Reader Comments on TM Recertified Governors' Program

I am quite behind on my email. I received the following post from an anonymous commenter on TMFB.

To many TM initiators, this latest push by the TMO to teach one million children to meditate IMO represents the fulfillment of Maharishi's promise that one day they would all be wealthy. Those that answered the "call of revival" by participating in the first recertification course (300+) were promised $4000 per month if they agreed to be full-time and follow all the programs/procedures as outlined below in the written resolution that everyone took before performing puja…and it appears from MVED's balance sheets in recent years that these first recertified initiators did indeed receive and continue to receive these salaries in spite of the success of their various activities in the field. It was like a sales meeting that any large and failing corporation has in order to inspire its remaining employees to get the money flowing again. (BTW, the salaries of later recertified teachers...referred to as independent contractors...are based on a percentage of the income that they generate through their activities.) Relatively recently, Hagelin removed the cap on recertified initiators' salaries such that they are virtually unlimited. IMO, this latest push is like the proverbial carrot (but this one is golden!) being dangled in front of their faces, so is it any wonder that many of them are so adamant about pushing this program through and wanting it to succeed. In their eyes, failure is not an option because then what would be their source of income if the entire corporation fails??? From every side, it's all about the money!!!

RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT ON THE AUSPICIOUS DAY OF RĀM NAVAMI OF THE VEDIC CALENDAR
I resolve today on the auspicious day of Rām Navami of the Vedic Calendar, April 18, 2005, to be an exponent of Total Knowledge of Natural Law for my city and for the 4-5 surrounding towns of which I will take care—to bring all the programs of Vedic Education, Vedic Health, Vedic Architecture, Vedic Organic Agriculture, Vedic Music, Vedic Economy, and Vedic Administration, as brought to light by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, by establishing Peace Palaces that will bring enlightenment to the population under my care and create a powerful influence of harmony and coherence and permanent world peace with Invincibility for every nation. In order to achieve this, I will dedicate myself full time to the activity of Director of the Peace Palace, and undertake to start my activity by:
• Maintaining my long program morning and evening
• Never engaging in anything that I know to be wrong
• Renting space for a Peace Palace office in a mall or similar facility
• Arranging for secretarial services for each location
• Advertising in local and regional newspapers, amongst others
• Offering the 55 Peace Palace services and types of products in each Peace Palace
• Opening a local bank account
• Maintaining the two channels of activities—for men and ladies
• Finding 4-5 assistants initially, and soon after, 4-5 assistants for each location under my care
• Engaging 4 massage therapists straight away for the first location, and soon after, for each location under my care
• Locating the land for Peace Palace construction and for Peace Colonies to offer Vastu homes to the population of the city
• Using the computerized system of administration

The 55 items of activity and services of the Peace Palaces include the World Peace Bonds, donations, and membership fees, which it will be my joy to utilize in raising at least one half the cost of one Peace Palace in order to have a groundbreaking ceremony for that city. I will go on to join the Raja Training—having organized the construction of the Peace Palace to start and be completed by the time I finish my Raja Training Course. Having undergone this recertification program I will take all these steps so that, on this Guru Purnima, the full moon of July 2005, my city will welcome the descent of Heaven on Earth—the descent of Satya Yuga saying bye-bye to Kali Yuga.

I pay homage to Guru Dev and the Holy tradition of Vedic Masters through all the levels of Rajas and Maharaja of the Global Country of World Peace—the State Rajas, the National Rajas and the Global Maharaja—reaching the holy tradition of Vedic Masters whose guiding light, His Divinity Bramhananda Saraswati, has blessed the world with this whole knowledge of Enlightenment to the individual and Invincibility to the nation. Jai Guru Dev..

The "Just the facts, Ma'am" Approach To Meditation

TM-Free Blog reader and frequent Fairfield Life poster "Uncle Tantra" submitted the following article to TMFB. He's interested in the reactions and suggestions of the commenters in our community.

For those who didn't grow up American (or are young :-)), Joe Friday was a police detective on a TV series called "Dragnet." His approach was brusque and no-nonsense, and the quintessence of this approach was his signature phrase used when interviewing a witness to learn about a crime: "Just the facts, Ma'am."

For some reason I was thinking about Joe on my morning walk along the beach with the dogs, and got to wondering what the "Just the facts, Ma'am" answer might be about MEDITATION, the thing that we all have in common here.

What CAN we say about meditation that most of us can agree on as "facts?" No bullshit, no dogma, no assumptions, no theories, no assertions of "better" or "best." Just the facts, Ma'am.

Here is my start at such a list. They're not "facts" in the sense that I claim that they're comsically "true" or "truth." They're just me trying to make sense out of 40+ years on the spiritual path, and trying to write down a few of the things that are as close to "fact" about medi- tation as I'm ever likely to get. I am also NOT speaking of *only* TM, but of meditative practice as a wider phenomenon, in ANY of its many forms.

Other posters are invited to add their "facts" to my list, and to discuss it as they wish. I doubt I'm going to feel like defending it. Those who feel compelled to turn things into an argument can do so, if that's the only thing they see in this post to get off on. Me, I'm more interested in what the people without an axe to grind and without a crusade to fight have to say.

1. Meditation has been around a long time.

2. It exists in many forms, and has been associated with many different forms of religion and spiritual practice, but need not be associated with any of them. It can be practiced *as a practice*, with no associated belief system whatsoever.

3. Proponents of meditation have said that it has had subjective benefits for them -- increased clarity of mind after the practice, a feeling of restfulness or relaxation during the practice, and generally *enough* benefits for them in their personal lives that they practice it regularly.

4. Science has made a *start* at verifying some of the sub- jective claims made by proponents of meditation, but the extent of this verification varies from one form of meditation to another, and from one study of the same method to another. These scientific studies -- ALL of them, IMO -- have also been tainted by the associated belief systems *about* medi- tation that the people they are testing bring with them, and by the belief systems that the researchers themselves bring with them.

5. Many systems of meditation make claims that their tech- nique is "the best" or "better" or "more effective" than other forms of meditation.

6. So far, try as they might, neither subjective testimony by practitioners nor science has ever conclusively proved any of these claims of "betterness" or "bestness" or "most effectiveness."

7. The *mechanics* of these different forms of meditation vary greatly. Some may use mantras (the thinking or chanting of a word or words). Some practice meditation with eyes closed, some with eyes open or even during other activities. Some may use yantras or some other visual aids as a focus for their meditative practice. Some pay attention to the breath, or to just what is taking place at the moment -- mentally and in the environment. Some have no element of focus for their meditative practice at all. Some forms of meditation have a "goal," and others have no "goal" at all, except to meditate.

8. Again, so far science has proved none of these techniques or approaches to meditation definitively "better" than another.

9. Some proponents claim that meditation has benefits that extend beyond the benefits to the person practicing the medi- tation itself. That is, they claim that the meditation some- how affects the environment around the meditator in positive ways. These claims include reduction of environmental stress, lower crime rates, a more peaceful and settled environment, and even world peace.

10. Again, none of these claimed benefits have been conclu- sively proved by science.

11. One can come up with numerous examples of people who practice meditation who DO seem to exemplify positive traits in their daily lives. They are seen by most observers to be more flexible, more compassionate and caring about others around them, more capable of effective action in stressful situations, and generally happy with their lives and pleasant to be around.

12. One can come up with just as many examples of people who practice meditation who do NOT seem to exemplify these positive traits in their daily lives. We have seen meditators convicted of crimes such as fraud and rape and robbery and murder, we have seen numerous examples of depression and mental illness and even suicide among long-term meditators, and we all know people who have meditated for decades who do NOT seem to be happy with their lives or pleasant to be around.

13. We can find BOTH the positive traits AND the negative traits in those who do not practice and have never practiced any form of meditation.

14. Despite the claims of proponents, no form of meditation has ever universally produced the positive traits in ALL of its practitioners.

15. Despite the claims of *opponents* to meditation and medi- tative practice, no form of meditation has ever been shown to universally produce the negative traits in ALL of its prac- titioners.

16. Since the positive traits appear in people who have never practiced meditation, no conclusive link has ever been proved between meditation and these positive traits. Same with the negative traits.

17. For some, meditation practice is pleasant and even blissful. They look forward to each session because experience has shown them that it is enjoyable in itself, and that it produces benefits in their lives.

18. For some, meditation practice is not as pleasant. It may be perceived to be difficult or even unpleasant. Some who experience this may stop the practice of meditation as a result. Others experience this and continue to meditate regularly any- way, because the benefits they perceive in their lives outweigh for them the less-than-pleasant experience of meditation itself.

19. As a general statement, there is no evidence that meditation in ANY form is a panacea, and a universal "cure for what ails ya."

20. As another general statement, it seems valid to me that if you enjoy the practice of meditation and feel that it produces benefits in your life, there is nothing that anyone can or should say to try to talk you out of practicing it, or into practicing another form of meditation.

That's all I could come up with in the 15 minutes I gave myself to come up with this list. Please add your own "facts," as you see them, or otherwise react as you see fit.

If you are interested in seeing your post published on TMFB, please contact me at jmknapp53@gmail.com

Two Requests from a Reader

Can you help this reader? I received this in my email today:

Hello, John,

Thanks for keeping going on the blog. It has been very helpful to me although disturbing to see what was also going on with others in the movement.

I'm wondering about one of the pictures that comes up when I'm "surfing" Maharishi channels 3,4 and 5. I've seen it pop up a few times and it has nothing to do with the program. It looks like a table with a very large (barrel size) glass dome, the kind you would displan a watch or keepsake in. It looks like it has dry ice in it and there is a man (Maharishi) standing in the background.

Could you please tell me what that is?

I wish there was some way I could find and contact other teachers from Pasadena, Ca where our center was. Are there some lists somewhere?

How I Found Out That Transcendental Meditation Was a Cult

Below is a recent, unedited submission by an Israeli TM practitioner. His thoughts represent his personal view and not, necessarily, the views of any of TM-Free Blog's editors. If you have thoughts you would like to share with our community, please consider submitting them to jmknapp53@gmail.com.

Submitted by Ori Idan

I learned TM when I was 15 years old. I was regular for few month and then forgot about it, I had too many things to do.

Few years later, I remembered that I once learned it and tried it again, this time I enjoyed it very much, it was fun to meditate and make me fill real good.

I went to few residence courses and I liked it. The only thing I did not like where few lectures that seemed to be marketing lectures. Marketing lectures to promote more advanced techniques like the sidhis. However at that time I believed they are really advocating something that might be very helpful and I should try it.

Since I felt good with the practice of twice daily meditation, I decided to take the Sidhis course as it was said that I will get all the benefits of TM but much faster.

I thought that if TM is good, then other things the movement say, might also be good.

I really believed in everything they said. It was not easy to decide to pay so much money for the course so I asked a friend who is practicing it for few years about his opinion on the course. He said this teaching worth so much. You can not even measure it with money. Ok, I thought, both he and the movement say the same so it might be true and I should be doing it.

Eventually by 1998 I did the course. It was fun to practice it but did I gain anything from practicing it? It was hard to answer this question. In fact I felt that TM alone would usually make me more awake but a full Sidhis program would not give the same result.

I even felt that my left arm sometimes shake as if I had Parkinson disease.

I could not even think that Sidhis is not as good as they said it is and convinced myself that it was doing me good.

Placebo effect seems to work well and I did fill good.

This continued for few years. I became more active in the movement and even considered taking teachers course.

I helped one of the teaches build a website to promote TM in Israel, I did this work almost voluntarily. I asked him to pay only for what really cost me money such as domain name, hosting etc.

Few years later, the movement opened a new center for meditation. In this center they had group practice which I attended and enjoyed very much.

After few times I came there, I got a call asking to pay for the practice.

My response was that first of all if they are doing group meditation in order to promote wellness of life in Israel, they should pay us and not vice versa.

They said I am right but unfortunately they don't have the money for this.

This seems strange. They charge so much money for each course and they don't have the money for their own goals?

Also I said that I am doing a lot of work voluntarily for the movement so I don't think it is right to charge me.

He tried to say that no, the web site is his own and thus the work I did was to help him not the movement. But at different times, he presented the website to be that of the movement. It seems he presents it as his own when needed and as the movements web site in all other times.

I said that from now on he should pay like any other customer.

He was of course upset by this and asked me to give him all the source code and material that is on the website so he can find another webmaster.

Ok I said you want it I will give you it but this requires some work to be done and you should pay for this work. As expected, he did not want to pay. It seems the movement never pay a dime for anything. They expect other people to pay for their actions.

At that time I searched the Internet to see what happens in other parts of the world and have come across many sites against TM, it seems there are more sites against TM then pro TM.

After reading few of these sites it became clear that this is a pattern and not something special for this particular person or the movement in Israel.

This came as a shock for me. After believing them for such a long time. To find that most of what they say are lies.

I write it here as a short story but you can be sure it was not very short. It took many years to find out that I am actually inside a cult.

During the time I started to look what happens in other part of the world, I fell in love is a girl who was a Scientologist (a far more dangerous cult). When I first met her, I knew she was in Scientology but did not know how dangerous it is.

I learned all that I can about Scientology and I was shocked to find similarities between Scientology and TM. At first I tried to deny there are similarities but it was hard to ignore it.

My girlfriend of course left me. After all disconnection from people that are not in favor of Scientology is a common practice there. I hope it is not common practice in TM, at least not here in Israel.

After some time, I decided to stop practicing the Sidhis and return to twice daily meditation.

It his hard to believe how better I felt, suddenly I had more energy and things that I always postponed I suddenly had the time and will to do them. I started filling better all day.

So now I think meditation by itself is good, I know that TM itself is good but the movement is a corrupted group and one better stay far away from them.

--

Ori Idan

On the Banks of Infinite Bliss

Submitted by Bronte Baxter. If you have an article you would like to post, please contact jmknapp53@gmail.com.

A Parable
by Bronte Baxter


An ignorant peasant who has never seen the ocean goes on a journey in search of it. He wants to spend the rest of his life by the sea, basking in its magnificent beauty. All his life he's prepared himself to take this great journey. Seeing and dwelling beside the ocean is the great goal of his life.

A self-serving scoundrel encounters the peasant on his sojourn, learns of his intentions, and comes up with a clever idea. He tells the peasant that he himself lives by the ocean, and that if the peasant follows him, he'll show him the quickest and surest way there.

The peasant follows the scoundrel "guide," who leads him to a muddy pond on the banks of which the scoundrel guide happens to live. But before he gets the peasant to the pond, the scoundrel tells the peasant stories of his own about the ocean. He tells him how the ignorant do not recognize the ocean for its true greatness but see instead only a small body of water. He says it takes a true wise man to know the ocean for what it is, to see beyond mundane appearances, and that if this peasant follows him faithfully, he will not only arrive at the ocean but cognize its true unbounded nature, thereafter living the rest of his years in bliss on its infinite shore.

The peasant arrives as the little pond, and sees muddy water. He is somewhat disappointed at first, but rallies his spirits with the many lofty explanations of this ocean that he remembers from the stories of his illustrious guide. All at once, the peasant DOES see that what is before him is not truly a murky pond but a vast unbounded sea, although its infinite nature is invisible to the eye of the senses.

At this point, the scoundrel guide praises his disciple for his brilliant transcendental perception, then tells him that the ocean allows only the truly pure of heart to bask forever on its shores. If the man wishes to do that, he must first become worthy.

"How do I get worthy?" asks the trusting soul. "By selfless service to the ocean itself," answers the scoundrel guide. "It so happens, I am the oracle of the sea, the human living embodiment of this limitless body of water. I am not the man I appear to your senses (this body is but my outer covering). I am the living spirit of the infinite water itself. You will see this with your inner vision if your heart is clean." The peasant sees it, and falls at the scoundrel guide's feet.

"Ah, you do see past the illusions of the senses, my beloved child," offers the scoundrel. "Now all that's needed for you to fulfill your dream of basking forever on the shores of the sea is to live the rest of your life in selfless service to me, the embodiment of the ocean you so adore." The peasant believes this, because his guide led him where he said he would -- to the ocean -- so he must be telling the truth.

The peasant lives 'til the end of his days on the muddy banks of a tiny pond, as the grateful slave of the man who waylaid him from his true journey. He carries water, washes dirty dishes and clothes, cleans and cooks, gives sexual favors and faithfully does everything else that ever is asked of him.

The scoundrel is delighted with the peasant, who makes it possible for the scoundrel never to have to work for a living again, now that he has a fool to cater to his every whim and need. A fool who thinks his master is the ocean and that the murky pond he lives on is all there is of greatness in the world.

The Hidden Agenda of Mantra Meditation

[Below is a personal statement of the author's spirituality. It does not represent a view held by TM-Free Blog editors. We welcome submissions by our readers on a wide-range of topics related to Transcendental Meditation. Email your submission to jmknapp53@gmail.com.]

By Bronte Baxter

What I expected to see when I came back to the Fairfield scene after 20 years away was a group of mainstay meditators true-blue to Maharishi and a group of robust dissenters, whose minds questioned everything they learned from their guru days. Instead, I found the true-blue meditators, but not the kind of dissenters I anticipated. I encountered people who had left the movement but hadn’t substantially changed their belief system. This latter group had changed in the way that people change hats, or redecorate their homes, leaving unaltered the structure underneath.

The dissenters had splintered into a myriad of Eastern or Eastern-related philosophies: Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and Andrew Cohen were popular, and Neo-Advaitin gurus had rallied many behind their minimalist philosophy. “Saints” like Ammachi visit Fairfield regularly, dispensing dharshan and picking up new recruits. Across town, small groups meet in “satsangs” to discuss their growing enlightenment or to chant songs to the gods. Heated debate is common between adherents of competing gurus, and people grow vitriolic over whether Maharishi has slept with young women or not. There is a smattering of hedonists and atheists, but ex-TMers in the Fairfield circuit mostly show up with an intact Vedic worldview. That worldview is a lens through which they perceive and measure all gurus and reality itself.

I find this disturbing. It’s rather like people who’ve been swindled by a con man, despising him for how they were treated while they continue to invest money in the enterprise he sold them on. Why doesn’t the skepticism extend beyond the procurer, to that which he procured for?

And what did Maharishi procure for? The Vedic gods. He sold us a meaningless word that was supposed to guide our minds to transcend superficial consciousness. Later we learned those meaningless words, our mantras, were names of deities. He taught us advanced techniques with the Sanskrit word “namah” at their core: “I bow down.” Mantra meditation is a form of paying worship to those who call themselves gods. When you scrape away all the fancy and misleading explanations – like “meaningless sounds” and “impulses of creative intelligence,” what you get very simply is people with their eyes closed bowing down in their minds to an assigned Hindu deity.

Of course we can explain this away using TM explanations, much like the townsfolk explained away the emperor’s nakedness using the reasoning they were fed by the tricksters who paraded him through the town. But the emperor has no clothes. Mantras worship the gods. “Namah” means “bow down.” It’s right there on the surface for anyone to see if we toss out the excuses we were handed and look at the situation with even a shred of unbiased observation.

Who are these gods, that we’re so willing to explain away as “impulses of our own consciousness”? The same gods have appeared in other religions and cultures, even in societies that had no contact with each other. They go by different names, but the entities are the same. In Hinduism, you have Indra, god of thunder, ruler of the gods, married to Indrani, queen of the gods, known for her jealousy. In Greek mythology, you have Zeus, god of thunder, ruler of the gods, married to Hera, queen of the gods, known for her jealousy. One-to-one correspondence like this is common. The gods are a global phenomenon, with their imprints on every society.

Historically, the gods exacted worship and sacrifice – blood sacrifice commonly, including the murder of humans. While Hinduism has a history of human sacrifice, it has been reduced today to worship of Kali, the goddess with her bloody tongue hanging out, whose body is adorned with a necklace of bleeding, decapitated human heads. Or Shiva, adorned with serpents, who dances on graves. Or Vishnu, whom Arjuna perceived in His cosmic form with pieces of devoured victims’ flesh sticking between his teeth. Gods feed on the energy of suffering, the fearful energy of the victim. In one South American sacrificial ritual, a bull has his throat slit, as slowly as possible. The reasoning given is that the gods cherish “live blood” as the blood with the greatest energy, so the animal must be kept alive while the blood drips from its body. In other words, the greater the fear and suffering of the sacrificial beast, the greater is the pleasure of the gods.

The Shrimad-Bhagavatum, among other scriptures, explains the antipathy of the gods for human enlightenment. According to the Vedas and the mythology of other cultures, the gods feel threatened by the human race, afraid mankind might grow as powerful as they. The gods want humans to remain ignorant and “inferior” because if man realized his intrinsic nature as consciousness, he would no longer be subject to deva control. The devas wish us to believe, and have told us throughout scripture, that their divine hands manipulate and guide the laws of nature – creation itself. For this reason we should worship them, chant to them, send them our soma (subtle energy generated in meditation). Because our energy feeds the gods and is needed by them to stay strong and in control of this material dimension. And they wish us to believe that their control is in our best interest.

Who would make the rains come or the sun shine if the gods are rightful stewards of those things and we humans didn’t support them? All creation would crumble without the blessing of the gods. That, scriptures tell us, is why we should worship, which is equivalent to paying an energy-tithe. It’s the same reasoning human warlords use against the people they dominate: pay your tax, because you need us; we will protect you. Don’t pay the tax, and we will punish you. The gods threaten to punish, even destroy mankind if he doesn’t bend before their yoke and serve them. They fulfilled that threat in the Great Flood (a story which appears in disparate cultures) and in other visitations of divine vengeance recorded in countless tales throughout cultural history.

But really, who are these characters? And do they really exist? The modern mind relegates “gods” to the overactive imaginations of pre-civilized peoples, and in so doing, dismisses the concept. But actually, deities appear in highly civilized early societies, including Sumeria, Babylon, Greece and Egypt. Isn’t it ethnocentric of us to suggest that civilizations capable of constructing the pyramids or accurately charting the course of the stars for centuries into the future, should be dismissed as childlike and ignorant when they write of their experiences with other-worldly beings? Archeologist Zechariah Sitchen, in his voluminous tomes, details the countless references in ancient writings and artifacts to beings who visited this world in fiery flying ships, who taught mankind, interbred with humans, and set up a government of divine-right kingship. Visiting beings who called themselves gods.

Kings were considered “sons of the gods,” connected to the deities by bloodline, hence their right to rule. In the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s mother was said to conceive her numerous sons by intercourse with several different deities. The first chapter of Genesis speaks of the Nefelim, a giant race that interbred with early humans. In Egypt, the pharaohs were literally “sons of the gods.” We find stories of gods interbreeding with humans to create a kingly line in Zulu shamanism and in South American Indian lore.

Time and again, in culture after culture, the gods appear doing the same things, demanding the same things. Even Christianity springs from a pantheistic tradition: Jehovah was one god among many for the Hebrews. A self-righteous fellow fond of war and genocide, he had to compete with the other local gods for the Hebrews’allegiance. Today, having beat out the competition, revered as “God” by his followers, Jehovah garners the worship not just of Jews but Protestants and Catholics as well.

How foolish and arrogant is it to laugh off the existence of a race of beings who appear in the annals of every civilization? I was amazed to see ex-TMers, who spent years feeding soma to devas through chants and mantras, whose walls are still plastered with pictures of Lakshmi, Kali and Shiva, dismiss with a toss of their head the idea that gods might exist as real persons.

Who, in truth, are the gods, and what do they want from us? Do “deities” sit at the controls of the universe, managing the laws of nature? Beings with such awesome power that our lives are in their hands? Entities we must never challenge at the risk of losing all we hold dear? I suggest, if the gods are innately as powerful as they purport to be, they would not need human worship to survive. They would be self-sufficient, drawing on the Infinite within them for every need. Instead, they tell mankind to bow down and pay tithe, and threaten in the scriptures to destroy us if we don’t. What kind of power is it, that can’t exist without feeding?

It sounds more like psychic enslavement to me. Convince the people whose world you contrive to control that they are powerless without you, that the rains won’t come and the sun will go dark if they don’t please you. Drink their soma, the positive energy of worship, and drink their negative energy, too, when you can incite it and siphon it off. Feed yourself on human astral energy, whatever the quality, and you and your race can control human life as long as the system remains intact. Planetary farming. If anyone starts to wake up a little, divert their efforts at spiritual independence by luring them into mantra meditation.

Consider this quote by the currently popular guru, Ramana Maharshi: "Repetition aloud of His name is better than praise. Better still is its faint murmur. But the best is repetition within the mind -- and that is meditation. Better than such broken thought is its steady and continuous flow like the flow of oil or of a perennial stream."

Ramana Maharshi’s statement represents mantra meditation’s goal: a state where the mind is timelessly identified with surrender to the name of one’s god – identical with the god himself. The mind itself has become self-negation at the feet of the deity. Empty of original thought and dynamic desire, the “liberated” person’s ego is dissolved: the very thing that made him or her human. All that is left is a mind-body shell, a meat-robot, that moves through life as a surrendered instrument of some greater will. I suggest the greater will is not that of the Infinite. It is the will of the god who has taken the place of one’s mind.

Does this sound like possession? It surely appears to be. Think of all the gurus you’ve met with their palpable shakti. An energy so real no one who experiences it can deny it. What is that light in their eye, a light beyond this world? Whose is that power they touch you with, embrace you with? Is it the shakti of Brahman, the light of pure consciousness? Or is it the power of Kali or one of her friends? Gurus often say they are the embodiment of Shiva, Kali, or some other god. Why do we not take them at their word?

I would like to suggest that mantra meditation turns humans into zombies who serve the agenda of the gods. That agenda is procurement of more humans and more human energy. This explains the common phenomena of proselytizing by the religious, including fundamentalist Christians, TMers, and disciples of other varieties. Servants of “God” or the gods feel a driving need to bring in more recruits. The god that moves through them fills them with this zeal, as a hungry stomach fills the mind with an overwhelming need to procure dinner.

There are no gods, in the sense the gods would have us think of them. No one has been designated by the Infinite to control creation and administer the laws of nature. The sun shines by itself as an entity with its own consciousness. The rain and wind don’t need a god to direct them; they move where they will in harmony with their fellow elements. All things are children of the Infinite, spirits or egos in their own unique right, expressing in physical form and also in astral dimensions.

The gods are spirits/egos like everybody else. Most of the time they dwell on astral planes, which is why human senses normally don’t perceive them. They appear to have visited the earth in ages past in physical forms of their own, as entities from the stars.

They are no more divine than a ghost, no more cosmic than you or me, and no more entitled or intended to run the universe than any other gang of warlords might be. Somehow they’ve gained control of this planet, and have held that control at least since the beginning of recorded human history. But that is no reason to think the Infinite wants it that way, or that life needs to continue that way.

True empowerment is not the Indian concept of enlightenment. It is knowing what we are and living from there. We are spirit: individual and eternal, moving within the consciousness of That which created, sustains and pervades all life. Knowing this is not difficult. It only requires putting attention on that which is beneath the content of thought. Acting from this place of empowerment is natural: we can ordain reality from that quantum level. Everyone can do it. Everyone is equally powerful moving and creating in the depths of their own consciousness.

Unfortunately, people rarely do that, though, as the mass hypnosis that governs human life convinces us that karma, fate or the will of God runs the world, that we as individuals have little direct control over what happens to us. The gods are the purveyors of this global hypnosis. It serves their agenda of control. True liberation does not mean rising above the illusion of ourselves as egos. It means rising above the illusion that as egos we are cut off from the powerhouse of creation. That as individuals we are something less than pure, eternal, powerful spirits – in our own right, very much gods. Gods with a global case of amnesia.

The “enlightened” have surrendered their personhood to the deities who control their meditations. Their bliss is the euphoric stupor which their appeased deities grant them as reward. The words, the thoughts, the desires of the enlightened are not their own any longer, but those of their controlling god. The word “zombie” is appropriate because of its meaning as the walking dead.

But all is not lost for such people. No one can keep the human soul enslaved against its will. An act of personal empowerment, of willfully recalling one’s ego, must surely destroy enslavement by any possessing entity. One can recall surrendered pieces of one’s being as a magnet can recall iron filings. Native American traditions speak of our ability to do just this, calling back the parts of our lost personhood.

When people cease to surrender their energy and spirit to those who call themselves gods, the deceivers will lose their power over this dimension. They will shrink back to “normal size,” entities responsible for themselves like everybody else. Our world will know a freedom, creativity, harmony and joy it has never demonstrated in its history, because interdimensional manipulation will cease. The suffering on this planet, god-inspired and god-feeding, will dwindle and disappear. The need to kill to eat will no longer exist. Sickness, aging and death will have no substructure. Each wonderful created being – animal, human or astral – will thrive on the power of the Infinite source within itself, and victim/tyrant relationships, which ran the planet for eons, will fade into thin air. Living will become what surely the Infinite intended in Its original vision for the universe: a symphony of minds, not a competition; a tapestry of spirits, not a hierarchy; a garden of consciousness, not a painful struggle.

When I hear “the enlightened” excuse all the atrocities of this world by saying that in their exalted perception, everything is “perfect” just as it is, I hear “fraud.” The God I perceive in the depths of my being is not a God who is content with fathers raping infants, animals being ripped apart alive, or human sorrow so great only suicide can quell it. This kind of world is not perfect, and anyone who sees it as such has something seriously wrong with them. If the gods were really beneficent and powerful, they would not operate a world that runs like this. When their mouthpieces and procurers tell us this world is just as it should be – that shows you the true nature of the gods.

These beings are not our friends, though surely, if there are scoundrels in astral dimensions, there must be virtuous entities there as well. Perhaps the ones who don’t seek lordship over this planet are watching to see if humans take back control of our world or continue to surrender it, piece by piece, to the cosmic band of thugs who want to own it. Will we continue surrendering our governments, media, schools, workplaces, taxes and spirituality to those who would lead us farther away from personal freedom and self-actualization, closer to a world without responsibility, originality or joy? Such a world is the goal of the gods, because it’s more controllable.

Their lackeys in the political arena (many – George Bush, for instance – are genetically linked to European royal families and the god-engendered lines of divine-right kings) call this future society the New World Order. Centralized control, humans functioning on autopilot. The death of free will, passion, desire and originality – sounds a lot like enlightenment, doesn’t it. The surrender of the individual to the collective. Control of the collective by divine-right rulers, and control of those rulers by the cosmic band of thugs themselves. The rise of the great Fourth Reich.

Who were the mystical entities Hitler conversed with and took guidance from? Why was group meditation a part of Nazi protocol? Why were many TM/ New Age slogans (“established in Being, perform action,” for instance) also slogans of the Third Reich?

Total control and spiritual domination. The destruction of everything that makes life worth living. Creation imploding on itself, like a snake swallowing its tail. That actually is a symbol found in mystery schools, which were controlled by the gods.

It’s time to give up beads and mantras, chanting and bowing down to dirty feet. It’s time to fire the gurus, stand up and be the powerful, sublime individuals we are. It’s time to question the dogmas we swallowed whole from Vedic tradition and take a closer look at what is happening when we meditate.

It’s time to reclaim our birthright, our divinity and this Earth. Only we can do it, as the conscious beings we are. As Alice in Wonderland said, turning and facing the Red Queen’s army that was hot on her heels, “Pooh! You’re nothing but a pack of old cards.” That army toppled, turning into a heap of playing cards the moment the girl broke through her bad dream. Our controllers too will topple, and dragons will turn into geckos. It’s time to give up the cosmic illusion and de-hypnotize.

NEW! Open Thread

We are pleased to add a new feature to TM-Free Blog: Open Threads. At least twice a day we will dedicate an open thread to you, our valued readers. This space is yours. Post anything you want, about anything that interests you! We imagine posts will be about Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. But you never know!

We are especially pleased to launch our feature with an anonymous posting on Kundalini and the TM technique. Just click on comments below to read this intriguing post.

Enjoy!

The Guru's Guinea Pigs: The Maharishi and "Impermissible Experiments"

First there was the recent submission on the Transcendental Meditation Age of Enlightenment techniques. Then followed the lively discussion pointing out that the Maharishi tried first one version then another on unsuspecting 6-Month course participants.

The guy was basically making it up as he went along. If one thing didn't work, why then he'd try something else. Older readers here may remember that the Maharishi referred to the Age of Enlightenment techniques and the later sidhis as "research experiments into consciousness" after all.

As Joseppi justly pointed out, we were just lab rats to the Maharishi. Worse, we were paying lab rats. We paid not only the equivalent of $25,000 in today's money, we paid in time from our lives. And some of us paid in psychological damage from "spiritual" experiments that the Maharishi had no idea how they would turn out. Until we lined up to sip the psychological Kool Aid.

This isn't just morally wrong. It's criminal.

After the Nazi horrors of World War II, during which Nazi scientists experimented medically and psychologically on Jews and others, the world reacted with shock. They passed the Nuremberg Code of Ethics, parts of which were later incorporated into the Geneva Conventions. International law made it illegal to perform any type of human experimentation without the informed consent of participants. Informed consent requires that "test subjects" be told in advance that they are taking part in experimental procedures – and the possible side effects. "Impermissible experiments" on humans explicitly included not just medical, but psychological experimentation as well.

From the victims of the Maharishi's experiments known as the Fiuggi Flipouts, to the course participants of the 6-Month Course, to the continuing experiments of Ayur Veda and even the million-dollar Raja course, the Maharishi is conducting impermissible experiments on unsuspecting human subjects.

Not informing us that he is experimenting, that there are unknown risks and dangers to physical and mental well-being – that he is in fact making it up as he goes along – is a crime against humanity.

Sad News: Possible MUM Suicide

We have received a report this morning that a Maharishi University of Management recently committed suicide by a shot to the head. We hope to confirm this report this morning. We express condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

Reader Submission: Full Age of Enlightenment Techniques

We received the following in today's email from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. The Age of Enlightenment techniques were taught on the fabled 6-month course in the mid-1970s. The cost of the course would be approximately $25,000 in today's dollars. Enjoy the "fruits" below -- for free!

To: jmknapp53@gmail.com

[F]rom my personal, handwritten notes. Enjoy!

Keep up the great work.


Full Age of Enlightenment Technique
After T[ranscendental]M[editation]S[idhi]P[rogram]:

Place attention on the following in sequence:

• Nostrils
  
• Lips
  
• Ears
  
• Eyes
  
• Between Brows
  
• Top of head
  
• Whole head
  
• Throat
  
• Chest
  
• Stomach
  
• Sides of the body
  
• Back
  
• Upper back
  
• Shoulder blades
  
• Upper arms
  
• Lower arms
  
• Palms
  
• Fingers
  
• Upper legs
  
• Ankles
  
• Feet
  
• Whole body
  

Then have sequential and growing awareness of the following spaces, along with the mantras which follow:

• City you are in
  
• Country you are in
  
• Continent (North/SouthAmerica)
  
• Africa
  
• Europe
  
• Austral-Asia
  
• Whole world
  
• Earth and the Sun together
  
• The Solar System
  
• The Galaxy
  
• Clusters of Galaxies
  
• Whole Universe
  
• The Absolute
  
• The Whole Body
  

Lokas (done simultaneously with the above):

• Om Bhu (mentally utter at level of clouds)
  
• Om Bhu Va (higher and higher)
  
• Om Sva
  
• Om Maha
  
• Om Jana
  
• Om Tapa
  
• Om Sat Yam (pron: Om Sut Yum)
  

When you utter "Sat Yam" place attention on the top of your head.

Have an awareness of the Whole Body.

Sutra: Soma, soma, soma.

Rest 5-10 minutes.

A couple points interest me.

The above techniques are very similar to some beginning techniques taught by Yogananda. We hope to have a post discussing this shortly.

Also, the TM Governors were instructed to repeat the mantra "OM" 7 times. This despite the Maharishi's constant warnings, going back to 1956 and The Beacon Light of the Himalayas, that it was dangerous for "householders" to repeat "Om":

"Ladies should never repeat any Mantra beginning with Om. The pronunciation of Om is like fire to the ladies. This is the practical experience of many devoted ladies who repeated 'Om Namah Shivaya' or 'Om Namonarayanaya' or 'Om Namo Bhagawate Vasudevaya' or any such mantra beginning with Om. It cannot be God's wish that you should suffer in your devotion to him. Do not cling to the unhelpful Mantras. The moment you find you have got into the wrong train, it is wise to get down from it as soon as possible. It is foolish to stick on to the wrong train and go wherever it takes you."

Finally, we are aware that there were several variations on these techniques taught to succeeding 6-Month Courses. Here you will find a link to an alternate description of the techniques given as testimony in the infamous Kropinski fraud case against the TM Orgs and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

If you have knowledge of Transcendental Meditation Org secrets, please consider emailing jmknapp53@gmail.com. Your confidentiality and anonymity are assured, if you wish.