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 history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
New book published: "Roots of TM"
(Note: In book cover photo above, Guru Dev is seated in center, surrounded by some of his close sannyasi [renunciant] disciples in traditional orange robes. In front of dais, far right, is the young Brahmachari (bachelor student) Mahesh, later known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He is not wearing orange because he is not a sannyasi. Those of his caste are not permitted to become sannyasis. - Laurie)
Just published:
ROOTS OF TM:
THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION
OF
GURU DEV & MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI
OF
GURU DEV & MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI
by Paul Mason
more than 50 illustrations
304 pages, 234mm x 156mm
304 pages, 234mm x 156mm
ISBN 978-0-9562228-8-6
Paul Mason, the author of "Roots of TM" is a former contributor to TM-Free Blog.
"ROOTS OF TM"
enables readers to better understand how and why Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
spread the teaching of Transcendental Meditation around the world.
"ROOTS OF TM" provides background information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his master, Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, (also called "Guru Dev,") and provides a source book of information about their teachings and techniques.
"ROOTS OF TM" is not intended as a general guide to Indian philosophy, nor as a study of the many ancient spiritual practices of India, nor as a mantra handbook.
"ROOTS OF TM" offers information about Maharishi's "missing years," from the time when his master passed away through to the gradual build-up of his stated mission: "Why can't we spiritually regenerate the world through this technique?"
"ROOTS OF TM" contains numerous quotations and rare transcripts of lectures by Guru Dev and by Maharishi. Furthermore, it details the course of events that would eventually find Maharishi lecturing at the Masquers Club, an actor's social club in Hollywood. It also tells how Maharishi came to adopt a businesslike attitude to financial matters, and how he planned to create a headquarters in the Himalayas where he intended to train others to teach Transcendental Meditation.
"ROOTS OF TM" digs deeply into rare materials in order to give detailed profiles of the teachings of both master and disciple, thus affording readers an opportunity to make informed comparisons of both these teachers' methods and their objectives.
Author Paul Mason explains:
"ROOTS OF TM" provides background information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his master, Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, (also called "Guru Dev,") and provides a source book of information about their teachings and techniques.
"ROOTS OF TM" is not intended as a general guide to Indian philosophy, nor as a study of the many ancient spiritual practices of India, nor as a mantra handbook.
"ROOTS OF TM" offers information about Maharishi's "missing years," from the time when his master passed away through to the gradual build-up of his stated mission: "Why can't we spiritually regenerate the world through this technique?"
"ROOTS OF TM" contains numerous quotations and rare transcripts of lectures by Guru Dev and by Maharishi. Furthermore, it details the course of events that would eventually find Maharishi lecturing at the Masquers Club, an actor's social club in Hollywood. It also tells how Maharishi came to adopt a businesslike attitude to financial matters, and how he planned to create a headquarters in the Himalayas where he intended to train others to teach Transcendental Meditation.
"ROOTS OF TM" digs deeply into rare materials in order to give detailed profiles of the teachings of both master and disciple, thus affording readers an opportunity to make informed comparisons of both these teachers' methods and their objectives.
Author Paul Mason explains:
"By the mid-1960's the term 'Transcendental Meditation'
became fixed after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had already spread the message
of meditation far and wide across the free world. Maharishi then became
very famous himself, largely due to his public association with
celebrities and in particular the world-famous pop group The Beatles,
who in 1968 attended an advanced training course with him in India.
When I traveled to India in 1970, I did so by hitch-hiking from Britain; and, having traveled across many countries, finally found myself in North India. Possibly because The Beatles had done so before me, I decided to visit the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, for 'a cup of cocoa and a chat about philosophy.' I therefore made my way to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh, close by the foothills of the Himalayas. Having crossed the River Ganges and climbed up to Maharishi Ashram, I was introduced there to a practice referred to as 'Transcendental Meditation.'
The teaching of this 'Transcendental Meditation' or 'TM' is preceded by a short ceremony called a puja, conducted before a portrait of the ascetic Indian teacher Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, known to TM meditators as 'Guru Dev.' [Note: The TM organization says the puja is a 'traditional ceremony of gratitude.' According to merriam-webster.com, 'puja' is defined as 'a Hindu act of worship or propitiation.' - Laurie]
Surprisingly, despite the fact that Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was a prominent and influential public speaker, Maharishi's organizations share but scant information about Guru Dev's life story and disclose nothing about his teachings.
Very little seemed to be known about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or about the origins and history of the teaching of Transcendental Meditation, so I set myself to discover as much information as could be found.
In the 1990's I was commissioned by Element Books to write the biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which was published as 'The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World.'
Later, in 2007, an ambition was fulfilled when a three-volume set of books on Guru Dev was published, all based on my translations of Hindi works on Swami Brahmanand Saraswati.
Then, in 2013, I compiled a book entitled 'Dandi Swami: Tales of meetings with Dandi Swami Narayananand Saraswati, the Guru's Will, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi & the Shankaracharyas of Jyotir Math.'
'Roots of TM' is the distillation of decades of research into the teachings of Maharishi, Guru Dev, and the Shankaracharya tradition."
"Roots of TM" can be purchased through Amazon.
I (Laurie) haven't read it yet, but I hope to read it soon. I would love to hear peoples' reaction to the book. Personally, I'm most interested in learning if Maharishi spread the teaching of his Guru Dev whom he claimed to adore, or if he spread contrary teachings.
When I traveled to India in 1970, I did so by hitch-hiking from Britain; and, having traveled across many countries, finally found myself in North India. Possibly because The Beatles had done so before me, I decided to visit the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, for 'a cup of cocoa and a chat about philosophy.' I therefore made my way to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh, close by the foothills of the Himalayas. Having crossed the River Ganges and climbed up to Maharishi Ashram, I was introduced there to a practice referred to as 'Transcendental Meditation.'
The teaching of this 'Transcendental Meditation' or 'TM' is preceded by a short ceremony called a puja, conducted before a portrait of the ascetic Indian teacher Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, known to TM meditators as 'Guru Dev.' [Note: The TM organization says the puja is a 'traditional ceremony of gratitude.' According to merriam-webster.com, 'puja' is defined as 'a Hindu act of worship or propitiation.' - Laurie]
Surprisingly, despite the fact that Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was a prominent and influential public speaker, Maharishi's organizations share but scant information about Guru Dev's life story and disclose nothing about his teachings.
Very little seemed to be known about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or about the origins and history of the teaching of Transcendental Meditation, so I set myself to discover as much information as could be found.
In the 1990's I was commissioned by Element Books to write the biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which was published as 'The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World.'
Later, in 2007, an ambition was fulfilled when a three-volume set of books on Guru Dev was published, all based on my translations of Hindi works on Swami Brahmanand Saraswati.
Then, in 2013, I compiled a book entitled 'Dandi Swami: Tales of meetings with Dandi Swami Narayananand Saraswati, the Guru's Will, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi & the Shankaracharyas of Jyotir Math.'
'Roots of TM' is the distillation of decades of research into the teachings of Maharishi, Guru Dev, and the Shankaracharya tradition."
"Roots of TM" can be purchased through Amazon.
I (Laurie) haven't read it yet, but I hope to read it soon. I would love to hear peoples' reaction to the book. Personally, I'm most interested in learning if Maharishi spread the teaching of his Guru Dev whom he claimed to adore, or if he spread contrary teachings.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Revisiting the TM-Sidhis. Part 1: The Early Years
I first heard Maharishi talking about the TM-Sidhis program in 1975 on an audiotape. He was recounting a conversation he had had with his staff members. "They asked me, 'What more can we do, Maharishi, to help spread the World Plan?' I told them, 'More lectures, rounding, meeting with government officials, newspaper articles.' 'But, Maharishi, what more can we do?' they kept insisting. And finally I said, 'You know, I am very tempted to give you something.' And that was how the TM-Sidhis program came to be."
But before people learned the much-longed-for TM-Sidhis per se, there was a gray area. That was the Six-Month Course, the quasi-TM-Sidhis course/not-TM-Sidhis course where you were sort of promised the Sidhis but sort of not. I don't know exactly what the course participants were told that made them want to attend, but whole batches of them returned home without the Sidhis. However, they did come home with a several-hours-long "program" that they had to do twice a day. They were sworn to secrecy as to what this program consisted of, and they did it behind closed doors. "One Six Month Course will enlighten some people, two Six Month Courses will enlighten most people, and three Six Month Courses will enlighten a horse!" Maharishi told us, laughing mirthfully.
The people who took the first Six Month Courses were real pioneers. I met one such pioneer in the spring of 1975. His life revolved around staying on his "program." He spent hours a day alone in his room, and had to be in bed by 10 o'clock. He was unhealthily skinny, his skin glowed white, and he ate mostly oranges, almonds, yogurt and honey, which Maharishi had said were the most "sattvic" (pure/spiritual) foods, and which would apparently assure quickest spiritual growth, and support his no-longer-quite-human body. I feared for his health. His high spiritual vibration did not preclude him from walking into my bedroom one night, however, wearing only his underwear. Years later I realized that he had been offering to have sex with me. At the time, though, I had naively assumed that sex, like alcohol, was off limits for him.
I had a second friend who had also taken a Six Month Course. They had been told that they would be taught the Sidhis. That didn't exactly happen, but her course was promised that if they showed up for a second Six Monther, they would be taught for sure. So she saved her money and took a subsequent course. They weren't taught the TM-Sidhis on the second course, either. "Why didn't they teach you?" I asked, horrified by this breach of promise. "Because we were bad," she replied. "We were supposed to send Maharishi a monthly report saying how we were doing with the long program he had given us, and some of us didn't send it in every month."
The first "real" sidhas I met were the two women who ran the Advanced Training and Rest (ATR) course I attended in late 1975, at South Fallsburg, New York, U.S.A. Their skin seemed to glow. They appeared to float, rather than walk, through the air, with a special grace. They were both very pretty, and very dignified, and they wore graceful, feminine silk dresses which were modestly cut. I thought they could read my mind. I was in awe of them, and I was scared of them, too.
Are there are any readers out there who attended one of those early Six Month Courses? Or do you know anyone who did? If so, please break the code of silence. Please tell us in the "Comments" section below what they promised you, what they taught you, what you did there, what the results were, what the side effects were, what program you had to follow when you returned home, how you felt about all of it, or anything else that you would like to share from those days.
So these are my memories of the early days of the TM-Sidhis. Since I am writing from memory, I'm sure there are errors in this article, and I'd be glad for any corrections you'd like to make.
I'm sure many of us were told different stories. There was so much secrecy and rumor going around at that time. For instance, were you told the same stories I was told about how the TM-Sidhis came to be?
If you'd like, share with us your own memories, thoughts and feelings about those early days of the TM-Sidhis.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Book Review. The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Brought Transcendental Meditation to the World by Paul Mason
(Oops! I accidentally deleted this post today. So here it is again. Originally posted 10/11/2008.)
Over the years, many commentors and contributors to TM-Free Blog have recommended books that they have found relevant. I have recently read a few of those books, and thought you all might enjoy some book reviews.
The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Brought Transcendental Meditation to the World, a 300-page book written by Paul Mason and published by Element Books Ltd. in 1994, provides an overview of Maharishi's life from the mid-1950's to about 1993. When I read this book, I was reminded of the saying, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, the chances are good that it is a duck." Maharishi comes across as a simple, straightforward, not-too-deeply thinking salesperson intent on selling his product.
The book is rather moderate in tone, with a slightly jaundiced undertone, neither adoring or damning of Maharishi. The author matter-of-factly quotes Maharishi's many contradictory statements, leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions.
Of the many points Paul Mason covered, I found three to be of particular interest. The first
was Maharishi's "utter...isolat[ion] from comtemporary faiths and teachings," (p. 83.) Maharishi taught that all other gurus and teachers were misguided, and that he alone had the truth. Mason quotes Maharishi's writings from an uncompleted commentary to the Bhagavad Gita as follows, "Thus we find that all fields of religion and philosophy have been misunderstood for many centuries past."
Second, Mason shows that Maharishi's original intent was to spread a spiritual knowledge. In fact, his first organization was called the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. Quotes from Maharishi's early days give insight into his original teachings. For instance, "Between human species and these [gods are the]...finest levels of creation, the celestial level of life, gods. Huge numbers of...angels and gods," (p.162). By the early 1970's, however, Maharishi was saying, "In this scientific age we use scientific language," and spiritually-loaded language disappeared (for instance "God" was replaced with the term "Creative Intelligence") and his organizations were incorporated as educational non-profits. (Some time after the book was published, Maharishi did return to his religious roots and speak about more "spiritual" matters.)
An example of Maharishi's early comfort with revealing the spiritual basis of his teachings is in his pamphlet Beacon Light of the Himilayas, published about 1955. He wrote, "We do not select any sound like mike, flower, table...etc. For our practice we select only the suitable mantras of personal Gods. Such mantras fetch us the grace of personal Gods...."
Which leads to my third point, which is the ease with which Maharishi dissembled about the mantras, leaving me to wonder what else he lied about. In his early days, Maharishi stated, "Through long practice of usages of these mantras for different types of people, certain universal formulae have been obtained and using those formulae of judgment the selection of a proper mantra is brought about...." "[Mantras] are passed on from the master to the disciple in every generation and this is the teaching that concerns very fine levels of the whole creation...." "The tradition of masters is the most authentic place to take these suitable thoughts from. Authenticity from the tradition is the only measure which will give us some confidence about the absolute suitability of the mantra...." "One percent unsuitable effect [from the wrong mantra] will become million times greater...." After pages of this, Mason dryly drops the fact that the mantras are chosen by age.
Actually, Maharishi was not consistent in what mantras he gave to TM teachers. On one Teacher Training Course, he gave out one set of mantras to be chosen by age, on another course a different set of mantras to be chosen by age, on a third course a set to be chosen by age and sex, and so on.
Mason also includes anecdotes that leave the reader wondering what stories lie behind them. For instance someone mentions in passing that "Maharishi converses with the Heirarchy." What is "the Heirarchy"? A stranger in an airport in Europe accosts Maharishi with, "You're a fraud!" What did he mean? Jerry Jarvis, the onetime president of Maharishi's Students' International Meditation Society says, "Using the sutras [in the TM-Sidhis technique] is a strain on the nervous sytem and some people flip out." What had he seen?
This is not a comprehensive biography. At least two things are missing: the private life of Maharishi, and his impact on the life of others. Regarding his private life, for instance, there is no mention of his attempt to lead the Ouspensky organization in Europe, his sexual relations with women on his staff, his heart attack and subsequent (non-ayurvedic) treatment by western medicine, or his contempt for those who put him on a pedastal. Regarding his impact on the lives of others, there is no mention of the hundreds, myself included, who uprooted themselves and moved to Fairfield, Iowa at his bequest, or the hundreds of people who gave years of their lives, thousands of dollars and sometimes their mental and physical health to Mahrishi's dream.
On the plus side, this is a quickly-moving, easy-to-read book for people looking for an introduction to the life, mind, and public face of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from aproximately 1954 to 1993.
Over the years, many commentors and contributors to TM-Free Blog have recommended books that they have found relevant. I have recently read a few of those books, and thought you all might enjoy some book reviews.
The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Brought Transcendental Meditation to the World, a 300-page book written by Paul Mason and published by Element Books Ltd. in 1994, provides an overview of Maharishi's life from the mid-1950's to about 1993. When I read this book, I was reminded of the saying, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, the chances are good that it is a duck." Maharishi comes across as a simple, straightforward, not-too-deeply thinking salesperson intent on selling his product.
The book is rather moderate in tone, with a slightly jaundiced undertone, neither adoring or damning of Maharishi. The author matter-of-factly quotes Maharishi's many contradictory statements, leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions.
Of the many points Paul Mason covered, I found three to be of particular interest. The first
was Maharishi's "utter...isolat[ion] from comtemporary faiths and teachings," (p. 83.) Maharishi taught that all other gurus and teachers were misguided, and that he alone had the truth. Mason quotes Maharishi's writings from an uncompleted commentary to the Bhagavad Gita as follows, "Thus we find that all fields of religion and philosophy have been misunderstood for many centuries past."
Second, Mason shows that Maharishi's original intent was to spread a spiritual knowledge. In fact, his first organization was called the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. Quotes from Maharishi's early days give insight into his original teachings. For instance, "Between human species and these [gods are the]...finest levels of creation, the celestial level of life, gods. Huge numbers of...angels and gods," (p.162). By the early 1970's, however, Maharishi was saying, "In this scientific age we use scientific language," and spiritually-loaded language disappeared (for instance "God" was replaced with the term "Creative Intelligence") and his organizations were incorporated as educational non-profits. (Some time after the book was published, Maharishi did return to his religious roots and speak about more "spiritual" matters.)
An example of Maharishi's early comfort with revealing the spiritual basis of his teachings is in his pamphlet Beacon Light of the Himilayas, published about 1955. He wrote, "We do not select any sound like mike, flower, table...etc. For our practice we select only the suitable mantras of personal Gods. Such mantras fetch us the grace of personal Gods...."
Which leads to my third point, which is the ease with which Maharishi dissembled about the mantras, leaving me to wonder what else he lied about. In his early days, Maharishi stated, "Through long practice of usages of these mantras for different types of people, certain universal formulae have been obtained and using those formulae of judgment the selection of a proper mantra is brought about...." "[Mantras] are passed on from the master to the disciple in every generation and this is the teaching that concerns very fine levels of the whole creation...." "The tradition of masters is the most authentic place to take these suitable thoughts from. Authenticity from the tradition is the only measure which will give us some confidence about the absolute suitability of the mantra...." "One percent unsuitable effect [from the wrong mantra] will become million times greater...." After pages of this, Mason dryly drops the fact that the mantras are chosen by age.
Actually, Maharishi was not consistent in what mantras he gave to TM teachers. On one Teacher Training Course, he gave out one set of mantras to be chosen by age, on another course a different set of mantras to be chosen by age, on a third course a set to be chosen by age and sex, and so on.
Mason also includes anecdotes that leave the reader wondering what stories lie behind them. For instance someone mentions in passing that "Maharishi converses with the Heirarchy." What is "the Heirarchy"? A stranger in an airport in Europe accosts Maharishi with, "You're a fraud!" What did he mean? Jerry Jarvis, the onetime president of Maharishi's Students' International Meditation Society says, "Using the sutras [in the TM-Sidhis technique] is a strain on the nervous sytem and some people flip out." What had he seen?
This is not a comprehensive biography. At least two things are missing: the private life of Maharishi, and his impact on the life of others. Regarding his private life, for instance, there is no mention of his attempt to lead the Ouspensky organization in Europe, his sexual relations with women on his staff, his heart attack and subsequent (non-ayurvedic) treatment by western medicine, or his contempt for those who put him on a pedastal. Regarding his impact on the lives of others, there is no mention of the hundreds, myself included, who uprooted themselves and moved to Fairfield, Iowa at his bequest, or the hundreds of people who gave years of their lives, thousands of dollars and sometimes their mental and physical health to Mahrishi's dream.
On the plus side, this is a quickly-moving, easy-to-read book for people looking for an introduction to the life, mind, and public face of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from aproximately 1954 to 1993.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thirty Years Later: What was all that about? (Part 8 of a series)
(To read this series from the beginning, start here.)
Helena Olson, observing the reception given to the founder of TM in 1959, made this comment in her memoir of the events of that year, a book originally titled "A Hermit in the House:"
Here in one sentence is an apparent paradox inherent to the marketing of TM. By the reasoning of "some people," at first glance, TM should have been universally dismissed as useless, as a throwback to a backward land. While some clearly rejected TM based upon its source, many embraced it, in ways that I think reflect America's often complicated relationship with the rest of the world.
"America... a more progressive country" also implies that Americans, secure in some notion of supremacy versus the rest of the planet, can't be conned by foreigners. This notion lies in tension with certain desires, that poverty, unhappiness, stress and other ills will allegedly be remedied by something relatively exotic, in the form of the TM program. These are things that often lie in areas where some feel the West has reached a dead end and has nothing to offer. By this line of thinking, there is no domestic product that addresses these areas - fields that, before encountering the TM program, people often didn't think would have anything to do with paying for meditation instruction packaged as a consumer product.
It's into this realm that the decontextualized pieces of Indian culture presented in the TM movement's programs came into play. The entire movement took on an appearance that was just alien enough to clearly support the assumption that it wasn't from here. TM instructors dressed in formal Western clothing and with otherwise conservative appearance accepted money and performed a ritual that clearly came from somewhere else, in front of an image of a dead Hindu monk, in a language most people here couldn't understand, while being told not to disclose what they've been taught. These collisions are deliberately created, sending a series of messages: "Your Western lifestyle is basically lacking. You will pay us to fill that need. You think all your Western science, medicine and technology still doesn't address those needs, so you'll accept something alien you don't understand on the flimsy promise that it'll eventually satisfy you. Finally, since we know you think you can't be conned, you'll accept our instructions and our non-answers to your questions, otherwise you might suspect that there's a lot less to this program than you think there is, and you wouldn't want to feel foolish about what you're doing and all the money you're spending, would you?"
Over the years the TM movement has evolved, and the Indian cultural aspects of the movement have moved from the background to front-and-center. A standard photo of the movement's founder is now likewise always present on websites and materials. The movement's products have also evolved from simple meditation to astrology, herbs and architecture, clearly identifying them as being of Indian origin. References to the Vedas, a text generally considered to be of Hindu religious or spiritual origin, are recast as "scientific" in a further decontextualization of their original meaning to be successfully sold to a credulous audience.
All of these contemporary aspects of the TM movement reflect an underlying strategy: to frame itself as an external source that supposedly addresses the alleged shortcomings of Western life. It is designed to exude a level of strangeness that enhances its attractiveness, but not so much strangeness as to be completely irrelevant or repulsive.
(Continue to Part 9)
Helena Olson, observing the reception given to the founder of TM in 1959, made this comment in her memoir of the events of that year, a book originally titled "A Hermit in the House:"It seemed to bother some people that we were receiving pieces of wisdom from a man from India, since from our viewpoint America was a more progressive country than India.
Here in one sentence is an apparent paradox inherent to the marketing of TM. By the reasoning of "some people," at first glance, TM should have been universally dismissed as useless, as a throwback to a backward land. While some clearly rejected TM based upon its source, many embraced it, in ways that I think reflect America's often complicated relationship with the rest of the world.
"America... a more progressive country" also implies that Americans, secure in some notion of supremacy versus the rest of the planet, can't be conned by foreigners. This notion lies in tension with certain desires, that poverty, unhappiness, stress and other ills will allegedly be remedied by something relatively exotic, in the form of the TM program. These are things that often lie in areas where some feel the West has reached a dead end and has nothing to offer. By this line of thinking, there is no domestic product that addresses these areas - fields that, before encountering the TM program, people often didn't think would have anything to do with paying for meditation instruction packaged as a consumer product.
It's into this realm that the decontextualized pieces of Indian culture presented in the TM movement's programs came into play. The entire movement took on an appearance that was just alien enough to clearly support the assumption that it wasn't from here. TM instructors dressed in formal Western clothing and with otherwise conservative appearance accepted money and performed a ritual that clearly came from somewhere else, in front of an image of a dead Hindu monk, in a language most people here couldn't understand, while being told not to disclose what they've been taught. These collisions are deliberately created, sending a series of messages: "Your Western lifestyle is basically lacking. You will pay us to fill that need. You think all your Western science, medicine and technology still doesn't address those needs, so you'll accept something alien you don't understand on the flimsy promise that it'll eventually satisfy you. Finally, since we know you think you can't be conned, you'll accept our instructions and our non-answers to your questions, otherwise you might suspect that there's a lot less to this program than you think there is, and you wouldn't want to feel foolish about what you're doing and all the money you're spending, would you?"
Over the years the TM movement has evolved, and the Indian cultural aspects of the movement have moved from the background to front-and-center. A standard photo of the movement's founder is now likewise always present on websites and materials. The movement's products have also evolved from simple meditation to astrology, herbs and architecture, clearly identifying them as being of Indian origin. References to the Vedas, a text generally considered to be of Hindu religious or spiritual origin, are recast as "scientific" in a further decontextualization of their original meaning to be successfully sold to a credulous audience.
All of these contemporary aspects of the TM movement reflect an underlying strategy: to frame itself as an external source that supposedly addresses the alleged shortcomings of Western life. It is designed to exude a level of strangeness that enhances its attractiveness, but not so much strangeness as to be completely irrelevant or repulsive.
(Continue to Part 9)
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thirty Years Later: What was all that about? (Part 3 of a series)
(To read this series from the beginning, start here.)
Today we can easily go back and inspect the movement's "secrets," all those things we were told during the initiation process we weren't supposed to go talking about, even among other meditators. With the dawn of the Internet, such secrets don't stay that way for long, and as the 'net became popular in the mid-1990's, so did the accessibility of information, analysis and commentary on the TM programs and organizations.
Perhaps the single most widespread and enduring cultural artifact of the TM movement is that of "mantra mystique." It's the notion that the sounds given to meditators to silently repeat in their heads are somehow special, private, special, and uniquely selected to be suitable for the initiate. Did I mention that the mantras are supposed to be very special?
A list of many if not most of the mantras distributed by TM teachers has been available for more than thirteen years online, on the minet.org website I created to offer as a base for critical examination of TM, the TM organizations, and its associated programs. It's just a list of sounds, and it's rather obvious that the means by which the particular sounds are given to initiates has had very little consistency over the years. There's a lot of variation across sets of mantras that differ depending on when the teacher was instructed. But given all the fuss over mantras, and the seemingly random changes through time, the list doesn't suggest that the mantras are of any particular value except perhaps as some device to fill the initiate's expectation that they're about to receive something of value.
The same goes for other aspects of the initiation. The prospective meditator must witness a ritual, a "puja," performed in a language they don't understand. Even if the prospect were given a translation of the ritual, it would probably be meaningless without an explanation of the culture and terminology. But this is just the start of an obvious pattern, first pointed out to me years ago by a former meditator: the TM movement offers pieces of India's culture, disconnected and decontextualized, that are fed, piecemeal, to paying customers. It doesn't matter if the customer doesn't understand what's going on: the mystery is part of the product, it inflates its apparent value. Why else does the prospective meditator have to sit through such a thing, except to be disoriented and perhaps a bit confused by it?
There's also something called "checking," where a meditator allegedly has their meditation practice "checked" by an instructor. The checking notes are also readily available, and what's clear is that the checking ritual is something of a flowchart, with scripts of exchanges between the instructor and meditator. An interesting feature of the flowchart is such that the meditator doesn't get to leave until agreement with the instructor is obtained. There is, again, not a whole lot to the "checking" ritual of substance other than the reinforcement, through repetition, of the same ideas and expectations that are present even before meditation instruction, in the introductory lectures. Meditation is supposed to be easy and effortless, and we'll stick you in an endless loop of our checking flowchart until you agree.
(Continue to Part 4)
Today we can easily go back and inspect the movement's "secrets," all those things we were told during the initiation process we weren't supposed to go talking about, even among other meditators. With the dawn of the Internet, such secrets don't stay that way for long, and as the 'net became popular in the mid-1990's, so did the accessibility of information, analysis and commentary on the TM programs and organizations.
Perhaps the single most widespread and enduring cultural artifact of the TM movement is that of "mantra mystique." It's the notion that the sounds given to meditators to silently repeat in their heads are somehow special, private, special, and uniquely selected to be suitable for the initiate. Did I mention that the mantras are supposed to be very special?
A list of many if not most of the mantras distributed by TM teachers has been available for more than thirteen years online, on the minet.org website I created to offer as a base for critical examination of TM, the TM organizations, and its associated programs. It's just a list of sounds, and it's rather obvious that the means by which the particular sounds are given to initiates has had very little consistency over the years. There's a lot of variation across sets of mantras that differ depending on when the teacher was instructed. But given all the fuss over mantras, and the seemingly random changes through time, the list doesn't suggest that the mantras are of any particular value except perhaps as some device to fill the initiate's expectation that they're about to receive something of value.
The same goes for other aspects of the initiation. The prospective meditator must witness a ritual, a "puja," performed in a language they don't understand. Even if the prospect were given a translation of the ritual, it would probably be meaningless without an explanation of the culture and terminology. But this is just the start of an obvious pattern, first pointed out to me years ago by a former meditator: the TM movement offers pieces of India's culture, disconnected and decontextualized, that are fed, piecemeal, to paying customers. It doesn't matter if the customer doesn't understand what's going on: the mystery is part of the product, it inflates its apparent value. Why else does the prospective meditator have to sit through such a thing, except to be disoriented and perhaps a bit confused by it?
There's also something called "checking," where a meditator allegedly has their meditation practice "checked" by an instructor. The checking notes are also readily available, and what's clear is that the checking ritual is something of a flowchart, with scripts of exchanges between the instructor and meditator. An interesting feature of the flowchart is such that the meditator doesn't get to leave until agreement with the instructor is obtained. There is, again, not a whole lot to the "checking" ritual of substance other than the reinforcement, through repetition, of the same ideas and expectations that are present even before meditation instruction, in the introductory lectures. Meditation is supposed to be easy and effortless, and we'll stick you in an endless loop of our checking flowchart until you agree.
(Continue to Part 4)
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thirty Years Later: What was all that about? (Part 2 of a series)
(To read this series from the beginning, start here.)
I first attended an after school TM introductory lecture, at my public high school, in 1974. Posters advertising the TM program had been hung in school corridors. I never learned the details of how the lecture was arranged, but in those days - before Malnak v. Yogi - it wasn't something that seemed all that unusual. Perhaps ten students and teachers showed up for it. I found the program rather interesting if not a little peculiar, but my interest didn't extend as far as taking up the program, primarily because of both the cost and the time commitment.
Some years later, during my second year of college, a then-girlfriend was a meditator with a few years' experience with the program. After a few months of dating, having heard the program being personally endorsed by someone I then cared for, and now in the position of being able to afford both the time and the money, I took the plunge. The introductory lecture was unusual - we watched the broadcast of Maharishi on the Merv Griffin Show during the last week of 1977, and if I recall correctly, it was the show where the "sidhi" program was announced. This was the point at which I became involved with TM: the moment when the glory days of mass numbers of initiations, of TM centers scattered across the country, and a reasonably priced program accessible to the average middle-class person were about to come to an end.
I paid one hundred eighty dollars at the end of 1977 to be initiated at the student rate. To measure that in todays dollars, multiply that by three or four. I ended up sticking with the 2x20 program for the next ten years. There were a few residence courses along the way - one weekend and one week-long. On the week-long course, held in the movement's building in downtown Washington, DC, I received the so-called "advanced technique," which substituted the single word "mantra" with one of two words. How much I paid for this, in 1982, I don't quite remember, but it was some hundreds of dollars.
By some circumstance I never took up the "TM-Sidhi" program that allegedly offered what they called "supernormal" abilities, including the promise of eventually flying through the air. Again, I avoided involvement largely because of the time and expense involved - the course at the time (the early 1980's) involved a minimum of two weeks in residence and a series of weekend sessions at a cost of at least two thousand dollars. Again, double or triple that number to get a feel for that price in today's dollars.
After taking a hiatus from college that turned out to be permanent, I considered volunteering at MIU, the movement's university in Fairfield, Iowa as a possible means of eventually obtaining the "sidhi" techniques. As luck would have it my entry into a career in the broadcasting industry preempted that plan, and I never again considered working full-time for the TM movement.
But during that time in the early 1980's I was involved with a few small projects at the Washington DC center. Having been involved with another meditator who was familiar with the local TM community I came to participate in a few efforts to popularize TM in the local media, and an attempt to acquire a low-power TV broadcasting license. Not much came of those efforts, but I was given two "Maharishi Awards" anyway. Like many of the posters produced by the movement, there's lots of vapid fine print saying how great the subject is (the recipient, in this case), golden colors, formal script, and a big gold seal and a blue ribbon. Atta boy, Mike!
(Continue to Part 3)
I first attended an after school TM introductory lecture, at my public high school, in 1974. Posters advertising the TM program had been hung in school corridors. I never learned the details of how the lecture was arranged, but in those days - before Malnak v. Yogi - it wasn't something that seemed all that unusual. Perhaps ten students and teachers showed up for it. I found the program rather interesting if not a little peculiar, but my interest didn't extend as far as taking up the program, primarily because of both the cost and the time commitment.
Some years later, during my second year of college, a then-girlfriend was a meditator with a few years' experience with the program. After a few months of dating, having heard the program being personally endorsed by someone I then cared for, and now in the position of being able to afford both the time and the money, I took the plunge. The introductory lecture was unusual - we watched the broadcast of Maharishi on the Merv Griffin Show during the last week of 1977, and if I recall correctly, it was the show where the "sidhi" program was announced. This was the point at which I became involved with TM: the moment when the glory days of mass numbers of initiations, of TM centers scattered across the country, and a reasonably priced program accessible to the average middle-class person were about to come to an end.
I paid one hundred eighty dollars at the end of 1977 to be initiated at the student rate. To measure that in todays dollars, multiply that by three or four. I ended up sticking with the 2x20 program for the next ten years. There were a few residence courses along the way - one weekend and one week-long. On the week-long course, held in the movement's building in downtown Washington, DC, I received the so-called "advanced technique," which substituted the single word "mantra" with one of two words. How much I paid for this, in 1982, I don't quite remember, but it was some hundreds of dollars.
By some circumstance I never took up the "TM-Sidhi" program that allegedly offered what they called "supernormal" abilities, including the promise of eventually flying through the air. Again, I avoided involvement largely because of the time and expense involved - the course at the time (the early 1980's) involved a minimum of two weeks in residence and a series of weekend sessions at a cost of at least two thousand dollars. Again, double or triple that number to get a feel for that price in today's dollars.
After taking a hiatus from college that turned out to be permanent, I considered volunteering at MIU, the movement's university in Fairfield, Iowa as a possible means of eventually obtaining the "sidhi" techniques. As luck would have it my entry into a career in the broadcasting industry preempted that plan, and I never again considered working full-time for the TM movement.
But during that time in the early 1980's I was involved with a few small projects at the Washington DC center. Having been involved with another meditator who was familiar with the local TM community I came to participate in a few efforts to popularize TM in the local media, and an attempt to acquire a low-power TV broadcasting license. Not much came of those efforts, but I was given two "Maharishi Awards" anyway. Like many of the posters produced by the movement, there's lots of vapid fine print saying how great the subject is (the recipient, in this case), golden colors, formal script, and a big gold seal and a blue ribbon. Atta boy, Mike!
(Continue to Part 3)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Thirty Years Later: What was all that about? (Part 1 of a series)
I was initiated into the "Transcendental Meditation Program" on December 31, 1977. Though at one point I was a willing consumer of some of the organization's products, I still puzzle over exactly what it is that the TM organization is selling, and why some are still, apparently, quite attracted to it. After three decades of the "movement" fully embracing full-blown weirdness and pretension, in contrast to its now rather brief mid-Seventies attempt to gain respectability by wrapping itself in the language of science and research, you'd think the movement would have faded into obscurity by now.
But that's certainly not what's happened. Just a simple Google News search on Transcendental Meditation turns up about 50 hits on recent news articles. Some of these articles are the usual cultural references to the Beatles or some other personality that at some point practiced, and perhaps helped popularize, the technique. The other articles include references to people who once practiced TM but since abandoned it, often for some other religious or meditative practice, or often, reference to yet another study or other that raises the perennial but tenuous claim that meditation, in particular TM, can supposedly help lower blood pressure.
Still, a complete explanation of the actual mechanism by which TM might have some perceived effects like that is a bit elusive. Viewed in a somewhat different, perhaps you could call it cynical, light given my intervening life experiences, I find it hard to nail down exactly what it is that's being taught in the context of "meditation." Perhaps that sounds kind of strange, after all, isn't "meditation" the central feature of the program? But perhaps something else is going on. After all, one thing that always gets repeated by those promoting TM is that you can't learn TM from a book, or by reading about it. Some kind of interaction with other people in a particular setting seems to be the central feature; an interaction that in some ways is rather precisely described and carried out.
Looking through the movement's materials that I've accumulated through the years, and what can be easily seen today in the movement's programs by looking at its websites, there doesn't seem to be much of substance to the program. Even looking back to my memory of my own experiences, I sometimes ask, why was I initially attracted to the TM program, and why did I stick with it for about ten years, long after any apparent effect on my own life, one way or the other, had long passed? Given what now seems obvious and trivial today - what was all that about?
(Continue to Part 2)
But that's certainly not what's happened. Just a simple Google News search on Transcendental Meditation turns up about 50 hits on recent news articles. Some of these articles are the usual cultural references to the Beatles or some other personality that at some point practiced, and perhaps helped popularize, the technique. The other articles include references to people who once practiced TM but since abandoned it, often for some other religious or meditative practice, or often, reference to yet another study or other that raises the perennial but tenuous claim that meditation, in particular TM, can supposedly help lower blood pressure.
Still, a complete explanation of the actual mechanism by which TM might have some perceived effects like that is a bit elusive. Viewed in a somewhat different, perhaps you could call it cynical, light given my intervening life experiences, I find it hard to nail down exactly what it is that's being taught in the context of "meditation." Perhaps that sounds kind of strange, after all, isn't "meditation" the central feature of the program? But perhaps something else is going on. After all, one thing that always gets repeated by those promoting TM is that you can't learn TM from a book, or by reading about it. Some kind of interaction with other people in a particular setting seems to be the central feature; an interaction that in some ways is rather precisely described and carried out.
Looking through the movement's materials that I've accumulated through the years, and what can be easily seen today in the movement's programs by looking at its websites, there doesn't seem to be much of substance to the program. Even looking back to my memory of my own experiences, I sometimes ask, why was I initially attracted to the TM program, and why did I stick with it for about ten years, long after any apparent effect on my own life, one way or the other, had long passed? Given what now seems obvious and trivial today - what was all that about?
(Continue to Part 2)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)