About this Blog

The idea for this blog came from a comment I made on a posting in Mitch Ditkoff's excellent blog, The Heart of the Matter. Mitch was addressing one facet of the problem of expressing the unexpressible, the inadequacy of any single word to describe the relationship with Maharaji. Mitch brilliantly dissects the strengths and weaknesses of the five most common words: student, follower, devotee, friend, and premie. I'll quote my comment here:

Mitch, this is a magnificent piece. What a dilemma we have, being unable to find an appropriate word to communicate with others about such a beautiful loving relationship. This entry addresses that dilemma in a big way.

There is one other word I have found myself using recently that avoids many of the traps you pointed out in the big five. That word is "admirer."

When I say that I am an admirer of Maharaji, almost anyone can relate to the idea without turnoff. Everyone has experienced admiration, and most people value the feeling. It feels very precise. To me, there a continuum between everyday admiration and devotion. Their essence is the same. The distinction is one of intensity and depth. Devotion is admiration without walls, without restraint.

Some of my recent uses of the word admirer in this context are my Harvard Class Report for the 40th reunion coming up in October, and a comment on another blog I stumbled across that mentioned Maharaji here. But posting this really got me thinking about admiration. There is something to this idea of "admiration without restraint." The phrase "passionate admiration" came to me. "There's a blog in that," I said to myself. And here we are.

My personal charter for this blog is to express something of my passionate admiration for Maharaji. Rabbi Tarfon's wise words quoted above provide comfort and support as I embark on a task that I know will never be completed. It sounds a bit daunting, but actually that's the whole fun of it.