Hi Paul,
I hope you reconsider....but if you don't I totally respect your wishes. Your postings have brought amazing insight from someone who has done more research about mahesh and Guru Dev than perhaps anyone else on the planet.
That we don't all agree isn't important at all to me. We are NOT and never have attempted to be a unified front. There is no "line" or creed that we have to adhere to. The only thing we seem to have in common, is a believe that mahesh has behaved in an irresponsible manner in a number of areas.
Like you, I have no real beef with the basic TM practice. In fact...guess what boys and girls...I still do it in the morning. Know why? It feels good to me. That's it. I don't do any of the other practices anymore but I still like that little buzz in the morning. I know others here feel like TM is bad dope. That's OK....for some folks it is. And we all know, and have seen, the effects that too much of this dope can have.
I have real issues with the damage the mahesh and the TMO have done in many people's lives....people I know very well.
But I have felt that the beauty of the TM Free group is that we have an open venue where our ideas can be expressed without the crushing boundaries of either pro or anti group think.
Paul, I have the utmost admiration for you. The TMO never allowed much of any insight into what Guru Dev taught. Until reading your web site I really had no idea of what he taught or wrote. And your research into mahesh's life is simply the best that has ever been attempted. I learned things about his life that I never knew back when I was obsessed with it.
If you choose to leave....heartfelt thanks for your contributions. If you stay.....amen brother and keep the great posts coming. You could do a series of posts about how you disagree with other posts on the blog. That would be totally cool and reinforce the truth...that this is just a place where freedom of thought about mahesh and the TMO is encouraged and welcome.
Think about it for a few days, OK?
Thanks my friend.
Joseppi
Friday, March 02, 2007
A consideration of the yoga sutras (3)
a consideration of the yoga sutras (1)
a consideration of the yoga sutras (2)
Sutras 4 through 11 address the curious questions raised by sutras 2 and 3.
Sutra 2 seems to indicate that yoga is mind control. But cittavritti (in Sanskrit, the ‘ch’ phoneme is generally represented as ‘c’ and the more difficult sound ‘chh', as in church house, is represented by ‘ch’) is two words, the second (vritti) the modifier of the first (citta). When we say “polishing the red apple” are we referring to the apple or the colour red? The apple does not change, but the appearance, the vritti, changes.
Thus, it seems much more helpful in understanding the difficulties posed by this album of wise direction to see that the ancient teachers who pioneered the difficult terrain of understanding what goes on in our heads and how that affects our lives were referring to something quite profound: yoga is not mind control. Yoga is nirodha of the vritti of the mind. Mind is just mind, however. What comes into the mind and what goes out from the mind are both filtered by vritti.
Yoga, the subject of this text is a free mind, something a little different. When the vritti are nirodha (eliminated) then mind is free, mind just is. Sutras 4 through 11 define this vritti business and the obvious, problematic qualities of vritti modifying citta. A modified citta is not a free citta is not yoga.
Happy folks seem to see everthing through rose-coloured glasses; miserable folks seem to see everything through very clouded, foggy glasses. These are vritti, filtres to be nirodha. Then seeing is just seeing, in other words perception is no longer filtered through vritti of any kind and perception is just perception. There is nothing to modify what comes to the mind, things just as they are are perceived just as they are.
This is the free citta.
Otherwise, sutra 3, the seer, the one who sees, the yogi will not be able to stand in his own nature. Until the vritti modifying/masking incoming date to the citta are nirodha, the seer will have no idea what his own nature is.
It is the mind, of course.
One’s “own nature” is a free mind, a mind freed of the colourations of vritti. This is the implication. A cook book can give you an implication of deliciousness and this collection of teachings is definitely a cook book. In and of itself, however, neither a cook book nor this anthology can supply nutrition.
At one time, Mahesh talked to a very small group of us interested in translation. His first suggestion was not to go learn the language you want to translate, although that certainly has its merits. He suggested something else, something very interesting that I still utilize. He said to compare some very good translations and see where your own experience from meditation tells you some word or idea is not quite right, then start checking on the meaning of that word.
This is how I came to compile a dictionary and a word-by-word translation, sutra-by-sutra, noting, considering if my understanding of the first sutra was supported by the second and so on.
If you have the idea, the vritti, that yoga is mind control and the collection of sutras will tell you how to control your mind, then that vritti is not freeing the mind to follow the teachings.
So, first, sutras 4 through 11 must be understood and then, sutra 12, a new section of teaching, can make sense.
There is a very interesting Sufi teaching that is quite valuable to keep in mind here: what you have to learn is different from what you expect to learn and the way you have to learn it is different from the way you expect to learn it.
Sutra 12: the vritti are nirodha by knowing what to do and by not clinging (to your vritti).
Sutra 13: what you have to do is become calm and quiet.
Sutra 14: this takes time and commitment – I see, here, no reference to easy, natural method.
Sutra 15 (explaining “by not clinging” in sutra 12): the quick translation is LET GO OF EVERYTHING which can also be rendered CLING TO NOTHING.
Sutra 15 suggests something very, very difficult and in conjunction with Sutra 2 and the implications of sutra 14 very, very clearly tells us that we will have our hands full. We must have an alertness (sañjña, from jña, to know; sañjña is the knowing aspect of mind) that is free from every kind of desire, a mind free from all desire for any/everything. The sutra calls this the supreme consciousness.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (4)
a consideration of the yoga sutras (2)
Sutras 4 through 11 address the curious questions raised by sutras 2 and 3.
Sutra 2 seems to indicate that yoga is mind control. But cittavritti (in Sanskrit, the ‘ch’ phoneme is generally represented as ‘c’ and the more difficult sound ‘chh', as in church house, is represented by ‘ch’) is two words, the second (vritti) the modifier of the first (citta). When we say “polishing the red apple” are we referring to the apple or the colour red? The apple does not change, but the appearance, the vritti, changes.
Thus, it seems much more helpful in understanding the difficulties posed by this album of wise direction to see that the ancient teachers who pioneered the difficult terrain of understanding what goes on in our heads and how that affects our lives were referring to something quite profound: yoga is not mind control. Yoga is nirodha of the vritti of the mind. Mind is just mind, however. What comes into the mind and what goes out from the mind are both filtered by vritti.
Yoga, the subject of this text is a free mind, something a little different. When the vritti are nirodha (eliminated) then mind is free, mind just is. Sutras 4 through 11 define this vritti business and the obvious, problematic qualities of vritti modifying citta. A modified citta is not a free citta is not yoga.
Happy folks seem to see everthing through rose-coloured glasses; miserable folks seem to see everything through very clouded, foggy glasses. These are vritti, filtres to be nirodha. Then seeing is just seeing, in other words perception is no longer filtered through vritti of any kind and perception is just perception. There is nothing to modify what comes to the mind, things just as they are are perceived just as they are.
This is the free citta.
Otherwise, sutra 3, the seer, the one who sees, the yogi will not be able to stand in his own nature. Until the vritti modifying/masking incoming date to the citta are nirodha, the seer will have no idea what his own nature is.
It is the mind, of course.
One’s “own nature” is a free mind, a mind freed of the colourations of vritti. This is the implication. A cook book can give you an implication of deliciousness and this collection of teachings is definitely a cook book. In and of itself, however, neither a cook book nor this anthology can supply nutrition.
At one time, Mahesh talked to a very small group of us interested in translation. His first suggestion was not to go learn the language you want to translate, although that certainly has its merits. He suggested something else, something very interesting that I still utilize. He said to compare some very good translations and see where your own experience from meditation tells you some word or idea is not quite right, then start checking on the meaning of that word.
This is how I came to compile a dictionary and a word-by-word translation, sutra-by-sutra, noting, considering if my understanding of the first sutra was supported by the second and so on.
If you have the idea, the vritti, that yoga is mind control and the collection of sutras will tell you how to control your mind, then that vritti is not freeing the mind to follow the teachings.
So, first, sutras 4 through 11 must be understood and then, sutra 12, a new section of teaching, can make sense.
There is a very interesting Sufi teaching that is quite valuable to keep in mind here: what you have to learn is different from what you expect to learn and the way you have to learn it is different from the way you expect to learn it.
Sutra 12: the vritti are nirodha by knowing what to do and by not clinging (to your vritti).
Sutra 13: what you have to do is become calm and quiet.
Sutra 14: this takes time and commitment – I see, here, no reference to easy, natural method.
Sutra 15 (explaining “by not clinging” in sutra 12): the quick translation is LET GO OF EVERYTHING which can also be rendered CLING TO NOTHING.
Sutra 15 suggests something very, very difficult and in conjunction with Sutra 2 and the implications of sutra 14 very, very clearly tells us that we will have our hands full. We must have an alertness (sañjña, from jña, to know; sañjña is the knowing aspect of mind) that is free from every kind of desire, a mind free from all desire for any/everything. The sutra calls this the supreme consciousness.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (4)
Thursday, March 01, 2007
THINK FREE: 03/01/07
THINK FREE is a regular feature of TM-Free Blog. It features a summary of news about TM and other orgs labeled "cults" by critics.
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
- TM Seeks Bond Financing within Township's Borders Pittsburgh Tribune [Yeah, Like the Movement Hasn't Abandoned Enough Real Estate Already Around the Globe]
- Blogger Touts TM Research blingersinc.blogspot.com [WARNING! DANGER! You'll Find a Link to this Blog in the Comments!]
- David Lynch Disappers up His Own Chaos The First Post [Mentions High School TM project]
- Catholic Blogger Mentions TM in Article on Ecumenical Outreach ca.blog.360.yahoo.com [Cardinal Sin Stated TM Was Contrary to Catholic Doctrine Years Ago]
- One of the Maharishi's Former Hotels Changes Hands Again Asbury Boardwalk [My Reading of Article Says MMY Made a Nice Chunk of Change off the Real Estate]
- Conservative Web Site Claims Obama Belongs to Cultic Church PostChronicle.com [Sounds like a Mis-Use of the Term. What Do You Think? Comment Below.]
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
Televised Rajini Coronation - not to be missed
(Email sent to TM centers)
Special Broadcast for Ladies
This week a very inspiring event of special interest to ladies is being broadcast on the Maharishi Channel.
On 14 February the youngest Raj Rajeshwari of the Global Country of World Peace—Raj Rajeshwari Dr. Alison Plaut was crowned in a special Coronation Ceremony on her 24th birthday. The celebration included the reading of some of her beautiful experiences of higher states of consciousness, as well as the awarding of a doctoral degree from Maharishi University of World Peace.
The Coronation Ceremony will be played on the Maharishi Channel at the following times this week:
Tuesday 27 February 8 PM US CST 3 AM Central European TIme (Wednesday morning)
Wednesday 28 February 12:30 PM US CST 7:30 PM CET
Friday 2 March 6:30 PM US CST 1:30 AM CET (Saturday morning)
Saturday 3 March 10 AM US CST 5:30 PM CET
Sunday 4 March 12:30 PM US CST 7:30 PM CET
10:30 PM US CST 5:30 AM CET (Monday morning)
If you do not have a satellite receiver for the Maharishi Channel, it is very easy to watch these broadcasts online. Go to http://www.mou.org/
and choose "Click to view the Maharishi Channel online now".
Special Broadcast for Ladies
This week a very inspiring event of special interest to ladies is being broadcast on the Maharishi Channel.
On 14 February the youngest Raj Rajeshwari of the Global Country of World Peace—Raj Rajeshwari Dr. Alison Plaut was crowned in a special Coronation Ceremony on her 24th birthday. The celebration included the reading of some of her beautiful experiences of higher states of consciousness, as well as the awarding of a doctoral degree from Maharishi University of World Peace.
The Coronation Ceremony will be played on the Maharishi Channel at the following times this week:
Tuesday 27 February 8 PM US CST 3 AM Central European TIme (Wednesday morning)
Wednesday 28 February 12:30 PM US CST 7:30 PM CET
Friday 2 March 6:30 PM US CST 1:30 AM CET (Saturday morning)
Saturday 3 March 10 AM US CST 5:30 PM CET
Sunday 4 March 12:30 PM US CST 7:30 PM CET
10:30 PM US CST 5:30 AM CET (Monday morning)
If you do not have a satellite receiver for the Maharishi Channel, it is very easy to watch these broadcasts online. Go to http://www.mou.org/
and choose "Click to view the Maharishi Channel online now".
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
a consideration of the yoga sutras (2)
a consideration of the yoga sutras (1)
Paul asked about the first 4 sutras. In celebration of Paul’s continued interest in the Blog I wanted to address these. Are they sufficient unto themselves. What is sufficient depends upon factors relative to the individual practitioner.
1 now yoga [is] explained
2 yoga is the nirodha (ceasing) [of] vritti (stuff the mind does, such as conceptualizing, judging, planning, daydreaming and so on)
3 then (when this is accomplished) [the] drashta (the one who sees, experiences) [is/knows] sva-rupa (his own being, mind (?) “own-form” would be literal, but this is a kind of colloquialism so I felt “being” might be appropriate)
4 [the] vritti sarupyam (complex word possibly best translated as ‘reflect’ or take-on-the-characteristics-of or the qualities-of), otherwise (or possibly ‘elsewhere’ meaning outside the experience of knowing or merging the knowing mind with one's own being)
So, 2 explains 1, 3 explains 2 and 4 explains 3. How I interpret this and how others interpret this simply demonstrates the nature of the sutras to show us, like a mirror, what we wish to see. Hence, a guide is necessary and, in part, the sutras fulfill this function. The more one's vritti cling to a particular interpretation, the more difficult headway in understanding/practising the sutras becomes. There are no shortcuts. You either “do” the sutras on their own terms or you fail to make sense of any of it. – This is the first lesson the sutras taught me. I tried to make my translation efforts conform to my theories. This simply did not work. Theory must reflect facts and alter when new facts or new understanding of facts becomes clear.
Sutra 5 starts a new idea: here we see an explanation of "vritti".
6 clarifies 5 and 7 clarifies the first item of 6.
Following the sutras very carefully, abandoning your own preconceptions about what the sutras are going to tell you and carefully adjusting your thinking to what you find them actually telling you is the first order of business. It’s almost impossible. I translated the sutras 9 times in a ten-year period, compiling a dictionary of meanings from many sources for each word, tracking where each word occurred and the meaning I felt it had in the context of each sutra in which it appeared. I continue to update my dictionary when a new way of looking at a difficult word becomes clear or takes on a clarity I had not before considered.
If you could simply abandon all your preconceptions about everything and anything and just see things just as they are (that is, experience what the senses tell you without overlaying your notions, preconceptions, conceptualizing tendencies), then you wouldn't need the rest of the sutras. But the process of letting go of anything, let along our preconceptions is a difficult an arduous task.
Sanskrit is a very precise language related to Greek and Latin. It uses endings on words rather than the function words (in, of, by, to, from, through and so on) that we use in English to express relationships between words. Most of the sutras in parts 1, 2 and 3 have no verbs; like Russian, “is” or the relationship of this/that is implied. This makes the sutras easier and sometimes harder to sort out. Like French, modifiers come after (apple red) rather than before (red apple) as in English.
Sanskrit does not use capital and lower case letters and punctuation is confined to (stop) and (full stop) or end of idea end of group of ideas or end of sentence end of paragraph.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (3)
Paul asked about the first 4 sutras. In celebration of Paul’s continued interest in the Blog I wanted to address these. Are they sufficient unto themselves. What is sufficient depends upon factors relative to the individual practitioner.
1 now yoga [is] explained
2 yoga is the nirodha (ceasing) [of] vritti (stuff the mind does, such as conceptualizing, judging, planning, daydreaming and so on)
3 then (when this is accomplished) [the] drashta (the one who sees, experiences) [is/knows] sva-rupa (his own being, mind (?) “own-form” would be literal, but this is a kind of colloquialism so I felt “being” might be appropriate)
4 [the] vritti sarupyam (complex word possibly best translated as ‘reflect’ or take-on-the-characteristics-of or the qualities-of), otherwise (or possibly ‘elsewhere’ meaning outside the experience of knowing or merging the knowing mind with one's own being)
So, 2 explains 1, 3 explains 2 and 4 explains 3. How I interpret this and how others interpret this simply demonstrates the nature of the sutras to show us, like a mirror, what we wish to see. Hence, a guide is necessary and, in part, the sutras fulfill this function. The more one's vritti cling to a particular interpretation, the more difficult headway in understanding/practising the sutras becomes. There are no shortcuts. You either “do” the sutras on their own terms or you fail to make sense of any of it. – This is the first lesson the sutras taught me. I tried to make my translation efforts conform to my theories. This simply did not work. Theory must reflect facts and alter when new facts or new understanding of facts becomes clear.
Sutra 5 starts a new idea: here we see an explanation of "vritti".
6 clarifies 5 and 7 clarifies the first item of 6.
Following the sutras very carefully, abandoning your own preconceptions about what the sutras are going to tell you and carefully adjusting your thinking to what you find them actually telling you is the first order of business. It’s almost impossible. I translated the sutras 9 times in a ten-year period, compiling a dictionary of meanings from many sources for each word, tracking where each word occurred and the meaning I felt it had in the context of each sutra in which it appeared. I continue to update my dictionary when a new way of looking at a difficult word becomes clear or takes on a clarity I had not before considered.
If you could simply abandon all your preconceptions about everything and anything and just see things just as they are (that is, experience what the senses tell you without overlaying your notions, preconceptions, conceptualizing tendencies), then you wouldn't need the rest of the sutras. But the process of letting go of anything, let along our preconceptions is a difficult an arduous task.
Sanskrit is a very precise language related to Greek and Latin. It uses endings on words rather than the function words (in, of, by, to, from, through and so on) that we use in English to express relationships between words. Most of the sutras in parts 1, 2 and 3 have no verbs; like Russian, “is” or the relationship of this/that is implied. This makes the sutras easier and sometimes harder to sort out. Like French, modifiers come after (apple red) rather than before (red apple) as in English.
Sanskrit does not use capital and lower case letters and punctuation is confined to (stop) and (full stop) or end of idea end of group of ideas or end of sentence end of paragraph.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (3)
THINK FREE: 02/22/07
THINK FREE is a regular feature of TM-Free Blog. It features a summary of news about TM and other orgs labeled "cults" by critics.
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
- Blogger Gives History of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi binoddhaka1.blogspot.com [So Few Words, So Many Mistakes]
- Travolta Says Scientology Could Have Saved Anna Nicole Smith Metro.co.uk [Wait! Isn't Cruise Christ?]
- Today in 1993, David Koresh and Followers Were Killed MonstersAndCritics.com [What Was Worse -- The Cult of the Government's Cure?]
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
THINK FREE: 02/27/07
THINK FREE is a regular feature of TM-Free Blog. It features a summary of news about TM and other orgs labeled "cults" by critics.
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
- Blogger Discusses Lynch and TM maudnewton.com [Visit the Site -- Share the Love!]
- Blogger Visits the Old TM Rishikesh Ashram yogadave.spaces.live.com
- Transcendental Meditation May Improve Cardiac Risk Factors in Diabetes
- Blogger Review of David Lynch and TM www.piratecatradio.com
- Christian Blogger Claims TM Opens One up to Demonic Possession blog.360.yahoo.com
- Man Admits to Cult, Sex Acts WIBW TV News
- Former AUM Spokesperson to Form Splinter Group Mainichi Daily News
- Preacher Claims to Be Christ [Doesn't He Know Tom Cruise Is the Second Coming?]
- Jim Carrey Attacks Cruise and "Corrupt" Scientology EntertainmentWise [Isn't that Special?]
- Sensory Deprivation Creates Psychological Damage in U.S. Torture Guardian [Remember Those Months of Silence and Rounding? H/T Gina Catena]
Have a hot tip? See something we missed? Email jmknapp53@gmail.com.
Monday, February 26, 2007
REMAINS OF IGNORANCE: "Spaciness"
REMAINS OF IGNORANCE is an occasional feature of quick hits on life after Transcendental Meditation.
Calling someone "spacey," a "space cowboy," a "Fiuggi Flipout," or equivalent terms was common during my time in the Transcendental Meditation Movement. When I was in the TM Org as a Governor, it seemed a day didn't go by I didn't hear – or utter – similar terms.
Shortly after I left the TM Org, the joke lost its humor for me. You see I realized that I was one of the ones people were laughing at.
I had just gotten used to various experiences over the years. Without realizing that others, in the real world, thought they were odd.
I had the habit of suddenly staring off into space – even sometimes in mid conversation. Others noticed this, of course. My ex-wife in particular got in the habit of touching me gently on my forearm to get my attention when this would happen. I almost invariably jumped – being unaware that I had lost awareness of my surroundings, sometimes for minutes at a time.
I frequently closed my eyes under stressful circumstances – sometimes for seconds, sometimes longer. Disconcerting to say the least for someone who was attempting to talk with me.
When taking trips alone in the car, I found that I spaced out – maybe even blacked out. At the end of a trip I couldn't tell you what had been on the radio or landmarks along the way. I basically didn't remember the trip. Once I drove an hour past my home exit before I "came to" and realized the situation. Another time, I drove 45 minutes in the wrong direction for an important appointment before I "came to." This didn't seem to occur when others were in the car.
I developed difficulty with speech shortly after learning the TM-Sidhis on teacher training. I would frequently forget what I was saying in the middle of a sentence. It become so commonplace for me to have trouble finding words, leading to stuttering, that my family began to joke about it – nervously. I eventually developed the habit of practicing saying sentences mentally before attempting to say them out loud -- to avoid embarrassment.
The technical term for these experiences – at least when they cause dysfunction in one's life – is dissociation. You can read about dissociation here. (There are other articles referenced at trancenet.net that discuss dissociation.)
Do any of these experiences resonate for you? Have you seen these symptoms in other, usually long-term, TMers? Among Purusha? Mother Divine? On the streets of Fairfield, IA?
Do you have this or similar "Remains of Ignorance"?
Please consider posting your thoughts in the comments below. Just click on "Comments" and type away. Please feel free to remain anonymous. You may help another former TMer with your insights!
J.
Calling someone "spacey," a "space cowboy," a "Fiuggi Flipout," or equivalent terms was common during my time in the Transcendental Meditation Movement. When I was in the TM Org as a Governor, it seemed a day didn't go by I didn't hear – or utter – similar terms.
Shortly after I left the TM Org, the joke lost its humor for me. You see I realized that I was one of the ones people were laughing at.
I had just gotten used to various experiences over the years. Without realizing that others, in the real world, thought they were odd.
I had the habit of suddenly staring off into space – even sometimes in mid conversation. Others noticed this, of course. My ex-wife in particular got in the habit of touching me gently on my forearm to get my attention when this would happen. I almost invariably jumped – being unaware that I had lost awareness of my surroundings, sometimes for minutes at a time.
I frequently closed my eyes under stressful circumstances – sometimes for seconds, sometimes longer. Disconcerting to say the least for someone who was attempting to talk with me.
When taking trips alone in the car, I found that I spaced out – maybe even blacked out. At the end of a trip I couldn't tell you what had been on the radio or landmarks along the way. I basically didn't remember the trip. Once I drove an hour past my home exit before I "came to" and realized the situation. Another time, I drove 45 minutes in the wrong direction for an important appointment before I "came to." This didn't seem to occur when others were in the car.
I developed difficulty with speech shortly after learning the TM-Sidhis on teacher training. I would frequently forget what I was saying in the middle of a sentence. It become so commonplace for me to have trouble finding words, leading to stuttering, that my family began to joke about it – nervously. I eventually developed the habit of practicing saying sentences mentally before attempting to say them out loud -- to avoid embarrassment.
The technical term for these experiences – at least when they cause dysfunction in one's life – is dissociation. You can read about dissociation here. (There are other articles referenced at trancenet.net that discuss dissociation.)
Do any of these experiences resonate for you? Have you seen these symptoms in other, usually long-term, TMers? Among Purusha? Mother Divine? On the streets of Fairfield, IA?
Do you have this or similar "Remains of Ignorance"?
Please consider posting your thoughts in the comments below. Just click on "Comments" and type away. Please feel free to remain anonymous. You may help another former TMer with your insights!
J.
REMAINS OF IGNORANCE: Loving the Typically Stressed Family
REMAINS OF IGNORANCE is an occasional feature of quick hits on life after Transcendental Meditation. It's a reversal of the Maharishi's translation of lesh-avidya. He claimed this was a Vedantic concept: Even after enlightenment there remains some slight residue of ignorance without which one would "drop the body" or die. I've found that even after I left the TM Org behind, there remain in my mind "alien artifacts," bits and pieces of TM-based myths that still affect me today. I represent my own experience only here. But I've learned from my years counseling TMers that a significant number of others have similar experiences.
I'd like to talk about my relationship with my family. Before, during, and after TM.
I experienced more than average conflict with my family as a youth. As I've mentioned before, my father was an alcoholic. Conflict was our daily bread. But despite that, I loved my brothers, sisters, and parents dearly. Even after entering college, I spent every holiday with them and visited at least once a month.
This closeness ended shortly after I became a checker and began living at the local TM Center in Binghamton. I never heard the Maharishi deprecate family relationships. Quite the opposite. He spoke lovingly about families, particularly mothers. But there was an attitude among TM teachers and "strong" meditators that I became exposed to as I got more deeply involved in the TM Org.
All non-meditators were "mud" – even family – and if you associated with them, you could pick up their "stress." (As I've written in the past, "stress" in the TM Movement was understood as a quasi-physical substance, which could be easily passed from individual to individual.)
It wasn't long after being exposed to this idea that I started seeing my non-meditating family less and less. Even after they started TM, I avoided them because they weren't "regular" enough in their practice. I remember this being a topic of general discussion while I was on staff at the Academy for SCI at Livingston Manor.
In the last 20 years or so of my involvement with the TM Org, I visited with my family a grand total of 5 times. Only when I married at 38 did I begin contacting my family more regularly. Eventually reflecting on the lies that I told my family – and my wife – led me out of the TM Movement.
In time, I moved to my mother's hometown. Once again, I see my family most weeks and take part in weddings, births, birthdays, and all the wonderful events that mean being involved in life. My unnatural distance from my family ended, therefore, with the end of my involvement with TM.
My biggest regret is that my father died during my 20 years away from the family. We never had a chance to make our peace with one another.
I realize that this posting is personal and that many, particularly those that grew up within the TM Movement, may not connect with these feelings.
But does any part of this resonate for you?
This article could also have been entitled "Non-Meditating Friends" or "Non-Meditating Co-Workers."
Do you have this or similar "Remains of Ignorance"?
Please consider posting your thoughts in the comments below. Just click on "Comments" and type away. Please feel free to remain anonymous. You may help another former TMer with your insights!
J.
I'd like to talk about my relationship with my family. Before, during, and after TM.
I experienced more than average conflict with my family as a youth. As I've mentioned before, my father was an alcoholic. Conflict was our daily bread. But despite that, I loved my brothers, sisters, and parents dearly. Even after entering college, I spent every holiday with them and visited at least once a month.
This closeness ended shortly after I became a checker and began living at the local TM Center in Binghamton. I never heard the Maharishi deprecate family relationships. Quite the opposite. He spoke lovingly about families, particularly mothers. But there was an attitude among TM teachers and "strong" meditators that I became exposed to as I got more deeply involved in the TM Org.
All non-meditators were "mud" – even family – and if you associated with them, you could pick up their "stress." (As I've written in the past, "stress" in the TM Movement was understood as a quasi-physical substance, which could be easily passed from individual to individual.)
It wasn't long after being exposed to this idea that I started seeing my non-meditating family less and less. Even after they started TM, I avoided them because they weren't "regular" enough in their practice. I remember this being a topic of general discussion while I was on staff at the Academy for SCI at Livingston Manor.
In the last 20 years or so of my involvement with the TM Org, I visited with my family a grand total of 5 times. Only when I married at 38 did I begin contacting my family more regularly. Eventually reflecting on the lies that I told my family – and my wife – led me out of the TM Movement.
In time, I moved to my mother's hometown. Once again, I see my family most weeks and take part in weddings, births, birthdays, and all the wonderful events that mean being involved in life. My unnatural distance from my family ended, therefore, with the end of my involvement with TM.
My biggest regret is that my father died during my 20 years away from the family. We never had a chance to make our peace with one another.
I realize that this posting is personal and that many, particularly those that grew up within the TM Movement, may not connect with these feelings.
But does any part of this resonate for you?
This article could also have been entitled "Non-Meditating Friends" or "Non-Meditating Co-Workers."
Do you have this or similar "Remains of Ignorance"?
Please consider posting your thoughts in the comments below. Just click on "Comments" and type away. Please feel free to remain anonymous. You may help another former TMer with your insights!
J.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (1)
The yoga-sutras (the Yoga Darshana) opens with the word ATHA, now.
This can have several meanings such as "now listen up", but two meanings seem important to consider: now without any preparation and now as the result of preparation.
I spent approximately 10 years, sometimes on and off, translating, word-for-word, the text that is available to us today. I noticed two things, that the 4th section seems to have a slightly different Sanskrit syntax from the first three sections and, probably more important, the text contains its own commentary. For example, the second sutra explains the word yoga found in the first sutra.
If you look carefully, and there are some really excellent translations available such as Taimni's, Prasada's, Deshpande's and the on-line translation by Chip Hartranft (http://www.arlingtoncenter.org/yogasutra.html) to name just some of the one's I have found useful, you will notice that the internal commentary is fairly easily separated from what was possibly the source text.
Obviusly, yogi's learning their trade probably didn't need the added explanations because that's what the teacher was teaching them; but later generations might have not had this benefit and thus something like footnotes were added. And then the 4th section and maybe then the two sets of highly confusing commentaries about which Boja Raj lamented that they said it was easy when it was not and not easy when it was.
So ATHA ... you can start now, or you can read the text many times as preparation to a deep understanding and, especially, practise of what is contained. But, of course, you always have to listen up.
So, what I intend to do is write about some of the things I learned from the Sutras themselves. The first thing being that what Mahesh teaches is not supported by the Sutras, but that's a long story and over the coming days/weeks I'll try to illustrate the areas that I feel support this contention.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (2)
This can have several meanings such as "now listen up", but two meanings seem important to consider: now without any preparation and now as the result of preparation.
I spent approximately 10 years, sometimes on and off, translating, word-for-word, the text that is available to us today. I noticed two things, that the 4th section seems to have a slightly different Sanskrit syntax from the first three sections and, probably more important, the text contains its own commentary. For example, the second sutra explains the word yoga found in the first sutra.
If you look carefully, and there are some really excellent translations available such as Taimni's, Prasada's, Deshpande's and the on-line translation by Chip Hartranft (http://www.arlingtoncenter.org/yogasutra.html) to name just some of the one's I have found useful, you will notice that the internal commentary is fairly easily separated from what was possibly the source text.
Obviusly, yogi's learning their trade probably didn't need the added explanations because that's what the teacher was teaching them; but later generations might have not had this benefit and thus something like footnotes were added. And then the 4th section and maybe then the two sets of highly confusing commentaries about which Boja Raj lamented that they said it was easy when it was not and not easy when it was.
So ATHA ... you can start now, or you can read the text many times as preparation to a deep understanding and, especially, practise of what is contained. But, of course, you always have to listen up.
So, what I intend to do is write about some of the things I learned from the Sutras themselves. The first thing being that what Mahesh teaches is not supported by the Sutras, but that's a long story and over the coming days/weeks I'll try to illustrate the areas that I feel support this contention.
a consideration of the yoga sutras (2)
Lifton's Criteria of Thought Reform Applied to TM. Part Eight of Eight
Lifton’s Criteria of Thought Reform - Part Eight
As applied to Transcendental Meditation
Gina Catena, M.S.
The final series installment.
You may begin and follow the series by clicking here.
Lifton's eighth criteria addresses "Dispensing of Existence."
DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE
“Since the group has an absolute or totalist vision of truth, those who are not in the group are bound up in evil, are not enlightened, are not saved, and do not have the right to exist. "Being verses nothingness"”(1)
Fully devout TMers call us (on this blog) demons, dull, sentenced to eternity in hell and worse. TM's devoted believe they have the true path to enlightenment, and others’ opinions are unworthy of consideration.
Those who have not learned TM are considered to live “lives of ignorance.” To have a life in ignorance is akin to a fate worse than death. Many TM devotees and youth, including myself decades ago, fear to live outside their global community’s protected shell. They cannot meaningfully connect with outsiders. Leaving the movement to live on the outside was one of the more difficult decisions and processes of my life. It took years to convince my then-husband to leave, and years to learn to function outside. Was it worth the effort? A rejoicing Yes!
Upon a recent visit to Fairfield, one TM friend said, “How do you make friends out there? I want to leave. We are dying here, but it takes a Sidha to know a Sidha.” Using TM’s loaded language, she stated that it takes another semi-enlightened being for her to form a friendship. She is unable to connect with non-TMers. She acknowledges her inability to relate outside of her cult mindset.
“One outside the group may always receive their right of existence by joining the group.”(2)
Once learning TM, according to the higher teachings, one’s “good karma outweighs his/her bad karma. A person has received the key to enlightenment,” or admission to the spiritually elite. Outsiders are actively recruited to join the elite group. Once initiated, a person is accepted as one-of-us. Thus, upon earning this point of entry, initiation, a person is instantly accepted as spiritually elite.
“Fear manipulation -- if one leaves this group, one leaves God or loses their transformation, for something bad will happen to them. The group is the "elite", outsiders are "of the world", “evil", "unenlightened", etc.”(3)
Leaving the TM group is not restricted to changing geographic locale. A person can leave the community, but continue in the mindset whether involved with a TM Center, or living quietly as a TM-yogi. However, to disavow the teachings is to choose a “life of ignorance.”
When still in the group, and group members moved away, we rarely thought about them. It was assumed they had chosen a less valuable life. We stayed in touch with an occasional friend, hoping for their eventual return. We were preoccupied with our TM-centered endeavors, building heaven-on-earth, our Taste of Utopia, or recruiting to Maharishi University. We were community-centric in our creativity, lifestyle and goals.
When I relocated away, it was with the implicit understanding that I would lose connection with loved ones in the community. Leaving was a painful decision, knowing that I chose a break with my history and all that I loved. Their quest for enlightenment defined my decision as a move to the-dark-side, to be “lost to the world of ignorance”.
Connections with loved ones inside the TM Movement were maintained only by my efforts. There was no effort on the part of those within the group to maintain connections with someone who left. Why should they? The lives of committed devotees are involved with something they deem more noble. That is how it goes.
TM Sidha communities busily build “Utopia” or “Maharishi’s Ideal Society,” just as Jonestown built “Paradise.” Fortunately, Maharishi lacks a taste for death. Our Fool-on-the-hill is smarter than Jones and built something of global mulitbillion-dollar proportions.
Most former TMers do not return. Their departure was prompted by awakening to TM’s underbelly. As Joseppi writes on his profile, he walked away and “until early in 2006, I never looked back.” Unlike converts who later leave, those raised in the group maintain connections, as the group is our family. If we speak our mind, our history will reject us. We keep dark secrets to protect our family and loved ones.
Upon several return visits to the community, many welcome me home with open arms. They encourage my family to return, touring us through new Vastu-Vedic buildings, crooning over Maharishi’s latest plans for global enlightenment. These developments come at high price. Further questioning reveals that many other now-grown youth left. Devotees whose children have relocated are saddened and do not understand why their adult children maintain distance.
Others will not converse with me, as if shunning. I believe that my presence, as having succeeded on the outside, threatens their paradigm. I should apologize for having a happy fulfilling life on the outside. I should have failed in the world’s ignorance.
Admitedly, it can be lonely out here, after leaving one's family of origin in cult mentality. After cult-life, nothing compares to the high of our connection and purpose.
Some folks return years after having left the community, because they struggled in the real world. Failure on the outside confirms, for True Believers, their spiritual safety net from demonic outside influences. They do not question if the TM mindset (programming) was so ingrained to interfere with outside social and professional relationships. The community jokingly refers to this latter-return phenomenon as “the rubber band effect.” This plays upon “The Maharishi Effect” wherein large groups of meditators support global peace and crime reduction.
One old friend, upon returning to Fairfield after a miserable twenty-year failed hiatus on the outside, said, “It is wonderful to be back in this pure atmosphere. I’ve returned to the womb!” He believes he returned to the spiritual source of creation. Or perhaps he returned to an emotional childhood, relinquishing himself to group directives.
Lifton’s seminal model of eight criteria of Thought Reform when taken together, create a powerful affect on the psychology and physical brain structures. Any one or two of the criteria can be identified with any group. But in combination, they form a strong group bond, difficult to combat within the psyche. Of course, there are degrees of indoctrination, just as there are degrees of alcohol use. It is important to be wary of the influence spectrum. When taken together, the dynamics can be hazardous.
“In combination, they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time pose a grave human threat.” (4)
There is a spectrum to be aware of. TM twice a day causes no harm to my knowledge. However, a full cult conversion is a risk for the vulnerable.
But by the grace of God, there go I.
1) Lifton, R. (1989) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press.
2) ibid Lifton
3) ibid Lifton
4) ibid Lifton
As applied to Transcendental Meditation
Gina Catena, M.S.
The final series installment.
You may begin and follow the series by clicking here.
Lifton's eighth criteria addresses "Dispensing of Existence."
DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE
“Since the group has an absolute or totalist vision of truth, those who are not in the group are bound up in evil, are not enlightened, are not saved, and do not have the right to exist. "Being verses nothingness"”(1)
Fully devout TMers call us (on this blog) demons, dull, sentenced to eternity in hell and worse. TM's devoted believe they have the true path to enlightenment, and others’ opinions are unworthy of consideration.
Those who have not learned TM are considered to live “lives of ignorance.” To have a life in ignorance is akin to a fate worse than death. Many TM devotees and youth, including myself decades ago, fear to live outside their global community’s protected shell. They cannot meaningfully connect with outsiders. Leaving the movement to live on the outside was one of the more difficult decisions and processes of my life. It took years to convince my then-husband to leave, and years to learn to function outside. Was it worth the effort? A rejoicing Yes!
Upon a recent visit to Fairfield, one TM friend said, “How do you make friends out there? I want to leave. We are dying here, but it takes a Sidha to know a Sidha.” Using TM’s loaded language, she stated that it takes another semi-enlightened being for her to form a friendship. She is unable to connect with non-TMers. She acknowledges her inability to relate outside of her cult mindset.
“One outside the group may always receive their right of existence by joining the group.”(2)
Once learning TM, according to the higher teachings, one’s “good karma outweighs his/her bad karma. A person has received the key to enlightenment,” or admission to the spiritually elite. Outsiders are actively recruited to join the elite group. Once initiated, a person is accepted as one-of-us. Thus, upon earning this point of entry, initiation, a person is instantly accepted as spiritually elite.
“Fear manipulation -- if one leaves this group, one leaves God or loses their transformation, for something bad will happen to them. The group is the "elite", outsiders are "of the world", “evil", "unenlightened", etc.”(3)
Leaving the TM group is not restricted to changing geographic locale. A person can leave the community, but continue in the mindset whether involved with a TM Center, or living quietly as a TM-yogi. However, to disavow the teachings is to choose a “life of ignorance.”
When still in the group, and group members moved away, we rarely thought about them. It was assumed they had chosen a less valuable life. We stayed in touch with an occasional friend, hoping for their eventual return. We were preoccupied with our TM-centered endeavors, building heaven-on-earth, our Taste of Utopia, or recruiting to Maharishi University. We were community-centric in our creativity, lifestyle and goals.
When I relocated away, it was with the implicit understanding that I would lose connection with loved ones in the community. Leaving was a painful decision, knowing that I chose a break with my history and all that I loved. Their quest for enlightenment defined my decision as a move to the-dark-side, to be “lost to the world of ignorance”.
Connections with loved ones inside the TM Movement were maintained only by my efforts. There was no effort on the part of those within the group to maintain connections with someone who left. Why should they? The lives of committed devotees are involved with something they deem more noble. That is how it goes.
TM Sidha communities busily build “Utopia” or “Maharishi’s Ideal Society,” just as Jonestown built “Paradise.” Fortunately, Maharishi lacks a taste for death. Our Fool-on-the-hill is smarter than Jones and built something of global mulitbillion-dollar proportions.
Most former TMers do not return. Their departure was prompted by awakening to TM’s underbelly. As Joseppi writes on his profile, he walked away and “until early in 2006, I never looked back.” Unlike converts who later leave, those raised in the group maintain connections, as the group is our family. If we speak our mind, our history will reject us. We keep dark secrets to protect our family and loved ones.
Upon several return visits to the community, many welcome me home with open arms. They encourage my family to return, touring us through new Vastu-Vedic buildings, crooning over Maharishi’s latest plans for global enlightenment. These developments come at high price. Further questioning reveals that many other now-grown youth left. Devotees whose children have relocated are saddened and do not understand why their adult children maintain distance.
Others will not converse with me, as if shunning. I believe that my presence, as having succeeded on the outside, threatens their paradigm. I should apologize for having a happy fulfilling life on the outside. I should have failed in the world’s ignorance.
Admitedly, it can be lonely out here, after leaving one's family of origin in cult mentality. After cult-life, nothing compares to the high of our connection and purpose.
Some folks return years after having left the community, because they struggled in the real world. Failure on the outside confirms, for True Believers, their spiritual safety net from demonic outside influences. They do not question if the TM mindset (programming) was so ingrained to interfere with outside social and professional relationships. The community jokingly refers to this latter-return phenomenon as “the rubber band effect.” This plays upon “The Maharishi Effect” wherein large groups of meditators support global peace and crime reduction.
One old friend, upon returning to Fairfield after a miserable twenty-year failed hiatus on the outside, said, “It is wonderful to be back in this pure atmosphere. I’ve returned to the womb!” He believes he returned to the spiritual source of creation. Or perhaps he returned to an emotional childhood, relinquishing himself to group directives.
Lifton’s seminal model of eight criteria of Thought Reform when taken together, create a powerful affect on the psychology and physical brain structures. Any one or two of the criteria can be identified with any group. But in combination, they form a strong group bond, difficult to combat within the psyche. Of course, there are degrees of indoctrination, just as there are degrees of alcohol use. It is important to be wary of the influence spectrum. When taken together, the dynamics can be hazardous.
“In combination, they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time pose a grave human threat.” (4)
There is a spectrum to be aware of. TM twice a day causes no harm to my knowledge. However, a full cult conversion is a risk for the vulnerable.
But by the grace of God, there go I.
1) Lifton, R. (1989) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press.
2) ibid Lifton
3) ibid Lifton
4) ibid Lifton
For Consideration
"When you meet the friendliest people you have ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you've ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you've ever met... and all of this sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! Don't give up your education, your hopes and ambitions, to follow a rainbow."
Jeanne Mills, Former member of the People's Temple, 1978
(She helped surviving Jonestown members recover. She was later murdered; the case remains unsolved.)
“With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.
I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all . . .
Still my guitar gently weeps.”
George Harrison “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
French Proverb
Jeanne Mills, Former member of the People's Temple, 1978
(She helped surviving Jonestown members recover. She was later murdered; the case remains unsolved.)
“With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.
I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all . . .
Still my guitar gently weeps.”
George Harrison “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
French Proverb
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)