Sunday, October 6, 1 4
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
i
PERSPECTIVE
PHONY OR SINCERE?
Muktananda: Looking beyond the bizarre
By CINDY HILL
HIS APPEARANCE has - an
element of the bizarre:
sunglasses often mask the gentle;
eyes, he usually wears a long
turtleneck shirt over a cotton
wrap-around, and his salt-and-
pepper hair is unruly and wiry.
For several hundred lo c a
people, the biggest event of last
week was the appearance in
town of the swami, Baba Muk-
tananda, a 66-year-old holy manl
from India wearing electric--
orange socks and a woolen win-
ter hat, no matter how warm
the weather was.
For his followers, there was
good reason for the excitement:
Muktananda, who leaves f or
New York today, is a "self-
realized saint," they claim, in
a constant state of nirvana.
HIS ADMIRERS, it is said,
include Indira Gandhi, Al-
len Ginsberg and Baba R a m
Dass (alias Dr. Richard Al.
The American Game!
(Continued from Page 3) In the last year of the decade,
crash the headlines would read , The Mets won it all. It couldn't
MANTLE, 29 OTHERS KILL- have been more perfectly plan-
ED IN CRASH-"Whitey Ford. ned.
BASEBALL FIFTIES conform- But what of the present?
ity was known as the New During the short-lived seven-
York Yankees. Dedicated pro- ties, baseball history has seen
fessionals, the Organization the breaking of its most cher-
Men of their trade, they were ; ished record, discord in the
all interchangeable, substituted: first player strike in 1972, and
in and out at the whim of j just this week the naming of
their manager Casey Stengel. ' the first black manager. Though
Only Whitey Ford and Mickey the decade has yet to be char-
Mantle were true superstars of acterized, an educated guess
that team, yet year after year would select the Oakland A's as
after year the Yanks were on the team of decade.
top when the third out of the As America has settled into a
ninth inning of the World Series seemingly permanently divisive
was recorded. culture split politically, social-
ly, and racially, what team best
"I got my start in the coin- exemplifies this than the quar-
edy business at a tender age," reling A's, who seem to do their
Woody Allen once said, "I wrote best "between the lines" after
the early New York Met they've demolished each otherF
games." As Fitzgerald should in the clubhouse? Their whole
have created Ruth, Allen should demeanor is perfectly suited to
have created Marvelous Marv the times.
pern) among other notables. in an old rattletrap?" Pierce ex-
Baba Muktananda, however, plodes. "That's childishness.
seems oblivious to the reaction There's no reason he should
his presence inspires, as, in- have to sleep on the ground to
deed, he seems oblivious to just prove he's religious. A religion
about everything. He wanders that flays bodies, pictures t h e
among his followers distracted- body as evil, sex as evil, and
ly, randomly picking up ob- food as evil is an extremely low
jects that interest him a n d level of consciousness.
"playing" with people. "The only thing evil is when
One moment he may scowl you're selfish and greedy about
at a reporter's notes, and the material things, abuse o t h e r
next moment he may sprinkle people to get them, and become
perfume on a five-year-old attached to them. He doesn't
child. "Attention" from the care what he drives around in."
Master may mean a quiet, brief The car, incidentally, w a s
discussion through an interpre- provided by a follower who was
ter or a perfunctory tap on reportedly "overjoyed" that the
the shoulder. swami would be using it, and
His followers claim this flux "charging it with his vibes."
of emotions is only a facade and The car was to be returned fol-
that, actually, he surveys the lowing Baba's departure.
world with unruffled equanim-
itv.ABA SPOE through an in-
terpreter: "To me, any-
"TIE MAY RAGE at people, one without inner wealth is
grin at them, or stroke poor, and if a man hasn't be-
them," says David Pierce, co- come totally fulfilled and is
ordinator for Baba's worldwide still driven by cravings and de-
tour. "He sees them all as sires - who will call him rich?"
games to be played. He may be The word he is spreading is
games to bes paed Helg mabe nourishing in itself, he feels.
chewing my ass and telling me! "I'm giving food to all t h e
I'm an idiot, but all I get are
waves of bliss." hungry in the world."
Another disciple, Steve, ex- The food he gives, however,
plains, "We all have millions is more than spiritual. At his
of thoughts, millions of emo- Indian ashram, hundreds of
tions. They're like static. It's children come for milk inthe
like we're tuned in to one chan- morning. On Sundays, 5,000 peo-
nel all the time, and he's tuned pe come for dinner. The ash-
in to all of them - and can ram has financed several
make sense of them." schools as well.
Baba does not discus this. Nor
''A lot of people don't know does he mention that in India
quite what to think of him, he is accorded a much higher
Steve continues. "He only at- degree of respect. There, fol-
tracts certain people S omei lowers fall on their faces as far
people recognize his divinity im- as 50 feet away, Pierce says.
mediately, or like him on a' "The only true equivalent in;
human level. Others think he'America would be if Christ
just a cute old man." were to appear in a long white
"robe five miles up in the sky,
"sT'S A RIP-OFF," one stta sptted by radar, and w a s
dent said. " 'Give me all slowly lowered into Madison
your money and I'll give you Square Garden."
peace.' If nothing else, it's an Insteadi.
emoioalri-of. 'abostead, Baba simply t a I k s
emotionalrip-off.ndt eaboutenlightenment to his fol-
Foes zero in on incident like lowers, plays with children, and
his initial appearance in Ann is the proverbial eye of a hurri-'
Arbor last week. He arrived in cane in the midst of a bustling
an expensive limousine a n d worldwide tour.
drove in it all week. And it is
such criticism that provokes his
followers to exasperation. Cindy Hill is Executive Di-
"Why should he drive around rector of the Daily.
om s m s n m s n m
CONCERNED RACKHAM
GRADUATE STUDENTS:
Rackham Student Government is now accept-
ing applications for membership. There are
openings for representatives in the following
divisions: Physical Sciences and Engineering,
Social Sciences, Humanities, Education. Con-
tact Rm. 2006 Rackham Bldg. for application
forms.
Contraceptive Counseling
and Education Service
Gynecology Clinic
3rd floor, Student Health Services
free, individual contraceptive counsel-
ing for women, men or couples.
referral services
for information call
764-0127:
764-8329
763-4370 or
763-4371
Daily Photo by KEN FINK
ki RAVE IA 11
NOW AT
V.I.P. Discount
213 S. STATE
COMPLETE DAIRY
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SPECIAL FARES
SAVE 20%
THANKSGIVING-Deadline Oct. 28
NEW YORK
CHRISTMAS-Deadline Nov. 19
NEW YORK
8 oz. YOGURT
.. 29c
Throneberry.
-Throneberry played first and
some outfield for the Mets in
those early years of the club's
existence. One day he socked
a vicious line shot past the
right fielder and circled around
for a rare inside-the-park home
run. "Yer Out," said the home
plate umpire, "you missed
third base."
Normally on such a call an
entire dugout empties to dis-
pute the point, but the Mets
sat quietly in theirs, content
in the knowledge that not only
had Throneberry missed third,
but first and second as well.
THIS ANALYSIS MAY be pre-
mature. 1974 is a watershed
year for baseball and with it the
established stars are giving;
way to a whole new constella-i
tion. Al Kaline is gone, Henry
Aaron is going, Bob Gibson and
Tom Seaver had off years. The
Tigers, Mets, and Cubs, always
challengers for titles, played
mediocrely at best. PerhapsE
baseball and America are mov-I
ing in a yet undetermined
course. That, among other
things, is what the playoffs
which began yesterday are all
about.
A.
T WAS CALLED perhaps the In 1964, the Cincinnati Reds
worst ball club that ever were involved in a three way
played major league ball. They fight for the National League
finished their first season losing pennant and sent to pitch a
an incredible 120 games and phenom named McCool, who,
came back the next year to at the time was 19 years of
lose 111. Yet New Yorkers turn- age. McCool pitched well but
ed out in droves, applauding the lost the game in the ninth when
Mets' every move. The more veteran Bill Mazeroski hit a
the Mets struggled, the more home run.
they were loved. The more in- After the game all McCool
ept, the more cheered. could say was "that fucking
It seemed all the frustrations Mazeroski, that fucking Mazer-
Americans had with their Six- oski, that fucking Mazeroski."1
ties lives came out in their love When asked how he felt about
of the Mets: their ambiguity; a young kid calling him "that
towards success, their dislike fucking Mazeroski," Maz looked
for their institutions, their scorn around and said, "Gentleman,
of authority, and their tradi- that's what makes baseball the
tional love of the underdog. And great game it is."
the Mets didn't let them down. That's about right, Bill.
"WHAT'S REALLY ME"
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE LECTURE
BY
JOSEPH HEARD, C.S.
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8th
8 P.M.
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GEORGETOWN MALL
2560 Packard Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PROFESSIONAL
I
THEATRE
PROGRAMS
presents
J a
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FABUNIQUE
announces a
Back-to-School
Sale
0 OFF
ON
women's tops
Turquoise & silver jewelry,
wholesale and retail
Shirts and skirts
Imported cotton and silk
fabrics
ei ree Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
directed by Boris Tumarin
OCTOBER 17 PTHROUGH 20
Love's Labour's Lost
by William Shakespeare
directed by Gerald Freedman
OCTOBER 24 THROUGH 27
EDWARD I 1
by Christopher Marlowe
directed by Ellis Rabb
OCTOBER 31 THROUGH NOVEMBER 3
-