Book Review: "TRANSCENDENTAL DECEPTION: Behind the TM curtain - bogus science, hidden agendas, and David Lynch’s campaign to push a million public school kids into Transcendental Meditation while falsely claiming it is not a religion" by Aryeh Siegel

Published 2018 by JanReg Press
222 pages
Reviewed by Laurie


This book is different.  This book is special.

"...'Will my practice of Transcendental Meditation conflict with my religion?'  [TM spokesperson] Roth answers, 'No....' " (p. 79)

"...For our practice, we select only the suitable mantras of personal gods.  Such mantras fetch to us the grace of personal gods...."   [quote by Maharishi]. (p. 86) 

I have read many fascinating memoirs by people who have spent years in the TM world.  And I’ve read excellent books about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Guru Dev.

But this book is different.  It doesn’t tell the story of one life.  Nor does it, like most exposes, focus on just one aspect of the TM organization (TMO), such as Maharishi’s sex life, or TM actually being a religious movement.

"...After giving meditation another shot...I had what superficially looked like convulsions and could not walk without assistance afterwards because my abdominals were clenched so tight, I was hunched over more than 90 degrees (that occurred on and off for nearly a week)...."  (p. 182-183)

Instead, it gives a comprehensive overview of the TM movement.  It brings together the many criticisms ~ over many years ~ in many fields ~ from many scholars. The result is compelling  evidence that deception is not an occasional aberration within the TMO, but one of its standard modes of operation.  Siegel documents how the TMO has:

(1)  Hidden the religious (Hindu) nature of the technique, the mantras and the TM philosophy.
(2)  Perpetrated biased research.
(3)  Posted websites claiming to be “independent.”
(4)  Misquoted people and organizations.

"...[W]idely promoted by TM as 'The Maharishi Effect,'...[is] group TM meditation impacting crime...."  (p. 101)

"...Utilizing raw data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program released in September 2016, [a real estate platform] reported...'The crime rate in Fairfield is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest....' "  (p. 106)

(5) Invented statistics.
(6) Denied the harm that TM causes some individuals.
(7) Hidden where the money goes.
(8) Engaged in cult-like behavior.
…And so much more.  

Different sections devoted to different areas of deception, several pages of “Resources,” and over 200 footnotes make this book an excellent source for investigating the soul of the organization that seeks to spreads TM, at whatever price.

Siegel realized that with each passing day, more and more public schools would be teaching TM.  Therefore he wrote and published this book as quickly as possible.  So frankly, the writing is quite uneven.  And I wish that Siegel had omitted his personal conjectures and denunciations, which in my opinion only weaken the book, since the facts speak for themselves.  Making allowances for his time constraints, it is still the most comprehensive review of TM I’ve seen in decades.

"...The flaws in this study [Meditation for Childhood ADHD] are numerous.  The number of subjects is too small, there is no control group, and it isn't blinded....It is based purely on self-report....[Children] are told what the expected outcome of the trial is, that their symptoms will improve with TM...." (page 115) 

I strongly recommend this book to scientists, medical doctors, psychotherapists, politicians, theologians, educators, ethicists, parents, students, former- present- and future-TMers, cult experts and more.  It will help them evaluate the PR promulgated by the TMO.

I am saddened that the leaders of the TMO (from its founder on down) have seen fit to take a pleasant quasi-religious technique that helps a lot of people and harms a few, and have sullied it, themselves and the public, by slathering it with lies.

"...The overall evidence supports that TM modestly lowers BP (blood pressure).  It is not certain whether it is truly superior to other meditation techniques in terms of BP lowering...." - American Heart Association, 2013.  (p. 108)

"...The American Heart Association made a scientific statement that Transcendental Meditation was the only form of stress management and meditation technique to reduce blood pressure...." - www.TM.org.  (p. 108) 

Also - be sure to check out Siegel’s cool and very fun website, tmdeception.com, for intriguing videos, interviews, articles and insights into TM.

[Note:  To read more books reviews on TMFree, go to our main page, right hand column, last section "Labels," and click on "book review."]

Review of "Greetings from Utopia Park; Surviving a Transcendent Childhood" by Claire Hoffman

Greetings from Utopia Park; Surviving a Transcendent Childhood

by Claire Hoffman

(2016) HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 265 pages

Claire Hoffman offers a tender and honest memoir about her childhood in Transcendental Meditation’s mecca in Fairfield, Iowa. Born in 1977 to parents practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM), Claire lived in TM’s Iowa community from age 5-16. For those seeking a full exposé about TM's lifestyles, this would not be the story for you.

The preface opens with the author in present time, in her mid-thirties. As a successful journalist, she is a happily married young mother living away from cult origins. She returns to her former community to resolve what she labels as youthful cynicism. She wants to believe and thus registers for an advanced TM program to learn to fly. Belief versus cynicism is the thread winding through her narrative.

Clare then weaves a beautifully written story from the 1970’s seduction of her hippy parents by the Beatles’ guru during TM’s heyday. The young adults find Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s promise of inner tranquility, world peace, and eventually a community with other meditators to be a welcome respite from their own abusive childhoods. Claire is their second child. When her father stops practicing TM, succumbs to alcoholism, and abandons his young family in New York City, her mother lacks the means to support her children. Initially they relocate from New York to the Florida home of Claire’s grandmother, then resettle in Fairfield, Iowa with Maharishi’s so-called “Ideal Society” outside his university. 

Young Claire eagerly anticipates enrolling in her third kindergarten that year to join classmates who share a lifestyle and also practice TM’s childhood mantra meditation, or “Word of Wisdom” - she quickly learns she will not attend Maharishi’s private school because the private tuition is prohibitive. Instead, she and her brother attend a local public school where classmates taunt them as “Ru’s”, short for “Guroos”. An anonymous sponsor eventually enables Claire and her brother to attend Maharishi’s school. She happily dons the requisite blue jumper and bow tie to blend with other children who together sing Maharishi songs, learn their guru’s teachings interwoven with the three R’s, and receive grades for meditation.

When they move into one of two hundred dilapidated trailer homes in “Utopia Park”, Claire and her brother merge with a close-knit subculture of unsupervised children who create excitement while parents daily attend hours of group “Program” meditation. A few unusual childhood deaths provide a shadowy backdrop to other childhood mishaps. She has a close brush with a man who befriends children and targets Claire alone for physical exploration; she runs from his apartment while he showers with the bathroom door open. She mentions others’ stories of wild teenage explorations, fathers who have affairs with teenage babysitters, and easy access to recreational drugs. She describes her world as “binary”, divided between those who follow Maharishi’s teachings versus those who are not to be trusted. Their mother struggles financially through a series of jobs with meditator companies and a series of heartbreaks with sequential boyfriends. In contrast to her family’s struggles, Claire provides a brief overview of TM’s history and mentions Maharishi’s multibillion dollar global empire.

Their father becomes sober and reenters the lives of his now adolescent children to explain that they live in a cult. Her father is a writer who encourages his children to express themselves. As Claire prepares to enter high school, her anonymous sponsorship for Maharishi school evaporates. She enrolls in Fairfield’s public high school along with other TM kids who are stigmatized because their families cannot afford Maharishi School. She finds her way with “townie” teens. After a drug laden party at an abandoned rock quarry, sixteen year old Claire can no longer tolerate the confusing lifestyle. She apologizes to her mother and joins her father in California to finish school and pursue mainstream education and lifestyle.

The story jumps forward fifteen years to find Claire, an accomplished professional, flipping perspective on her early years. She holds a faculty position with the University of California and has published articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Rolling Stone. With a supportive husband and crying baby, Claire has a crisis of meaning in her seemingly mundane life. She misses her community and connection to a higher purpose. In an ironic twist, she writes she misses the “safety” of her childhood community. 

TM luminaries David Lynch and Bobby Roth invite Claire to meetings in Los Angeles with Hollywood celebrities recently recruited to Transcendental Meditation, causing her to question her youthful cynicism. She feels that her negativity from a TM childhood should not interfere with celebrities’ benefitting from TM. Lynch and Roth meet individually with Claire, tempting her back to her roots. The memoir concludes as it began. Claire attends advanced meditation retreats and returns to her childhood home to learn TM’s advanced meditation to fly, bouncing on high density foam. She experiences the inner bliss that initially captivated her mother. However, she fails to mention the $5,000 price tag for TM’s advanced flying program; she does not disclose her mystical meditation mantra nor advanced techniques. When Claire's daughter learns her “Word her Wisdom”, she reveals her meditation mantra is “wisdom” which Bobby Roth verifies. Claire is surprised that it’s not a meaningless sound, but fails to mention TM’s touted meaningless sounds are derived from Hindu deities.

In the Epilogue she reflects that utopia didn’t exist, but the quest for bliss, satisfaction and inner peace were hard to relinquish. She states the TM Movement was not a failure, and that her community was not fooled. She acknowledges their sincere desire to build utopia and pursuit of a shared dream… “what mattered was the believing. The willingness to believe is everything.” She admits that today “. . . one of the hardest things to see are the staff members who have worked there for decades, giving their time and their lives to a cause that is no longer there. Their guru is dead and the fortune he amassed from his followers is being fought over in Indian probate court.”

The author tenderly describes both idealism and frank details of destructive neglect in her childhood community. However, when summarizing TM’s scientific benefits, she does not question research methodology, nor mention alternatives.

In the acknowledgements section Claire thanks lifelong friends, alluding to other experiences, “I know you all have different lenses with which you view our shared past but I hope you recognize the one you read here.” She thanks Bobby Roth for “his openhearted invitation to me to keep Transcendental Meditation in my life, despite my cynical and questioning heart. It is in many ways thanks to him that I still practice - and enjoy - meditation today.” She is grateful for her mother’s love and hard work to raise her children, stating that this memoir “is really just a bumbling, inept love letter to her and to the religious experience, even though it may not always feel like it.”

Claire’s humble and honest memoir is a quick read. I recommend “Greetings from Utopia Park” for one perspective on making sense of a confusing cult childhood.

As reviewer, I must state my inherent bias. I was also raised in TM. My conclusions differ from those expressed by Claire Hoffman in “Greetings from Utopia Park”. Claire and I share many personal connections, much as would distant cousins in a small community. Some TM kids, now adults, tell me Claire’s story mirrors their own. Others share more gruesome tales. Unlike Claire Hoffman who concludes with an upbeat note about TM, my own cynicism remains unabated even as I love people from my past. I suspect that Bobby Roth and David Lynch lured Claire back to the dissociative high of TM’s prolonged meditations because her journalistic skill risked exposing their organization. In this memoir, Claire does not reveal TM’s mystical mantras nor the price tag of TM’s advanced programs, thus sheltering key first steps to cult indoctrination. She glosses over mention of TM’s many costly add-ons and monastic programs. When reading that Claire’s daughter’s mantra is “wisdom”, I wondered - did the TM Movement change mantras from Sanskrit to English after Maharishi's death? Or only for Claire’s daughter? In either case, there is no magic.

Another Deception By Maharishi Uncovered?

Another Deception by Maharishi Uncovered? 

"Puja Feeling" as related to the "Purity of the Teaching"

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that this information has been published anywhere on the internet. 


I attended my TM Teacher Training Course (TTC) in 1974.  The course was three months long, and it was a big day for us when we finally started learning the puja (the Hindu ritual of worship that is done by the TM teacher before teaching someone TM.)   Once we started learning the puja, we were getting the real stuff, the esoteric stuff, the secrets that separated us and raised us higher than the average TMer.  So we were told by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  

Mahesh was very strict about us being able to perform the puja properly.  We were tested on it, and to pass the test, we had to memorize everything perfectly.  Mahesh used two phrases a lot: "The Holy Tradition," and "the purity of the Teaching."  

We had already been taught to tell our students that the puja was simply "a traditional ceremony of gratitude," non-religious in nature.  But now we were getting the inside scoop.  According to Mahesh, TM had been practiced in India in the distant past, much to the benefit of Indian individuals and Indian society.  But due to incremental small misinterpretations of the procedure, over time the technique had become lost, and India had therefore become a poor and apathetic nation.  Therefore, now that the correct technique had been rediscovered, it was imperative that TM be taught meticulously, so that the "purity of the teaching" be maintained for as long as possible into the future.  

According to Mahesh, teaching someone TM was not a simple matter of giving them their own particular mantra and teaching them how to use it the TM way.  Rather, instruction required careful preparation by the TM teacher in order to ensure the "purity of the Teaching" as handed down by the Holy Tradition of Masters, and to not dilute the purity of this precious life-giving technique.  Unbeknownst to the student, the TM teacher needs to enter an exalted state of consciousness in order to transmit a subtle spiritual essence that allows the technique to work.  The way to enter that higher state of consciousness was to do the puja as taught on TTC.
 
Mahesh taught us that he was the anointed custodian of TM.  And that he was the ultimate arbiter of the Truth.  TM went back for millenia.  Mahesh passed TM along in its purity by making sure we performed the traditional rite before teaching it.  The puja, exactly as he taught it, was the only means by which the purity of the teaching could remained intact.  Every syllable had to be performed perfectly.  If you didn't do it exactly as Mahesh taught it, your student couldn't learn TM.  If you didn't do it right, your student couldn't do TM properly.  If you didn't do it right, you were compromising the purity of the teaching.  If you didn't do it right, you were putting the future of TM at risk.  If you didn't do it right, you were putting the future of the earth at risk.      

Therefore on our TTC in 1974, we labored to memorize the component parts of this venerable ancient puja.  We had to have all components down letter-perfect in order to pass the final exam to become a TM teacher.

Fast forward 35 years.  A few years ago, Sudarsha (a fellow co-contributor to TM-Free,) was telling me about his 1970 TTC.  On his course, there were 3 (three) components to Mahesh's  puja.  


But on my 1974 TTC, there were 4 (four) components.

Oh.

So much for Mahesh's life-shaking claims.
  
To me, this is just one more deception in the long list of lies Mahesh told us.  To me, it is just one more disappointing piece of evidence of Mahesh's frequent modus operandi: be dishonest when it suits your purpose. 

Here are the three components Sudarsha learned:

(1)  "Puja Movements:"  how to hold the flowers, how to place the offerings on the altar before the painting of Maharishi's guru, etc.,
(2)  "Puja Pronunciation:" how to pronounce the Sanskrit properly.  (The entire 11-minute ritual is in Sanskrit), and
(3)  "Puja Translation:" what the puja means in English.

The fourth component, the additional one my TTC learned, was called "Puja Feeling."  This was the emotions the initiator was encouraged to feel while performing certain portions of the puja.

To the best of my knowledge, the complete "Puja Feeling" has never before appeared on the internet anywhere.  I haven't found it on any of the other websites skeptical of T.M. (You can find those websites listed on the right hand column on this page). 

So for your edification, I will quote the relevant Sanskrit puja passages.  After that, their English translation.  And then, the "Puja Feeling." 

My great thanks go to minet.org and to trancenet.org at the link  www.onwww.net/trancenet.org/secrets/puja/tradt.shtml for providing the Sanskrit and English portions.  I take responsibility for changes in punctuation that I have made for increased clarity. 

Sanskrit:

"...AVAHANAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 

ASANAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
SNANAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
VASTRAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
CHANDANAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
AKSHATAN SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
PUSHPAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
DHUPAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
DIPAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
ACHAMANIYAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
NAIVEDYAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
ACHAMANIYAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
TAMBULAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
SHRI PHALAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 

ARARTIKYAM.... 

 ...ARARTIKYAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
ACHAMANIYAM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH. 
PUSHPANJALIM.... 

 ...PUSHPANJALIM SAMARPAYAMI SHRI GURU CHARANA KAMALEBHYO NAMAH." 

 English Translation:

"...Offering the invocation to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering a seat to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering an ablution to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering cloth to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering sandalpaste to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering full rice to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering a flower to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering incense to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering light to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering water to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering fruit to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering water to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering a betel leaf to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering a coconut to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering camphor light....
...Offering camphor light to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering water to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down.
Offering a handful of flowers....
...Offering a handful of flowers to the lotus feet of SHRI GURU DEV, I bow down."

"Puja Feeling," (1974, with 1974 explanatory notes):

 -- Upon saying the line that starts with "Avahanam," and while placing that offering 

(or its symbolic equivalent, raw rice grains) upon the altar, feel the following: 

"I feel the upsurge of purifying waves of knowledge."

Explanation:  This offering of the invocation to the great Masters of the Holy 

Tradition brings a lively awareness of eternal wisdom. 

-- Upon saying the line that starts with "Asanam," and while placing that offering 

(or its symbolic equivalent) upon the altar, feel the following:

"I am realizing the ideal of yogastah kuru karmani." [Note from Laurie:  Maharishi 

told us that"yogastah kuru karmani" translated as "Established in Being, perform 

action."] 

Explanation:  This offering symbolizes the immovable seat of life in Being.  In 

offering this seat we feel stablized in the immovability of Being.  Offerings on 

this firm basis are actions to fulfil cosmic purpose.

-- Upon saying the line that..."Snanam,"...

"I feel the joy of standing in the cosmic waters of pure consciousness."

Explanation:  This offering of an ablution symbolises the refreshing omnipresence of

Pure Consciousness.

-- Upon saying the line that..."Vastram,"...

"I am secure in the Omnipresence of Being."

Explanation:  This offering of cloth symbolizes the garment of all-pervading Being.

-- Upon saying..."Chandanam,"...

"I am refreshed by the tranquility of the Transcendent."

Explanation:  This offering of sandalpaste spreads some pleasant cooling influence 

in the atmosphere.

-- Upon..."Akshatan"...

"I feel the wholeness of individual awareness."

Explanation:  This offering of full rice symbolizes the fullness of eternal life.

-- Upon..."Pushpam"...

"I feel the blossoming of inner Being."

Explanation:  This offering of a flower symbolizes the full bloom of life.

-- Upon..."Dupam"...

"I feel a pleasant wave of inner and outer purity."

Explanation:  This offering of incense symbolizes the sweet fragrance of purity.

-- Upon..."Dipam"...

"I feel the light of life, Pure Consciousness, illuminating everything."

Explanation:  This offering of light brings the light of wisdom to dispel all 

ignorance.

--Upon..."Achmaniyam,"... (before "Naivedyam")

"I feel the support of the waves of bliss."

Explanation:  This offering of water softens the atmosphere.

-- Upon...."Naivedyam"...

"I feel fulfilled in the plentiful life."

Explanation:  This offering of fruit symbolizes the state of fulfillment.

-- Upon..."Achmaniyam"... (said after "Naivedyam")

"I feel the flow of fulfillment in the omnipresence of Being."

Explanation:  This offering of water brings the flow of life in fulfillment.

-- Upon..."Tambulam"...

"I feel everywhere the cleansing and purifying influence at the source of speech."

Explanation:  This offering of a betel leaf brings freshness, purifying the abode 

of speech.

-- Upon..."Shri phalam"...

"I feel the fullness of life welling up."

Explanation:  This offering of the complete fruit [the coconut - Laurie] represents

the fullness of life, unmanifested and manifest.  The entire field of manifest life 

(gross, subtle and subtlest) is represented respectively by the husk or outer

covering, the kernel or meat of the fruit, and the milk or inner essence.  The 

transcendental value of life is symbolized by the self-contained unmanifest space 

within.

-- "Arartikyam."

(Offering a camphor frame)

-- Upon..."Achmaniyam"... (after "Arartikyam")

"I feel the flow of fulfillment in the light of Being."

-- "Pushpanjalim."  (first)

(Offering a handful of flowers)

Explanation:  This offering of a handful of flowers is the offering of the full 

bloom of life which has arisen from the offering of light.

-- Upon..."Pushpanjalim"...  (second)

"I feel oneness with the Omnipresent."

Explanation:  This offering of a handful of flowers symbolizes the surrender of the 

fully blossomed heart and mind in all the glories of the Relative and the Absolute. 

 I hope this newly available information is helpful.  Individuals and websites are welcome to 

use this information, with proper attribution. 

I'm really sorry that I lied to you.

A trip down memory lane. Admitting a mistake and making amends. Pondering the power of mind control. Healing. Clearing your conscience. Whatever you call it....Here is an opportunity to share those inexplicable moments when you or someone you cared about experienced a split in consciousness, a moment of cognitive dissonance, the creepy power of doublethink, programmed dissociation. I have spoken with former TM teachers, and we are really sorry , and ashamed, that we lied to you.

I'll start the ball rolling by sharing some of the lies I and other former TM Teachers (initiators) regret having said while we were under the influence of TM.

Initiator #1: "I was giving an introductory lecture. I emphasized the physiological, psychological and social benefits, and the scientific research, as I had been trained to do. During the question and answer period, someone asked if this technique had a spiritual aspect. I answered, "No. Absolutely not. There is nothing spiritual about this technique. It is absolutely practical, to be more effective in the world."

Commentary: What the heck was I thinking? I was lying. After all, on the third day following initiation, the topic was how TM leads to cosmic consciousness. Mr. Mahesh had a phrase,"TM unfolds 200% of life - 100% material and 100% spiritual." So why the heck did I say that? I guess because on my TM Teacher Training Course (TTC) we had been taught to swear that TM was not a religion, did not interfere with anybody's religion, did not conflict with anybody's religion. That we should emphasize the practical benefits of TM and not turn people off by mentioning cosmic consciousness, God consciousness or unity consciousness. Mr. Mahesh tutored us, "In the scientific age, we speak in the language of science." I'm really sorry that I lied to you.

Initiator #2: "I was co-teaching a TM course with another initiator. During the first day following initiation, a student asked about the exact pronunciation of his mantra. My fellow initiator said that it didn't matter, you shouldn't think about it, it wasn't even an English word; it was a Sanskrit word. My mother, who had been initiated a few months earlier, called me on his comment. 'What do you mean, it's a Sanskrit word? We were told it was a meaningless sound.' I thought very fast, trying to find some wording that covered the behind of my fellow teacher, and said, 'Well, it comes from the same tradition as Sanskrit words.' "

Commentary: What the heck was I thinking? I was lying. Why? Because I had already intuited that there was something dishonest in TM about the mantras. I had not exactly been taught that the mantras were Sanskrit words, but I had not exactly been taught that they weren't, either. (Mahesh definitely had not taught us that they were the "seed form" of Hindu gods). However, my fellow initiator made his comment in his official capacity, in public, to a bunch of new, impressionable TMers. So I wasn't about to blow TM's reputation by admitting that my fellow initiator didn't know what he was talking about, or that we didn't actually learn precise information on TTC - no! The impression we initiators were working so hard to create was that we were so thoroughly, rigorously trained that we didn't contradict each other or make errors about TM. I'm really sorry that I lied to you.

Initiataor #3: "On my TTC, they drilled it into us that TM was the solution to all problems in all fields of life. TM research was especially impressive on health benefits. I remember that they said, 'If someone has a heart condition, encourage them to start TM right away. Because you never know when a person might have a heart attack, and TM is so helpful for the heart.' But on one of the very last days of TTC, they mentioned very quickly in passing that TM might worsen an epileptic condition. Fast forward to several months later. I have given the introductory and preparatory TM lectures. Now I sit in private with a soon-to-be-initiate, reviewing her personal interview form. And there, under 'physical problems,' they've written 'epilepsy.' What can I possibly say? 'Oh, ignore everything I've said at both lectures. The research is biased. Protect your health. Don't learn this meditation. It can be deleterious to you.' Can I say that? Of course not. So I said what Mahesh had taught us to say, 'Oh, good, TM will be helpful with this, too.' I'm really sorry that I lied to you."

Commentary: The whole reason for the introductory lectures is to convince more people to start TM. The charts, graphs, scientific research, all are to raise the hopes of the audience that TM will give them marvelous gifts. Mahesh has even instituted a "World Plan," promising that TM will solve all the physical, emotional, social, law enforcement, economic, educational, governmental and spiritual aspirations of humanity....Except if you have epilepsy? Then TM might make you sicker? No, our job was to say whatever we could at the intro lectures to successfully recruit. Even if that meant lying. Even if we had to present fraudulent research. We had unknowingly been conscripted as missionaries to spread TM. So what can you say to this hopeful recruit? So I swallowed my saliva, and my integrity, and said, "Oh, you have epilepsy - well TM should help with that too." That happened decades ago. I don't remember your name, or if you are still alive. But I remember that shameful moment, and I pray that I didn't injure you with that initiation. I apologize, and I hope some day you will forgive me. I am really, really sorry that I lied to you.

Well, now it's your turn. Do you have any stories you want to tell about lies you or your friends told while you were under the thrall of Maharishi?

Unhooking From Maharishi's Teachings: Laurie Interviews Sudarsha about the Puja (Ceremony)

I (Laurie) left TM 30 years ago, after 10 years in the TM movement, and I have been "deprogramming" myself ever since. I now believe that everything I was taught on the TM Teacher Training Course while I was "rounding" (meditating many times a day) bypassed my critical thinking, and went straight into my belief system. Therefore, even today I am still finding unexamined beliefs inside myself that hook me into Mahesh Prasad Varma's system. (According to Wikipedia, "Mahesh Prasad Varma" may be Maharishi's given name.)

One of those beliefs was that the puja had magical powers. Mr. Varma told us that the word "puja" translates as "traditional ceremony of gratitude," but most other translators say it means "worship". On my TM Teacher Training Course in La Antilla, Spain, in 1974, Mr. Varma taught us that the puja must be performed before the person is instructed in TM. Without it, he said, TM cannot be successfully learned or practiced. He gave quasi-scientific and quasi-mystical reasons why this was so; and I was left with fear and trembling for the sacred, God-given puja.

Therefore, it was helpful to my recovery to learn that after his disillusionment with Mr. Varma's movement, Sudarsha, (one of the co-editors of TM-Free), successfully instructed many people in TM without first chanting the puja. I thought it might be helpful to other readers recovery too, to read about this, so I decided to interview Sudarsha. Here goes:

Laurie: How did you first hear of TM?

Sudarsha: I remember it like it was yesterday! It was in May of 1968. I had just finished another miserable day teaching high school English, and I decided to go for a walk rather than immediately take the bus home. I wandered into a drugstore, and there on a book rack was this childishly cuddly guy draped in white on the cover of a book. For some reason, I was fascinated and I bought it.

That night, I started to read it. He had written, "To be is to live." Those words struck me like lightening. I sat up straight and confirmed to myself, "This is it! This is what I've been searching for!" Sadly, the book didn't actually teach me anything. It just theorized and theorized. The title? "The Science of Being and Art of Living" by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I felt hooked. Now I believe that I was more hooked by to have that final secret of how to do it than anything else. I wanted to learn to do this. Cleverly, Mahesh could rope us in by coming so close to telling us the secret, but just stopping short.

A week or so later, I found and bought an LP (a vinyl record - remember those?) of Mahesh giving a talk. His voice sounded so captivating. There was an address and phone number on the record sleeve. I phoned and made an appointment to learn TM.

L: What results did you get from TM?

S: Same results as everyone else: in the beginning TM felt good. I felt a sense of relief. As I think back on it now, I realize that "relief" is quite different from the "pure consciousness" or "source of thought" that Mahesh was promising, but I mistook the relief for what he was promising. Ultimately, I think it all comes back to "me": my understanding, my misunderstanding, my expectations, my desires, my greeds. But being a schoolteacher was stressful, and I was stressed. TM was a contrast to that, so it felt good.

L: What made you decide to become an initiator?

S: TM was easy to do and it felt good. It was only many years later that I began to believe that it operated on the basis of contrast and little more. Back then, though, I thought that this was good, worthwhile, valuable, a lot more satisfying than what I was currently doing. And, into the bargain, a lot more valuable to others. So I went to Estes Park, Colorado, USA, in 1970 and took the TM Teacher Training Course.

L: What was your understanding at that time of the reason for doing the puja?

S: That's complicated. It was what we were supposed to do; it was what Mahesh taught us; it somehow empowered us to "give" the mantra - he said it allowed us to pick up the mantra at the finest level. It was special, maybe even sacred.

But when I was finally given that piece of paper with the mantras written on it, and saw that they were selected not by some deep psycho-spiritual-physiological reasoning, but just by age and gender - well! There was a conflict! Something wasn't making sense, and it was very difficult to think about that, when I really wanted to teach TM because I thought it was really a good thing.

L: From today's vantage point, what do you think the puja is really about, or what is its purpose?

S: The puja was a nice touch. I suppose it was Mahesh's way of trying to flaunt his so-called tremendous devotion to Guru Dev. We know from what Paul Mason has written on his website about Guru Dev that some pundit wrote the puja for Guru Dev, and Guru Dev didn't like it. He said to tie it to a stone and throw it into the Ganges. Which the pundit did. Mahesh said, and I don't remember where, that he dove in and rescued it.

Some of the earliest initiators to be trained in India by Mahesh learned an ending which Mahesh later changed, probably in the early 1960's. Also, when I learned the puja, in 1968, there were only three parts to it: the Sanskrit words, the English translation and the movements we made with our hands, etc.

L: By 1974, when I learned it on my TM Teacher Training Course, there was also a fourth part, called "puja feeling." Mr. Varma said all four parts were essential for the puja to "work." So this whole business of "the purity of the teaching" and "doing the puja to preserve the purity of the teaching" is suspect.

S: I think now that what the puja actually does is simply what all ceremonies do: it draws attention away from everything else. Look how the Roman Catholic Church used the Mass to manipulate people all through the Middle Ages. In teaching TM, the puja is very useful because it is so strange - at least to Westerners - at least it was strange when TM hit the West in the 1960's. People being instructed get completely disoriented. They can't figure out what is going on. This is useful, because when the teacher says a mantra and asks the person to start repeating it, the person does so in a completely non-judgmental state. I believe this is one of the reasons why the first TM experience is so spectacular. It's a real contrast to how you were feeling an hour ago when you were walking to the TM Center.

L: How many people did you initiate using the puja?

S: Something near 800.

L: What experience did those students have with TM?

S: They had the prescribed experience, much like my own initial experience: it felt good, they experienced deep rest. I wonder now if what they experienced wasn't deep rest, but a contrast from their normal way of feeling, which they mistook for "deep rest," because that's what the TM teachers told them they would experience.

L: What led you to consider teaching TM without the puja?

S: That's a really tough question, Laurie, because I don't really remember all the details. I do remember being dissatisfied with what Mahesh had done with TM: adding the Science of Creative Intelligence, Six-Month Courses, Age of Enlightenment techniques, sidhi nonsense. It was obvious to me that the steps of initiation were the only thing that was useful, to lead an individual into a very quiet state so that thinking the mantra would be easy.

After I quit teaching at the TM Center, some friends showed an interest in TM. So I said, "OK, let's just sit quietly and I'll teach you how to do it," and very off-handedly did the steps of initiation starting with the "open the eyes; close the eyes" business from the checking notes. The results were the same. People were happy with the results. Another one of Mahesh's dogmatic superstitions bit the dust.

L: How many people did you instruct without the puja?

S: Maybe 25 or 30. I don't really remember. Those were very traumatic days. I was feeling very sad that I had wasted three months learning to teach TM when anyone could learn how to teach it in a weekend. All the hubbub of rounding for three months had just been brainwashing - or whatever the correct word for that is these days.

L: Were you nervous or guilty or scared about teaching TM without the puja? I know I would have been.

S: No. I hadn't bought into the superstitions of Maheshism. If nothing else, those two years when I was on TM's international staff intimately working side by side with Mahesh demonstrated to me, beyond any doubt, that Mahesh was making it up as he went along. There was no evidence at all that he was any kind of superhuman. Granted, he was very intelligent and quick-witted, and had a remarkably retentive memory. But so do lots of "normal" human beings. What Mahesh had that other people didn't have was the aura of specialness. That is to say, our attribution of mystical specialness to him . He let us believe that he had all sorts of knowledge and "blessings" from Guru Dev. Mahesh was also extraordinarily clever, and used his cleverness to manipulate others. He had a very amoral approach to what he did: if it benefitted his agenda, it was OK.

So, since I came to the conclusion that Mahesh was very human indeed - from direct contact with him - no, I had no nervousness, guilt or fear at all about dropping the puja. And as it turned out, dropping the puja had no effect on the learning or the practice of TM.

L: How did you choose the mantra for the non-puja initiates?

S: Same as I was taught. For some reason, back then it never occurred to me to experiment with mantras. How curious, because Mahesh himself had said that "any word would do," but back then, I only knew the mantras he taught me at Estes Park. I was still unable to think outside the box in this regard.

L: What results did the non-puja students have?

S: Same as all the people I taught the "orthodox" way.

L: Did they keep up with meditating? Did you "check" their meditations?

S: They all got checked, non-puja students and puja students alike. Both groups had the same outcomes: some continued , some said they thought it was silly, some said they didn't have time, some said it quit working....

L: Did you tell them what the mantras really meant?

S: Back then I didn't know what they meant. I found that out later.

L: Thanks so much, Sudarsha, for letting me interview you.

S: It was my pleasure, sort of. This is stuff people have a right to know. Mahesh was using his cleverness, his powers of persuasion, his amoral manipulation of others, without regard to their safety, well-being, or any other aspect of their lives. He simply used people for his own ends, something which is never taught or done by legitimate teachers.

I wonder if my answers are typical. I would find it really interesting - perhaps we could do a survey - to see how many other initiators discovered that the whole puja thing was just part of the phobia-induction that Mahesh used to make our minds like his.

Essential Documents, and Open Thread

I've made a few changes here on the TM-Free blog, and one of them is the links in the right-hand column. You'll have to scroll down to see them - or click the index link under where it says "Scroll down for these links" - in a new section titled "Essential Documents." Many of these are rather old files - some go back almost two decades - but they constitute some of the most interesting and revealing disclosures about the innards of the organizations that teach TM that have ever been made. Most links are to John Knapp's trancenet.net website, which also dates back to the mid-1990's. All these files, though dated, are still relevant as they document the inner teachings of the TM movement which were taught to devotees and TM teachers. These individuals, who today are still working to promote the TM program worldwide, very likely still hold these teachings to be true today.

The Transcendental Meditation™ and TM-Sidhi™ Techniques

This is the original list of mantras and other innards of the techniques, originally placed on the 'net back in 1994. Please note the disclaimer; these details are disclosed there to show just how trivial the techniques are, not for the purpose of meditation instruction.

 

TM Mantra Meanings

Subtitled, "When Is a Meaningless Sound Not Meaningless? When It's a Tantric Name of a Hindu God." Meanings of the mantras used in TM, with an associated commentary on bija mantras by a Tantric scholar, who appears to have identified the source of confusion over whether or not such mantras convey meaning:

Bijas have no meaning according to the ordinary use of language and for this reason they have formed the subject of ridicule to those ignorant of the Mantra-sastra. The initiated however know that their meaning is the own form (Svarupa) of the particular Devatas whose mantra they are, and that they are a form of the Subtle Power as creative Dhvani which makes all letters sound and which exists in all that we say or hear.

 

TM Initiation and Checking

Documentation of the unique methods and rituals that any TM meditator will encounter when they engage a TM teacher to learn Transcendental Meditation. Initiation is the process of instruction in the meditation practice, and "checking" is a mechanical ritual by which the practice of TM is reinforced through trance induction and the repetition of various suggestions.

 

TM Children's Initiation

The process of learning Transcendental Meditation when it is taught to children, of particular relevance with the continuing efforts of the David Lynch Foundation to introduce TM into schools. Note the requirement - apparently since discarded - that at least one parent first begin the practice before a child may learn TM.  

 

TM "Holy Tradition" - Initiation Ceremony

From the original description of this file:

... the entire text of The Holy Tradition, a secret book given only to new TM teachers. The Holy Tradition was once the primary textbook on TM Teacher Training Phase III, containing the Sanskrit text and a sanitized English translation of the puja or "initiation ceremony," discussion of the performance and meaning of the puja, and a brief, probably mythical history of Indian religious figures said by the Maharishi to be "the Holy Tradition" who kept the knowledge of TM alive for thousands of years. Beginning in 1977, The Holy Tradition was banned on TM Teacher Training courses, reportedly out of fear of more Federal court cases like Malnak v. Yogi, which found TM to be religious and barred the teaching of TM and SCI in New Jersey public schools. Despite judgments by Federal courts and the ensuing disbelief of the media and public, TM organizations have insisted for nearly 25 years that they are not a religion or religious.

 

TM Initiation Ceremony - True Meaning

Titled "Whose Puja Is It, Anyway?" this essay lays out how "it appears the Maharishi cobbled together scraps of Sanskrit poetry to create a "Hindoo ceremony" to wow the Western crowd."

 

TM-Sidhi "yogic flying" program

From the description:

Here...is a full discussion of the TM-Sidhi program: the full 18 sutra "citizen's" program... the even more secret Governor's sutras for invisibility and more, the original marketing and research materials that promised enlightenment and levitation, an indepth analysis of the TM-Sidhis and hyperventilation, and finally a warning from the mainstream Indian tradition to avoid their practice as dangerous and a waste of time.

Also included are a number of newspaper advertisements from 1977 featuring "supernormal" powers of "levitation" and "invisibility."

 

Wikileaks "Transcendental Meditation" category

These are a number of files from the 2004-2008 time period which primarily relate to activities of the TM movement's "Governors" in the United States. Most interesting is the "Governor Recertification Course Overview of Policies and Procedures," a 2005 document apparently written by "Raja" Kingsley Brooks and his wife Leslie. This document contains this choice quote, completely negating any claim the movement makes that its programs are scientifically or medically respectable:

We are not going to take help from medical Drs. as medical professionals give poison. So don't engage any medical Drs. for anything - absolutely whatever it is - even if they are in our Movement family... Hold onto the fact that we are the supreme authorities on health - we know how to create perfect health - we are challenging all governments in world.

 

Roark Letter

Dennis Roark wrote about his experiences as Chairman of the Physics Department of the then- Maharishi International University (now MUM). From the Spring 1992 TM-EX Newsletter.

 

DeNaro Affidavit

In the mid-1980's, Robert Kropinski sued the TM movement (then formally called the "World Plan Executive Council") and MIU, alleging financial, physical, and psychological harm. From that case - later settled for a six-figure undisclosed sum - a number of interesting court documents have been obtained. This is the affidavit of Anthony DeNaro, who was a professor of law and economics at Maharishi International University (MIU, now MUM) for about a year, starting in 1975. DeNaro alleged "a very serious and deliberate pattern of fraud, designed ... to misrepresent the TM movement as a science (not as a cult), and fraudulently claim and obtain tax exempt status with the IRS." He also wrote about the on-campus environment:

A disturbing denial or avoidance syndrome, and even outright lies and deception, are used to cover-up or sanitize the dangerous reality on campus of very serious nervous breakdowns, episodes of dangerous and bizarre behavior, suicidal and homicidal ideation, threats and attempts, psychotic episodes, crime, depression and manic behavior that often accompanied roundings (intensive group meditations with brainwashing techniques).

 

Kropinski's Answer to Interrogatory No. 40

This is a list of casualties of TM practice that were known to Robert Kropinski at the time of his lawsuit against WPEC and MIU.

 

Kropinski trial testimony "Soma and the Gods"

From the trial transcript, a glimpse at the bizarre theology at the heart of the TM movement, which somehow involves Vedic gods eating a substance (Soma) from the stomachs of people who practice TM. This almost ranks right up there with the inner doctrine of the Church of Scientology, which has something to do with clams.

 

Kropinski appelate decision 1998, before out-of-court settlement

 

Malnak v. Yogi decision 1977

This is the Federal court case which enjoined the Federal government and the State of New Jersey from promoting the teaching or practicing of TM, and prohibited the teaching of TM in New Jersey public schools.

The TM-Free News Brief is on hiatus this week.

Lying: A Core Practice of Transcendental Meditation. (A Seven-Part Series). Part 3: Lies and the TM Hierarchy

There are so many different ways to lie. There are lies of omission, lies of commission, bending the truth, creeping around the truth, changing the story over time, rationalizing, and more.

There are also the fascinating questions of our own part in the lies we hear - why we did or didn't believe the lies, why we did or didn't take responsibility for perpetuating the lies.

I hope to cover these and other topics in future installments of this seven-part series. I hope those who gain healing from remembering, sharing and re-evaluating their TM stories will enjoy these trips down memory lane. Today's essay focuses on Maharishi's practice of progressively revealing more "inner secrets" as a person moved up the TM hierarchy.

When I learned TM in 1970, the hierarchy looked like this:

Non-TMer ("non-meditator")
TMer ("meditator")
Checker
TM teacher ("initiator")
Course leader
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

When I became a "meditator," Maharishi and my initiator taught me certain things. I was 19 years old and naive, and I believed what I was taught. Two and a half years later, when I moved up the hierarchy and was studying to become an "initiator," Maharishi and his course leaders informed us that some of the things they had taught us as meditators were not true, but that now the actual truth would be revealed to us lucky insiders. I was 22, and meditating 12 times a day, and I believed what I was taught.

And here is what I was taught. When I first learned TM, I was told that the mantra was scientifically selected by initiators who had been carefully trained on long courses how to choose the sound that would be most beneficial to each particular individual. But on my TM Teacher Training Course (TTC), I learned the trick to choosing the right mantra in four minutes: age 10 to 12 got "ing," age 12 to 14 got "im," age 14 to 16 got "inga," and so on. Scientific? Carefully chosen? Takes months to learn? Hah!

As a meditator, I had been told that the ceremony I watched on instruction day (the "puja") was not religious, and that it was just to remind the teacher to teach the meditation properly. But on my TTC, we learned that actually the ceremony was loaded with religious references. (Part of the English translation is "...to Lord Naranaya, to lotus-born Brahma the Creator...," who are Hindu gods.) Also, we were told that through carefully gesturing and contemplating during the puja, we initiators were transported to a higher state of consciousness that would both assist the student in learning to meditate, and in speeding us toward enlightenment.

As a meditator I was taught that TM improves every area of life; on TTC I was told that TM sometimes increases the frequency (or was it the intensity? I can't remember) of seizures for epileptics. (In writing this paragraph, I re-evaluated an event from 35 years ago! On my TTC, one of my dorm-mates stopped rounding or attending lectures, and spent most of her time partying with the local Spaniards. I had always judged her as flighty to waste her money that way. Now I remember that she had a severe epileptic seizure while we were rounding; and in retrospect, I bet that's why she stopped participating in the TTC program. My apologies for looking down my nose at you all these years, dorm-mate!)

When I learned TM, I was taught that when I experienced no thought and no mantra, I had "transcended." On TTC we were taught that no one actually transcends until the last stress is dissolved, but it just "feels like" we transcend.

(Those are just four examples. If I ever get around to re-reading my old TTC notes, I wonder if I would find more. If I do, you the readers will be the first to know!)

Maharishi thus demonstrated that he was at home with lying - but only to lowly meditators, I thought. I know now that the joke was on me. After I left TM, I learned that Maharishi had lied to us initiators many times. I suspect now that people who were higher up the hierarchy heard yet a different set of "truths" from the ones I learned on TTC. But were people at the top ever taught the real truth? Or did Maharishi only give out more elaborate lies? Did Maharishi even know the truth?

So - what about you? What did the TM hierarchy look like in your day? Do you remember being taught one thing when you were at one level in the TM hierarchy, and then when you moved up higher, being taught something different? Share your thoughts and memories with us if you'd like!

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?

Lying: A Core Practice of Transcendental Meditation. (A Seven-Part Series.) Part 1: Broken Promises

When I learned TM in 1971, my initiator promised me that if I practiced TM for 20 minutes twice a day I would become enlightened in eight to eleven years.

I've heard that Maharishi originally taught, "3-5 years." When enlightenment didn't come after 5 years, he said, "5-8 years." Then "8-11 years." What did he say after that?

What did he promise you?

Later we were taught that TM 20 minutes twice a day plus the occasional weekend residence course would bring us to enlightenment.

When Maharishi first introduced the "Six-Month Courses," which were the predecessors to the TM-Sidhis courses, he said, "One six month course is enough to enlighten some people, two six month courses is enough to enlighten most people, and three six-month courses is enough to enlighten a horse!"

He also promised us that by learning his TM-Sidhis program we would be able to walk through walls and to become invisible. (Later these two promises were eliminated.) Also that we'd have increased friendliness, compassion, happiness, physical strength, control of hunger and thirst, ability to see the motion of the stars, ability to see into our body any illnesses and to heal them, and to levitate.

He also promised us that if we did TM, we would have "support of nature," which translated more or less as having our wishes fulfilled almost without effort.

We were told that our houseplants would grow better, and that unhealthy behaviors would spontaneously drop away. (How long has the cigarette smoker, David Lynch, been practicing TM?)

He promised we would be able to "do less and accomplish more."

He promised us that if we did the TM-Sidhis we would have "perfect health." Also immortality. (Ask Gina, contributor for this website, for stories of Sidhas dying of horrible diseases in Fairfield.)

He also promised us that by "flying" together we would create world peace and good will between the family of nations. Also that it would bring favorable weather condition. (Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, global warming, anyone?)

He also promised that TM would raise our intelligence, improve our health, our family life, our social relationships, and our financial success.

He also promised us that practicing TM twice a day for 20 minutes would lead to spontaneous right action - that what we did would be "life-supporting" for ourselves and for those around us.

He promised that TM would make Christians better Christians, Jews better Jews, Moslems better Moslems, Hindus better Hindus, Buddhists better Buddhists....He promised that TM was not at odds with any religion.

He promised that TM asked no change in lifestyle: not in beliefs, not in diet, not in clothes, not in socializing, not in sexual activities, not in medical preferences, not in daily activities....

He promised that TM worked for everyone. And that it had no negative effects on anyone.

He promised that the ceremony (puja) during personal instruction was not religious in nature. He promised that TM itself was not religious in nature. He promised that the mantras were not religious in nature. He promised new student that they would not have to participate in the initiation ceremony.

He taught that "that which we put our attention grows stronger." Medical clinics, counseling clinics, and workplace safety measures were all reduced to discourage "putting our attention on negativity."

We were promised that 1,000 people "flying" together would make world peace. Then 5,000. Then 5,000 pundits flying and chanting together. Then many communities of flyers and chanters all over the world would create world peace.

He promised that eliminating south-facing doors would eliminate most obstacles to success and disharmony.

He promised that communities having a large percentage of people meditating would have a very harmonious civic life. (See the Fairfield Ledger newspaper, Fairfield Iowa, with a giant percentage of the population practicing TM and the TM-Sidhis. Read the police blotter and other daily reports for suicides, rapes, murders, mental hospital commitments, traffic accidents, robberies, fires, drug use, adultery, divorces, etc.)

What promises did Maharishi and the TM organization make to YOU? Which promises did they keep? Which ones did they break?

New York Times on exiting and exposing a cult (Scientology)

The New York Times of Sunday, March 7th (hard copy edition) had an interesting front page article about exiting and exposing Scientology.

Those who left the Transcendental Meditation Movement after working close to inner core activities probably can relate to Scientology tactics in this article... abysmally low wages, expensive advanced courses, repression of bad outcomes, promotion, protection & catering to celebrity participants, intimidation tactics about departure & about publicly disclosing inner 'secrets', rejection from so-called loved ones after speaking doubts about cult teachings or departing, difficulty integrating to the outside world.

For those interested, this link brings you to the online article:
Defectors say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse published by New York Times, March 6, 2010 (internet edition).

When did you first realize that the Transcendental Meditation organization and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi were fraudulent?

Two of our readers have recently written in the "Comments" section of TMFree Blog that they are interested in the above question, and also in these related questions:

Was it a gradual realisation or a specific event? After this, how much longer did you remain in the TMO and/or how much longer did you carry on with TM techniques?

So I thought I'd write up their questions as a separate post. Would anyone like to share their experiences?

By the way, this topic was covered in an old post, about one-and-a-half years ago. But I can't remember which one....! I hope interested readers can find it through our "Blog Archives Labels" section on the home page of TMFree, on the far right column, near the bottom.

By the way, if you have an idea for a post, just let us know in the "comments" section, and we will do our best to post it.

Critiquing Transcendental Meditation's "scientific research"

Question: How valid is TM's scientific research?
Answer: Not very.

A Brief Overview of TM Research:
According to the Transcendental Meditation organization (TMO), "...More than 600 scientific studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research institutes in 33 countries. These studies have been published in over 100 leading scientific journals worldwide, and they objectively document the profound physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme in every area of life...." (1)

What the TM organization does not publicize, however, is:
(1) that a high percentage of these studies are suspect. The research is specifically designed so that TM will come out looking good. (See http://trancenet.net/research/index.shtml

In addition, the quote above from the TMO website does not mention that:

(2) a lot of the research is done by TMers or funded by TMers, and is therefore inherently biased; and
(3) when non-TM scientists do research, they compare various types of meditations, and the results have been that each meditation has its own strengths and weaknesses. TM does not stand out as best. These studies are ignored by the TMO. For information, google "Google -- Scholar" and type in something like "comparision meditation techniques research results." Also, see http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/expressnews_template/article.cfm?id=8572and
(4) Research has shown that TM can sometimes be harmful. These studies are never quoted by the TMO. (See http://minet.org/research.html.)

So where do we come in?
While most TMFree readers are not professional researchers, I think we can contribute something useful to the research, specifically to the bias problem mentioned in item (1) above. Critics of the research papers have done a good job in critiquing what has been published. But what if something questionable was done that was not reported in the final paper?

So that's where we come in.

Many of us have "insider" experiences with the TMO. During our time in the TMO, we may have accidentally stumbled upon a small piece of the research that was unscientific. So I invite readers to search their memories. Do you recall incidents which at the time seemed simply quirky or isolated, but in retrospect, were examples of a violation of the scientific method? You may have to think outside the box or reframe the incident to see how it is related to the scientific method. You may have to consider not what was done, but what was not done; not what you saw, but what you didn't see....

Our stories will only be anecdotes, and anecdotal evidence is not scientific proof. However, these anecdotes provide glimpses which may inspire researchers to dig deeper into questionable practices.

So, to get the ball rolling, I will share my own memories that relate to the biased quality of TM research. In addition, I will relate a few anecdotes from old TMFree posts and comments. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the inclination to dig up all the original posts and comments, so I apologize in advance for any errors in my memory or interpretation.

So here goes. To reiterate, the question for the day is:

Did you ever personally see evidence of violation of the scientific method in TM studies?

1. The year was 1980, I think. I lived on the MIU campus in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. I did the TM and TM-Sidhis program in the meditation hall from 2 to 4 times a day with up to 700 other women. One day, after everyone was seated on the mattresses, the leader announced that we were all going to add something to our program. She had something like an electric meter in her hand. She spoke a phrase that went something like: "Turn back the meter." She instructed us to think this phrase in the same manner as we thought the "sutras" in our TM-Sidhis program (the technique in which the phrase we thought was supposed to manifest in the world.) We were to think the above phrase 2 or 4 times (I can't remember which), after we finished TM but before we started the TM-Sidhis. She didn't tell us who had ordered this change, or who had designed it, or why we were doing it. The only additional thing she said was, "Do not say a word about this to anybody!"

We did this practice for about a week, and then we were told to stop doing it. We weren't told why we were now stopping. We were reminded, "Do not mention this to anyone!" And we never heard another word about it.

What was this all about?

Today, I believe we were guinea pigs in an experiment to prove that the TM-Sidhis actually produced effects in the physical world. (An illegal experiment, I might add, since we had not volunteered, and we had not been warned about possible harmful effects.) If 700 sidhas had actually succeeded in causing the meter's hand to move even a millimeter, I think they would have published that. I think we failed to produce the result they wanted, so the experiment was scrapped, we were warned against spilling the secret, and the failure was never reported.

2. A few years ago, one of our TMFree regulars (possibly Sudarsha) wrote that he once saw Maharishi sit with someone and review a line graph illustrating the results of a study showing the benefits of TM. Maharishi asked, "Couldn't you draw the line 'this' way instead of 'that' way, in order to make the results look better?" The other person agreed to make the change.

3. About a year ago, one of our readers shared that she had chatted with a researcher at MIU who was studying the "Maharishi Effect." (The ME states that when a certain percentage of the population practices TM, quality of life improves, as shown by crime statistics, pollution, unemployment rate, etc.) The research compared cities that had comparable demographics but a different percentage of TMers. The researcher told her, "In some cases, the city with the higher percentage of TMers did not show an improved quality of life. So we deleted those groups of cities from our final study."

4. A few months ago, contributor Gina wrote that when TM researchers in Fairfield were studying TMers to prove TM's benefits, they first eliminated "heavy unstressers" from their sample.

5. An old TMFree post is a reprint of a public letter from Earl Kaplan, a TMer who together with his brother David had donated over $100 million dollars (U.S.) to the TMO. He writes that "Mahesh for years had been raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his world peace groups...." (World peace groups were the gatherings of thousands of pundits to one location to chant together, thus assuring world peace forever.) According to Earl's letter, Earl said to Maharishi, "Maharishi, since you have the money and supposedly you have enough pundits, why don't you create a 10,000 group in India and the world will experience peace?..." (Several years previously, his brother David had obtained U.S. governmental approval to bring one or two thousand pundits to the USA. before this could happen, he got word that Maharishi had changed his mind and felt it was not a good time to send them.) Mahesh looked at Earl like he was crazy and said, "Earl, if we created the group then we don't know if it would create world peace or not. We would have to have the group and then see what the effect it has." Earl and David have since left the TMO.

Aside from the contempt and deceit Maharishi exhibited, I believe Maharishi was also saying that he did not want an experiment to be performed if the results would not make TM look good, i.e. if the results disproved the "Maharishi Effect."

OK, those are my offerings. Anyone else have memories about TMO's corruption of the scientific method in TM studies?

Footnotes:
(1) www.globalgoodnews.com/research.html