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.
Showing posts with label Indian culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian culture. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2015
Friday, September 07, 2012
Maharishi Came From India
A few days ago I was reading the April 30, 2012 issue of The New Yorker magazine. I chanced upon an article entitled, "The Secret of the Temple: The discovery of treasure worth billions of dollars shakes southern India" by Jake Halpern. The article tells about the treasure found in the catacombs of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum, India, and the actions and attitudes that followed this discovery.
Although Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are never mentioned, I found tremendous food for thought in the article. I realized that though Indians speak English and were influenced by the British, their world view may be so different from Westerners' that their words, logic, ethics, may all mean something very different from a Westerner's concepts. As I read, I experienced culture shock as I tried to translate the Indian values into Western terms. And I realized that some of the incidents described in the article might be instructive for Westerners trying to understand the conundrum that is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
All quotes are taken from the article.
1. What do you make of Mahesh's idea of giving Tony Nader his weight in gold?
"...[I]n centuries past, maharajas had performed a ceremony in which they weighed local princes approaching adulthood, then donated to the temple an equivalent weight in gold...." (p. 49)
2. What about Mahesh's teachings about God: Guru Dev, humans, names of gods and visual representations of gods are God?
An Indian lawyer explains that the statue of Vishnu "is like an incarnation of God, so it is as if God himself is coming out of the temple" when the idol is taken outdoors...."Like many observant Hindus, [he] believes that a temple's deity...resides within its walls...." (p. 49)
"...Photographs of [an Indian historian's ancestors hanging on the walls of his home] were adorned with flowers. Like many Hindus, [he] reveres his ancestors almost as deities...." (p. 50)
"As a Hindu, I see my father and mother as gods. We won't raise our voice against them." (p. 56)
3. What about all the money the TM organization takes in? What about its apparent lack of ethics and social conscience around money? What about Mahesh's apparent comfort in meshing wealth with spirituality?
"...Worshippers make offerings of flowers, incense, silver and gold. Whatever wealth accumulates belongs to the deity. [One lawyer's]...driving purpose in life [was] to serve Vishnu and, in so doing, protect the deity's hoard...." (p. 49)
"Wouldn't it be a good thing," asked the Western author, "if the deity's wealth were used to help people?" An Indian replied that because of government corruption, the money wouldn't end up in the right hands. (p. 57)
Communist activists in the town didn't press for the release of the money to the people because they'd risk alienating their Hindu constituents. The author asked, "What do you think Marx and Lenin would have done?" They replied, "When they are reincarnated, we must ask them." (p. 57)
"...When India became independent, the maharajahs...continued to preside over the temple, both as spiritual leaders and as custodians of the deity's wealth. For centuries, the royal family's management of the temple received little scrutiny...." (p. 49)
"...In India the wealth...in...Hindu temples is viewed largely in spiritual, not monetary, terms...."
(p. 50)
Says an American scholar of Hinduism, "People make deals with deities, and if they receive what they want they pay up." (p. 50)
4. What about Mahesh's lax attitude towards science?
An Indian historian believes the treasure vault "...was connected to the temple's sanctum sanctorum by a 'spiritual charge' which emitted special vibrations that could be felt only 'if you are exceptionally lucky.' This energy should not be disturbed....[T]he picture of the cobra outside [the] Vault gave a clear warning." (pp. 54-55)
The author "asked what would happen if the energy was disturbed. The [historian] told me a story she's heard about an Indian temple that contained a...levitating idol...and it continued to hover until workers began renovating the temple; suddenly the idol came crashing down....Several
gurus had...warned her that opening [the vault] would bring 'danger and damage' to the city." (p. 55)
5. What about Mahesh's lax attitude toward logic, proof and truth?
The Western author notes that it may always remain a mystery whether the vault had ever been robbed. The temple executive, he said, "initially assured me that nobody had entered it for more than a century, but then admitted that there were no records....How could he be certain that nothing had been stolen? 'I am sorry, I cannot answer that question,' he said. 'It is believed that nothing has been stolen.' " (p. 54)
6. What about Mahesh's attitude towards astrology, fate, belief, rituals, puja, divine intervention?
"As the citizens debated what to do about [the vault], the royal family and officials from the temple invited a group of astrologers to hold a four-day ceremony...in order to ascertain the will of the deity....One of the astrologers...said that the key to making the ceremony work was finding a child who could serve as the 'instrument' through which the deity conveyed his wishes...." When the child was found (through coincidences termed "a matter of destiny"), they seated the boy in front of "a lamp, a mirror, a piece of cloth, some grains of rice, betel leaves, a betel nut, an ancient gold coin, and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. A 'sacred powder' was sprinkled on the ground....The boy was presented with 108 conch shells....As the boy arranged the shells, everyone chanted prayers. 'We prayed to God to show the kid the right message....It's all science. (Emphasis added by TMFree editor.) It's like the doctor who diagnoses a disease from various symptoms.' " (p. 55)
After the ceremony was completed, the astrologer "said, 'It is advised that the wealth found in the chambers is not moved out....These are not just valuables but also divine, and displacing this will invite the wrath of the Lord.' He warned that opening the doors...would 'bode ill for the people and for the land....[T]he deity had already made its displeasure known. The biggest proof...is that [a proponent of opening the vault] has died.' " (p. 55) (Emphasis added by TM-Free editor.)
Although Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are never mentioned, I found tremendous food for thought in the article. I realized that though Indians speak English and were influenced by the British, their world view may be so different from Westerners' that their words, logic, ethics, may all mean something very different from a Westerner's concepts. As I read, I experienced culture shock as I tried to translate the Indian values into Western terms. And I realized that some of the incidents described in the article might be instructive for Westerners trying to understand the conundrum that is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
All quotes are taken from the article.
1. What do you make of Mahesh's idea of giving Tony Nader his weight in gold?
"...[I]n centuries past, maharajas had performed a ceremony in which they weighed local princes approaching adulthood, then donated to the temple an equivalent weight in gold...." (p. 49)
2. What about Mahesh's teachings about God: Guru Dev, humans, names of gods and visual representations of gods are God?
An Indian lawyer explains that the statue of Vishnu "is like an incarnation of God, so it is as if God himself is coming out of the temple" when the idol is taken outdoors...."Like many observant Hindus, [he] believes that a temple's deity...resides within its walls...." (p. 49)
"...Photographs of [an Indian historian's ancestors hanging on the walls of his home] were adorned with flowers. Like many Hindus, [he] reveres his ancestors almost as deities...." (p. 50)
"As a Hindu, I see my father and mother as gods. We won't raise our voice against them." (p. 56)
3. What about all the money the TM organization takes in? What about its apparent lack of ethics and social conscience around money? What about Mahesh's apparent comfort in meshing wealth with spirituality?
"...Worshippers make offerings of flowers, incense, silver and gold. Whatever wealth accumulates belongs to the deity. [One lawyer's]...driving purpose in life [was] to serve Vishnu and, in so doing, protect the deity's hoard...." (p. 49)
"Wouldn't it be a good thing," asked the Western author, "if the deity's wealth were used to help people?" An Indian replied that because of government corruption, the money wouldn't end up in the right hands. (p. 57)
Communist activists in the town didn't press for the release of the money to the people because they'd risk alienating their Hindu constituents. The author asked, "What do you think Marx and Lenin would have done?" They replied, "When they are reincarnated, we must ask them." (p. 57)
"...When India became independent, the maharajahs...continued to preside over the temple, both as spiritual leaders and as custodians of the deity's wealth. For centuries, the royal family's management of the temple received little scrutiny...." (p. 49)
"...In India the wealth...in...Hindu temples is viewed largely in spiritual, not monetary, terms...."
(p. 50)
Says an American scholar of Hinduism, "People make deals with deities, and if they receive what they want they pay up." (p. 50)
4. What about Mahesh's lax attitude towards science?
An Indian historian believes the treasure vault "...was connected to the temple's sanctum sanctorum by a 'spiritual charge' which emitted special vibrations that could be felt only 'if you are exceptionally lucky.' This energy should not be disturbed....[T]he picture of the cobra outside [the] Vault gave a clear warning." (pp. 54-55)
The author "asked what would happen if the energy was disturbed. The [historian] told me a story she's heard about an Indian temple that contained a...levitating idol...and it continued to hover until workers began renovating the temple; suddenly the idol came crashing down....Several
gurus had...warned her that opening [the vault] would bring 'danger and damage' to the city." (p. 55)
5. What about Mahesh's lax attitude toward logic, proof and truth?
The Western author notes that it may always remain a mystery whether the vault had ever been robbed. The temple executive, he said, "initially assured me that nobody had entered it for more than a century, but then admitted that there were no records....How could he be certain that nothing had been stolen? 'I am sorry, I cannot answer that question,' he said. 'It is believed that nothing has been stolen.' " (p. 54)
6. What about Mahesh's attitude towards astrology, fate, belief, rituals, puja, divine intervention?
"As the citizens debated what to do about [the vault], the royal family and officials from the temple invited a group of astrologers to hold a four-day ceremony...in order to ascertain the will of the deity....One of the astrologers...said that the key to making the ceremony work was finding a child who could serve as the 'instrument' through which the deity conveyed his wishes...." When the child was found (through coincidences termed "a matter of destiny"), they seated the boy in front of "a lamp, a mirror, a piece of cloth, some grains of rice, betel leaves, a betel nut, an ancient gold coin, and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. A 'sacred powder' was sprinkled on the ground....The boy was presented with 108 conch shells....As the boy arranged the shells, everyone chanted prayers. 'We prayed to God to show the kid the right message....It's all science. (Emphasis added by TMFree editor.) It's like the doctor who diagnoses a disease from various symptoms.' " (p. 55)
After the ceremony was completed, the astrologer "said, 'It is advised that the wealth found in the chambers is not moved out....These are not just valuables but also divine, and displacing this will invite the wrath of the Lord.' He warned that opening the doors...would 'bode ill for the people and for the land....[T]he deity had already made its displeasure known. The biggest proof...is that [a proponent of opening the vault] has died.' " (p. 55) (Emphasis added by TM-Free editor.)
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