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Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a specific form of mantra meditation, the Transcendental Meditation technique, and it is also a spiritual movement, the Transcendental Meditation movement. They were both introduced in India in the mid-1950s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917–2008) and achieved global reach in the 1960s. As many as six million people have been trained in the TM technique, including The Beatles and other well-known public figures. The TM movement has programs and holdings in dozens of countries.

The TM technique came out of and is based on Indian philosophy and the teachings of Krishna, the Buddha, and Shankara, as well as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The Maharishi learned it from his own teacher, "Guru Dev", and simplified it. He developed the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI), a system of theoretical principles to underlie this meditation technique. Additional technologies were added to the Transcendental Meditation program, including "advanced techniques" such as the TM-Sidhi program (Yogic Flying).

In the 1950s, the Transcendental Meditation movement had presented itself as a religious organization. By the 1970s the organization had shifted to a more scientific presentation, however continues to maintain many religious elements. This shift has been described by both those within and outside the movement as an attempt to appeal to the more secular west. TM has been reported to be one of the most widely practiced, and among the most widely researched meditation techniques. Transcendental Meditation was held to be a religion by three different United States courts in two separate cases. Sceptics have called TM or its associated theories and technologies a "pseudoscience".

History

According to religious scholar Kenneth Boa in his book, Cults, World Religions and the Occult, the Transcendental Meditation technique is rooted in the Vedantic School of Hinduism, "repeatedly confirmed" in the Maharishi's books such as the Science of Being and the Art of Living and his Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Boa writes that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi "makes it clear" that Transcendental Meditation was delivered to man about 5,000 years ago by the Hindu god Krishna. The technique was then lost, but restored for a time by Buddha. It was lost again, but rediscovered in the 9th century AD by the Hindu philosopher Shankara. Finally, it was revived by Brahmananda Saraswati (Guru Dev) and passed on to the Maharishi.

George Chryssides similarly states that the Maharishi and Guru Dev were from the Shankara tradition of advaita Vedanta. Peter Russell in The TM Technique says that the Maharishi believed that from the time of the Vedas, this knowledge cycled from lost to found multiple times, as is described in the introduction of the Maharishi's commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita. Revival of the knowledge recurred principally in the Bhagavad-Gita, and in the teachings of Buddha and Shankara. Chryssides notes that, in addition to the revivals of the Transcendental Meditaton technique by Krishna, the Buddha and Shankara, the Maharishi also drew from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Bromley also says the technique is based on Indian philosophy and the teachings of Krishna, the Buddha, and Shankara. Vimal Patel writes that the Maharishi drew from Patanjali when developing the TM technique.

While the Transcendental Meditation technique was originally presented in religious terms during the 1950s, this changed to an emphasis on scientific verification in the 1970s. This change has been attributed to an effort to improve its public relations, and as an attempt to enable the TM technique to be taught in public schools.

Technique

The Transcendental Meditation technique is a form of mantra meditation. According to proponents, it is effortless when conducted properly. The mantra sound is utilized as a thought in the meditation process, and as a vehicle that allows the individual's attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning. The technique is practiced morning and evening for 15–20 minutes each time.

The mantras are generally considered to be sounds without meaning, though some have claimed that they refer to deities. Mantras are selected by trained teachers to suit the individual. Students are told to never share their mantras with anyone. Scholars say that the original mantras derive from the Vedic or Tantric tradition. The Maharishi is said to have reduced the number of mantras used from hundreds down to a minimum number. Some reports say that the total number of mantras used is 16, and that they are assigned using a simple formula based on gender and age.

The trademarked Transcendental Meditation technique can be learned only from a certified, authorized teacher. The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardized, seven-step course that consists of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and four, two-hour, instruction sessions given on consecutive days. The initial personal instruction session begins with a short puja ceremony performed by the teacher, after which the student is taught the technique. Following initiation, the student practices the technique twice a day. Subsequent group sessions with the teacher ensure correct practice. Step five verifies the correctness of the practice and give further instruction; step six teaches the mechanics of the TM technique based on his/her personal experiences; and, step seven explains the higher stages of human development per this system of meditation.

The fee charged for instruction has varied over time. In the 1960s, the usual fee was one-week's salary or $35 for a student. In the 1970s it became a fixed fee of $125 with discounts for students and families. By 2003 it was set at $2500. It has since been reduced to $1500. Advanced techniques and rounding sessions require additional fees.

"Rounding" is a combination of yogic breathing techniques and meditation repeated for a prolonged period in a supervised setting. There are other "advanced techniques" that build on the basic TM technique. Using TM-Sidhi, the most prominent of these, practitioners said to achieve "Yogic Flying".

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted that the quality of life for an entire population would be noticeably improved if one percent of the population practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique. This is known as the "Maharishi Effect".

Movement

The Transcendental meditation movement came out of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM) founded by the Maharishi in 1958. The SRM was incorporated as a religious organization, however, this wording was removed from the articles of incorporation in the 1970s in an effort to appeal to a more secular west.

The Transcendental Meditation movement encompasses initiatives by Marishi Mahesh Yogi spanning multiple fields and across several continents. Sociologist J.R. Coplin says that TM is both a "private technique" and a "public ideology".

The terms "Transcendental Meditation", "TM", and "Science of Creative Intelligence" are servicemarks owned by Maharishi Foundation Ltd., a UK non-profit organization. These servicemarks have been sub-licensed to the Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation (MVED), an American non-profit, tax exempt organization which oversees teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique and related courses in the U.S.A.

Two entities, the Maharishi School of Vedic Sciences-Minnesota (as a successor to the World Plan Executive Council) in 1997 and the Maharishi Spiritual Center in 2001, were denied property tax exemptions as the educational activities of the organizations did not did not reach the ‘purely public charity’ threshold in one case, and did not involve the entire real estate in the other.

Transcendental Meditation is taught in the United Kingdom by the Maharishi Foundation, a registered educational charity (number 270157). TM is taught in South Africa by teachers registered with Maharishi Vedic Institute — a non-profit organisation, registration number 025-663-NPO. In Australia TM is taught through the Maharishi's Global Administration through Natural Law Limited, which is registered as a non-profit educational institution.

The Skeptics Dictionary refers to TM as a "spiritual business". Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh note in their book Trick or Treatment that TM is part of a larger system of beliefs than other types of meditation, with strong religious associations.

In 1992, a political party, the Natural Law Party (NLP) was founded based on the principles of TM. Most of the party was disbanded by 2004. NLP ran candidates in at least ten countries, including the United States, Canada, UK, several European countries, Israel and India, but rarely received more than a few percent of the vote. Candidates in Croatia and India did win seats for regional councils.

Theoretical concepts

Maharishi Vedic Science

Maharishi Vedic Science, or MVS, is based on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's interpretation of the ancient Vedic texts (Note that "Maharishi Vedic Science" is a misnomer in that the scientific method is completely ignored if not discouraged). MVS includes two aspects: technologies, including Transcendental Meditation technique and the TM-Sidhi programs, by which the Maharishi says human consciousness can be experienced; and programs, such as Maharishi Sthapatya Veda and Maharishi Vedic Astrology, developed for applying this knowledge to aspects of day-to-day living. Sixty services and courses are offered by MVED and the Transcendental Meditation movement, as of 2006.

Science of Creative Intelligence

The Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) is the system of theoretical principles that underlie the technique of Transcendental Meditation. SCI describes "pure creative intelligence" as the basis of all life, and Transcendental Meditation as a means to contact the field of creative intelligence, and according to the theory, realize life's full potential. The TM organization refers to the Science of Creative Intelligence as both theoretical and practical. Peter Russell, in the TM Technique, investigates SCI as part of an in-depth exploration and understanding of the TM technique. Russell goes on to write about SCI as the interface between the subjective experience or subjective knowledge attributed to practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and the objective experience of the various fields of knowledge. SCI, introduced by the Maharishi, has been called his "unified theory of life" and "the science of expansion of awareness or the science of progress in life". An official TM website says it as "the systematic study of the field of pure creative intelligence, the Unified Field of all the Laws of Nature, and the principles by which it governs the coexistence and evolution of all systems in Nature". "Science of Creative Intelligence" has sometimes been used as a synonym or alternate name for "Transcendental Meditation".

SCI theory is taught in a 33-lesson video course, while the practical aspect is the experience of the TM technique itself. The Independent describes how children are taught SCI at a Maharishi School in the U.K. where they learn principles that include "the nature of life is to grow" and "order is present everywhere".

In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence". An official chronology lists 1971 as "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence". According to Cynthia Humes in Gurus In America, the shift towards science and away from spiritualism started around 1970. The Second International Symposium on the Science of Creative Intelligence was held in 1971 at the Humboldt State University campus in California, attended by a small number of scientists that included a Nobel Prize-winner. The following year, 1972, the Maharishi developed a World Plan to spread SCI across the world. KSCI, a UHF television station in San Bernardino, California, was started in 1974 to broadcast the TM movement's "educational program".

Courses on the Science of Creative Intelligence were offered in the early 1970s at universities such as Stanford, Yale, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University. Degrees in SCI have been awarded by Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Iowa and Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Switzerland. Classes at MUM present topics such as art, economics, physics, literature, and psychology in the context of SCI. For most of its history, MUM required all students to begin by taking a class in the Science of Creative Intelligence that included 33 videotaped-lectures by the Maharishi, but by 2009, it was only required of graduate students, according to the MUM catalog. The president of MUM credits SCI with the success of its graduates. Individuals who have earned master's or doctoral degrees in the Science of Creative Intelligence include Bevan Morris, Doug Henning, Mike Tompkins, Benjamin Feldman the Finance Minister for Global Country of World Peace, John Gray, and David R. Leffler. SCI is also on the curriculum of lower schools including the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Iowa, Wheaton, Maryland, and Skelmersdale, UK.

Theologian Robert M. Price, writing in the Creation/Evolution Journal (the journal of the National Center for Science Education), compares the Science of Creative Intelligence to Creationism. Price says instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique is "never offered without indoctrination into the metaphysics of 'creative intelligence'". Skeptic James Randi says SCI has "no scientific characteristics", and in a 1982 book, says that TM's claims are no more substantiated by scientific investigation than other mystical philosophies. Astrophysicist and skeptic Carl Sagan writes that the 'Hindu doctrine' of TM is a pseudoscience. Irving Hexham, a scholar of New Age and new religious movements, describes the TM teachings as "pseudoscientific language that masks its religious nature by mythologizing science". Neurophysiologist Michael Persinger writes that "science has been used as a sham for propaganda by the TM movement". Sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge describe the SCI videotapes as being largely based on the Bhagavad Gita, and say that they are "laced with parables and metaphysical postulates, rather than anything that can be recognized as conventional science". Paul Mason suggests that the scientific terminology used in SCI is an academic bias developed to favour scientific terminology, and was a restructuring of the Maharishi's philosophies in terms that would gain greater acceptance and hopefully increase TM technique initiations. In the court case Malnak v Yogi, SCI was held to be a religion.

Views on consciousness

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According to Vimal Patel, a pathologist at Indiana University, TM has been shown to produce states that are physiologically different from waking, dreaming and sleeping. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says in his 1963 book, The Science Of Being and Art Of Living, that, over time, the practice of allowing the mind to experience its deeper levels during the Transcendental Meditation technique brings these levels from the subconscious to within the capacity of the conscious mind. According to the Maharishi, as the mind quiets down and experiences finer thoughts, the Transcendental Meditation practitioner can become aware that thought itself is transcended and can have the experience of what he calls the 'source of thought', 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being'; 'the ultimate reality of life'. TM has been described by the movement as a technology of consciousness.

Girish Varma, a Brahmachari who heads the Maharishi Vidya Mandir school system and is a nephew of the Maharishi, says that scientific studies have shown that practitioners can achieve divine powers through TM.

Seven States of Consciousness

According to the Maharishi there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) waking; (ii) dreaming; (iii) deep sleep; (iv) Transcendental or Pure Consciousness; (v) Cosmic Consciousness (Skt: turiyatita); (vi) God Consciousness (Skt: bhagavat-chetana); and (vii) Supreme knowledge, or unity consciousness (Skt: brahmi-chetana). The Maharishi says that the fourth level of consciousness (Skt: turiya) can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that the fifth state can be achieved by those who meditate diligently. The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness says that it may be premature to say that the EEG coherence found in TM is an indication of a higher state of consciousness. A sign of cosmic consciousness is "ever present wakefulness" that is present even during sleep. Research on individuals experiencing cosmic consciousness as a result of practice of TM has found EEG profiles, muscle tone measurements, and REM indicators that suggest there is physiological evidence of this higher state.

Characterizations

Self characterizations

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes Transcendental Meditation as a technique which requires no preparation, is simple to do, and can be learned by anyone. The technique is described as being effortless and natural, involving neither contemplation nor concentration, and relying on the natural tendency of the mind to move in the direction of greater satisfaction.

In his book The TM Technique, Peter Russell, a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who had spent time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says, Transcendental Meditation allows the mind to become still without effort, in contrast to meditation practices that attempt to control the mind by holding it on a single thought or by keeping it empty of all thoughts. He says trying to control the mind is like trying to go to sleep at night — if a person makes an effort to fall asleep, his or her mind remains active and restless. This is why, he says, Transcendental Meditation avoids concentration and effort.

According to Wayne Teasdale's book The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions, Transcendental Meditation is what is called an open or receptive method that can be described as giving up control and remaining open in an inner sense.

Anthony Campbell says that because TM is a natural process, its practice requires no "special circumstances or preparations". Campbell writes that Transcendental Meditation is "complete in itself" and does "not depend upon belief" or require the practitioner to accept any theory.

Government

Transcendental Meditation and some of it associated organizations have been described as a religion or a cult. For example, three US courts have held it to be a religion in two cases: Malnak v Yogi (1977 and 1979) and Hendel v World Plan Executive Council (1996). In addition to the 3rd Circuit opinion in Malnak holding that Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intellingence were religious under the Establishment Clause, in 1996, the Superior Court for the District of Columbia ruled in Hendel v World Plan Executive Council that the practice of Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program were a religion and that trial of the fraud and other claims for damages by a former TM and TM-Sidhi practitioner against the World Plan Executive Council and Maharishi International University would involve the Court in excessive entanglement into matters of religious belief contrary to the First Amendment.

A 1980 report by the West German government's Institute for Youth and Society characterized TM as a "psychogroup". The TM organization sued unsuccessfully to block the release of the report. The 1995 report of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France listed Transcendental Meditation as a cult. The state of Israel has condemned TM, commonly agreed by anti-cult groups there to be a cult.

Religion

Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, wrote a pastoral statement in 1984 after Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos invited more than 1,000 members of the movement to Manila to reduce dissent through Yogic Flying. Sin said that neither the doctrine nor the practice of TM are acceptable to Christians. In 2003, the Roman Curia, a Vatican council, published a warning against mixing eastern meditation, such as TM, with Christian prayer. Other clergy, including Catholic clergy, have found the Transcendental Meditation to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs. Religion scholar Charles H. Lippy writes that earlier spiritual interest in the technique faded in the 1970s and it became a practical technique that anyone could employ without abandoning their religious affiliation. Bainbridge found Transcendental Meditation to be a "...highly simplified form of Hinduism, adapted for Westerners who did not possess the cultural background to accept the full panoply of Hindu beliefs, symbols, and practices", and describes the Transcendental Meditation puja ceremony as "...in essence, a religious initiation ceremony". Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh of the Greek Orthodox Church describes TM as being "a new version of Hindu Yoga" based on "pagan pseudo-worship and deification of a common mortal, Guru Dev".

William Johnston, an Irish Jesuit, says that despite its religious origins the TM technique as introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has no attachments to any particular religion. Former Maharishi University of Management Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, James Grant writes that the Maharishi's techniques for the development of consciousness are non-sectarian and require no belief system. The official TM web site says it is a non-religious mental technique for deep rest. The Maharishi refers to the technique as "a path to God". Andrew Sullivan, political commentator for The Atlantic and an openly gay Roman Catholic, wrote in 2010 that he does not consider his practice of Transcendental Meditation to be a "contradiction of my faith in Christ". Martin Gardner, a mathematician, refers to it as "the Hindu cult".

Douglas Cowan, a Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, covers Transcendental Meditation in Cults and New Religions along with Scientology, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), The Children of God, Branch Davidian, Heaven’s Gate, and Wicca. Transcendental meditation has been accused of "surreptitiously smuggling in forms of Eastern religion under the guise of some seemingly innocuous form of health promotion".

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86. Buckley, Stephen (March 19, 1993). "This School Offers Readin', 'Ritin' and Mantras". The Washington Post. p. D.01.
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Bibliography

• Ospina MB, Bond TK, Karkhaneh M, Tjosvold L, Vandermeer B, Liang Y, Bialy L, Hooton N, Buscemi N, Dryden DM, Klassen TP. (June 2007). Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research (PDF). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Ospina MB, Bond K, Karkhaneh M; et al. (2007). "Meditation practices for health: state of the research". Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep) (155): 1–263. PMID 17764203. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

• Denniston, Denise, The TM Book, Fairfield Press, Fairfield, Iowa, 1986 ISBN 0-931783-02-X
• Geoff Gilpin, The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement That Transformed American Spirituality, Tarcher-Penguin 2006, ISBN 1-58542-507-9
• Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council, 853 F, 2d 948, 956 (D.C. Cir, 1988)
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita : A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1-6. ISBN 0-14-019247-6.
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Science of Being and Art of Living : Transcendental Meditation ISBN 0-452-28266-7.
• Mason, Paul (2005). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World" (Document). Evolution Publishing. pp. 335 pages. ISBN 0-9550361-0-0. {{cite document}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapter= and |editor= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |others= ignored (help)
• Persinger, Michael (1980). TM and Cult Mania. Language: English. Christopher Pub House. pp. 198 pages. ISBN 0815803923. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Official site.

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from September 2010
• Transcendental Meditation movement
• Meditation
• Parapsychology
• Self religions