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The Transcendental Meditation technique, or TM, is a form of meditation that originates from the Vedic tradition, which is at the center of Hinduism and other aspects of the Indian culture. It was introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi fifty years ago. It has become a worldwide movement, with more than five million people having learned the technique. The TM organization has founded an accredited university Maharishi International University, and at one point even had a political party, the Natural Law Party. It has received support from public schools , governmental institutions and scientific research .

History

In 1957, at the end of a big "festival of spiritual luminaries" in remembrance of the previous Shankaracharya of the North, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, his disciple Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (or simply "Maharishi") inaugurated a "movement to spiritually regenerate the world". That was the formal beginning of the spread of TM throughout the world.

In the movement's initial stages, Maharishi emphasised the religious aspects of TM and operated under the auspices of an organization he called the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. However, the requirements of the West made him adopt a more secular approach in the 1970s. He focused on western science both to show theoretical parallels with his thinking and practical verification of the results of TM. The main emphasis was on relaxation, relief from stress, and improved personal effectiveness.

In the early 1970s, Maharishi launched his "World Plan" to establish a TM teaching center for each million of the world's population, which at that time would have meant 3,600 TM centers throughout the world. The centers established in many cities flourished for a time, but not all are operational now. Today, there are TM centers and facilities in many countries of the world, and over five million people have learned the technique, though not all continue to practice it. Since 1990, Maharishi co-ordinates his global activities from his headquarters in the town of Vlodrop in the municipality of Roerdalen in Holland.

Effects of TM

Studies indicate that regular practice of TM leads to significant, cumulative benefits in the areas of mind (Travis, Arenander & DuBois 2004) harv error: no target: CITEREFTravisArenanderDuBois2004 (help), body (Barnes, Treiber & Davis 2001) harv error: no target: CITEREFBarnesTreiberDavis2001 (help), behavior (Barnes, Bauza & Treiber 2003) harv error: no target: CITEREFBarnesBauzaTreiber2003 (help) and environment (Hagelin et al. 1999) harv error: no target: CITEREFHagelinRainforthOrme-JohnsonCavanaugh1999 (help). Other studies suggest that TM has possible negative side effects, but in accordance with a review of more than 75 studies "none of the studies reviewed tried to disentangle the effects of meditation per se from the influence of the presenting problem or/and premorbid personality of the subjects."

Procedures and theory

TM is practiced for fifteen to twenty minutes twice daily while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. In essence, the TM technique comprises the silent mental repetition of a simple sound known as a mantra, allowing the repetition to spontaneously become quieter and quieter, until it disappears and one is left conscious, but without thoughts. This is the goal of the inward stroke of meditation and is called pure consciousness (in Sanskrit: turiya or samadhi similar to Abraham Maslow's concept of peak experience). Alongside the settling down of mental activity, the body also settles to a state of deep rest, and this allows for the release of deep-seated stresses from the system. The release of stress is a bodily activity, and this increase in bodily activity results in corresponding activity on the level of the mind, i.e., thoughts return to the mind. This is the outward stroke of meditation. After the purification has finished, the inward stroke starts again. This whole cycle is repeated many times during each sitting of meditation.

The TM organization emphasizes in its teaching that the procedure for using the mantra is very important: it must be natural, easy and effortless, and can only be learned from a trained teacher of TM.

Pure consciousness

According to the teaching of TM, the daily practice helps enliven in the meditator's life the field of "pure consciousness" or "pure intelligence", a field of "pure knowingness" that is expressed in the different objects of knowledge. In this world view, all thoughts and actions and the entire universe are expressions of the field of pure knowingness. Every experience that the individual has is an experience in this field, but usually not in its pure form. Transcendental meditation settles the mind so that the field of pure knowingness becomes a living reality for the individual. Since the field of pure consciousness is allegedly only progressive and supportive of the good, people enlivening this field in their life through regular practice of TM should spontaneously (without the need of any intuitive or non-intuitive intellectual understanding) more readily behave well. This presupposes a belief that it is desirable to act well, and undesirable to act badly, in line with arguments advanced by Socrates in Plato's Meno and in The Republic.

Stress

In Hans Selye's definition, stress is a neutral concept, simply meaning "load". He distinguishes eustress and distress, roughly meaning "challenge" and "overload". According to Selye, the physical changes experienced during TM are the opposite of the body's reaction to stress. (In common usage, the word stress has taken on a meaning close to Selye's distress.)

In TM parlance, stress is defined as "structural or material impurities resulting from overload on the physiology", which includes both body and mind. The assumption is that it is possible to purify the physiology completely and that this should be the goal of human life, equal to gaining enlightenment. (Compare with psychologist Abraham Maslow's self-actualization.)

Mantra

According to the TM organization the mantra is a meaningless sound specifically chosen and communicated to the meditator at the time of initiation, to have a soothing effect upon the individual's nervous system. The TM organization encourages practitioners to keep their mantra private and never to repeat it aloud, since it allegedly has the effect of moving the attention inward toward more 'refined' levels of the mind.

TM and religion

With regard to religion, Maharishi states that:

Religion and meditation are both necessary -- "One without the other will not survive."
Everyone should follow their own religion.
At its beginning, every religion included transcendental meditation.
Now that religions have forgotten the technique, they are "like bodies from which the soul has departed".

Criticisms and controversies

Criticisms and controversies can be divided in seven broad categories: whether the TM Program is a religion, possible negative side effects, challenges to the validty of TM research, whether or not the TM-Sidhi program and the Maharishi effect actually work, political activities, sexism within the TM organization, and coercive methods.

Is TM is a religion?

There is some controversy as to whether TM is a religion. Those who say it is a religion point to the Hindu mantras that are taught, the puja- a Hindu worhsip ceremony that everyone who learns TM must go through, its reference and use of Hindu scriptures, terms, use of the Hindu Astrology, use of Yagya Hindu fire ceremonies and that the TM organization celebrates Hindu holidays. Those who practice the TM-Sidhi program are encouraged, as part of their daily practice, to listen to recorded excerpts from the ninth and tenth mandalas of the Rig Veda in which the names of Vedic-Hindu deities are recited. Maharishi has published his own translation and commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita (Penguin: 1990), one of the primary texts of the Hindu religious tradition, and passages from his version of the Gita are often used in TM advanced lectures and in the teaching of the Sanskrit language in TM centers.

For the TM organization, with regard to religions, the important point is that TM works independently of the beliefs of the practitioners, relying on natural tendencies of the mind. It emphasizes that the natural brain or mental mechanisms used in TM can be studied with scientific methods. Moreover, there is a distinction between Hinduism and Vedic culture. The Vedic culture is at the core of Hinduism, but it also predated it. The Vedic culture produced a vast literature, including the Vedas and treatises such as Ayur Veda in health. Maharishi calls the Bhagavad-Gita the essence of Vedic Literature and a complete guide to practical life. Most modern scholars agree that the Vedic culture was originally maintained by a long Vedic tradition. The TM organization says that TM originates from the Vedic tradition and Maharishi commented the Bhagavad Gita. These facts imply some connection with Hinduism. The TM organization considers that the core of Hinduism, the Vedic Tradition, provides and illustrates technologies of consciousness that are in essence practical, verifiable and not based on religious beliefs.

In reference to gods, Maharishi Maheshi Yogi related mantras to gods in an older piece of TM literature (Beacon Light of the Himalyas, 1955, page 65). In the early days of the TM movement, Maharishi also published the lengthy devotional poem Love and God. The explanation is that, within the TM teaching, the mantras are meaningless sounds that animate some specific collection of laws or intelligent mechanisms, which are sometimes called gods (but not with the Hinduism interpretation.) In the TM teaching, the laws of nature (or gods) control all aspects of life, including its most tender aspects. This is also true in modern science, but this notion of tender aspects of life is perhaps less discussed. The controversy may come from the fact a religious term is used to identify a concept, namely the laws of nature, that is usually not considered religious.

Despite the fact that the U.S. District Court ruled that TM was too religious to be taught in public schools (Malnak v. Yogi, D.C. Civil Action No. 76-0341), the TM organization has persistently claimed that TM is not subject to the constitutional mandate guaranteeing separation of religion and the state, and has actively sought its inclusion in public schools in the United States.

Possible negative side effects

The critics of TM reported a paper that reviews 75 studies (see first paper reported in ). In this report, they present excerpts of the paper to support their claim that TM has harmful effects. However, they did not report an important alternative explanation for these effects that is mentioned in this review: "None of the studies reviewed tried to disentangle the effects of meditation per se from the influence of the presenting problem or/and premorbid personality of the subjects."

Leon Otis, a staff scientist at the Stanford Research Institute, testified that after surveying hundreds of meditators, he concluded that "TM may be hazardous to the mental health of a sizable proportion of the people who take up TM." However, his conclusion was in fact an explanatory conclusion or explanation, not a logical conclusion. The main observation which brought him to this explanatory conclusion was that those who practiced TM for a long period disclosed more adverse side effects than the dropouts and the new meditators. A key point that is not mentioned by critics of TM is that, as an alternative explanation for this same obvervation, Dr. Otis mentions the following: "... dropouts and those who continue the practice of TM may differ in some fundamental way(s) prior to learning TM. The latter appeared to have more problems before starting TM than the former." His study even presented evidence to support this explanation. To further support this alternative explanation, Dr. Otis mentions other studies that indicate that the probability of occurrence of these so called adverse effects is higher among psychiatric populations. It is interesting to note that the alternative explanation, which put the blame on prior conditions and other factors in the survey, appears more supported by direct evidence than Dr. Otis proposed explanatory conclusion, which blamed TM per se. This corroborates the alternative explanation that is proposed in general in the review paper that is mentioned above. This alternative explanation of Dr. Otis does not blame TM per se. Instead, this alternative explanation says that the mechanisms of TM, which have been shown to have positive effects in the same study, get intricated with prior conditions. With regard to the possibility that these side effects are only purifying mechanisms, Dr Otis only say that these purifying mechanisms must have lasted for the duration of the entire study. Depending on the prior conditions, this is not so surprising. It is also interesting to note that when critics of TM have reported this study as an evidence of their claim that TM has harmful effects (see second paper reported in ), they did not mention the alternative explanation. The key point is that there is a huge gap between the notion of harmful effects and the notion of side effects that are purifying mechanisms, and there is no justification at all to jump to the conclusion that TM has harmful effects.

In a study conducted by the German Government, called "the Various Implications Arising From The Practice of Transcendental Meditation," 76% of the particpants developed adverse mental side-effects including: depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation. 25% experienced a nervous breakdowns and 20% experienced suicidial feelings. Only 9% of the these participants had received theraputic care previous to this study. Their conclusion was that: "Psychological illness already present before the TM phase worsened considerably. TM can cause mental illness or at the very least prepare the way for the onset of mental illness." .

Does the TM-Sidhi Program and Maharishi Effect work as claimed?

In the late 1970s the claims for the TM technique and the associated advanced TM-Sidhi Program became more radical and increasingly targeted at existing adherents. Propounded benefits include a measurable decreased crime rate in cities with 1% of the population practising TM, or the square root of that number practising the TM-Sidhis program (this phenomenon being called "the Maharishi Effect"), and extraordinary powers (Siddhi being sanskrit for "suppernatural power") including metaphysical levitation. Despite early released photographs which seemed to show people levitating, as of yet, there has not been a documented case of any TM meditators achieving levitation.

Challenges to the publications on Maharishi's products and technologies

In 1991, an article on the benefit of Maharishi Ayur Veda was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This immediatly triggered a strong reaction from a science and medical journalist, Andrew A. Skolnick ], and an expose of the TM article on issues such as "Failure to Disclose Connections" and "Ran Marketing Company" was published in JAMA ]. The author/journalist wrote "An investigation of the movement's marketing practices reveals what appears to be a widespread pattern of misinformation, deception, and manipulation of lay and scientific news media. This campaign appears to be aimed at earning at least the look of scientific respectability for the TM movement, as well as at making profits from sales of the many products and services that carry the Maharishi's name." It should be pointed out that the scientific validity of the study per se was never contested, and JAMA still continues to publish papers on the benefits of Maharishi's products and technologies, especially TM.

Political activities of the TM organization

The TM organization founded the Natural Law Party in 1992 in support of candidates for public office dedicated to promoting TM and Maharishi's far-reaching political goals at all levels of society in the field of action. The Party ran Dr. John Hagelin, former physics professor at Maharishi University of Management, for president of the United States in the 1992, 1994, and 2000 elections. The Natural Law Party did not run a candidate in the 2004 presidential election and the NLP is no longer a registered party in the UK. Following repeated NLP failures at the polls, Maharishi unilaterally inaugurated his own Global Country of World Peace and crowned Dr. Tony Nader as Raja (Vedic king) of the new government, which is devoted to achieving Maharishi's goals, including the practice of TM in the public schools and the demolition and reconstruction of all public and private structures throughout the world along Vedic principles.

Sexism and the TM organization

According to historian Stanley Wolpert (A New History of India, sixth edition, Oxford University Press: 2000), ancient Vedic society was undeniably patriarchal, and this characteristic is reflected in the present structure of the TM organization. Although women are not barred from becoming teachers of TM, they are rarely seen in positions of political leadership, especially at the highest and most visible level of the organization. Evidence of discrimination against women can be seen in the failure to include women as ministers when Maharishi proclaimed his Global Country of World Peace (all of the 40 appointed ministers were men) and in the failure to include female spokespersons in the discussions that accompany Maharishi’s weekly televised press conferences.

This is because Maharishi has outlined three acceptable “paths” for women in society: 1) marriage and motherhood, 2) monastic celibacy (in his “Mother Divine” program), and 3) engagement in a life-supporting profession or occupation that does not strain the allegedly delicate nervous system of female physiology. Also, in live and televised presentations sponsored by the TM organization, females are patronizingly referred to as “ladies” (not “women”) while men are called “men” (not “gentlemen”). TM apologists point out that even married women are called ladies, but fail to appreciate that gender bias is inherent in the organization’s failure to apply the corresponding term “gentlemen” to males. Over the years, the TM organization has implemented a deliberate policy of segregating the sexes in its parochial schools, course facilities, assemblies, etc., and in doing so, has placed itself outside the mainstream of American life.

Coercive methods

In his televised press conference of November 16, 2005, Maharishi personally announced that he will no longer speak to those among his “workers” (TM teachers and administrators) who do not move into dwellings constructed according to Vedically-correct principles. Many individuals affected by this decision are followers who have devoted 30-40 years of their lives to his cause, at very low pay and consequently some are so poor that they cannot even afford adequate medical and dental care, let alone the high cost of a house built to Vedic standards. Yet, if they wish to remain within the organization, they are being forced to do business with companies owned and operated by the TM organization.