Tara Stiles in a Glass Box. Dead Guru in a Freezer.

“The loss of quality that is so evident at every level of spectacular language, from the objects it glorifies to the behavior it regulates, stems from the basic nature of a production system that shuns reality.”

― Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle

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Two very similar yoga stories splashed across the web this week.

In what she called her “David Blaine moment in New York”, Tara Stiles busted out all the asanas in a glass box decked out like a miniature high-end hotel room, complete with stilettoes and a champagne-bucket, mounted on the back of the W hotels Yoga Truck, which rolled slowly from one W location to another. It was a promotion for – oh, so many things.

Another story emerged from Jalandhar, India. A high court there has been asked to determine whether the wealthy guru Ashutosh Maharaj, who his followers have been keeping in a commercial freezer under armed guard (you might want to read that twice) is as dead as one might guess, or whether he is in a state of profound meditation. His family insists he died of a heart attack back in January. His followers are expecting him to resurrect from his mahasamadhi when he’s good and ready, and are committed to preserving his corpse for his saintly re-entry.

The Telegraph quotes an unnamed aide: “Maharaj has been in deep meditation. He has spent many years meditating in sub-zero temperatures in the Himalayas, there is nothing unusual in it. He will return to life as soon as he feels and we will ensure his body is preserved until then.” In the interim, the aide and his cohorts will maintain control of the guru’s $170M estate, thank you very much. The family really, really wants him declared dead, so all frozen assets can be released. Continue reading “Tara Stiles in a Glass Box. Dead Guru in a Freezer.”