Winner of the 2019 Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Award for Best Author Voiceover Performance
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the charismatic leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement and known internationally as the Beatles’ guru. After John Lennon and George Harrison suddenly left Maharishi’s India ashram retreat in 1968, rumors have persisted that the spiritual leader made advances toward young women which overstepped the boundaries expected of a celibate Hindu monk. In disillusionment, Lennon concluded his stay at the ashram by writing “Sexy Sadie.” He wanted to use Maharishi’s name, but changed the title of the song at George Harrison’s request.
Robes of Silk Feet of Clay reveals the true story of a young woman’s love affair with the powerful guru. Just out of college, Judith Bourque went to India to become a teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM). “I expected to have a deeply profound spiritual experience with a living prophet … what I got was a decidedly human one!” Maharishi told her not to tell anyone about their relationship, and she didn’t … not until he died in 2008. Judith first came out of the closet in David Sieveking’s David Wants to Fly, a full-length film documenting the German filmmaker’s experiences in learning TM. “After that interview I felt I needed to share the whole story of my relationship with Maharishi in my own way, and finally decided to write my book.”
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“Some people tell me that Judith’s book is just gossip and negativity. This book is something else, completely. It’s a witness statement, and a positive one, since it brings out the human perspective and leaves space for acceptance and forgiveness and truth. It is the spirituality of the new age, since it is based on transparency instead of hierarchy.”
— Anders Rosenberg, Media Creator
“Perhaps Judith’s greatest achievement is to reveal Maharishi’s human side…She reveals him as an ordinary man doing all the good and bad things that love and sex can inspire in us.”
— Geoff Gilpin, author of The Maharishi Effect“I was there in Rishikesh with Judith. I saw and watched this love story.”
— Hans Bruncken, author of Transcendental PassagesBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Judith Bourque was born and raised in the United States. She is an award-winning filmmaker and holistic therapist. After graduating from Massachusetts College of Art with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, she went to India to become a teacher of Transcendental Meditation, and then worked for the TM movement for two years. She subsequently trained as a teacher of Re-evaluation Counseling, introducing that method to her country of residence, Sweden. She also teaches classes in Dreams as a Source of Spiritual Guidance and Shamanic Healing. After postgraduate studies at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, she worked at Swedish Television for many years as a film editor, as well as producing and directing independent documentaries. Her films include Sowing for Need, or Sowing for Greed? a documentary on genetically modified seeds, The Real Patch Adams, and Hot and Cold Mandala, an experiential infrared film. Robes of Silk Feet of Clay is her first book.