Below is a recent submission by a former TM Governor. The TM-Sidhi Program is based on the third book of Patanjali's Yoga Darshan, the major source for all knowledge and techniques in the Yoga tradition.
Beginning in the mid-70s, the Maharishi began teaching techniques he claimed would develop supernormal powers in suitably advanced Transcendental Meditation practitioners. But he divided his followers into two groups.
"Governors" were TM teachers who took long meditation courses on which they learned nearly 30 techniques. "Citizens" were non-teaching practitioners who took the Sidhi course in their local centers and learned 18 techniques, without the long meditation program (known as "rounding").
Turns out, as most TMers suspected, the Governors got a little more special sauce than the lowly Citizens. To our knowledge this remains the case. Until today. Below is the full Governor-Only Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Program:
To: jmknapp53@gmail.com
I have a lot of notes, but this should cover all of them.
Original T[ranscendental]M[editation]S[idhi]P[rogram], later watered down and for Citizen Sidha version:
| Friendliness | To develop friendliness |
| Compassion | To develop compassion |
| Happiness | To develop happiness |
| The Strength of an Elephant | To develop superhuman strength |
| The Bronchial Tube | To develop calmness |
| The Trachea | To develop control of hunger and thirst |
| The Navel | To develop knowledge of the body |
| On Soma so that Soma Flows Everywhere | To develop the flow of soma |
| The Coronal Light | To see sidhas |
| Inner Light | To develop knowledge of things hidden from view |
| The Sun | to develop knowledge of cosmic visions (lokas) |
| The Moon | To develop knowledge of arrangement of stars |
| The Pole Star | To develop knowledge of motion of stars |
| The Three-fold Parinamas (or Changes) | To develop knowledge of past and future |
| The Heart | To develop knowledge of the mind |
| The Appearance of the Body | To develop invisiibility |
| Word...Object Implied...the Idea Thereof Overlapping | To develop knowledge of language of animals and all beings |
| The Conquering of the Vital Force Samana | To develop effulgence |
| The Distinction Between Buddhi & Purusha | To develop discriminative enlightenment |
| Purusha & Intuition | To develop prescience |
| Purusha....Divine Hearing | To develop clairaudience |
| Purusha....Divine Touch | To develop divine touch |
| Purusha....Divine Sight | To develop divine sight |
| Purusha....Divine Taste | To develop divine taste |
| Purusha....Divine Smell | To develop divine smell |
| On Relationship of Body and Akasha....Lightness of Cotton Fiber | To develop levitation |
| Soma, Soma, Soma | To develop soma and smooth "unstressing" |
Rest in Shavasana 15 min or longer
If you have information on this or other programs of the Transcendental Meditation Orgs, please contact jmknapp53@gmail.com. Your confidentiality is assured.
UPDATE: In the comment sections below, Barry Wright raises an objection to this post. It may be worth our readers' time to review it. He states that he received his TM-Sidhi Program in 1977 and that there was no difference between his Governor's program and the Citizen program at that time. Everyone benefits from criticism and feedback. I'm certainly no exception. In thinking about Barry's post, two things come to my mind. One of the disadvantages of dealing with an organization that trades in secrets in the way the TM Org does is that you have to trust your sources, but you can never know for certain if you have the whole truth. Our source learned the sidhis in the 1980s. So it seems that some Governors, at least, received different programs from Citizens after the time Barry received them. In the future, I will try to include qualifications of the sort: "according to our source(s)." I hope that addresses Barry's main concern. -- J.
5 comments:
As a former Governor, and current TM critic, I have to step in and label this crap as what it is.
There was never a distinction between what was taught to Governors vs. Citizen Sidhas. The only difference was what course you happened to be on when you learned them.
On the early courses, such as this fellow seems to have attended, there was a lot of experimentation. People were given stuff to try out. Most of it was discarded. By the time I took my Sidhi course (1977), I (as a so-called Governor) received exactly the same set of techniques that Citizen Sidhas I knew received on their courses.
I agree that the hierarchical structure of the TM organization is a crock of shit. But to pretend that the various techniques were given out on the basis of that hierarchy (at least back in the 70s and 80s) is NOT TRUE, and reveals a strong bias on the part of Mr. Knapp, one so strong that he's clearly willing to make stuff up to "support" that bias.
In later days, there was such a hierarchical bias -- you could learn certain techniques only if you paid enough for them, up to a million dollars a pop. That's icky enough on its own. To stoop to making stuff up to make the TM organization seem ickier than it already is is stupid, and superfluous.
All in all, I am unimpressed with most of the contributors here. With one exception (Joseppi), who seems to be able to discern that there were some pearls amongst all the broiled swine served up at the TM table, most of the others seem caught up in the mindset of being only AGAINST something, and not FOR anything else. That's a painful place to live, and I don't envy them.
For a site that claims to be 99 and 44/100ths TM-Free, that remaining 56th of a percent seems pretty damned obsessive. Stick to the facts, John. When you stray into the world of fiction and fantasy, you reveal yourself to be just as much a fanatic as those you are railing against.
-- Barry Wright
Barry, everyone benefits from criticism and feedback. I'm certainly no exception. In thinking about your post, two things come to my mind. One of the disadvantages of dealing with an organization that trades in secrets in the way the TM Org does, is you have to trust your sources, but you can never know for certain if you have the whole truth. Our source learned the sidhis in the 1980s. So it seems that some Governors, at least, received different programs from Sidhas after the time you received them. What I have done to address this situation is to update the post mentioning your concerns and pointing readers to your comment. In the future, I will try to include qualifications of the sort: "according to our source(s)." I hope that addresses your main concern.
J.
Two things seem apparent. First, Mahesh did not understand Patanjali and second, he had to do a lot of experimenting to get something people bought into.
The "Gov" course was the "Gov" course, same as the TTC was the TTC, but people came away with different stuff.
With regard to understanding Patanjali, it is clear that the magical and supernormal powers are said to be counterproductive and they are not recommended. Thus, when you get a decent teacher who actually understands what s/he is doing, you discover, as Mahesh DID NOT, that the "third book" has nothing to do with supernormal powers, magical crapola and magical thinking. The "third book" is all about something entirely different.
Thus, Mahesh happily advertises himself as a first rate fraud and con artist, at least to those who understand just a little more than he did.
This and that Gov and citizen course all tell us more about his inability to live up to his self-granted title "big know it all Mahesh awakened one".
One of these days, I'll post some information about this and that sutra and what is means.
S
PS: the biggest "sidhi" is Mahesh discovering that some people will pay almost anything in order to get something for nothing.
Get a life people...
Barry:
Sorry to contradict your post, but these were techniques given (and practiced) by a select group of Mahesh's students. I wish I could say I was sorry you missed something back in Switzerland, but the truth is, you really didn't miss a thing.
Take some time to find out about what Patanjali was really about and you will very quickly realize that this was all another TMO money-making scheme. It has absolutely nothing to do with Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.
Sorry to dissappoint you.
-Anon.
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