In a Manson interview at Vacaville in 1985 with KALX-FM, affiliated with the University of California system, Charlie said he was a student of yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda in the '40s and '50s
"I went to all the retreats. I've seen the light."
Some quotes from the yogi indicate his teachings may have been the source of some of Charlie's own beliefs:
"Remember that your children are not your own..."
"You are originally unlimited and perfect."
"The secret ... is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future... but to live in the present moment..."
"The delusion of egoism must be destroyed..."
"Death is really beautiful.."
If
Manson was attending the retreats in Southern California, when could
this have been? It would have been when Charlie was running free in
SoCal, from about August of '55 to February of '56 (7 months), and again
from Oct of '58 to about Dec of '59 (14 months). The fact that Manson
'went to all the retreats' indicates he was an enthusiastic disciple--at
least for a time. In the same way he was an enthusiastic student of
Scientology and an enthusiastic student of the guitar.
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LVH was also a student of the yogi. From Helter Skelter, pg545:
"[Leslie's
boyfriend Bobby] Mackey, in the meantime, had become a novitiate priest
in the Self Realization Fellowship[the Yogi's church]. In an attempt to
continue their relationship, Leslie became a novitiate nun, giving up
both drugs and sex. She lasted about eight months before breaking with
both Mackey and the yoga group."
Did Leslie's previous studies at the ashram make her more vulnerable to Charlie's own programming?
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But if Charlie was an adherent of the Yogi, why did none of the Family
speak of it? Why didn't Charlie show up at any of the 3-4
retreats/dwellings/ashrams where the faithful gathered in SoCal, trying
to secure housing for his brood in '68-'69? The way he did at Hinman's
house, the basement house, the hog farm, Dennis Wilson's house, the FOTW, Spahns, and Barker.
-----------------
What is it about Southern California, cults, and young loves?
When they call California "the land of the fruits and the nuts," they are not always referring to the state's bounteous agricultural output. Certain themes appear over and over.
That
every official in L.A. was not dazzled by the swami seems apparent from
a series of articles that appeared in the Times in 1928. “Cult
To Be Subject of New Inquiry,” announced one. It stated that although
the district attorney’s office some months before had looked into the
practices at the Mt. Washington center and had found “nothing criminal,”
another investigation was being launched “to establish if any juvenile laws are being violated....” A few days later, a longer article alluded to “accusations that a love-cult
is being conducted under the cloak of the Vedantic religion of India”
and elaborated, “The interest of the District Attorney’s office in the
asserted love-cult activity is said to be centered on whether young girls were included in the various classes in which love and sex theories are declared to be unfolded.”
14 comments:
As a devotee of over 50 years and lifelong neighbor of the Mt. Washington temple I am confident that Charlie and the family were not members of this gentle non violent church. While they may have heard of or seen the beautiful gardens at the temples particularly on Sunset near Malibu where some of Ghandi’s ashes are interred. The discipline and service the monastics provide would not tolerate the drugs, sex and violence of the Manson gang. Well known devotees include George Harrison, Steve Jobs, Dennis Weaver, Ravi Shankar.
I am curious about another guru Charlie may have had contact with. I ran a recording studio in the 80s in what had been the Diggers 'Free Frame of Reference' space. There was a free store there for a while and there was free food. This was at Frederick Street x Stanyan in San Francisco. Charlie, I have heard, ate there almost every day when he was in the Haight. I assume that if Charlie went there for free food that he must have gone to Monday Night Class on Haight Street every Monday night to see the guru of the acid church that met there, Stephen Gaskin. It seems certain they would have met. A couple of family members showed up to visit the Farm in Tennessee, where the acid church later moved. Farm heads deny the family members ever lived there but several of us know better. One claims Larry Melton tried to stab him. Anyone with any info to share on Charlie knowing Stephen would be very welcome and much appreciated. Thanks. Great post btw.
Interesting post, Starviego.
Some thoughts…
Yogananda’s classic book “Autobiography Of A Yogi” was pretty much obligatory reading for anyone in the freak scene in the 60s & 70s… assuming they had an interest in Indian spirituality (which was also pretty obligatory at the time). He was the first Indian spiritual teacher to reach the USA way back in the 20s and he settled in LA in 1925. He introduced yoga to the US and was very famous from then onwards. So it is quite likely that Charlie had heard of him back in the 50s. Whether he actually attended any retreats, lectures, courses or whatever I personally feel is a pretty moot point.
Charlie said all sorts of things about how much he’d seen and done once he was locked up for life. But I think he had a tendency to big himself up regarding his previous spiritual initiations into various traditions. I think he liked people to think that he was an old hand at all that “cosmic jive” and he often seemed to say things in interviews like he “went to all the retreats” of Yogananda or that he’d “done mushrooms with the Yaqui”. How factually accurate these statements were, I’m not sure.
The quotes from Yogananda are not really that unique and Charlie could have easily picked up these particular threads of philosophy from any number of different sources.
As for the DA’s interest in Yogananda’s ashram, I suspect that had more to do with xenophobia and racism than anything else.
There's a chapter in "Amazing Dope Tales" by Stephen Gaskin that you might find interesting. There's also a throwaway line in Ed Sanders' The Family... something to the affect of it being well known that Charlie had hung out pretty extensively with a well known figure in the Haight and it was a pity that more of said figure's decency and philosophy hadn't rubbed off on Charlie. Sanders never actually names the individual but I always assumed it was either Gaskin or Emmet Grogan.
When I worked Renaissance Faires in the late 1990s, I hung out a bit with an ocarina maker who lived on The Farm in decades past. As I recall, he told me Gaskin and Manson were in touch by mail. I've wondered whether Gaskin was the 'well-known Haight guru' mentioned by Sanders too. It wouldn't think it was Grogan because Grogan, while a well-known charismatic leader, was not a spiritual guru type. That chapter in "Amazing Dope Tales" ["ADT"] does sound like a Spring 1967 fresh-from-prison short-haired Manson, except for, as I recall, the chubbiness in the physical description.
Yeah, the chubbiness threw me also but it could've perhaps been all that high-carb prison food :-). There's no certainty either way but (as you say) it does sound like a description of him... and the wrap-up to the chapter where Gaskin finally couldn't look at the picture he'd drawn any more and had to take it down always seemed kinda metaphorically apt.
Thanks for the article Starviego.
Whenever the name Yogi is mentioned I first think of the baseball player, Yogi Berra and second of the cartoon Yogi Bear. Both of them had a way with words.
When the name “Paramahansa Yogananda” is mentioned, it did not ring a bell. At least one source says he died in 1952.
The link within the article points to an article about “Maharishi Mahesh Yogi” and it seems to say that he arrived in 1959.
It’s not uncommon for someone to say that they are a student of someone, or follow that school or method. Many use the Socratic Method without ever having met or have been directly trained by Socrates.
Manson did spend a good deal of time in boys homes during the late 40’s and early 50’s. While it’s possible he actually saw Paramahansa Yogananda, I’d like to know when and how.
I suppose its possible that he met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, maybe through Dennis Wilson, but there’s nothing saying he did.
I think it’s more likely that he learned of the teachings of the various Yogis through others, just as all of us learn about various things. It would be interesting to know if LVH was one of the sources of his knowledge of the Yogis.
Lyn mentions in his book how Manson used to have philosophical discussions with Mike Feeney. I would guess Manson had many discussions with a variety of people who were familiar with many philosophies. Being there, or attending, can be accomplished by picking someone’s brain.
Yes, the Yogi died in '52. Charlie never met him.
Sorry about the link. The link is correct but now my quote is mysteriously missing from the article. I was going to link to Charlie's '85 Vacaville interview where he mentions Yogananda, but that video was scrubbed too before I had the chance.
Meanwhile, in Miami:
http://oaks.nvg.org/v/mjamlivb.jpg
Seated across the table at the police station, the Hindu philosopher gazed dreamily into the eyes of Cheif Quigg in an effort to hypnotize him, but the hypnotic influences were sharply interrupted when the chief ordered him to stop.
http://oaks.nvg.org/v/mjamliva.jpg
Swami Yogananda, who police say accepted $35 each from nearly 200 Miami women to instruct them in the intricacies of his East Indian love cult, ... was served by Police Chief Leslie Quigg with peremptory orders to leave Miami.
That drawing Gaskin writes about reminds me of the Manson drawing in the photo section of "Helter Skelter." Doesn't the previous or next chapter in "ADT" have a character that seems like Beausoleil? (My copy of the book is in deep garage storage at present.)
Thank you everyone for answering my question so generously! I have both ADT and Ed Sanders', 'The Family' and will give them a reread. I love this blog, the posts and the commenting community very much. Thanks again.
The photo of Paramahansa Yogananda looks like someone I saw in magazine advertisements many years ago. Does anyone know whether his picture ever accompanied any kind of magazine advertising? I'm thinking it was in Griers Almanac in the sixties.
I recall seeing his image on ads for the group in the LA Times decades ago.
Thank you, Jenn. The ones in the Times were probably part of the same ad campaign I saw.
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