of life...." (1)
What the TM organization does not publicize, however, is:
(1) that a high percentage of these studies are suspect. The research is specifically designed so that TM will come out looking good. (See http://trancenet.net/research/index.shtml
In addition, the quote above from the TMO website does not mention that:
(2) a lot of the research is done by TMers or funded by TMers, and is therefore inherently biased; and
(3) when non-TM scientists do research, they compare various types of meditations, and the results have been that each meditation has its own strengths and weaknesses. TM does not stand out as best. These studies are ignored by the TMO. For information, google "Google -- Scholar" and type in something like "comparision meditation techniques research results." Also, see http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/expressnews_template/article.cfm?id=8572and
(4) Research has shown that TM can sometimes be harmful. These studies are never quoted by the TMO. (See http://minet.org/research.html.)
So where do we come in?
While most TMFree readers are not professional researchers, I think we can contribute something useful to the research, specifically to the bias problem mentioned in item (1) above. Critics of the research papers have done a good job in critiquing what has been published. But what if something questionable was done that was not reported in the final paper?
So that's where we come in.
Many of us have "insider" experiences with the TMO. During our time in the TMO, we may have accidentally stumbled upon a small piece of the research that was unscientific. So I invite readers to search their memories. Do you recall incidents which at the time seemed simply quirky or isolated, but in retrospect, were examples of a violation of the scientific method? You may have to think outside the box or reframe the incident to see how it is related to the scientific method. You may have to consider not what was done, but what was not done; not what you saw, but what you didn't see....
Our stories will only be anecdotes, and anecdotal evidence is not scientific proof. However, these anecdotes provide glimpses which may inspire researchers to dig deeper into questionable practices.
So, to get the ball rolling, I will share my own memories that relate to the biased quality of TM research. In addition, I will relate a few anecdotes from old TMFree posts and comments. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the inclination to dig up all the original posts and comments, so I apologize in advance for any errors in my memory or interpretation.
So here goes. To reiterate, the question for the day is:
Did you ever personally see evidence of violation of the scientific method in TM studies?
1. The year was 1980, I think. I lived on the MIU campus in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. I did the TM and TM-Sidhis program in the meditation hall from 2 to 4 times a day with up to 700 other women. One day, after everyone was seated on the mattresses, the leader announced that we were all going to add something to our program. She had something like an electric meter in her hand. She spoke a phrase that went something like: "Turn back the meter." She instructed us to think this phrase in the same manner as we thought the "sutras" in our TM-Sidhis program (the technique in which the phrase we thought was supposed to manifest in the world.) We were to think the above phrase 2 or 4 times (I can't remember which), after we finished TM but before we started the TM-Sidhis. She didn't tell us who had ordered this change, or who had designed it, or why we were doing it. The only additional thing she said was, "Do not say a word about this to anybody!"
We did this practice for about a week, and then we were told to stop doing it. We weren't told why we were now stopping. We were reminded, "Do not mention this to anyone!" And we never heard another word about it.
What was this all about?
Today, I believe we were guinea pigs in an experiment to prove that the TM-Sidhis actually produced effects in the physical world. (An illegal experiment, I might add, since we had not volunteered, and we had not been warned about possible harmful effects.) If 700 sidhas had actually succeeded in causing the meter's hand to move even a millimeter, I think they would have published that. I think we failed to produce the result they wanted, so the experiment was scrapped, we were warned against spilling the secret, and the failure was never reported.
2. A few years ago, one of our TMFree regulars (possibly Sudarsha) wrote that he once saw Maharishi sit with someone and review a line graph illustrating the results of a study showing the benefits of TM. Maharishi asked, "Couldn't you draw the line 'this' way instead of 'that' way, in order to make the results look better?" The other person agreed to make the change.
3. About a year ago, one of our readers shared that she had chatted with a researcher at MIU who was studying the "Maharishi Effect." (The ME states that when a certain percentage of the population practices TM, quality of life improves, as shown by crime statistics, pollution, unemployment rate, etc.) The research compared cities that had comparable demographics but a different percentage of TMers. The researcher told her, "In some cases, the city with the higher percentage of TMers did not show an improved quality of life. So we deleted those groups of cities from our final study."
4. A few months ago, contributor Gina wrote that when TM researchers in Fairfield were studying TMers to prove TM's benefits, they first eliminated "heavy unstressers" from their sample.
5. An old TMFree post is a reprint of a public letter from Earl Kaplan, a TMer who together with his brother David had donated over $100 million dollars (U.S.) to the TMO. He writes that "Mahesh for years had been raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his world peace groups...." (World peace groups were the gatherings of thousands of pundits to one location to chant together, thus assuring world peace forever.) According to Earl's letter, Earl said to Maharishi, "Maharishi, since you have the money and supposedly you have enough pundits, why don't you create a 10,000 group in India and the world will experience peace?..." (Several years previously, his brother David had obtained U.S. governmental approval to bring one or two thousand pundits to the USA. before this could happen, he got word that Maharishi had changed his mind and felt it was not a good time to send them.) Mahesh looked at Earl like he was crazy and said, "Earl, if we created the group then we don't know if it would create world peace or not. We would have to have the group and then see what the effect it has." Earl and David have since left the TMO.
Aside from the contempt and deceit Maharishi exhibited, I believe Maharishi was also saying that he did not want an experiment to be performed if the results would not make TM look good, i.e. if the results disproved the "Maharishi Effect."
OK, those are my offerings. Anyone else have memories about TMO's corruption of the scientific method in TM studies?
Footnotes:
(1) www.globalgoodnews.com/research.html
Answer: Not very.
A Brief Overview of TM Research:
According to the Transcendental Meditation organization (TMO), "...More than 600 scientific studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research institutes in 33 countries. These studies have been published in over 100 leading scientific journals worldwide, and they objectively document the profound physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme in every area of life...." (1)
What the TM organization does not publicize, however, is:
(1) that a high percentage of these studies are suspect. The research is specifically designed so that TM will come out looking good. (See http://trancenet.net/research/index.shtml
In addition, the quote above from the TMO website does not mention that:
(2) a lot of the research is done by TMers or funded by TMers, and is therefore inherently biased; and
(3) when non-TM scientists do research, they compare various types of meditations, and the results have been that each meditation has its own strengths and weaknesses. TM does not stand out as best. These studies are ignored by the TMO. For information, google "Google -- Scholar" and type in something like "comparision meditation techniques research results." Also, see http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/expressnews_template/article.cfm?id=8572and
(4) Research has shown that TM can sometimes be harmful. These studies are never quoted by the TMO. (See http://minet.org/research.html.)
So where do we come in?
While most TMFree readers are not professional researchers, I think we can contribute something useful to the research, specifically to the bias problem mentioned in item (1) above. Critics of the research papers have done a good job in critiquing what has been published. But what if something questionable was done that was not reported in the final paper?
So that's where we come in.
Many of us have "insider" experiences with the TMO. During our time in the TMO, we may have accidentally stumbled upon a small piece of the research that was unscientific. So I invite readers to search their memories. Do you recall incidents which at the time seemed simply quirky or isolated, but in retrospect, were examples of a violation of the scientific method? You may have to think outside the box or reframe the incident to see how it is related to the scientific method. You may have to consider not what was done, but what was not done; not what you saw, but what you didn't see....
Our stories will only be anecdotes, and anecdotal evidence is not scientific proof. However, these anecdotes provide glimpses which may inspire researchers to dig deeper into questionable practices.
So, to get the ball rolling, I will share my own memories that relate to the biased quality of TM research. In addition, I will relate a few anecdotes from old TMFree posts and comments. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the inclination to dig up all the original posts and comments, so I apologize in advance for any errors in my memory or interpretation.
So here goes. To reiterate, the question for the day is:
Did you ever personally see evidence of violation of the scientific method in TM studies?
1. The year was 1980, I think. I lived on the MIU campus in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. I did the TM and TM-Sidhis program in the meditation hall from 2 to 4 times a day with up to 700 other women. One day, after everyone was seated on the mattresses, the leader announced that we were all going to add something to our program. She had something like an electric meter in her hand. She spoke a phrase that went something like: "Turn back the meter." She instructed us to think this phrase in the same manner as we thought the "sutras" in our TM-Sidhis program (the technique in which the phrase we thought was supposed to manifest in the world.) We were to think the above phrase 2 or 4 times (I can't remember which), after we finished TM but before we started the TM-Sidhis. She didn't tell us who had ordered this change, or who had designed it, or why we were doing it. The only additional thing she said was, "Do not say a word about this to anybody!"
We did this practice for about a week, and then we were told to stop doing it. We weren't told why we were now stopping. We were reminded, "Do not mention this to anyone!" And we never heard another word about it.
What was this all about?
Today, I believe we were guinea pigs in an experiment to prove that the TM-Sidhis actually produced effects in the physical world. (An illegal experiment, I might add, since we had not volunteered, and we had not been warned about possible harmful effects.) If 700 sidhas had actually succeeded in causing the meter's hand to move even a millimeter, I think they would have published that. I think we failed to produce the result they wanted, so the experiment was scrapped, we were warned against spilling the secret, and the failure was never reported.
2. A few years ago, one of our TMFree regulars (possibly Sudarsha) wrote that he once saw Maharishi sit with someone and review a line graph illustrating the results of a study showing the benefits of TM. Maharishi asked, "Couldn't you draw the line 'this' way instead of 'that' way, in order to make the results look better?" The other person agreed to make the change.
3. About a year ago, one of our readers shared that she had chatted with a researcher at MIU who was studying the "Maharishi Effect." (The ME states that when a certain percentage of the population practices TM, quality of life improves, as shown by crime statistics, pollution, unemployment rate, etc.) The research compared cities that had comparable demographics but a different percentage of TMers. The researcher told her, "In some cases, the city with the higher percentage of TMers did not show an improved quality of life. So we deleted those groups of cities from our final study."
4. A few months ago, contributor Gina wrote that when TM researchers in Fairfield were studying TMers to prove TM's benefits, they first eliminated "heavy unstressers" from their sample.
5. An old TMFree post is a reprint of a public letter from Earl Kaplan, a TMer who together with his brother David had donated over $100 million dollars (U.S.) to the TMO. He writes that "Mahesh for years had been raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his world peace groups...." (World peace groups were the gatherings of thousands of pundits to one location to chant together, thus assuring world peace forever.) According to Earl's letter, Earl said to Maharishi, "Maharishi, since you have the money and supposedly you have enough pundits, why don't you create a 10,000 group in India and the world will experience peace?..." (Several years previously, his brother David had obtained U.S. governmental approval to bring one or two thousand pundits to the USA. before this could happen, he got word that Maharishi had changed his mind and felt it was not a good time to send them.) Mahesh looked at Earl like he was crazy and said, "Earl, if we created the group then we don't know if it would create world peace or not. We would have to have the group and then see what the effect it has." Earl and David have since left the TMO.
Aside from the contempt and deceit Maharishi exhibited, I believe Maharishi was also saying that he did not want an experiment to be performed if the results would not make TM look good, i.e. if the results disproved the "Maharishi Effect."
OK, those are my offerings. Anyone else have memories about TMO's corruption of the scientific method in TM studies?
Footnotes:
(1) www.globalgoodnews.com/research.html
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Charisma of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Founder of Transcendental Meditation
About a month ago, I attended a 2-hour workshop on healing through movement. After this brief workshop, I wanted to immediately buy the presenter's book, take his classes, do home practice off his audiotapes, immerse myself in his technique and philosophy, and become a true believer, practitioner and follower.
I had to shake myself awake! It was only because of my years in recovery from TM that I so quickly recognized that I was thinking irrationality. Why would I become a "true believer" after only 2 hours?
I picked apart my reactions, and realized that what I had been reacting to had been the teacher's "charismatic" presentation. Here is what he did that won me over:
1. He appears absolutely sure of the truth of his knowledge.
2. His teaching encompassed sweeping areas of life (health, biology, movement, evolution, physiology, healing, the brain).
3. His teaching was internally consistent.
4. He promised us great things.
(fluidity of movement, no more aches and pains, healing of chronic injuries).
5. He backed up his promises both with fascinating anecdotes and with quotes from science.
6. He appeared knowledgeable about his competitors' products, and discredited them in a way both loving and condescending.
7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.
8. His personality was attractive (a happy, warm man.)
9. He promised his technique would give me exactly what I longed for (relief from chronic pain and healthy aging.)
Put this all together, and it was so easy to take the internal steps from, "How nice if this were true," to "Wow, there is some evidence that this is true," to "This must be true. How lucky I am to have found it!"
Upon reflection, I could see how closely this brief experience paralleled my experience with Maharishi. Each of the qualities I experienced in this exercise teacher, I also experienced 40 years earlier in Maharishi:
1. Maharishi seemed absolutely convinced of the truth of his knowledge. No gray areas.
2. Maharishi's teachings encompassed physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, governmental, educational, philosophical and spiritual regeneration.
3. His teachings were internally consistent. (If you didn't dig too deep.)
4. He promised great things for us: enlightenment, having the support of nature and inner peace; and later he also promised us perfect health, immortality, and world peace.
5. He backed up his promises with endless fascinating anecdotes of people who he said had benefited from TM, as well as appeals based on scientific research.
6. He described what he said were the different types of meditations, and explained why his meditation technique was superior. He quoted scientific research to back it up.
7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.
8. His personality was attractive (joyous, bubbly, happy).
9. He promised that his technique would give me exactly what I personally longed for (peace of mind, self-esteem.)
So it wasn't surprising that at the naive age of 19, I fell under the sway of Maharishi and his teachings.
What were your experiences of the persuasive powers of Maharishi?
As long as I'm talking about Maharishi's public appeal, I wanted to comment on Maharishi's physical appearance. It's ironic that TM teachers became known for looking "corporate" (business suits, clean shaven, etc.), - Maharishi had a strict dress code - because in fact, Maharishi looked like the quintessential "flower child." He had the long hair, flowing beard , beads, carried a flower, sandals or bare feet, sat cross-legged, talked about love. In fact, his only lapse was wearing a dhoti instead of blue jeans and a tie-dyed shirt! Which came first - Maharishi, with flower children emulating him? Or flower children, with Maharishi imitating them?
I had to shake myself awake! It was only because of my years in recovery from TM that I so quickly recognized that I was thinking irrationality. Why would I become a "true believer" after only 2 hours?
I picked apart my reactions, and realized that what I had been reacting to had been the teacher's "charismatic" presentation. Here is what he did that won me over:
1. He appears absolutely sure of the truth of his knowledge.
2. His teaching encompassed sweeping areas of life (health, biology, movement, evolution, physiology, healing, the brain).
3. His teaching was internally consistent.
4. He promised us great things.
(fluidity of movement, no more aches and pains, healing of chronic injuries).
5. He backed up his promises both with fascinating anecdotes and with quotes from science.
6. He appeared knowledgeable about his competitors' products, and discredited them in a way both loving and condescending.
7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.
8. His personality was attractive (a happy, warm man.)
9. He promised his technique would give me exactly what I longed for (relief from chronic pain and healthy aging.)
Put this all together, and it was so easy to take the internal steps from, "How nice if this were true," to "Wow, there is some evidence that this is true," to "This must be true. How lucky I am to have found it!"
Upon reflection, I could see how closely this brief experience paralleled my experience with Maharishi. Each of the qualities I experienced in this exercise teacher, I also experienced 40 years earlier in Maharishi:
1. Maharishi seemed absolutely convinced of the truth of his knowledge. No gray areas.
2. Maharishi's teachings encompassed physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, governmental, educational, philosophical and spiritual regeneration.
3. His teachings were internally consistent. (If you didn't dig too deep.)
4. He promised great things for us: enlightenment, having the support of nature and inner peace; and later he also promised us perfect health, immortality, and world peace.
5. He backed up his promises with endless fascinating anecdotes of people who he said had benefited from TM, as well as appeals based on scientific research.
6. He described what he said were the different types of meditations, and explained why his meditation technique was superior. He quoted scientific research to back it up.
7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.
8. His personality was attractive (joyous, bubbly, happy).
9. He promised that his technique would give me exactly what I personally longed for (peace of mind, self-esteem.)
So it wasn't surprising that at the naive age of 19, I fell under the sway of Maharishi and his teachings.
What were your experiences of the persuasive powers of Maharishi?
As long as I'm talking about Maharishi's public appeal, I wanted to comment on Maharishi's physical appearance. It's ironic that TM teachers became known for looking "corporate" (business suits, clean shaven, etc.), - Maharishi had a strict dress code - because in fact, Maharishi looked like the quintessential "flower child." He had the long hair, flowing beard , beads, carried a flower, sandals or bare feet, sat cross-legged, talked about love. In fact, his only lapse was wearing a dhoti instead of blue jeans and a tie-dyed shirt! Which came first - Maharishi, with flower children emulating him? Or flower children, with Maharishi imitating them?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
e pluribus unum
From yesterday's Toronto Star:
Scam artist bilked dozens out of $3M by appearing to pull winning lottery numbers out of the yolks - January 30, 2008 - by Staff Reporter
Scam artist bilked dozens out of $3M by appearing to pull winning lottery numbers out of the yolks - January 30, 2008 - by Staff Reporter
All it took was a dozen eggs and a magic trick for “Roshanbhai” to convince people he was a spiritual healer who could fix their family, health and business problems – and help them win the lottery.
The catch? They had to fork over money for a special ceremony, in some cases more than $100,000.
After the smooth-talking self-proclaimed swami was done, the egg was on the faces of his victims, scores of whom were bilked out of about $3 million in total before he fled to Mumbai last month.
Though it sounds far-fetched, Roshanbhai – real name Mohammad Umar Ashrafi, 43 – left dozens of people in the GTA, all members of the Sikh community, embarrassed and broke.
Police believe he has pulled the same scam in Texas, California, New Jersey and Illinois, as far back as 1997. Peel police have issued arrest warrants for Ashrafi and his sidekick, Latafat Ali Khan, 36. Both are Indian nationals.
Admitting to being duped out of $105,000 is not easy for Paramjit Bhullar, owner of a Toronto trucking firm. “How do I feel? Stupid. I’m coming out front because I want him to get caught so he can’t rob anyone else,” says Bhullar, 42, who went to Ashrafi for help with marital and business problems after hearing a Punjabi radio show ad.
He met Ashrafi and Khan at a Mississauga home on Guildwood Way. After listening to Bhullar’s problems, Ashrafi told him they were the result of someone’s black magic. He told Bhullar to return a few days later with a dozen eggs.
At the second meeting, Ashrafi proceeded to boil the eggs, on which he had Bhullar write the names of his family members. Ashrafi cracked the cooked eggs open. On the egg with Bhullar’s name on it, Ashrafi “found” a piece of foil in the yolk, in which was tucked a Lotto 6/49 form with what Ashrafi claimed were winning numbers.
To ensure he hit the jackpot, Ashrafi said he needed $210,000 for special prayer materials imported from India. When Bhullar balked at the amount, Ashrafi cut it in half. Bhullar withdrew all his savings, got a $20,000 loan and charged another $20,000 to his credit cards.
About 40 people with similar stories have filed complaints so far, but police believe the actual number of victims is well above 100 here, with possibly hundreds more in the U.S.
“The people who lost more money are reluctant to come forward because they’re embarrassed. A lot of people borrowed money to pay him without their spouses knowing so they want to keep it a secret,” said Peel Const. Michael MacDougall.
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/298678
It seems remarkable to me, but apparently rich people are easy marks and bilking them out of lots of money is not as difficult as one might imagine. Obviously not-rich people don't have the money to be bilked out of in the first place. - I post this only because I thought it amusing and an illustration that con men are a dime a dozen. Perhaps this explains why Mahesh set his sights on the rich from the very beginning. They would, he recognized, be easy to persuade and "world peace" was an easy sell.
It seems remarkable to me, but apparently rich people are easy marks and bilking them out of lots of money is not as difficult as one might imagine. Obviously not-rich people don't have the money to be bilked out of in the first place. - I post this only because I thought it amusing and an illustration that con men are a dime a dozen. Perhaps this explains why Mahesh set his sights on the rich from the very beginning. They would, he recognized, be easy to persuade and "world peace" was an easy sell.
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