Breaking: US Department of Justice allegedly funded Transcendental Meditation "Quiet Time" program in Chicago

A filing today in the ongoing Federal court case against the Chicago Board of Education, the David Lynch Foundation, and the University of Chicago disclosed that, during the course of discovery, the Board of Education informed the plaintiffs that the Department of Justice, and not any of the other named defendants, financed the so-called "Quiet Time" program as part of a supposed research project involving Chicago public schools.

Northern District of Illinois courtroom.
(Library of Congress photo)

This means that, according to this filing by the plaintiffs, the teaching of TM was directly financed by the US government, a clear violation of the separation of church and state.

The "religious nature" of TM was established in the late 1970's in Malnak v. Yogi, which was upheld on appeal in the Third Circuit. Technically this decision is binding only in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, but such opinions are often cited as being persuasive in other Federal courts; Malnak has been cited over sixty times in other cases involving church/state matters.

Apparently this disclosure will likely result in the US Department of Justice being added to the list of defendants in this case.

Demystifying the Puja, part 3: Misleading everyone for decades about this ritual’s true nature and purpose

The Transcendental Meditation instruction ritual, the puja, should be viewed in the context of a half-century long attempt to deliberately mislead the public, institutional and governmental authorities, and prospective meditators about the nature and purpose of the TM program. This misrepresentation is evident in the organization’s own descriptions of the nature of the puja, and the obvious conflict between its insistence that this ritual is somehow “secular” when its function in Indian spiritual culture, which is TM’s origin, is unambiguously a religious one.

The Transcendental Meditation puja table. The
framed image is a registered trademark/service
mark held by Maharishi Foundation Liechtenstein 
in the United States. Photo by the author.

Read this series from the beginning - Introduction.

Previously:

Part 1 of this series: Establishing authority and dominance over the meditator

Part 2 of this series: A religious transaction with the divine

Throughout more than 50 years of the teaching of TM in the United States, the TM organization has never provided a coherent and reasonable explanation for the presence of this ritual in each and every instance of TM instruction. The organization, and the allied David Lynch Foundation (DLF), have refused to set aside the puja when teaching TM in public schools. If the ritual were, as they claim, simply some method of honoring some past tradition, teachers could perform it at home, without the presence of the meditator they’re instructing, and without the meditator providing tangible offerings of fruit, flowers and handkerchief. But that option has never been accepted by the DLF or the organization, for reasons that have not yet been divulged.

Demystifying the Puja, part 2: A religious transaction with the divine

The Transcendental Meditation organization has consistently misrepresented the meaning and nature of the puja, TM's instruction ritual, for half a century. Recently, a new document has surfaced explaining, in detail, the puja's meaning in the context of the spiritual traditions of India. This ceremony is a religious transaction in which the prospective meditator is a co-participant, making offerings to the divine. These offerings are represented by the items set out on the puja table, for each of which, it’s alleged, the meditator will receive a blessing in the form of the advertised benefits of TM. These offerings include the fruit, flowers and handkerchief brought by the meditator.

Read this series from the beginning - Introduction.

Some of the TM puja offerings.
Photo by the author

Previously, part 1 of this series: Establishing authority and dominance over the meditator

The inclusion of this ritual, and the organization’s unwillingness to ever remove the ritual in certain settings where it has been problematic such as public schools, completely invalidate their claims that TM practice, including its teaching, is entirely secular and scientific in nature. The TM organization and its teachers have evidently always falsely insisted, to the point of absurdity, that the ritual is not religious because there is no explicit object or deity of worship. But that is not the only measure by which a practice may be considered religious. 

The puja ritual, according to the interpretation taught in TM movement schools in India, involves an exchange of value with a divine entity as a required means of gaining benefit from the method the meditator is about to learn. There is nothing secular nor scientific about this performance, and that is true even if the participant has no knowledge or understanding of what is taking place. The specious claim that the prospective meditator need only witness the performance of the ritual, or that it is only to “honor” an alleged tradition and its history of teachers, is negated by both the requirement that the meditator bring certain items to be used in the ritual, and the meaning of the ritual to the organization and its insiders, as is clear in this new document: that it is performed for the new meditator’s eventual benefit.

Demystifying the Puja, part 1: Establishing authority and dominance over the meditator

The Transcendental Meditation instruction ritual, the puja, is much more than just some “simple thank-you ceremony.” Its most important purpose is that it provides a certain unusual experience to the new meditator, of reverence and devotion, that they will remember. It’s intended to create an expectation for, and to reinforce the supposedly life-changing benefits of, the meditation itself. It is an expression of power, legitimacy and dominance of an inherently supremacist religious tradition over the new meditator, and also serves as a reminder of that dominance and authority to the TM teacher. 

The brass tray used in the Transcendental
Meditation puja. 
Photo by the author.

Read this series from the beginning - Introduction.

The puja, in my opinion, serves two purposes that are not clearly disclosed to new meditators beforehand. The first purpose, in my view, is that it’s intended to establish a certain kind of imbalanced power dynamic between the TM hierarchy and the new meditator, who I will call the “initiate” as that, and calling the instruction process “initiation,” were the historical terms used by TM teachers during the height of TM’s popularity in the 1970’s. I believe that “initiation” is actually a more accurate term for the process of TM instruction, as aspects of the closed-door, supposedly private process in which a “secret” mantra is imparted to the meditator, are analogous to the kind of induction ritual common among fraternities or secret societies.

The puja is performed after the prospective meditator arrives to be instructed in this form of meditation, but just before they are given an allegedly personally selected mantra, that’s simplistically chosen by the teacher on simple criteria of gender and age.  It’s at this point in the 6 day long TM instruction process that a subtle bait-and-switch becomes evident. TM is sold as if it were any other skill that involved an instructor: the initiate simply pays to learn something they would otherwise not know. But there are other elements inherent to TM instruction, geared toward making the “initiate” - not simply a student - into a devotee of an allegedly centuries-old “tradition” that was exemplified by a deceased, divine “Guru Dev,” whose image is a central element of the puja setting. The ritual and the rhetoric surrounding it places the initiate as something other than a customer or trainee. The initiate’s position is that of submitting to some higher authority, which is cast as being the present representative of some ancient tradition.

Introduction: Demystifying the Puja, a 3 part series

The Transcendental Meditation instruction ritual, the puja, establishes for new meditators the dominance and authority of TM’s founding tradition and organization, and satisfies a traditional religious belief that the benefits of TM will only come by way of a tangible offering made to the primary, supreme divine beings of Hinduism. In an effort to maintain an illusory image of TM in which it’s a scientific, evidence-based practice having no religious foundation, TM teachers always misrepresent the purpose and nature of this aspect of TM. They deny this ritual’s religious origin and nature, it is in fact central to the teaching and practice of TM, and it is much more than what they call it, “a simple thank-you ceremony.”

Camphor flame, part of the puja.
Photo by the author.

Instruction in the practice of Transcendental Meditation always involves the performance of a ritual, an expression of devotion that’s clearly of a religious nature. This puja is rooted in Hindu or Vedic spiritual practice, of the religious culture of India which is the source of everything associated with TM and its founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The presence of this puja as well as other religious aspects of TM, a religiosity that’s consistently denied by TM teachers and the organization, once resulted in an injunction prohibiting TM instruction in public schools in one region of the United States. A case currently active in Chicago seeks a similar outcome in the aftermath of a program that attempted to offer TM in public schools there.

Given the controversial nature of this ritual, TM teachers and promoters of Transcendental Meditation have always avoided describing it in any detail when discussing the process of teaching TM. They insist that TM is “not a religion” while the culture that surrounds TM and its teaching are saturated with a sanitized, irreligious at first glance, Hindu, or Vedic, doctrine. In a futile attempt to squelch free and public discussion of these aspects of TM instruction, TM teachers tell meditators not to discuss any aspects of personal instruction, including this ritual, with friends and family, while many of these details have been available online for almost three decades. A nondisclosure agreement has also been a part of TM instruction for many years.

You can't spell TM without SCI

A formal reckoning with attempts by the David Lynch Foundation (DLF) to place Transcendental Meditation programs in public schools, defying the fact that a Federal court injunction prohibited TM instruction within them on Constitutional grounds, is long overdue. The flaws in the Malnak v. Yogi opinions, leaving unaddressed the possibility that TM could be completely separated from a formal course in the so-called “Science of Creative Intelligence,” have been deliberately misunderstood and exploited by the DLF and the TM organization for years. The suggestion that TM promotion and instruction in public schools would be permissible if the words “Science of Creative Intelligence” were never mentioned is simply ridiculous; TM is the practical element of SCI and doctrinal tenets of SCI of a religious nature are present throughout TM promotion, preparation and instruction. 

Northern District of Illinois courtroom.
(Library of Congress photo)

Since the puja, the ceremony which is always performed before individual TM instruction, occurred on Chicago school premises (as the DLF has insisted that it must), in some fundamental way the DLF was organizing its own prayer services on school property; whether they were understood to be religious by students is irrelevant. The organization mandated a puja performance to satisfy its own priorities, based in its own SCI doctrine, with respect to TM instruction. 

The religiosity of what the David Lynch Foundation and its allies have attempted to do, rooted in the doctrine of SCI, is obvious, and the District Court’s phrasing in its Malnak opinion over forty years ago is still very appropriate here:  “the proposition needs no further demonstration.”

Maharishi's many euphemisms for "God"

The TM organization has for almost a half-century now denied the religious nature of its methods and doctrine, almost to the point of absurdity. The fact of the matter is that almost all of the TM promotional material - books, websites, the content of introductory lectures - is littered with various synonyms for, what people in much of the world call “God.” More specifically, the underlying system is that of a Vedic, or Hindu, cosmology, and there’s a central concept of supreme divinity or ultimate reality in the TM subculture that they repeat under many alternate names. 

From a TM organization, in India, video. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
behind Maharishi and his guru, Brahmananda Saraswati.

That supreme being in Hinduism is a triad of deities known as the Trimūrti: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer, and Shiva the destroyer. Direct references to the Trimūrti are not common in TM culture, but they can be found, as in the video image above, and as in this excerpt of an address given by Maharishi in 2007 referencing a phrase that’s contained in the puja that’s the central ritual of TM instruction, in which the Trimūrti are mentioned in Sanskrit. I’ve emphasized the relevant parts here:

We are fortunate to perform Puja to Guru Dev because in Guru Dev we have the reality of Krishna—reality of Total Knowledge is embodiment of Total Knowledge. "Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnur, Guru Devo Maheshvarah, Guruh Sakshat Param Brahma, Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah." Guru Brahma—Guru is the creator. Guru Vishnu—Guru is the maintainer. Guru Devo Maheshvarah—Guru is eternal Shiva, absolute silence. And Guru Sakshat Param Brahma, and Guru is the summation of the three, diversity, and unity. Tasmai Sri Guruve Namah. That is why we bow down to Guru Dev. Bowing down to Guru Dev is in essence, in reality, subjecting ourself to that eternal unified state which is the be-all and end-all of existence.

Book review: "Roots of TM: The Transcendental Meditation of Guru Dev & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" by Paul Mason

Thank you, Paul Mason, for this book! 


The TM movement has an official story of how TM came to be spread to the world.  That story comes from the mouth of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  But we know that Mahesh loved to embroider stories.  So - what does independent historical research reveal about Guru Dev, Mahesh, and TM?


Paul Mason doesn't give us his personal conclusions.  Rather, he researches and relates the facts, and lets us decide for ourselves.  What I have decided is that the procedure of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation, of how to think the mantra, is virtually identical to one of the several meditation techniques taught by Guru Dev. 


But other aspects of Mahesh's Transcendental Meditation differ from his master's teachings.  Although Mahesh claimed to revere Guru Dev as "Divinity Incarnate," he disobeyed a number of his guru's wishes, and as the years progressed, altered more and more of his master's teachings.
 

From Guru Dev's instructions to meditate one hour, Mahesh decreased it to 30 minutes, then to 20 minutes.  From the necessity of sitting cross-legged to the acceptability of sitting in a chair.  From insistence on a straight spine during meditation to the acceptability of slouching.  From no money accepted, as per Guru Dev's strict rule, to a set fee. 


And then there is the choosing of the mantra, which is part of a guru's responsibility.  According to Guru Dev, only a perfect master is qualified to choose a mantra.  Guru Dev said (p. 98), "…[I]t is very difficult to obtain a perfect teacher.  The traditional Indian Scriptures are full of mantra…but until someone will tell which is fit…the pile…will really be next to useless…[O'bserving the energy and inclination of those devoted to spiritual achievement, in accordance to their qualification…the experienced guru…deduces the mantra of one's favored god which would be of benefit to the spiritual seekers."

Maharishi did not dispense the same mantras that his guru did.  Maharishi said, (p. 263), "It is very difficult for me to find what [mantras] he was using.  Because initiation is all in private.  And I was never interested in who was given what [mantra].  I was interested in myself."  

Not holding to Guru Dev's dual criteria for choosing mantras, (see above: aspirant's "energy and inclination" plus "favored god"), Mahesh reduced the criteria to only one: "favored god."  Mahesh explained (p. 259), "The gurus choose from the tendencies, from the cut of the face…I don't go into all these vibrations, botherations.  I ask [the aspirant] 'Which god you like?'…Ask him directly, 'What he likes?' and that is it." 

When he initiated Christians, Jews and Muslims, he could not very well ask, "Who is your favored god?"  And what could he possibly have asked when teaching atheists?!  So he made another change - to assign the mantras by age and sex.  I couldn't find any evidence in "Roots of TM" that there was any precedent for this criteria.  Later, Mahesh simplified the criteria yet again, to choose by age only.  Even in this he was inconsistent.  One year he would use one set of mantras and age; another year he would use another.  On occasion, he even broke these simple rules, for instance when he instructed some initiators to use teenage mantras for all adults, age 20 through 120.


And most paradoxically, was Mahesh disobeying his master by even teaching meditation?  Guru Dev had stated (p. 96), "…[N]ot everyone can be a guru.  Actually only members of the Brahmin caste are in the position to be a guru…."  Mahesh was from the Kshatriya caste, so according to his own guru, he was prohibited from teaching meditation.  (By the way, Mahesh was the secretary at the ashram.  Did you know that?) 

So how then did Mahesh justify teaching meditation?  Page 143:  "I thought, 'What to do, what to do, what to do?'  Then I thought, 'I should teach them all in the name of Guru Dev.  I should design a system, a system of puja [ritual or ceremony] to Guru Dev. ' "  This decision did not follow the letter of Guru Dev's teaching; do you think it followed the spirit of Guru Dev's teaching? 


What went through Mahesh's mind as he made these changes?  Did he tell himself that he was not really changing Guru Dev's teachings?  Did he tell himself that some of his divine Guru Dev's teachings were imperfect?   Did he decide he had surpassed his guru?  Did he rationalize that the changes didn't matter because he was teaching "inferior" Westerners?  What do you think? 


"Roots of TM" helped me understand the fourth possibility more.  As I read, I realized how different Mahesh's world was from the Western world.  I realized that underneath India's veneer of westernization, the traditional Indian ways are vibrantly alive.  It is entirely a different world view from the West's.


For instance, Guru Dev taught (p. 81):  "The man who gives suffering to the cow goes to hell.  [Intermixing of Indian culture with Western culture] has caused ignorance of the Hindu scriptures, that the cow and Absolute Divine Truth are the same.  This devout scriptural knowledge is disappearing."  


Or, on p. 47, Mahesh relates how it is to be brought up properly in an Indian family.  "The children...are told to bow down to your mother, your father, your elders, your school teacher.  It provides a great shield of security and assistance for the child....[as] this later on develops in devotion to Almighty...."


And this excerpt from the chapter "Yoga Teachings of Swami Brahmanand (Guru Dev.)"  Pps. 98-99, (paraphrased by this editor), "The principal teaching of Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was that one should routinely practice a system of [mental repetition of a word of benefit to the spiritual seeker] in order to...realize the purpose of one's life.... Realization comes from doing word repetition....By practicing, sins are destroyed...."


From p. 231, "During his stay in San Francisco, Maharishi received his first press coverage in the USA, and was rather surprised that the meditation had been dubbed a 'non-medicinal tranquilizer.'  His comment was, 'Cruel!  I feel like running away, back home.  This seems to be a strange country.  Values are different here.' "


This book is filled with gems.  Arrange them together in different ways, and many questions can be answered about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, his guru and his Transcendental Meditation. 

Paul Mason is one of the world's leading English-language experts on Transcendental Meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and his guru, Swami Brahmanand Saraswti (Guru Dev).  He has written, co-authored, and translated from Hindi and Sanskrit over seven books on these topics.  He is a former co-editor for TM-Free Blog.   

New book published: "Roots of TM"

  

(Note:  In book cover photo above, Guru Dev is seated in center, surrounded by some of his close sannyasi [renunciant] disciples in traditional orange robes.  In front of dais, far right, is the young Brahmachari (bachelor student) Mahesh, later known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  He is not wearing orange because he is not a sannyasi.  Those of his caste are not permitted to become sannyasis. - Laurie) 

Just published: 

ROOTS OF TM:

THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION
OF
GURU DEV & MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI

by Paul Mason

more than 50 illustrations
304 pages, 234mm x 156mm

ISBN 978-0-9562228-8-6

UK £14.99   Europe €18.99   US $24.99  
Canada  $27.99  Australia $27.99

Paul Mason, the author of "Roots of TM" is a former contributor to TM-Free Blog.

"ROOTS OF TM" enables readers to better understand how and why Maharishi Mahesh Yogi spread the teaching of Transcendental Meditation around the world.

"ROOTS OF TM" provides background information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his master, Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, (also called "Guru Dev,") and provides a source book of information about their teachings and techniques.

"ROOTS OF TM" is not intended as a general guide to Indian philosophy, nor as a study of the many ancient spiritual practices of India, nor as a mantra handbook.

"ROOTS OF TM" offers information about Maharishi's "missing years," from the time when his master passed away through to the gradual build-up of his stated mission: "Why can't we spiritually regenerate the world through this technique?"

"ROOTS OF TM" contains numerous quotations and rare transcripts of lectures by Guru Dev and by Maharishi. Furthermore, it details the course of events that would eventually find Maharishi lecturing at the Masquers Club, an actor's social club in Hollywood. It also tells how Maharishi came to adopt a businesslike attitude to financial matters, and how he planned to create a headquarters in the Himalayas where he intended to train others to teach Transcendental Meditation.

"ROOTS OF TM" digs deeply into rare materials in order to give detailed profiles of the teachings of both master and disciple, thus affording readers an opportunity to make informed comparisons of both these teachers' methods and their objectives.


Author Paul Mason explains:
 

"By the mid-1960's the term 'Transcendental Meditation' became fixed after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had already spread the message of meditation far and wide across the free world. Maharishi then became very famous himself, largely due to his public association with celebrities and in particular the world-famous pop group The Beatles, who in 1968 attended an advanced training course with him in India.

When I traveled to India in 1970, I did so by hitch-hiking from Britain; and, having traveled across many countries, finally found myself in North India. Possibly because The Beatles had done so before me, I decided to visit the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, for 'a cup of cocoa and a chat about philosophy.'  I therefore made my way to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh, close by the foothills of the Himalayas. Having crossed the River Ganges and climbed up to Maharishi Ashram, I was introduced there to a practice referred to as 'Transcendental Meditation.'

The teaching of this 'Transcendental Meditation' or 'TM' is preceded by a short ceremony called a puja, conducted before a portrait of the ascetic Indian teacher Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, known to TM meditators as 'Guru Dev.'  [Note:  The TM organization says the puja is a 'traditional ceremony of gratitude.'  According to merriam-webster.com, 'puja' is defined as 'a Hindu act of worship or propitiation.' - Laurie]

Surprisingly, despite the fact that Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was a prominent and influential public speaker, Maharishi's organizations share but scant information about Guru Dev's life story and disclose nothing about his teachings.

Very little seemed to be known about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or about the origins and history of the teaching of Transcendental Meditation, so I set myself to discover as much information as could be found.

In the 1990's I was commissioned by Element Books to write the biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which was published as 'The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World.'

Later, in 2007, an ambition was fulfilled when a three-volume set of books on Guru Dev was published, all based on my translations of Hindi works on Swami Brahmanand Saraswati.

Then, in 2013, I compiled a book entitled 'Dandi Swami: Tales of meetings with Dandi Swami Narayananand Saraswati, the Guru's Will, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi & the Shankaracharyas of Jyotir Math.'

'Roots of TM' is the distillation of decades of research into the teachings of Maharishi, Guru Dev, and the Shankaracharya tradition."

"Roots of TM" can be purchased through Amazon.
 
I (Laurie) haven't read it yet, but I hope to read it soon.  I would love to hear peoples' reaction to the book.  Personally, I'm most interested in learning if Maharishi spread the teaching of his Guru Dev whom he claimed to adore, or if he spread contrary teachings.
                                                

Yes, We Are No Religion, part 2013

The TM organization (TMO) continues to insist that the TM technique is not a religion.  This may or may not be true of the technique itself.  However, if a TM meditator learns the advanced TMO technique known as the "TM-Sidhis program," the TMO calls him/her a "Sidha," and may send them emails like the one below.  From the following email, I conclude that the TMO is trying to propagate a Hindu-like religion.  What do you think?

The TMO sent this email to a TM-Free reader, who was kind enough to forward it to TMF.  Thank you!  Readers are invited to send us anything which may be of interest to other TMF readers.  I have edited the email for brevity:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:  [one of the TM organizations - ed.]
To: xxxxxxx
Sent:  Nov 10, 2012
Subject: Nov 11-13 Broadcast Times for Global Celebrations

The Transcendental Meditation Program
NATIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICE

Global Celebration Broadcast Times for

Dhanvantari Jayanti, Hanuman Jayanti, and Mahalakshmi

Dear Governors and Sidhas,

It is a pleasure to invite you to enjoy the global broadcasts on Maharishi Channel 3 on each of these beautiful Vedic Festival days taking place November 11th, 12th, and 13th.... 

You can connect each day on the Internet on Maharishi Channel 3:http://maharishichannel.in/....                   

Sunday, November 11, 5:55 pm (EST)—Dhanvantari(1) Jayanti:                                                                    
Celebrating the Birthday of Lord Dhanvantari, the eternal custodian of Ayur-Veda, the Science of Life, for living and enjoying the lively field of Immortality—the field of perfect health—in the midst of change. On this day of Dhanvantari, the tradition of the complete knowledge of Ayur-Veda is enlivened in human awareness and we can take advantage of this opportunity to imbibe in our consciousness the elements of perfect balance, perfect health, and immortality to help create a disease-free society.

Monday, November 12, 5:50 pm (EST)—Hanuman(2) Jayanti:
Enlivening Nature’s infinite organizing power for enjoying every wave of life in the fullness of bliss, in perfection, health, and happiness. The day of Hanuman enlivens those impulses of creative intelligence that help maintain the flow of evolution in an uninterrupted way and help remove obstacles on the way to enlightenment, thereby promoting Natural Law-based administration, Raam Raj, where society is free from problems and suffering.

Tuesday, November 13, 7:25 pm (EST)—Mahalakshmi(3) Celebration; Deepavali, the Festival of Lights:
Enlivening the qualities of prosperity, affluence, fullness, and fulfillment, and the glorification of all aspects of life—inner and outer—in every corner of the globe. The day of Mahalakshmi is one of the most important days in the Vedic calendar, enlivening all good everywhere and Heavenly Life on Earth. The Sanskrit word Mahalakshmi means “great wealth.” On this auspicious day we enliven the specific values of creative intelligence in nature that bestow prosperity, growth, wealth, and affluence; and eliminate poverty and remove obstacles and weaknesses in individual and collective consciousness.

Jai Guru Dev                                                                          

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------            
 According to Wikipedia:
(1)  Dhavantari is an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu
(2) Hanuman is a Hindu monkey-god
(3) Mahalakshmi is a Hindu goddess

Do you think the TMO is misleading the public?  If yes, do you think it is doing so intentionally or unintentionally?  Why do you think it is doing that?  How do you feel about that?

How much does TM cost? (including the "extras")

One of our readers recently asked in the "comments" section of this blog how much the entire TM program ultimately costs.  I thought that was an important question, and decided to devote a post to answering it.

In some places I have just had to give educated guesses on costs.  That's because some of the TM-sponsored websites describe the product or service but don't give a price.  Also, some of the websites are old and the prices have changed.  Also, sometimes policies change.  Where I had to guess the price, I have guessed on the lower end rather than the higher end.  If you have more accurate pricing information, please share it in the "Comments" section below.

TM-Free Blog and the author of this post do not offer, sell, teach, endorse, recommend, believe in, encourage the purchase of (etc., etc.) any of the products and services mentioned in this post.  Neither do we non-endorse, non-recommend, discourage, etc. them.  Rather, the purposes of this post are: to cast a light on the actual cost of living life the TM way, as opposed to the impression the TM organization (TMO) tries to give about the cost.  Also to examine if the TMO, which bills itself as a secular educational movement, is actually trying to disseminate a type of  Hinduism.   Also to look at how ethical the TMO is in its advertising and in where the money goes, and how central to the TMO mission is their raising of money.

Please note that some of these costs are one-time only fees (such as cost for learning TM).  Other costs can be repeated over and over.  OK, here goes.  All quotations are from TM-sponsored websites.

1.  Cost of personal instruction in TM:  $1,500 (?)

2.  First Advanced Technique:  $1,500 (?)

3.  Second Advanced Technique:  $1,500 (?)

4.  Third Advanced Technique:  $1,500 (?)

5.  Fourth Advanced Technique:  $1,500 (?)

6.  TM-Sidhis Program:  $5,000 (?)

7.  Fee to practice TM-Sidhis program at a TM Center: $20?/month, or $240?/year

8.  Weekend retreats:  $250?/weekend.  Recommended on their website as the most valuable thing you can do for your evolution.  Recommended: at least 4 a year = $1,000?/year.  "These beautiful advanced programs are the golden key to living the full potential of life in higher states of consciousness - Enlightenment - bringing perfect health, happiness, and the fulfillment of desires." - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  (From "Advanced Programs for Meditators" at http:/www.advanced.tm.org/).

9.  Comprehensive Life Kundali (in depth study for self):  $400

10.  Maharishi Jyotish Consultation (provides answers to questions or gives predictions): $150 for 15 minutes,  $450 for 45 minutes.

11.  Maharishi Yagya(SM) Performances "to create life-supporting effects and help avoid...unwanted...before it manifests."  The larger (more expensive) yagyas are said to produce more effective results.  Size should be "on basis of intensity of problems or speed of achieving objective."  The principle to apply is, "Do not perform yagyas below one's financial capacity."  (From www.maharishiyagya.org/apply/index.html.)  No prices are given.  Personal communications with author have stated that yagyas have been performed for $3,000,  $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000.  "Donations are used to support Maharishi Yagya performances and to promote education and training programs in Maharishi Vedic Science and Technologies(SM)....It is wise to enhance...influence[s] through Maharishi Yagya performances year after year, and even month after month...."

12.  Muhurta (selection of favorable moment for beginning a new activity):  $300.

13.  Compatibility Analysis (marriage, business partnerships):  $300

14.  Ascertaining correct birth time (if you don't know a birth time, for TMO astrology services):  $600

15.  Nam Karan (provides first syllable for new baby or company):  $200

16.  Additions to a Comprehensive Life Kundali (adding relatives):  $300 per relative.  "It is vital...to have one's Comprehensive Life Kundali examined regularly...in order to determine what the future may bring...."

17.  Maharishi Yagya(SM) performance for the nation, "to enliven total Natural Law for each nation....A new set of Maharishi Yagya performances for the nation will begin...approximately every 2 weeks...Many large contributions are needed...Catagory A donations are $1,000,000 (USD). ...Category J are $1,250....With a contribution of $1,250 or more, your name will be acknowledged in the Maharishi Yagya performance...The first priority is to have your personal Maharish Yagya performances on a regular basis...."  You may pledge to donate for a Maharish Yagya performance for the nation anywhere from one time to "monthly forever."

18.  Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology - for health.  Prices range from $187/session for serious health conditions, and take 12 sessions for a total of $2250; or $450 for a Standard session, or $900 for an "enhanced consultation."  Sessions are 40 to 60 minutes.  "The fees listed are RESEARCH FEES (emphasis in original) offered for those agreeing to participate in our Research Program by completing a short self-evaluation form after each session and periodic follow-up self-evaluations over the course of one year.  For those unwilling to participate in the Research, the fee is US $4,000 per disorder for 3 sessions."  (i.e. $1,333/session).

19.  Maharishi Gemstones.  Primary gem cost:  ?

20.  Maharishi Gemstones.  Secondary gem cost:  ?

21.  Maharishi Ayurveda consultations:  Cost ?  Some components of the consultation are #22, 23 and 24:

22.  Recommended Maharishi herbal food supplements.  Cost: ?

23.  Detoxification program.  Cost: ?

24.  Educational follow-up.  Cost: ?

25.  Maharishi Vastu Architecture.  Services include:  predesigned homes, custom design, consulting with developers.     Cost: ?  From 2010 website:  "Over $400,000,000 (four hundred million dollars U.S.) in Fortune-Creating(R) homes and other buildings, and a score of communities have been built worldwide...."

26.  - or - buying or renting a MaharishiVastu Architecture home.  Cost:  ?

27.  Regular requests for donations from the David Lynch Foundation, special appeals after tsunamis,  requests for donations to transport TMers to group meditations, etc.  Cost ???

28.  The Raj (health spa):  from $533 a day to $1,150 a day.  Stay is from 3 days to 30 days.  Repeat as desired.

29.  TM Teacher Training:  approx. $15,000 

How much does that come to?  Have I left anything out?  What have been your experiences with the TMO and money?  How much money have you given to the TMO?  How much money have people you know given to the TMO?  Have you found yourself spending more money for TMO products and services than you had anticipated?  Have you found your TMO products and services to be worth the price?  Have you ever been pressured or guilt-tripped into spending more?  Other musings welcome!

Transcendental Meditation: What got you in? And what got you out? Part 1

I've been thinking back over my long strange journey through TM. How did I get so deeply embroiled? How did I get out? Maybe you've been musing over your own life too, or that of those you love who are still embroiled in TM. Here's my chronology. I hope reading it will help some TM-Free readers sort out their own experience.

- I was looking for a better life.
- I read "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda. At the tender age of 16, I did not realize that autobiographies were not automatically truthful. The book excited me with the hope that Hinduism's yoga had something special to offer. I tried out Yogananda's teachings, but they did not satisfy me.
- I attended lectures of Swami Satchitananda, who fulfilled my expectations of what a yogi saint should be like. But I did not start his yoga because it seemed like a commitment to a lifestyle change and a difficult practice.
- I had friends who started TM and told me in awed tones what wonderful results it brought, and that it was very easy.
- I attended TM introductory lectures and was impressed by the scientific research, logic of the theory, and serenity of the initiators.
- I was impressed by my initiator's holy glow during the initiation ceremony. When I said my mantra, I felt it reverberate in my mouth and around the room in a mystical way. When I thought the mantra silently for the first time, I was transported to a magical place of inner peace and bliss. I felt euphoric, stoned, for the first three days that I did TM, and I noticed positive changes in myself in those first three days, too. All these things led me to believe that TM was a profound, life-changing spiritual technique.
- The initiators promised that by doing TM twice daily, the positive changes would continue to accumulate. Indeed, for the first few months that I did TM, I did notice small improvements in myself.
- I ran into some TMers who were gung-ho on TM as a method not only for self-improvement, but as the solution for all of life's problems. They encouraged me to attend a long TM course.
- I attended the course and rounded for one month. Maharishi was there in person and lectured several times a day. Also, a few prominent Western guest speakers - scientists, psychologists, astronauts, philosophers, educators, etc. - hailed the virtues of TM. Maharishi promised that TM would solve all problems of society. My brain was in a vulnerable, receptive state from all that sensory deprivation during rounding and from hearing only TM-positive opinions for one month. There was no questioning or challenging. As computer geeks say, "Garbage in, garbage out." It was so easy to be lulled into a dreamy, hopeful state of belief. I experienced Maharishi as giving off saintly emanations. He was charismatic, knowledgeable , charming, flattering, and convincing - and begged us to become TM initiators. It was so easy to fall, as the path of least resistance, into his belief system.
- I left the course a true believer, determined to become an initiator. It never occurred to me to research the opinions of TM skeptics.
- Originally, I believed what Maharishi taught because science and logic supported his system (or so I had been led to believe.) But gradually, unconsciously, I made the transition from "Maharishi says it because it's true" to "If Maharishi says it, then it's true." All my TM activities that followed hereafter just strengthened the belief system that I had now internalized. Residence courses, checker training, advanced lectures, TM teacher training, initiating, working at TM residential centers, learning the TM-Sidhi program, attending long rounding courses for world peace - no matter what Maharishi's latest invention or discovery or program was, Maharishi had to be right, and to question would be disloyal and foolishness.

How about you? Does any of this resonate for you? What got you in?

Coming next: Part 2: And what got you out?

Making Sense of a Nonsensical Movement

The following is something I wrote earlier tonight as part of some private correspondence. It might be helpful in trying to make sense of the TM movement's nonsense, particularly when it comes to the constant insistence that TM is "not a religion." The truth of the matter is not easily explained, in large part because of inconsistent concepts as to what a religion is.

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1. The most accurate, broad self-characterization of "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" and the organization he established ("Global Country of World Peace") is as a means of Vedic revivalism. "The complete theoretical and practical knowledge of the Veda and its profound significance for life has been revived and understood in a scientific framework by Maharishi’s Vedic Science and Technology..." which can be found in exactly this language here and here, and similarly elsewhere.
   
   
2. While TM devotees attempt to separate "Vedic" from "Hindu," there is very little to support this separation, and what's effectively a simple word substitution. TM devotees often claim that their particular interpretation of ancient texts that they call "Veda" is the pure form of knowledge from which later traditions they consider corrupted, such as Hinduism, were derived. These assertions are evidently unique to those associated with the TM organization, and allied religious groups in India.  All that is being sold as "Vedic" under the TM organization's auspices, that was not reinterpreted, misinterpreted or completely manufactured by Maharishi and other group leaders over time, traces to the spiritual and cultural traditions of India that are usually referred to as "Hindu." However, much of it has certain unusual twists or doctrines unique to the organization. Among these is a group of males wearing crowns and white outfits who've paid 1 million USD to become "rajas" as part of a so-called "Global Government," and who may run the organization.
   
   
3. Likewise, there is no support for describing any part of the Vedas as "scientific." The attempt to draw connections and parallels between aspects of the Vedas, Vedic or Hindu practices, and Western scientific concepts has been common among Hindus for decades if not centuries, and continues as part of the TM organization doctrine. There is no scientific support for such claims made by TM devotees. As an example, the organization has long claimed direct association between Vedic concepts and those of quantum mechanics, put forward by longtime TM devotee and American leader ("raja") John Hagelin. While Hagelin is a physicist, his pronouncements of this nature have gained zero support from others.
   
   
4. Supremacy of the Vedas, and Vedic practices, is foundational to the TM organization's purpose, as it says at the bottom of this page under the title "Everything Should Be Vedic." This would include the folding of other cultures and other religious practices into a system in which Vedic practice is supreme. The gaining of alleged positive benefits at every level (personal/social/national/planetary), including the "world peace"  often referred to by proponents including David Lynch (and internally as "Heaven on Earth" or Sat Yuga), is the motivator for the organization's attempt to popularize "Vedic Knowledge." The products and services sold by the organization, of which Transcendental Meditation is usually one's initial contact, are the actual mechanism by which "Vedic Knowledge" is disseminated. Unlike TM, on which the organization has focused its efforts to obtain scientific research on which to base its claims of efficacy, there is very little, if any, research on any of the other product categories, listed at the bottom of this page.
   
   
5. Note that in this description, things that are part of implementing this "Vedic knowledge" are practices, not beliefs.  There is no profession of faith or anything of that sort which many Westerners associate with "religion." It is in this way that TM and all the Vedic products are similar to consumer products, in that they are sold as being effective, but the buyer need not know, or care, or even believe in, the specifics of why or how they are effective. (Do you know or care why your stick of deodorant works?) The key activity becomes marketing, and everything to support the claims of efficacy in the marketing, which is why the organization seems obsessed with getting any possible support, no matter how shaky, preliminary, or unreplicated it may be from the scientific community it can possibly dig up. Incessant name-dropping of celebrities who sign on to the program is also part of this process.
   
   
6. From the TM organization's view, the whole point is to recruit individuals into a system of practices, that are believed to be a correct, pure implementation of "Vedic knowledge," to bring about "Heaven on Earth." While prospective meditators are told in introductory lectures that the ultimate purpose is to bring about world peace, they are never clear about the details of how that's supposed to happen. World peace in this system is brought about, not through individual, personal development, but through adherence to Vedic "knowledge" in every detail across all aspects of life through the purchase and use of the organization's products and services by many people in aggregate. It is at this point where involvement with TM takes the form of participation in a religious enterprise without knowledge or consent; while the individual meditator may not need to believe anything, and may even deny belief, may even think everything about the organization is completely bogus, and in the practice of meditation (the introductory product) may not be doing anything even recognizable as a religious practice, the motivations of the teachers and marketers of TM are obviously in a different realm and of a different nature, are based in a belief system that holds to unusual notions of causation that are not clearly disclosed, and that would be considered by many to be religious, although unorthodox if not completely bizarre by Western standards.
   
   There is no rational or scientific basis for the claim that the more people adopt these products, the more likely "Heaven on Earth" will come about, in the same way that, to cover some of the more outrageous claims made for its other products, an east-facing home of proper Vedic proportions will give its owner health and wealth, spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to have someone in India perform a ritual would likewise give the buyer health and wealth, or that bouncing on foam rubber while thinking certain thoughts... the list goes on like this for a while.  These more advanced products carry obvious spiritual or religious connotations, while the organization continues to insist that their basis is entirely "scientific."
   
   Meanwhile, the simple practice of meditation does provide some benefit for some people. For some, the initial benefit serves as validation for other claims made by the organization for its other products, and becomes part of the sales pitch for deeper involvement with its programs, and continues the intended intake path.

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A longer post covering similar issues.

Yet Another Transcendental Meditation Advertorial at Huff Post

Not too much to add. Singer/songwriter Jimmy Demers has written a paean to Transcendental Meditation for his column at the Huffington Post—and the comments are filling up with kudos from TMers.

Natch.

No new information in the post, but those so inclined may wish to leave a comment. The HuffPost is read by hundreds of thousands of people every day and seems to be on a mission to promote TM, Deepak Chopra, and other similar "New Age" traditions.

I'd argue that TM isn't "New Age" in any meaningful sense of the word—but rather idiosyncratic and fundamental Hinduism.

But, hey, that's just my opinion.

J.

Lying: A Core Practice of Transcendental Meditation. (A Seven-Part Series). Part 2: First Lie

What was the first lie you spotted? When did you first notice Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or the Transcendental Meditation organization (TMO) lying to you?

For me, possibly it was at the introductory lecture. The lecturers said that TM was not religious in nature. I knew that their leader, Maharishi, wore white robes, religious beads, long hair and beard, and had a name that included the word "Yogi." He taught something called "meditation," which I knew was a Hindu religious practice. On the wall behind the lecturers hung a large painting of an Indian yogi. The TM teachers called themselves "initiators." Initiators initiate people into spiritual mysteries, didn't they - not into scientific techniques, right? And the initiators talked slowly, ethereally, with a dreamy-eyed inspiration. They were pale and they glowed. Of course, none of these proved that TM was religious in nature, but it certainly gave me pause. I overlooked the contradictions because the initiators explicitly stated that TM was not
religious in nature. They also had an answer to the yogi/yoga question: "Just because Maharishi is a Hindu monk doesn't make this a Hindu religious practice. After all, Linnaeus was a Christian monk, and he studied genetics, but that doesn't make genetics a Christian sphere." And as for the painting on the wall, and as for calling themselves "initiators," well, that was all chalked up to "tradition." So although I suspected they were lying at that lecture, I couldn't prove it.

However, on initiation day I spotted my first clear-cut lie. At the preparatory lecture, the lecturers had promised that we initiates would not participate in the "non-religious traditional ceremony of gratitude"- we would just witness the initiator perform it. True, I had to bring my own fruit, flowers and handkerchief; but I reasoned that the TM center didn't have the refrigeration facilities to provide the fruit and flowers for everyone. However, before I entered the initiation room, I was instructed to remove my shoes. Once inside the initiation room, I was instructed to stand during the ceremony. I was given a flower to hold during the ceremony, and at one point the initiator took my flower and offered it up before the painting of the elderly yogi. And finally, at the end of the ceremony, the teacher reverently kneeled before the altar, and gestured for me to do the same. So the initiators were surely stretching the truth in assuring us that we were not "participants" in the ceremony.

How did I justify this deception in my own mind? Trying to remember now, 40 years later, this is what I think happened. First of all, I was anxious to learn TM. I was startled by the gleaming altar. I was disoriented by the Sanskrit chant. I was in over my head, so it was easier to just give in and obey than to question every inch of the way.

Second, this was the tail end of the 1960s. I lived by the 1960s mottos, "Don't trust anyone over 30" and "God is dead" and "Down with the System." If Western religion was corrupt, then the "mystical East" had the truth, and I was glad to be privy to its secrets. I interpreted the deception as a way of pulling something over on those ignorant adults, and I was flattered to be part of the deception.

And thirdly, at the first follow-up meeting on the day after initiation, when there was an opportunity to ask questions, I was too blissed out from my first meditations to embarrass the initiators with piddling questions such as how they could swear that we new students would not be participants in the ceremony.

How about you? When was the first time you became aware that the TMO was lying to you? And how did you deal, mentally and/or concretely with their first deception?

How Transcendental Meditation REALLY Works

Corresponding with an emailer recently, it came home to me that many people are not aware of the wealth of material about TM insider teachings already exposed on the Internet. So from time to time, I thought I'd post some golden oldies that TMFB readers may have overlooked.

Linked below is a transcription of "Soma and the Gods" taken from testimony in the Kropinski trial. This videotape is one of a handful that have become infamous in the TM movement because of their secrecy: It is only shown to TM teachers on the heavily regimented Teacher Training Course (TTC). For many years copies of this tape were not even allowed to enter the continental US.

For good reason! Much like the Church of Scientology's OT materials, "Soma and the Gods" lays out the Maharishi's theology in a way that the public is not deemed "ready" for by the TM org.

According to participants in the Kropinski trial, this tape -- along with the entire TTC catalog -- appeared mysteriously on someone's doorstep one day. Since then the tape has been used by plaintiffs in court cases to prove that the TM movement had a religious, specifically Hindu, agenda -- largely because it's one of the few times the Maharishi was captured on tape talking about worshipping the Vedic Gods. (Of course today, the TM movement sells Hindu sacrifices, yagyas or yajnas, to Ganesh, Lakshmi, and other Gods for thousands of dollars without batting an eye! Interestingly, "Post-Vedic yajñas, where milk products, fruits, flowers, cloth and money are offered, are called "yaga"[1], homa or havana," according the Wikipedia link. Sounds a lot like the puja used for TM initiation.)

But the true significance of "Soma and the Gods" is much larger. And the theology that the Maharishi espouses is not Hinduism. It is much more idiosyncratic -- and bizarre.

In a nutshell, the Maharishi describes a parasitic relationship between TMers and the Vedic Gods. TMers produce the magical chemical Soma in their guts -- but it isn't something they can use directly. The Vedic Gods, principally Indra, descend from Heaven and feed on the Soma in the TMers' belly. In return for this primitive relationship, the Gods grant all manner of boons. TMers become successful, happy, prosperous, and develop supernormal abilities.

Unbeknownst to non-TM teachers, the entire TM program can be understood through this simple model.

We practice yogic asanas and pranayama to clear the channels through which Soma will flow. We repeat the name of our own personal "Ishta" (God) to summon Him or Her. Advanced TMers practice the sidhis to "stir" the Soma and further clear channels. We read verses from the Rig Veda's Ninth Mandala that literally invite the Gods by name to feast on the Soma produced in our bodies: "Flow, Soma, in a most sweet and exhilirating stream, effused for Indra to drink.... Be the lavish giver of wealth, most bounteous, the destroyer of enemies, bestow on us the riches of the affluent." And we take Ayurvedic potions and pills believing we will produce "extra" or "more refined" soma.

An anecdote from a former Maharishi International University (MIU/MUM) professor:

On my Governor Training Course, after we had rounded and rounded and rounded for three months, MMY [the Maharishi] finally called to answer our questions. I asked what we should expect from endlessly reading the Ninth Mandala of the Rig Veda and I never forgot his reply: "It will become a living reality."

To my knowledge, this vision is the Maharishi's alone.

The Rig and Sama Vedas themselves describe the process of making a beverage, soma, by grinding and brewing a certain medicinal plant -- or alternatively by feeding a plant to a cow and then imbibing either its milk or urine. James Allegro speculated some years back that soma was actually the hallucinogenic mushroom amanita muscara, a prevalent inebriator among all Aryan cultures. Perhaps. But even in modern day India, there are hotris who perform the Soma sacrifice using the humble soma plant, and imbibing the juice.

Nowhere in all of Vedic literature have we found a single reference to soma as a substance produced in the human stomach and fed upon by Gods. Except in this product of the Maharishi's imagination.

Many sources from the inner circles of the TM movement have already reported on the Maharishi's preoccupation with the influence of other people's thoughts (stress), purity of food (genetic engineering), and apparent preoccupation with "enemies" (re: the CIA and AMA). The unforgettable image of ravening Gods jostling each other to feed at the stomachs of TMers around the world to get their share of the mythical Soma seems a conclusive indication that TM theology may simply be the by-product of the Maharishi's distrubed mind.

• Transcription of "Soma and the Gods"
• Opening court proceedings of "Soma and the Gods"
• Expert testimony on "Soma and the Gods"

A few highlights:

• It's clear from the legal wrangling that TM's lawyer was struggling to control how the jury perceived "Soma and the Gods." Those familiar with the TM movement recognize this as a movement "tic," never trust the conclusions the "unenlightened" public may draw -- always frame and interpret the Maharishi's words before and after they are presented.
• It may not be clear from context that "expert witness" John Farrow was a long-time TM/Maharishi devotee, active in the inner circles. The TM-published Collected Papers are littered with his TM-sponsored research.
• As revealed here, the Maharishi had no legal connection to any TM movement organization -- not as an officer, director, or employee. Nonetheless, he ruled with an iron-hand by force of personality and religious devotion to him personally. (See the TM teacher's oath.)
• According to the judge, John Farrow acts as a "surrogate" for the Maharishi. Even in formal legal proceedings, the TM movement attempts to frame their theology carefully before hand, "putting the tape in its clearest context," rather than trusting to the unfiltered perception of the jury.
• Maharishi discusses Hindu devas as "very refined impulses of energy and intelligence" and refers to their finest vibrations as mantras. In the "New Jersey Court Case," the judge labeled this as overtly religious language -- not scientific concept. Most observers of the TM theology see this sort of "shadow speech" as a camouflaged attempt to discuss fundamentalist Hindu religious concepts without offending Western sensibilities.
• The Maharishi specifically talks about the Hindu God Indra as "that Agency, that force of nature which puts together the mind and the body." By extension, one might surmise that whenever the Maharishi talks about forces or laws of nature, that he is referring to the Gods. In fact, this equation is made explicitly for TM teachers and other insiders.
• Finest impulses of life: Another familiar TM/Maharishi substitution for "Gods."

New Books About Guru Dev

Paul Mason has published a set of three texts on the life and teaching of Guru Dev.

These are available at http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/gurudev.htm (see new book!)

I am in no way connected with the production of these texts and in no way benefit from their sale, but I wanted to let everyone know that they are available.

For me, there is a significant distinction to be made between the heuristic presentation of Maheshism and the far more traditional grounding of Guru Dev. While everyone will have to come to his or her own conclusion upon studying these texts, I know that Paul has made every effort to find the most meaningful translation and to supply every photograph and illustration available.

Sudarsha