Robes of Silk Feet of Clay: The True Story of a Love Affair with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the Beatles TM Guru

Extremely well written and an extremely interesting topic!

Robes of Silk Feet of Clay is a poignant, provocative, and deeply insightful inquiry into aa woman's contemporary spiritual journey. Even though the heart of the story takes place decades back, Judith addresses issues that are vital to what's happening now. As a spiritual seeker in her early twenties she fell in love and had a sexual affair with her beloved and very famous guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Imagine the potency of the experience! Imagine the ordeal when coming to terms with its consequences! and no roadmap of any kind for charting such rocky territory! Not easy. As is common in such clandestine situations, agreement to secrecy is virtually always part of the contract. Coming out of the closet is a vital step in the healing process. But this book is not only about personal healing.This is not a book of gossip. This is not a book of retaliation. This is not a book wanting to expose Maharishi as a fraud or malevolent person. It is much more layered than that. Robes of Silk Feet of Clay is filled with gratitude and deep appreciation for his vision; as well as the sacrifice he made in fulfilling his own master's wishes to raise world consciousness with Vedic wisdom. But Judith also addresses the vast contradictions Inherent his nature. The guru's growing obsessions around achievement, his heavy handed wielding of power, and the constant demand for raising greater and greater sums of money. Not to mention the need for more sexual partners. This is one side of the story. Another is the tender relationship between Judith and her master. Both themes weave in and out and raise many questions without attempting to come up with quick answers. It's not a simple affair. . But it's rich for contemplation.We are entering a time when the paradigms supporting political and spiritual oligarchy are collapsing. It usually has to get worse before it gets better. It involves the coming apart of gurus and devotees locked into codependent relations of vapid inequality. The demise of elites raping and pillaging the masses to maintain their wealth and power--all have to crumble to move forward. People are ready to claim their power. Whether in the political domain or the spiritual one, the power elite will never offer it up willingly, Robes of Silk Feet of Clay is an offering to spiritual seekers who are ready to claim their inner authority and let go the need for outer validation and control. It's filled with love; and it's also graced with wisdom. The wisdom of a woman who has emerged out of the ashes of her own spiritual fire and had the courage to speak the truth.

Judith Bourque's book is a bombshell. Ms Bourque became a student of MMY in 1970 when she was 22 years old. She went to the Rishikesh ashram for study directly under MMY a couple of years after The Beatles passed through. She quickly became one of MMYs favorites and eventually became his assistant travelling with him and his entourage throughout the world. Later she served as a personal secretary to Jerry Jarvis, who was MMY's most important representative in the United States in the 1970s. Judith Bourque's perspective is, then, that of the ultimate insider.The primary focus of the book rests on her detailed description of a two-year sexual affair she had with MMY and her claims that MMY had a series of mistresses throughout the years. She claims to be aware of at least 16 women who had experiences similar to her own. Her relationship with MMY ended on a TM course in Europe when she realized that he had tired of her and had moved on with another young and pretty female follower.These allegations are inherently controversial, but they are presented with ample documentary evidence. Ms Bourque's book includes numerous photographs taken in India and elsewhere of her with Maharishi. Furthermore, her description of the time she spent with MMY is quite detailed and frank. She also offers testimony from one of MMY's "skin boys", Dr. Robert McCutchan. The skin boys were young men who followed MMY around with a deerskin upon which he would always sit. This testimony confirms that Ms Bourque frequently visited MMY's bungalow in Rishikesh alone late at night and stayed for several hours. Finally, she includes photos of numerous hand-written notes she received from MMY and dated letters she wrote him.The claims made in this book will no doubt disturb and upset many TM practitioners and active members of the TM movement. I have a pretty good sense of BS when I read it, but I thought that Judith Bourque's account of her experiences with MMY just screamed with authenticity. I don't doubt her story a bit, within the limits of memories of events that occurred 45 years ago. I honestly don't think that there is any credible reason to doubt the substance of her account.The more interesting question is "Are her revelations about MMY's private life important?" Reasonable people can and will disagree about this. One might take the position that any lapses in judgment and ethics from a teacher do not detract from the validity of the message he taught. It is quite consistent, I suppose, to believe that MMY was far from a perfect man while also believing that he gave the world a great gift in the form of TM. There is some merit to this perspective.However, I find myself ultimately siding with the other side of this argument. I find Judith Bourque's revelations extremely important because they help to explain something that hereto for, at least for me, was unexplainable. I could never reconcile the debate between those who believed that MMY was a saint and spiritual genius and those who thought he was a money-grubbing charlatan. Frankly, I saw ample evidence for both. Bourque's book has pretty much put this issue to rest for me. He was both. MMY clearly had some powerful and profound insights to share with the world. But at the same time he was an extremely flawed man who let his own personal lapses corrupt his judgment. The increasingly bizarre spiritual practices and gaudy and absurd money-making schemes that came to forefront in the TM movement in the late 1970s and only got worse in later years put a stain on the TM movement that only the most die-hard supporters could defend.I also find Bourque's story important for historical reasons. Just about anyone who has heard of MMY and TM has also heard the story of MMY's association with The Beatles. Being a huge Beatles fan, these events have always fascinated me. To recap, The Beatles went to Rishikesh to learn directly from MMY--much like Judith Bourque. Ringo and Paul left early, but John and George, who were more interested in and committed to Eastern ideas, stayed on. Eventually they left rather suddenly. As Lennon told the story, they found out that MMY was having sex on the side with some unnamed women. Lennon confronted MMY and announced that he was leaving, and when MMY asked why, Lennon repeatedly told him essentially that "If you were so holy, then you should already know." MMY replied that "No, he had to tell him". But Lennon would not relent. Eventually Lennon claimed that MMY gave him a nasty, angry look at which point Lennon left for good.I have always wondered about the veracity of this story. One account describes the source of the information as coming from Magic Alex--a Lennon sycophant--with the suggestion that Magic Alex was jealous of Lennon's fascination with MMY. Another story was that the woman involved was Mia Farrow. Farrow published a memoir of her own in the 90s in which she described an encounter with MMY that disturbed her. Basically, she writes that MMY asked her to come to him so he could provide some private instruction. At some point during this encounter, MMY placed his hand on her arm in a way that she felt was very non-spiritual. When I read this I initially believed that Farrow misinterpreted this casual physical contact as more than it was. It certainly did not rise to the transgression that Lennon was convinced occurred. However, after reading Robes of Silk, Feet of Clay, I now believe that Farrow was correct in her intuition. MMY was likely making a preliminary offer of physical intimacy by employing the relatively mild act of placing his hand on her arm, at act that could be interpreted in a completely innocent way in case she declined the offer. In fact, this story is remarkably similar to the one Judith Bourque tells, although her story obviously had a different ending. What it now seems occurred between The Beatles and MMY is that Lennon and Harrison heard a story about women going to MMY's bungalow late at night alone or they spoke to Mia Farrow directly about her encounter, though I suspect the former is more likely. Interestingly, Harrison, Starr, and McCartney always had good things to say about TM, and later in life Harrison evidently attempted to reconnect with MMY, who was apparently not interested.My only real criticism of the book arises from her decision to limit her comments to only those events she personally experienced. In doing so, it seems to me that she left a lot of money on the table. Because of her close relationship with MMY and others in the TM movement, such as Jerry Jarvis, she is in a unique position to write about many of the more controversial aspects of the TM movement that go well beyond her personal experiences. Ms. Bourque writes very well and could certainly pull this off. She had the opportunity to produce a profound work of journalism, but instead restricted her scope to the now all-too-common format of a memoir. Too bad.For those who are doubt the veracity of Bourque's story, I strongly recommend that you read her book before making a judgment. It is very well-written and documented, and for those who are not interested in the story of the affair, it is a good read just on the level of the insight it offers into the behind-the-scene events relatively early in the TM movement. The book is self-published, so it is not easy to find. Amazon has some copies, but they seem to be of the 1st edition. The 2nd edition contains much additional valuable information, including a story about a recent trip back to Rishikesh and a talk with a disciple of Tat Wale Baba. The 2nd edition is available for order from Bourque's web site.[...]

Thank you Judith. I was also a devoted TM teacher. Your brave book has helped understand so many things and sort out so many feelings.

This is a book that contains so much details on the early days of TM. When one has finished the book, its obvious MMY was NOT a celibate monk. Its also great that this has not become an anti-MMY or anti-TM book. The author just tells her story, and she has kept many photos and original letters so all doubt is gone after finishing the book.

Personal information

As a practitioner of the TM Technique since 1978 ,also a seeker of absolute truth , which was the only reason I learned TM and made that clear to the TM teacher.I had a few Satori experiences (a glimpse of the SELF) since a young age and didn't know what they were, when I came across Peter Russell's book "The TM technique". ( highly recommended) I just had to learn TM as the experiences of TM Peter describes were similar to my Satori's. TM is very useful mental technique ,its refreshing and calming and highly enjoyable but I wouldn't say is equals the Satori experience, particularly the first one I had at about 8 years,that was glorious an almost impossible experience to describe ,I was in ecstasy for hours.Judiths book is an interesting story,which may or may not be true,only Maharishi Judith and God know the truth.As Maharishi is not around to defend himself I find it uncomfortable that this story has found light of day for all to see many years later.Why didn't Judith talk about this before when Maharishi was alive?If it is true then I feel relationships are private however deep and should never be broadcast to the world.Judith has betrayed the trust Maharishi had in her, the story of Maharishi coming to her in a dream is questionable to tell all,dreams are not reliable and are a product of the subconscious mind..I find it difficult to believe a celibate monk would prefer sex to the presence of God within or whatever name you prefer and why sex only with Western women, no Indians as far as I know?Judith herself says Maharishi said the energy should go up, not down....he knew the truth.Would you want the world to know your intimate love life with all its ups and downs ,no pun intended..? no.One has to question the real motives behind this book and Judith's integrity..One thing I do agree with is in the amount of money the TM movement charged for the TM technique,which only take 10 minutes to instruct,although it is very subtle and needs guidance which is a reasonable excuse for a weeks wages, its a lot of money to a factory worker.And the Siddha courses are well out of reach for ordinary folk. do we need to fly anyway? that hopping is not levitating its an embarrassment . I feel Maharishi was misled by powerful American business people to promote TM as a business rather than a spiritual regeneration movement that taught TM for free or on donations in the early days..For this reason I only learned the technique and never got involved with the TM movement.I gradually lost touch with the local teacher who moved away and forgot all about Maharishi but still continued the TM.HOWEVER ,this is intriguing ,for some reason I sat at my computer one morning and the thought came into my head,"I wonder if Maharishi is still alive?" so I searched on Youtube and the first post I found stated that Maharishi had died that very day ! I was dumbfounded at the coincidence,but one has to ask ,maybe Maharishi was God Realised , or in cosmic consciousness,somehow I had picked his passing up, or he came to me,,I cant say I'm realised,no one can say that,it must have been him or Gods Grace..... he knew the reasons why I learned TM so we have a connection and I'm very happy about that......I never used to regard Maharishi as my Guru ,Sathya Sai Baba is, who came to me after Maharishi,but that's another story. I like listening to Maharishis tapes though,particularly "Love" he comes across as a true Vedic scholar and one who loves God which is paramount to spiritual life,he certainly had a great influence on the world as far as Indian spirituality is concerned .I regard India as the spiritual hub of the world,its understanding of truth that all is One I.E GOD is in manifestation as the many, the teachings go way back before any other religions were even thought of. I have no time for Conney Larson mentioned in the book who has spread all sorts of filthy accusations against SSB ,I regard SSB as the most powerful Avatar, an incarnation of unconditional love to have visited the Earth for thousands of years........Why do these people claim these bad things against holy ones? it has to be the negative forces using them ,even Jesus and the Buddha were accused of doing bad things.......this all I can say in truth.