"Eternal Truth" from Maharishi Changes Once Again

I believe I have uncovered another example of the changing teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Click on this link to watch an old videotape of Maharishi talking about TM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ajEzVsuhg
 
Or skip the tape and go straight to my transcription of it, below. 

(The videotape is from an official TM website.  Although their website includes a transcription, I have watched and listened to the tape a half dozen times and have spotted a few minor errors in the transcription.  So my transcription below is slightly different from theirs.)

There is no date (or location) given on the videotape.  However, judging from the color of Mahesh's hair; plus the fact that he uses the word "pencil" as his sample mantra, rather than "flower," which became his standard sample mantra later; plus his stumblings and hesitations in explaining TM, cause me to guess that the tape was made in the mid to late 1960s.

Plus the fact that he offers an explanation for the basic mechanism by which he says TM works,  i.e. "the natural tendency of the mind."  The natural tendency he refers to in this tape is different from the "natural tendency" that he dwelled on in subsequent years.  (I haven't listened to 2015 TM Introductory Lectures - maybe our readers have, and can let us know if this concept is still taught today.)  The "natural tendency" that was impressed upon my generation (1971-1981) was that TM is easy, effortless, natural and effective because it makes use of "the natural tendency of the mind to go in the direction of increasing charm."  This pronouncement has virtually become canonical in the basic teachings of TM. 

Here is my transcript of the relevant first three minutes:

"...The teaching has been set up in a very, very standard form. What we do is…actual practice involves thinking of a word - a word devoid of meaning. We don't know the meaning.  We don't try to know the meaning. And the principle is that if we know the meaning - then meaning is a static thing. If we say 'pencil, pencil,' someone who doesn't know what 'pencil' means in English, he just hears the sound 'pan-sool.'  And someone who knows the 'pencil'…you see, the meaning is static.

"The sound changes in its pitch.  It could be loud sound, it could be low sound or some…so.  And the meaning is the same at every pitch, high or low.  So if the mind is on the meaning, then there is no chance of refining the meaning.  If the mind is not on the meaning, then there is a chance of refining the sound.  Then there is a chance of experiencing the sound in its finer values; til the finest could be transcended, and the awareness could reach that inner wakefulness, devoid of any perception.  This will be transcendental consciousness.

So we take a thought, and experience it, and in experiencing the thought, the simple formula is, that the thought functions as an impulse, as a motivation for the impulse, like that, like that. Then the mind is pulsating. If we don't try to manipulate the thought in any sense, concentrate or hold it on or anything, then the thought will start to be refined, refine, refine; it will sink out.  The activity will start to die out, die out, die out. So this is what we say:  naturally greater activity of the mind reaches its least value - in a very, very natural way. Any activity has a tendency to settle down and be quiet. So this natural tendency of the mind to be quiet is all that we use in meditation, and nothing else. (Emphasis added - Laurie.) So in a very innocent manner we think of the thought. And every time we think it, it becomes finer and finer and finer. We experience its finer states, and then it dies out...."

Have you ever heard this earlier explanation before?  Does this explanation make sense?  Does the newer explanation make sense?  Or can you suggest a better explanation for how and why TM produces the results it does?  What do you think is actually happening when a person does TM? 

Mahesh told my generation that his name, "rishi" means "seer;" that is, seer of the Vedas, which he told us is the Eternal Truth.  So what do you make of Mahesh changing his core explanation?  Was it opportunistic, or sincere, or what? Did this "great seer" not see the "eternal truth"? 

And anything else you'd care to comment on!

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?

TM Sues Vedic Meditation

According to the Associated Press and ABC News, January 20th, 2013, a branch of the TM Movement filed a lawsuit against The Meditation House owned by life coach Jules Green for citing Transcendental Meditation research to promote an (identical) meditation method called "Vedic Meditation." Thom Knoles trained Jules Green to teach the Vedic Meditation promoted by her Meditation House.

See : Legal Fight over Calming Technique lacks Harmony

Vedic Meditation was founded by Thom Knoles after he left Maharishi's TM Movement. Thom Knoles follows Maharishi Mahesh's example as he self proclaims to be a maharishi (great seer) himself. Thom trains other teachers of Vedic Meditation who seem then to function independently. TMFree blog moderators do not know the arrangements between Thom and his Vedic Meditation teachers.

Thom's  organization sponsors Meditation groups, meetings, retreats, Teacher Training, Sidhi courses. Using a tested format, the Vedic Meditation organization gathers followers amongst the Hollywood and other (preferably wealthy) spiritual seekers.

As in other guru clashes with TM followers, the TM Organization warns devotees to choose sides carefully.

Excerpted from the Associated Press by Ryan Foley :

The sides are fighting for customers and to protect their own reputations in a federal court case over whether the foundation can enforce its trademark rights and claims of false advertising against Knoles and other teachers of his rival Vedic Meditation. With high stakes, the litigation over a technique that supporters say can reduce stress and blood pressure is getting tense.

To the foundation, Knoles and his followers are using the credibility and positive image associated with its technique to promote themselves and mislead customers. To Knoles' backers, the foundation is unfairly seeking a monopoly on a technique that's existed thousands of years.

"Once you've formally burned your bridges, however, I'm afraid there'll be nothing more I or anyone can do to help you," a foundation supporter wrote in 2011, advising a businessman to reconsider his commitment to Knoles, in an email included in court records.Supporters of transcendental meditation — which involves closing one's eyes twice daily for 20 minutes while silently thinking to reduce stress and promote health — are being warned to choose sides carefully.

Is it a religion, or a dessert topping?

One of the more stupefying features of TM is its vague claim of not being a religion: "The Transcendental Meditation technique is not a religion or philosophy." But an overview of everything connected with TM practice - the organization and the people who teach TM - suggests something completely different. Religious aspects are woven throughout this entire enterprise that claims to be "scientific" in nature. In fact, the core doctrine of the organization which teaches TM is that of a religion. This religious organization holds that Transcendental Meditation and other practices in the program have an effect on the individual and society through means that can only be described as religious. The TM organization's stated goals of global transformation have many similarities to those of other religious faiths.

The TM movement's denial of its own obvious religiosity is absurd. As my title suggests, it brings to mind this great Saturday Night Live sketch. "New Shimmer's a floor wax and a dessert topping!"

"Shimmer Floor Wax", Saturday Night Live, January 10, 1976

"Tastes terrific... and just look at that shine!" But, as with Chevy Chase's rendition of the somewhat sleazy pitchman selling a surrealistic, self-contradictory product, something doesn't add up when it comes to the TM teacher's standard pitch concerning the relationship between TM and religious belief.

Critics over the years have pointed out that the religious nature of TM was proven by the decision in a Federal court case, Malnak v. Yogi, decades ago (1977). Yet promoters continue to insist that Transcendental Meditation is not a religious activity and may be implemented in public schools.

The following essay analyzes how the words and behaviors of the people and organizations promoting Transcendental Meditation mark it as a religious program. This is clearly demonstrated by current websites and online videos produced by the TM movement.

Science vs Religion

In Focus: Hindutva on the Attack




Optimists like to think, and say, that religion and secularism can co-exist peacefully. That each has its own realm - its Nonoverlapping Magisterium, as Stephen Jay Gould so mistakenly called it - and there is no need for rivalry or conflict. That ‘science’ (which is never defined when such assertions are being made) can answer the questions in its realm, and religion can answer the questions in its. Of course, that raises the obvious question, can it really? Can religion really answer the questions that ‘science’ (i.e. rational inquiry) cannot? ‘Answer’ in what sense? In the sense of saying something? No doubt it can do that, but then so can anyone else. In the sense of saying something true? But how do we know the ‘answer’ is true? Because religion says so? But that just goes around in a circle. Because it’s written in a book? But there are other books that give different answers. Because we evaluate the answers in a rational manner as we do with any other form of rational inquiry? But then we’re in that other realm. Is there a fourth possibility? Because - what? Religious people have some special wisdom or insight? If so, where does it come from? And so on. The questions are endless, and the claim for religion’s jurisdiction over the questions that science and rational inquiry cannot answer rests on very shaky premises.






Perhaps that is why pessimists disagree with optimists about the possibilities for peaceful co-existence. Perhaps it is because we are reluctant to accept claims that are based on mere assertion and authority and tradition, and we know from experience that that reluctance makes many religious people very angry. Perhaps it is because we know that claims that rest on shaky premises are just the ones that people tend to enforce with violence.






Ill-founded claims are the ones that get backed up with sticks, car antennas, guns, threats, petitions, calls for silencing, fatwas. There is a lot of that sort of thing around. The anger at the American scholar of mythology James Laine and his book about the Hindu king Shivaji is one example. A mob attacked and vandalized the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in January, destroying books and irreplaceable manuscripts. Scholars sat in tears among the wreckage afterward. In March the state of Maharashtra where the BORI is located sought the help of Interpol in arresting and extraditing James Laine. Other scholars of mythology such as Wendy Doniger and Paul Courtright are the object of threats and worse. ‘Vedic’ science and mathematics are introduced into the public school curriculum and history textbooks are altered without the consent of their authors, as the articles by Meera Nanda and Latha Menon for Butterflies and Wheels tell us. The war against research, inquiry, secularism, independent thought, scholarship and rationality goes on and indeed intensifies. It is a trend that needs watching.






Apposite Quotations






The fury with which untenable beliefs are defended is inversely proportional to their defensibility.

Richard Dawkins: The Annual Edge Question 2004



http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/infocusprint.php?num=20&subject=Religion%20on%20the%20Attack

International 'Vedic' meditation centre opens

See link below.
What do you reckon, 'same soup, different gravy'?
.
I wrote back asking them to explain why it is 'Vedic' rather than 'Vedantic', hope to hear back soon. In the meantime, who else has a problem with calling things 'Vedic'?
I know I do, big time.
If something is in the 'Vedanta', then it is not contained in the 'Vedas' per se, but in the works that immediately follow after. Vedanta includes the Gita, the Upanishads and all, but the four Vedas are the Vedas, or am I missing it?
Or are we just playing with words?

If we are, and we are using the word 'Veda' just to mean 'knowledge', then just about anything goes... why we could quote according to the Beatle Veda or the Maharishi Veda.
Oh my god, don't let that happen!
.
http://www.londonmeditationcentre.com/