From: bharat@ccvax.ucd.ie
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Tale of two yogi
Date: 11 Apr 92 14:25:08 GMT
Organization: University College Dublin


hi friends,
i read the article/report regarding the meeting with maharshi mahesh yogi.In the
report some questions were raised, concerning his origin, caste, age, etc.
After reading the report i could not hold myself.I am giving some pertinent 
facts about him. I am not very sure about authenticity of the facts such as name
and, age. Rest of the things are true.

Maharshi mahesh yogi, obviously it's not his actual name, belongs to 'Kayastha'
caste, as his surname(family name,or second name) is 'Shrivastava'.I have heard
that his name is Mahesh shrivastava.Maharshi born on (??/??/??) in a very small
village called 'Gadarwara' (it might be 'Narsinghpur' which is adjuscent to 
'Gadarvara').Gadarwara is just 200 k.m. away from Jabalpur(Madhya Pradesh). I
myself belong to Jabalpur.People from jabalpur say that he did his schools, and 
bechalors form Jabalpur.Suddenly he disappeared from scene and we came to know
that he has become 'Sadhoo', and changed his name.Maharshi has established 
a M.V.V.U. (Maharshi Ved Vigyan University), a women's politechniqu,
 and a school in Jabalpur. He is planning to establish a Ved-vigyan kendra
near Jabalpur.My elder brother, a freelancer journalist, knows his son-in-law
Anand shrivastav, very well. Maharshi strated a hindi news paper named 'Hitwad'
from jabalpur nearly 8-9 years ago.He named the publication 'Age of Enlightenment
Publication'. Because of tough compitition among news papers he stoped 
publishing news paper, but Age of Enlightenment is still in existance.He owns a
big palace, and a ship in switzerland. Regarding his caste, he is definitly
not brahmin.That's true that his thinking is not 'very deep'. Some renowned
philosophers say that he is very materialistic.Couple of days ago i read in an
irish news paper that he has claimed that he has found some inetrrealtionship
(or rather establised a relationship) between Superstring theory (the latest
theory, which is based on nature's law, combinding all theories, and dimensions)
and very old philosophical 'Sookti',Sukt, or sutra,(verse). The sookti is -

'Ksti, jal, pawak, gagan, sameera.
panch tatva ye manuj sarira.

This means: The human body is composed of five basic elements; ksti(earth), 
jal(water), pawak(fire), gagan(sky), and sameera(air).He further added
three more elements ahankar(can not find exact english equi.), budhi(wisdom), 
and manas(soul).  

I have many doubts about him. Some time i feel as if he is just encashing the
things written in vedas.For us Jabalpurians maharshi mahesh yogi is not the only
one, before him jabalpur has produced another great philosopher, Rajneesh Jain.
Yes, that was his actual name. He was 'Digambar' jain. Yes, i am talking about
Acharya Rajneesh -> Bhagwan shri Rajneesh -> Osho Rajneesh.He was born in a very
small village near jabalpur. He did his graduation from Govt. sc. college 
(formerly known as Robertson sc. college).He worked as a lecturer of philosophy
in some colleges in Jabalpur (i am giving some names; D.N. Jain college, 
Hitkarini college, Mahakaushal college).Later on he left the city and went to 
Pune.Ma anandsheela (his very close associate) is from Baroda.
He considered Kabeer as the greatest philosophor and revolutioary of all the 
time.

I can write much..much.. more about him. Any way, if any one wishes to continue
the discussion, s/he is most welcome.

- Bharat
				
		*(One who is the fittest, is the one who survives)*
					
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian