Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhis

I am reminded of an old joke.

Tom: Hey, Bob, about that bucket I lent you last week. Well, when you returned it to me yesterday, it was broken!

Bob: Tom, first of all, it was broken when you lent it to me; second of all, I returned it to you in perfect condition; and third of all, I never borrowed it from you!

About 1965, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi promised that "TM, 15-20 minutes twice a day, will make you enlightened in 5 to 8 years." Yet, around 1975, he introduced the TM-Sidhis program, whose purpose was to speed us on the road to enlightenment. Well, it's now been over 30 years since people started practicing the TM-Sidhis, but I still haven't heard of many people getting enlightened.

Why did Maharishi even introduce the TM-Sidhis program? As the joke above suggests, when a person makes too many explanations for something, it can make all of the explanations suspect.

Therefore, I would like to invite TM-Free Blog readers on another one of my trips down memory lane. I will share with you my memories of Maharishi's many explanations of why he started teaching the TM-Sidhis program. These memories are over 30 years old, so I do plead guilty to the possibility of misremembering. If you remember these quotes more accurately, please share them below.

And also, if you'd like, share with us your own memories on his excuses for why TM 20 minutes twice a day was no longer enough. Also, your opinions on said explanations. Also share with us, if you'd like, your conjectures on why you think he REALLY started teaching the TM-Sidhis. Or share any other related thoughts!

Here, (paraphrased) are four different answers that I remember Maharishi giving, as to why he was now adding a technique to his already flawless and complete technique:

1. "My initiators kept asking me, 'What more can I do to help the movement? What more can I do?' So I finally said, 'I am very tempted to give you something....' "

2. "The reason initiations are now dropping is because, due to all the TMers in the world, the consciousness of the average person has gone up. Non-meditators used to start because they were attracted to the glow of evolution on the initiators' faces. But now that the average person is more evolved, the contrast is no longer so great. So the initiators must rise up to a higher level of evolution so that the non-meditators will be attracted to us and thereby want to learn TM."

3. "Because of all the TMers meditating over all these years, the atmosphere has become more refined, softer, so that we can now teach more advanced techniques which would not have brought results in the past."

4. Maharishi: We have been teaching TM for many years, people have been dipping into the Absolute for many years. Yet they are not living all the values of the Absolute! We must ask, "Why not?" What are the values of the Absolute?

Initiator #1: Omniscient.

Maharishi: Yes.

Initiator #2: Omnipresent.

Maharishi: Yes.

Initiator #3: Immovable.

Maharishi: (chuckling) That one not so fascinating!

Initiator #4: Love.

Maharishi: (Annoyed) No, no, no....Almighty. The Absolute is Almighty. We should all be almighty. All-powerful. And yet we are not exhibiting this quality. Why not? Something must be done. We dip into the Absolute, but we are not pulling these qualities up into the Relative. Something must be done to pull these qualities out into the individual's life.
(Hence, the TM-Sidhis).

By the way, just like he promised us that TM twice a day would bring us enlightenment in 5 to 8 years, he continued his tradition of promised completion dates with the TM-Sidhis. When speaking about the "Six-Month Courses," where he first started teaching versions of the TM-Sidhis, Maharishi said, "One six-month course is enough to enlighten some people, two six-month courses are enough to enlighten most people, and three six-month courses are enough to enlighten a horse! (laughter)."

By the way, did you believe him in 1965? Why? Did you believe him in 1975? Why? I believed him both times.

Now it's your turn.

Transcendental Meditation Open Thread

Commenters, this Open Thread is for you! Please feel free to bring up topics of interest to you, ask questions, etc. on this "Open Thread."

Remind You of Transcendental Meditation Org Tactics?

I ran across an extraordinary Daily Kos article on the tactics Scientology uses to seduce and invade communities when they want to build new facilities.

Remind you of anyone we know?

If you've a mind to, consider visiting the Daily Kos link above and recommending the article. We have a chance to get this issue in front of hundreds of thousands of politically committed readers!

J.

You're Not Crazy--Comments Have Changed

Dear Loyal Commenters,

We are going through some growing pains with our comments. Haloscan is being phased out. We were essentially forced to upgrade to a new comment system with very little notice from Haloscan/JS-Kit.

I think we have ironed most of the kinks as of this morning. If you are having difficulty logging in, posting, or anything else, please contact me at jmknapp53@gmail.com.

The good news: There are many improvements to explore.

• The Recent Comments section in the right-hand column now also includes polls, top comments, and more. Just click on the tabs in the Recent Comments/Navigator box to see them.
  
• You can now rate comments by clicking on the "Like" link at the bottom of each comment. When enough votes have been gathered, Top & Hot comments will begin showing in Recent Comments.
  
• You can choose to use a Twitter, Google, or other profile to attach to your comments. You can even add a photo or other avatar to your profile and comments. This helps other readers identify your comments quickly.
  
• Anonymous posting is working again, after a slight fix.
  
• It is now easier than ever to include a graphic, video, or other file with your comment.
  
• There are even more html commands you may use in your comments for links, bold, italic, and more. (You should find more info on permitted html here.)
  
• You can now read threaded comments. When you reply to someone, it will show beneath their comment. This allows you and others to more easily follow the conversation.
  

Although this was forced on us somewhat ungracefully, it's my hope that none of our commenters were inconvenienced.

And I hope you enjoy the features of the new system!

J.

A look at The Purusha Newsletter

Follow this link to have a look at the Purusha Newsletter:

(Note the request to raise $900,000.)

And here's a link to see the letter from "Raja Bob"

http://temp.purushacapital.org/media.html

(Note that the site will "includes a royal palace for Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam.")

Yes, we are no religion!!