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Littleolive oil (talk | contribs) Undid revision 339921774 by Kala Bethere Kala.. nothing to do with WP:MEDRS or WP:Fringe comment. Its about mantras (talk) |
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[[Image:Zentrale TM Vlodrop.jpg|thumb|Center of Transcendental Meditation in [[Vlodrop]], [[Netherlands]]]] |
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Denis Vaughan is most famous for his role as the brains and driving force behind the creation of Britain's National Lottery. He has devoted his life to arts and culture. At 79, he continues to campaign tirelessly for wider access to arts and culture for young people, and to promote the health benefits of music, the arts and sport. He is President of CAARE (Council for the Advancement of Arts, Recreation & Education), the charity he founded in 1996. |
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The '''Transcendental Meditation''' technique, or '''TM®''' technique, is a form of [[mantra]] [[meditation]] introduced in [[India]] in 1955<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-02-05-maharishi-obit_N.htm|title=Beatles guru dies in Netherlands|work=USA Today|author=AP|date=February 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1995/12/29/MN65432.DTL|last=Epstein|first=Edward, |title=Politics and Transcendental Meditation|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=December 29, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/la-me-maharishi6feb06,0,2399627,full.story|last=Woo|first=Elaine|title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; founded Transcedental Meditation movement|work=Baltimore Sun|date=February 6, 2008}} reprinted from ''LA Times''</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.mum.edu/pdf/msvs/v05/morris.pdf|last=Morris|first=Bevan|authorlink=Bevan Morris|title=Maharishi’s Vedic Science and Technology: The Only Means to Create World Peace|work=Journal of Modern Science and Vedic Science|volume=5|number=1–2|year=1992|page=200}}</ref> by [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] (1917–2008).<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Bevan|chapter=Forward|title=Science of Being and Art of Living|author2=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|location=New York|publisher=Plume/The Penguin Group|year=2001}}</ref> Taught in a standardized seven-step course by certified teachers, the technique involves the use of a sound or mantra and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day, while sitting comfortably with closed eyes.<ref name="The Seven-Step Course"/> TM is a registered trademark of the [[Transcendental Meditation movement#Maharishi Foundation|Maharishi Foundation]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nci.nih.gov/dictionary/?CdrID=44991 |title=Definition of Transcendental Meditation - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms, Definition of Transcendental Meditation - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> through which he developed a worth of more than $3 billion dollars as of the 1990s.<ref name="Sagan, Carl 1997 16">{{cite book |author=Sagan, Carl |title=The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=[New York |year=1997 |pages=16 |isbn=0-345-40946-9 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> At one time it was reported to be one of the most widely researched and practiced of meditation techniques.<ref>See http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaints/p/ravishankar.htm; Murphy M, Donovan S, Taylor E. The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A review of Contemporary Research with a Comprehensive Bibliography 1931-1996. Sausalito, California: Institute of Noetic Sciences; 1997.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Benson | first1 = Herbert | last2 = Klipper | first2 = Miriam Z. | title = The relaxation respons | year = 2001 | publisher = Quill | location = New York, NY | isbn = 978-0-380-81595-1 | page = 61|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TJDGTP9Sa5UC&pg=PA61&dq=transcendental+meditation&lr=#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | first1=Stephen T. |last1=Sinatra|first2=James C. |last2=Roberts| last3 = Zucker | first3 = Martin | title = Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late | date = | publisher = Wiley | location = | isbn = 978-0-470-22878-4 | page = 192|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=4TfJqNA8sOIC&pg=PA192&dq=transcendental+meditationlr=#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false }} |
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Vaughan was born in Melbourne in 1926, and graduated from Melbourne University as a Bachelor of Music in 1947. He won a scholarship to study organ and double bass at England’s Royal College of Music, under the tutelage of George Thalben-Ball and Eugene Cruft. |
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</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=New Life magazine|date=Sept-Oct, 2003|year=2003|first1=Frederick|last1=Travis|first2=Ken |last2=Chawkin}}</ref> |
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In 1957, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began a series of world tours during which he introduced and taught his meditation technique.<ref name=World1>{{Cite book | author = Maharishi Mahesh Yogi| title = Thirty Years Around the World, Volume One, 1957-1964 | date = | publisher = MVU Press | location = | isbn = 90-71750-02-7 | pages = 213–237}}</ref> In 1959, he founded the International Meditation Society and, in 1961, he began to train teachers of the technique.<ref name=World1/><ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book | last1 = Melton | first1 = J. Gordon | title = Encyclopedic handbook of cults in Americ | year = 1992 | publisher = Garland Pub. | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-8153-1140-9 | page = 288|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=KRTGzgpDvL4C&pg=PP1&dq=j+gordon+melton+cults&ei=xHKRSv3pKIHENbuU2bkH#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false }} |
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In 1950, he joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and went on tour to the US with Sir Thomas Beecham. By 1954 he was Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master, in which capacity he formed the Beecham Choral Society. This was followed by engagements at La Scala, Hamburg and Munich opera houses and a season at Bayreuth as assistant to Hans Knappertsbusch. In 1959, together with Klemperer, Celibidache, Bernstein and Maazel, Denis was invited to conduct one of the special concerts performed in Parma in honour of Arturo Toscanini. |
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</ref> From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, both the Maharishi and TM received significant public attention in the USA, especially among the student population.<ref name=Craze>{{Cite news| issn = 0040-718X| title = Behavior: THE TM CRAZE: 40 Minutes to Bliss| work = Time| accessdate = 2009-11-15| date = 1975-10-13| url = http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947229,00.html}}</ref><ref name="latimes.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-maharishi6feb06,1,4208394.story |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; founded Transcendental Meditation movement |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2008-02-06 |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> During this period, a million people learned the technique, including well-known public figures.<ref name=Craze/> |
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A 2007 review of meditative practices that included Transcendental Meditation concluded that the definitive health effects of meditation cannot be determined as the scientific evidence was of poor quality.<ref name="Ospina p.v">Ospina p.v</ref> The review concluded, based on an exhaustive review of the limited evidence, that Transcendental Meditation has no advantage over health education to improve [[blood pressure]], body weight, [[heart rate]], stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients, and that there was no basis in the evidence to prefer one meditation tecnnique over another.<ref name="Ospina p.4">Ospina p.4</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/July07/140707/wn02.htm |title=Brudirect.com - World Report |format= |work=HealthDay News |accessdate=}}</ref> Another review did find a reduction in diastolic and systolic blood pressure in those who practiced TM compared to controls.<ref name="Anderson08"/> |
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By 1966, Vaughan had received worldwide acclaim for his recordings for RCA Victor. His discography with the Orchestra of Naples includes the complete symphonies of Schubert, twelve Haydn Symphonies, works by Schubert, Bach and Mozart, including eleven early symphonies and the opera Il Re Pastore (with Lucia Popp, Reri Grist, and Luigi Alva). |
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Transcendental Meditation is part of the [[Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health]]<ref name="govinfo.library.unt.edu">John Briganti, testimony to the White House Commission On Complementary And Alternative Medicine Policy, October 31, 2000. [http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/whccamp/meetings/transcript_10_30_00_s7_8_9_10.html]</ref> and is made available worldwide by a number of organizations sometimes collectively referred to as the [[Transcendental Meditation movement]]. In 1977 and 1996, US courts declared Transcendental Meditation [[religion|a religion]] within context of the [[First Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi | Times Online Obituary |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> |
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He moved to London in 1987 and began a campaign to establish a National Lottery in the UK, with the aim of increasing access to culture and sport for all young people, and therefore improving the daily quality of life of the nation. His tireless campaigning attracted attention: following his 1988 Sunday Telegraph article "Why not gamble on culture?", Ken Hargreaves MP presented an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons in April 1989 calling for an Arts/Sports Lottery. It received 67 all-party signatures. |
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==Characterizations== |
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Less than a year later, the Adam Smith Institute invited Vaughan to write a paper entitled "The Case for a National Arts Lottery". Articles were also featured in the House magazine and The Times, and Denis delivered an address to the CBI Sport and Leisure Conference. In January 1992, Denis advised Sir Ivan Lawrence QC, who led a debate in the House of Commons, and a year later the Commons approved the Lottery in a vote. |
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In 1997 [[Carl Sagan]] in [[The Demon-Haunted World]] described TM as "the most recent successful global [[pseudoscience]]".<ref name="Sagan, Carl 1997 16"/> |
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes Transcendental Meditation as one which requires no preparation, is simple to do, and can be learned by anyone.<ref>Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi (1995) ''The Science of Being and Art of Living''. New York, Meridian.</ref> The technique is described as being effortless<ref>ABC7, Research Summary: ADHD Meditation, May 23, 2006, "William Stixrud, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist, says:TM is a mental technique that involves simply narrowing the focus of the mind in a very effortless way that allows the mind to settle down."</ref> and natural, involving neither [[contemplation]] nor concentration, and relying on the natural tendency of the mind to move in the direction of greater satisfaction.<ref name="psychophysiology1">Travis F, Haaga DA, Hagelin JS, Tanner M, Nidich S, Gaylord-King C et al. Effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students. International Journal of Psychophysiology 2009 71(2):170-176</ref><ref name=Shear>{{Cite book | last1 = Shear | first1 = J. (Jonathan) | title = The experience of meditation : experts introduce the major tradition | year = 2006 | publisher = Paragon House | location = St. Paul, MN | isbn = 978-1-55778-857-3 | pages = 23, 30–32, 43–44}}</ref><ref name=Hunt>{{Cite book | last1 = Hunt | first1 = Stephen | title = Alternative religions : a sociological introductio | year = 2003 | publisher = Ashgate | location = Aldershot, Hampshire, England ; Burlington, VT | isbn = 978-0-7546-3410-2 | pages = 197–198|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0GuWbJhYIccC&pg=PA197&dq=transcendental+meditation&lr=#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=New Life magazine|date=Sept-Oct, 2003|year=2003|first1=Frederick|last1=Travis|first2=Ken |last2=Chawkin|url=http://www.alltm.org/zarticles/TM_higher_consciousness.html|title=Meditation Can Change The World}}</ref> |
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In succeeding in his campaign for a National Lottery, Denis Vaughan had increased funds for the arts and sport sevenfold. He was described by the late Lord Howell at as “the man who brought more money to sport than anyone else in the 20th Century”. Millions of lives, particularly young ones, have been transformed by Lottery money, and communities the length and breadth of the UK have benefited. |
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In his book ''The TM Technique'', [[Peter Russell (author)|Peter Russell]], a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who had spent time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says, Transcendental Meditation allows the mind to become still without effort, in contrast to meditation practices that attempt to control the mind by holding it on a single thought or by keeping it empty of all thoughts.<ref name="Russell1">{{Cite book | last1 = Russell | first1 = Peter H. |authorlink=Peter Russell (author)| title = The TM technique| year = 1976 | publisher = Routledge Kegan Paul PLC | location = | isbn = 0-7100-8539-7 | pages = 40–42|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TZ89AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+TM+Technique&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false }}</ref> He says trying to control the mind is like trying to go to sleep at night — if a person makes an effort to fall asleep, his or her mind remains active and restless.<ref name=Russell1/> This is why, he says, Transcendental Meditation avoids concentration and effort.<ref name=Russell1/> |
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In 1996 he founded the charity CAARE to continue promoting the benefits of wider access to arts and sport, and to act as a monitor of the National Lottery’s use of funds in these areas. He continues, at 79, to practise the healthy life he preaches and as President of CAARE he directs the charity’s work in seeking further improvements in the quality of life of all young people in Britain. |
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According to [[Wayne Teasdale|Wayne Teasdale's]] book ''The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions'', Transcendental Meditation is what is called an open or receptive method that can be described as giving up control and remaining open in an inner sense.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Teasdale | first1 = Wayne |authorlink=Wayne Teasdale| last2 = Bruteau | first2 = Beatrice | title = The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions | date = | publisher = New World Library | location = | isbn = 978-1-57731-140-9 | pages = 137–139| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fEBnxS3rslIC&pg=PA137&dq=transcendental+meditation&lr=#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false}}</ref> |
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Denis Vaughan is an acknowledged world authority on the manuscript scores of Verdi, Puccini and Dvorak, and continues to conduct as recently as May 2005, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. |
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Anthony Campbell says that because TM is a natural process, its practice requires no "special circumstances or preparations". Campbell writes that Transcendental Meditation is "complete in itself" and is "not depend upon belief" or require the practitioner to accept any theory.<ref>Seven States of Consciousness, Anthony Campbell, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1980, Page 11</ref> |
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External links: www.caare.co.uk; www.caare.co.uk/founder.html |
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==Principles== |
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===Use of a mantra=== |
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During the initial, personal instruction session, the student is given a specific sound or [[mantra]]. The sound is utilized as a thought in the meditation process,<ref name=Phelan>{{cite journal|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1979_num_48_1_2186|first=Michael|last=Phelan|work=Archives des sciences sociales des religions|title=Transcendental Meditation. A Revitalization of the American Civil Religion|year=1979|volume =48|issue=48-1|pages=5–20}}</ref> allowing the individual's attention to be directed naturally from an active style of functioning to a less active or quieter style of mental activity.<ref name=Phelan/> In Transcendental Meditation the mantra is used as a vehicle on which the attention can rest.<ref name=Hunt/> |
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====Selection==== |
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According to Russell, the sounds used in the Transcendental Meditation technique are taken from the ancient [[Vedic]] tradition.<ref name=Russell2>Russell, pp 49-50</ref> Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains that the selection of a proper thought or mantra "becomes increasingly important when we consider that the power of thought increases when the thought is appreciated in its infant stages of development".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Science of Being and Art of Living|author=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|publisher=Meridian|year=1963|page=51}}</ref> The Maharishi says that certain, specific vibrations suit certain people and that this method of meditation enables the mind to experience subtler phases of the vibration until the source of all vibration is experienced.<ref>Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Banthanm Books, 1968, Page 106-107</ref> |
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According to pundits of the mantra tradition and Rig Veda tradition, the sounds used in the Transcendental Meditation technique are taken from the ancient [[Tantric]] tradition.<ref>Mantra and Meditation, Pandit Usharbudh Arya</ref><ref>Tantrabhidana With Vija Nighantu And Mudra Nighantu by Arthur Avalon ISBN 8177557262</ref><ref>While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind by Alain Daniélou ISBN 9780892811151</ref> |
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William Jefferson in ''The Story of the Maharishi'', explains the importance of the "[[euphonics]]" of mantras. Jefferson says that the secrets of the mantras and their subsequent standardization for today's teachers of the technique were unraveled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi after his years of study with his own teacher, Guru Dev ([[Brahmananda Saraswati]]) so that selection is foolproof, and that the number of mantras from the Vedic tradition, which could number in the hundreds, have been brought by the Maharishi to a minimum number.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=William|title=The Story of The Maharishi|location=New York|publisher=Pocket (Simon and Schuster)|year=1976|pages=52–53}}</ref> |
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Author [[George D. Chryssides|George Chryssides]] says that, according to the Maharishi, the mantras for "[[householder]]s" and for [[recluse]]s differ. The Transcendental Meditation mantra is an appropriate mantra for householders, while most mantras commonly found in books are mantras for recluses. Chryssides says that TM teachers claim that the results promised by the Transcendental Meditation technique will not occur unless a trained Transcendental Meditation teacher chooses the mantra for the student.<ref name=Chryssides>{{Cite book | last1 = Chryssides | first1 = George D.|authorlink= George D. Chryssides| title = Exploring new religions | year = 1999 | publisher = Cassell | location = London | isbn = 978-0-8264-5959-6 | pages = 293–296| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jxIxPBpGMwgC&pg=PA293&dq=#v=onepage&q=&f=false }}</ref> |
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TM meditators are instructed to keep their mantra private. Robert Oates writes that this is a "protection against inaccurate teaching".<ref>Celebrating the Dawn, Robert Oates, G.P. Putnam's, 1976, P. 194</ref> In his 1997 book, ''The Sociology of Religious Movements'' [[William Sims Bainbridge]] wrote that the mantras given for Transcendental Meditation are "supposedly selected to match the nervous system of the individual but actually taken from a list of 16 [[Sanskrit]] words on the basis of the person's age".<ref name=Bainbridge>{{Cite book | last1 = Bainbridge | first1 = William Sims | title = The sociology of religious movements | year = 1997 | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | isbn = 0-415-91202-4 | page = 188|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eCKbw8QuhEkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=tm&f=false }}</ref> |
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In January 1984, ''[[Omni (magazine)]]'' published a list of mantras, received from "disaffected TM teachers".<ref>{{cite news|work=Omni|date=Jan 1984|page=129|title=Transcendental Truth}}</ref> |
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====Meaning and sound value==== |
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The 1995 expanded addition of Conway and Siegelman's ''[[Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change]]'' describes a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who says: "I was lying about the mantras — they were not meaningless sounds they were actually the names of [[Hindu]] [[demigods]] - and about how many different ones there were — we had sixteen to give out to our students".<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Conway | first1 = Flo | last2 = Siegelman | first2 = Jim. | title = Snapping : America's epidemic of sudden personality chang | year = 1995 | publisher = Stillpoint Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-9647650-0-9 | page=157 }} |
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</ref> In the 1977 court case Malnak vs. Yogi (see below), an undisputed fact in the case was that the mantras are meaningless sounds.<ref>“Transcendental Meditation, briefly stated, is a technique of meditation in which the meditator contemplates a meaningless sound.” 440 F. Supp. 1288</ref> |
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In a speech the Maharishi gave in Kerala, India, in 1955, he mentions a connection between the mantras and personal deities and similar references can also be found in his later works.<ref name=Beacon>[http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/sources/pdf/Beacon%20Light%20of%20the%20HImalayas.pdf Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh, Beacon Light of the Himalyas 1955, p. 63.]</ref><ref name=Forsthoefel>{{Cite book | last1 = Forsthoefel | first1 = Thomas A. | last2 = Humes | first2 = Cynthia Ann | title = Gurus in Americ | year = 2005 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany, NY | isbn = 978-0-7914-6573-8 | page = 63|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ugSb7mArJlYC&pg=PP1&dq=gurus+in+america#v=onepage&q=&f=false }}</ref> More commonly, the Maharishi describes the mantras as working automatically.<ref name=Forsthoefel/> |
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Philosophy of science scholar Jonathan Shear, in his book ''The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions'', characterizes the mantras used in the TM technique as independent of meaning associated with any [[language]], and are used for their mental, sound value alone.<ref name=Shear/> Fred Travis, Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science at [[Maharishi University of Management]], writes in a 2009 article published in the ''International Journal of Psychophysiology'' that "unlike most mantra meditations, any possible meaning of the mantra is not part of Transcendental Meditation practice".<ref name="psychophysiology1"/> |
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In his book ''Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction'', sociologist [[Stephen J. Hunt]] says that the mantra used in the Transcendental Meditation technique has no meaning but that the sound itself is sacred.<ref name=Hunt/> |
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==Teaching procedure== |
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The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardized, seven-step course<ref name="The Seven-Step Course">{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.org/learn-meditation |title=Learn the Transcendental Meditation Technique – Seven Step Program |publisher=Tm.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> that consists of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and four, two-hour instruction sessions given on consecutive days.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.TM.org |title=The Transcendental Meditation (TM) Program - Official website. How and where to learn |publisher=TM |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref name="google138">{{Cite book | last1 = Cotton | first1 = Dorothy H. G. | title = Stress management : an integrated approach to therap | year = 1990 | publisher = Brunner/Mazel | location = New York | isbn = 0-87630-557-5 | page = 138|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oLsECokSFHwC&vq}}</ref><ref>Washington Parent, Oming in on ADHD, Sarina Grosswald, October 2005</ref> The initial personal instruction session begins with a short [[Puja (Hinduism)|puja]] ceremony performed by the teacher, after which the student is taught the technique. The student then practices the technique twice a day. Subsequent sessions with the teacher ensure correct practice. Session 5, called "First Day of Checking" is to verify the correctness of the practice and give further instruction; Session 6, called "Second Day of Checking" is to understand the mechanics of the TM technique based on personal experiences; and, Session 7, called "Third Day of Checking" is to understand higher stages of human development.<ref name="The Seven-Step Course" /> |
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The technique is practiced morning and evening for 15–20 minutes each time, but is not recommended before bed.<ref name=Craze/><ref name=Craze/><ref name="google138"/> According to Russell and the official TM web site, the Transcendental Meditation technique can be learned only from a certified, authorized teacher.<ref name=Russell1/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.org/main_pages/learn_tm.html |title=Learn the Transcendental Meditation Technique – Seven Step Program |publisher=Tm.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> The terms "Transcendental Meditation" and "TM" are [[servicemark]]s owned by Maharishi Foundation Ltd., a UK non-profit organization.<ref>[http://tess2.uspto.gov Service Mark - Transcedental Meditation]</ref> These [[trademark]]s have been sub-licensed to the [[Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation]] (MVED), an American [[non-profit]] organization which offers the Transcendental Meditation technique and related courses in the U.S.A.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.mum.edu/disclosures/copyright.html |title=Conditions of Use - Maharishi University of Management |publisher=Mum.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> |
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The price for the 5 days course is about 2500 dollars.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/fashion/31lynch.html |title=David Lynch’s Shockingly Peaceful Inner Life - New York Times |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> The organization which teaches it is non profit and [[tax exempt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tm.org/tm-10-facts |title=10 Facts About the Benefits of Transcendental Meditation |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> However it has had some of its tax exempt status refused in 2001 with the Maharishi Spiritual Center deemed not educational.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm20.html |title=Property Tax Commission Rules Against Maharishi Spiritual Center |format= |work=Mountain Times |date=January 6, 2001}}</ref> The [[Skeptics Dictionary]] refers to it as a "spiritual business".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://skepdic.com/tm.html |title=Transcendental Meditation - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> |
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==Health effects== |
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A 2007 review of evidence on [[meditation]] including Transcendental Meditation said that firm conclusions on health effects cannot be draw as the evidence base is of poor methodological quality.<ref name="Ospina p.v"/> The review included studies on adults through 2005. A particular focus of the review was research on hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse. An examination of five studies comparing TM and health education, two of which were judged to be high quality, found that overall the improvement as a result of TM is no greater than health education regarding [[blood pressure]], body weight, [[heart rate]], stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients.<ref name="Ospina p.4"/> A revised version of the review published in 2008 reaffirmed the weaknesses of the research but also said that there has been a statistically significant increase in quality over time, with 10% of the 400 clinical trials found to be of good quality.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ospina MB, Bond K, Karkhaneh M, ''et al.'' |title=Clinical trials of meditation practices in health care: characteristics and quality |journal=J Altern Complement Med |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=1199–213 |year=2008 |month=December |pmid=19123875 |doi=10.1089/acm.2008.0307 |url=}}</ref> |
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These results were similar to a 2004, review examining the effects of TM on blood pressure which concluded that there was "insufficient good-quality evidence to conclude whether or not TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure." The review said that the RCTs published had important methodological weaknesses and were potentially biased by the affiliation of authors to the TM organization.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Canter PH, Ernst E |title=Insufficient evidence to conclude whether or not Transcendental Meditation decreases blood pressure: results of a systematic review of randomized clinical trials |journal=J. Hypertens. |volume=22 |issue=11 |pages=2049–54 |year=2004 |month=November |pmid=15480084 |doi= |url=}}</ref> |
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A 2008 review found a 4.7 mmHg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mmHg diastolic blood pressure decrease in those who practiced TM verse a controls group.<ref name=Anderson08>{{cite journal |author=Anderson JW, Liu C, Kryscio RJ |title=Blood pressure response to transcendental meditation: a meta-analysis |journal=Am. J. Hypertens. |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=310–6 |year=2008 |month=March |pmid=18311126 |doi=10.1038/ajh.2007.65 |url=}}</ref> The review and its primary author were partially funded by [[Howard Settle]]<ref name=Anderson08/> a known proponent of TM.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deutsche-nachrichten-agentur.de/de/verzeichnis/wirtschaft/investitionen/524625052 |title=Howard Settle: "Yogic Flyers, Create Invincible America today" — Deutsche Nachrichten Agentur |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> |
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A 2009 review of 16 pediatric studies on meditation that included 6 studies on Transcendental Meditation found that meditation in general "seems to be an effective intervention in the treatment of physiologic, psychosocial, and behavioral conditions among youth."<ref name=peads09/> A primary outcome of the studies on Transcendental Meditation was the reduction of hypertension relative to controls, as well as reductions in absenteeism and attentional problems. The review said that because of limitations of the research, larger-scale and more demographically diverse studies need to be done to clarify treatment efficacy.<ref name=peads09>{{cite journal |author=Black DS, Milam J, Sussman S |title=Sitting-Meditation Interventions Among Youth: A Review of Treatment Efficacy |journal=Pediatrics |volume= |issue= |pages= |year=2009 |month=August |pmid=19706568 |doi=10.1542/peds.2008-3434 |url=}}</ref> |
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===Psychological effects=== |
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A 2003 review concluded that evidence does not support a specific or cumulative effect from TM on cognitive function. The trials that did show positive results recruited people with favourably opinions of TM, and inappropriate controls.<ref name="Wien Klin Wochenschr.">{{cite journal |author=Canter PH, Ernst E |title=The cumulative effects of Transcendental Meditation on cognitive function--a systematic review of randomised controlled trials |journal=Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. |volume=115 |issue=21-22 |pages=758–66 |year=2003 |month=November |pmid=14743579 |doi= |url=}}</ref> |
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A 2006 [[Cochrane review]] examined a 1980 study that showed a reduction in anxiety but said that this study was insufficient evidence to draw conclusion regarding the effectiveness of meditation for anxiety disorders.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Krisanaprakornkit T, Krisanaprakornkit W, Piyavhatkul N, Laopaiboon M |title=Meditation therapy for anxiety disorders |journal=Cochrane Database Syst Rev |volume= |issue=1 |pages=CD004998 |year=2006 |pmid=16437509 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD004998.pub2 |url=}}</ref> According to a 2008 review, relaxation training, including Transcendental Meditation, has consistently been found to be effective.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Manzoni GM, Pagnini F, Castelnuovo G, Molinari E |title=Relaxation training for anxiety: a ten-years systematic review with meta-analysis |journal=BMC Psychiatry |volume=8 |issue= |pages=41 |year=2008 |pmid=18518981 |pmc=2427027 |doi=10.1186/1471-244X-8-41 |url=}}</ref> |
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===Educational Research=== |
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A study by Maharishi University of Management and American University researchers measured ''Brain Integration Scale'' scores for reactions to stressful stimulus, and sleepiness in 50 students from American University and found improvement.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Travis F, Haaga DA, Hagelin J, ''et al.'' |title=Effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students |journal=Int J Psychophysiol |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=170–6 |year=2009 |month=February |pmid=18854202 |doi=10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.09.007 |url=}}</ref> |
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===Maharishi Vedic approach to health=== |
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{{Main|Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health}} |
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Transcendental Meditation is part of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH).<ref name="govinfo.library.unt.edu"/> MVAH (also known as Maharishi Ayurveda<ref>{{harvnb|Wallace|1993|pp=64-66}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Sharma|Clark|1998}}</ref> and Maharishi [[Vedic]] Medicine<ref>{{harvnb|Reddy|Egenes|2002}}</ref>) was founded in the mid 1980s by the Maharishi. MVAH is considered an [[alternative medicine]] and aims at being a complementary system to modern [[western medicine]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sharma|Clark|1998|loc=Preface}}</ref> It is based on [[Ayurveda]], a system of traditional medicine developed in India in ancient times. |
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==Research funding== |
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In 1999, the NIH awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S.<ref>[http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=47&issueID=12 ''Vedic Medicine, Meditation Receive Federal Funds''], ''U.S. Medicine'',Matt Pueschel, July 2000</ref> The research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield, Iowa.<ref>[http://www.mum.edu/inmp/nih ''NIH Awards $8 Million Grant to Establish Research Center on Natural Medicine'']</ref> The NIH funding has come via the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.<ref>[http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=355188 "University Receives $1 Million NIH Grant for Mind-Body Medicine Research," KTVO Heartland Connection.com]</ref> |
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By 2004, the [[National Institutes of Health]] (NIH) had awarded more than $20 million in funding for research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on heart disease.<ref>[http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=267105 ]{{Dead link|date=November 2009}}</ref><ref>http://www.religiousnewsblog.com/4843</ref> |
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In 2009, the National Institutes of Health awarded an additional grant of $500,000 per year for two years for research on using the Transcendental Meditation technique in the treatment of coronary heart disease in African-Americans. The award was for research in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention and Columbia University Medical School in New York City. The award was from the American Recovery and Investment Act via the NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mum.edu/inmp/nih.html |title=MUM receives $1 million NIH medical research grant — Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management |publisher=Mum.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=355188 |title=MUM gets $1 million research grant : News : KTVO3 |publisher=Heartlandconnection.com |date=2009-09-25 |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> |
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==Views on human development== |
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According to Vimal Patel, a pathologist at [[Indiana University]], Transcendental Meditation is one of the most scientifically investigated meditation techniques and has been shown to produce states that are physiologically different from waking, dreaming and sleeping.<ref name=Patel>Patel, Vimal (1998). "Understanding the Integration of Alternative Modalities into an Emerging Healthcare Model in the United States". in Humber, James M.; Almeder, Robert F.. Alternative medicine and ethics. Humana Press. pp. 55-56. ISBN 0896034402, 9780896034402. |
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[http://books.google.com/books?id=E7X7d_DZlLkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=alternative+medicine+and+ethics#v=onepage&q=&f=false]</ref> |
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says in his 1963 book, ''The Science Of Being and Art Of Living,'' that, over time, the practice of allowing the mind to experience its deeper levels during the Transcendental Meditation technique brings these levels from the subconscious to within the capacity of the conscious mind. According to Maharishi, as the mind quiets down and experiences finer thoughts, the Transcendental Meditation practitioner can become aware that thought itself is transcended and can have the experience of what he calls the 'source of thought', 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being'; 'the ultimate reality of life'.<ref name=Phelan/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Science of Being and Art of Living|ahtor=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|publisher=Meridian|year=1963|page=53}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Interview with Larry King|first =Larry |last=King|date=May 12th 2002|work=CNN|url=http://www.alltm.org/pages/lkweekend.html}}</ref> TM describes itself as a technology for consciousness.<ref name=Hunt/> |
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===Seven states of consciousness=== |
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According to the Maharishi there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) waking; (ii) dreaming; (iii) deep sleep; (iv) transcendental or pure consciousness; (v) cosmic consciousness; (vi) God consciousness; and (vii) Supreme knowledge, or unity consciousness. The Maharishi says that the fourth level of consciousness can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that the fifth state can be achieved by those who meditate diligently. Higher levels are attainable depending on one's commitment to meditation and purification. (See section below for research concerning long-term effects.) Maharishi states that "enlightenment" is the normal state of health for the body and mind, and is the result from the full development of consciousness.<ref>Celebrating the Dawn, Oates, Putnam, 1976, P. 6</ref> The Maharishi says that his teacher, Guru Dev, had achieved the seventh level of consciousness.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Tillery | first1 = Gary | title = The cynical idealist : a spiritual biography of John Lenno | year = 2009 | publisher = Theosophical Pub. House | location = Wheaton, Ill. | isbn = 978-0-8356-0875-6 | pages =66–67 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dkuHUWYnW80C&pg=PA66&dq=maharishi+%22god+consciousness%22#v=onepage&q=maharishi%20%22god%20consciousness%22&f=false }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Larson | first1 = Bob | last2 = Larson | first2 = Bob | title = Larson's book of world religions and alternative spiritualit | year = 2004 | publisher = Tyndale House Publishers | location = Wheaton, Ill. | isbn = 0-8423-6417-X | page = 489 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vnAk9WefhfwC&pg=PA489&dq=maharishi+%22god+consciousness%22&lr=#v=onepage&q=maharishi%20%22god%20consciousness%22&f=false }}</ref> According to Paul Marshall, these states of consciousness are re-expressions of the doctrine which emerged out of the [[Upanishads]] and are prominent in Vedantic teachings.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Marshall | first1 = Paul | title = Mystical encounters with the natural world : experiences and explanation | year = 2005 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford ; New York | isbn = 978-0-19-927943-2 | pages= 170–171|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Qe-lTHzyExYC&pg=PA171&dq=%22god+consciousness%22++%22transcendental+Meditation%22&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false}}</ref> |
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Campbell states that for Maharishi, enlightenment is dependent on how the nervous system functions.<ref>Seven States of Consciousness, Anthony Campbell, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1980, Page 66</ref> He describes how different "dispositions" of the human nervous system correspond to different states of consciousness, and that Unity Consciousness is the most advanced state that a human can reach.<ref>Seven States of Consciousness, Anthony Campbell, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1980, Page 101</ref> Campbell summarizes the characteristics of the different state of consciousness, as follows: |
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'''The Seven States of Consciousness'''<ref>Seven States of Consciousness, Anthony Campbell, Gollancz, 1973, Page 110</ref> |
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{|class="wikitable" style="width:65%" |
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! {{NRHP-delisted color}}| |
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| '''State of Consciousness''' |
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! '''Awareness of Self''' |
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! '''Awareness of Outer World''' |
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! '''Absolute-Relative Paradox''' |
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|-- |
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| 1 |
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| Dreamless Sleep |
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| Absent |
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| Absent |
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| _ |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 2 |
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| Dreaming |
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| Absent |
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| Hallucinatory |
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| _ |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 3 |
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| Waking |
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| Absent |
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| Present |
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| Discoverable by intellect |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 4 |
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| Transcendental Consciousness |
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| Present |
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| Absent |
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| Absent |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 5 |
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| Cosmic Consciousness |
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| Present |
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| Present |
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| Present to perception |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 6 |
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| God Consciousness |
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| Present |
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| Present |
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| Partially resolved |
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|-- |
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|-- |
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| 7 |
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| Unity Consciousness |
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| Present |
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| Present |
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| Resolved |
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|-- |
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|} |
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==Origins== |
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According to religious scholar Kenneth Boa in his book, ''Cults World Religions and the Occult,'' Transcendental Meditation is rooted in the [[Vedanta|Vedantic School]] of [[Hinduism]], and that fact is "repeatedly confirmed" by the Maharishi's books such as the ''Science of Being and the Art of Living'' and his ''Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita''.<ref>Boa cites ''Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'', ''Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita'', and ''The Science of Being and Art of Living''.</ref> George Chryssides similarly states that the Maharishi and Guru Dev were from the Shankara tradition of ''advaita Vedanta''.<ref name=Chryssides/> Boa writes that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi "makes it clear" that Transcendental Meditation was delivered to man about 5,000 years ago by the Hindu god [[Krishna]]. The technique was then lost, but restored for a time by [[Buddha]]. It was lost again, but rediscovered in the 9th Century AD by the Hindu philosopher [[Shankara]]. Finally, it was revivied by [[Brahmananda Saraswati]] (Guru Dev) and passed on to the Maharishi.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Boa | first1 = Kenneth | title = Cults, world religions, and the occul | year = 1990 | publisher = Victor Books | location = Wheaton, Ill. | isbn = 978-0-89693-823-6 | page = 201 |http://books.google.com/books?id=3oE3y0OwEyMC&pg=PA201&dq=maharishi+%22god+consciousness%22#v=onepage&q=maharishi%20%22god%20consciousness%22&f=false }}</ref> Russell states that the Maharishi believed that since the time of the Vedas, this knowledge was lost and found many times, recurring principally in the Bhagavad-Gita, and in the teachings of Buddha and Shankara, a cycle discussed in the introduction to his commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita.<ref name=Russell3>Russell, p. 134</ref> Chrissides notes that, in addition to the revivals of the Transcendental Meditiaton technique by Krishna, the Buddha and Shankara, the Maharishi also drew from the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''.<ref name=Chryssides/> Patel also says that it is derived from [[Patanjali]]'s Yoga.<ref name=Patel/> |
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==History== |
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===1950s=== |
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In 1955, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian [[ascetic]],<ref>Coplin, J.R. (1990) ''Text and Context in the Communication of a Social Movement's Charisma, Ideology, and Consciousness: TM for India and the West''. Dissertation. University of California, San Diego, p. 64</ref> began teaching a meditation technique that he said was derived from the [[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]] tradition,<ref>[http://newspapers.umsystem.edu/Repository/CMN/1978/01/08/005-CMN-1978-01-08-PG01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Entity_0180] Columbian Missourian, 1978 {{Dead link|date=November 2009}}</ref> and which later came to be called Transcendental Meditation. The Maharishi had served as a "close disciple" and secretary to Swami [[Brahmananda Saraswati]] from 1941 until Brahmananda Saraswati's death in 1953.<ref name=Shear/> |
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In 1958, The Maharishi began a number of tours worldwide promoting and disseminating the TM technique.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Olson | first1 = Helena | last2 = Olson | first2 = Roland | title = His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: A Living Saint for the New Millennium : Stories of His First Visit to the USA | date = | publisher = Samhita Productions | location = | isbn = 978-1-929297-21-4 | page =297 }}</ref> This tour began in Rangoon, Burma (now [[Myanmar]]). The Maharishi remained in the Far East for about six months teaching Transcendental Meditation.<ref name=World1/> |
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In 1959, the Maharishi taught the Transcendental Meditation technique in [[Hawaii]].<ref name=World1/> Later that year, Maharishi went to [[California]] and became a guest at the home of Roland and Helena Olson and their daughter Theresa, who later described and published their experiences. He continued to visit and teach Transcendental Meditation from the Olsons' home over the next few years. |
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===1960s and 1970s=== |
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According to a history written by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 21 members of the [[Indian Parliament]] issued a public statement endorsing the Transcendental Meditation technique in 1963.<ref>Thirty Years Around the World, pp. 504-507</ref> He writes that news articles on the technique appeared in Canadian newspapers such as the Daily Colonist, [[Calgary Herald]] and The Albertan.<ref>Thirty Years Around the World, pp. 530-536</ref> |
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Beginning in 1968, a number of celebrities such as [[Donovan]], [[The Beatles]], members of the [[The Beach Boys]], [[The Rolling Stones]], [[Doug Henning]], [[Clint Eastwood]], [[Deepak Chopra]], [[Andy Kaufman]], [[Jane Fonda]], [[Mia Farrow]], [[Shirley MacLaine]], [[Joe Namath]], [[Stevie Wonder]], and [[Howard Stern]], as well as author [[Kurt Vonnegut]] and Major-General [[Franklin M. Davis, Jr]] reported using the technique.<ref name=Craze/><ref name="latimes.com" /><ref name="telegraph1">{{Cite news| title = The Maharishi Maheshi Yogi | work = Telegraph.co.uk | accessdate = 2009-11-15 | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1577749/The-Maharishi-Maheshi-Yogi.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Bruce Tomaso/Editor |url=http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/howard-stern-joins-david-lynch.html |title=RELIGION Blog | The Dallas Morning News |publisher=Religionblog.dallasnews.com |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref name="independent1">{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/mystic-who-inspired-the-beatles-the-town-that-lost-its-guru-779145.html|title=The mystic who inspired The Beatles: The town that lost its guru|work=The Independent|date=February 7, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Swatos | first1 = William H. | last2 = Kivisto | first2 = Peter | title = Encyclopedia of religion and society | year = 1998 | publisher = AltaMira Press | location = Walnut Creek, Calif. | isbn = 978-0-7619-8956-1 | page =525 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C&pg=PA525&dq=transcendental+meditation&lr=#v=onepage&q=transcendental%20meditation&f=false}} |
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</ref> |
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In 1970, the first scientific study on the Transcendental Meditation technique was published in ''Science'' magazine and the first course on the [[Science of Creative Intelligence]] was held at [[Stanford University]] in [[California]]. |
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On January 12, 1975, Maharishi introduced the theory of the Maharishi Effect for the first time, based on the finding that in cities in the USA where 1% of the population meditated, the crime rate dropped.<ref>Celebrating the Dawn, Oates, Putnam's, 1975, P. 226</ref> |
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In 1975, the Maharishi began teaching advanced mental techniques, called the [[TM-Sidhi Program]], that included a technique for the development of what he termed [[Yogic Flying]].<ref name=Shear/> In that same year, Transcendental Meditation received favorable testimony in the [[Congressional Record]] and was advocated by Major-General Franklin M. Davis Jr of the US Army.<ref name=Phelan/> |
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A [[Gallup Poll]] conducted in August 1976 said that four percent (4%) of those Americans questioned had engaged in TM.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = York | first1 = Michael | title = The emerging network : a sociology of the New Age and neo-pagan movement | year = 1995 | publisher = Rowman Littlefield | location = Lanham, Md. | isbn = 978-0-8476-8001-6 | page = 42|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lokPtsd7Vr4C&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=Gallup+Poll+Transcendental+Meditation+1976&source=bl&ots=ZoEiBI_vsg&sig=YIWAZMJPosZMT1q88ZWXCVMtDs0&hl=en&ei=SJ27Svf6H4i7lAfN2-mnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=&f=false}}</ref> The average number of people learning TM fell from a peak of approx. 40,000 a month in 1975 to approx. 3,000 in November 1977.<ref name=Bainbridge/><ref>[http://newspapers.umsystem.edu/Repository/CMN/1978/01/08/005-CMN-1978-01-08-PG01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Entity_0180 Ryan, Leyland, "Transcendental Meditation hits hard times", ''The Colombia Missourian'' (January 8, 1978) p.B3] {{Dead link|date=November 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0040-718X| title = Behavior: Seer of Flying| work = Time| accessdate = 2009-11-15| date = 1977-08-08| url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915237,00.html}}</ref> Bainbridge wrote that, as of 1977, "Most of the million who had been initiated either ceased meditating or did so informally and irregularly without continuing connections to the TM Movement."<ref name=Bainbridge/> The official TM web site reports that more than 6 million people worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its introduction in 1958.<ref name="tmorg">http://tm.org</ref> |
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===1980s to the present=== |
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In 1990, a delegation of Transcendental Meditation teachers from Maharishi International University traveled to the former [[Soviet Union]] to provide instruction in Transcendental Meditation. The trip, initially scheduled to last ten days, was extended to six months and resulted in the training of 35,000 people in the technique.<ref>{{Cite news| page = 23| title = Soviets Learn To Meditate| work = [[Omaha World-Herald]]| date = 1990-06-01}}</ref> |
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==School programs== |
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===Charter School and "Quiet Time" Programs=== |
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In 1994, the Transcendental Meditation program became a part of the school day at the Fletcher Johnson Educational Center of Washington, D.C.<ref name="Pathways 2009">Pathways, Taking Care of the Student, Winter 2009, Cynthia E. Johnson,</ref>{{Clarify|date=January 2010}} |
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The Ideal Academy Public Charter School began using the TM program in 1996 with the approval of the Washington, D.C. Board of Education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Rutherford_George_29843713.aspx |title=George Rutherford: ZoomInfo Business People Information |publisher=Zoominfo.com |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref name=Brody>[http://newsinitiative.org/story/2007/07/24/transcendental_meditation_in_schools Brody, Alison, Shin, Shirley & Street, Nick, "Transcendental Meditation in Schools", ''News 21'' (July 24, 2007)]</ref><ref name=Conant/> The 2005-2006 pilot project at Ideal Academy was conducted along with research to document the effects of the program.<ref name="Pathways 2009"/> |
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In Detroit, the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse incorporated Transcendental Meditation into their school in 1996 and the program was featured on the [[Today Show]] in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ntsd.com/studentlifewellness.html |title=Student Wellness |publisher=Ntsd.com |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> The school has since been classified by the Skillman Foundation as a "High-Performing Middle School".<ref>[http://www.skillman.org/good-schools/nataki-talibah-schoolhouse-of-detroit/ Skillman Foundation, Making The Grade]</ref> In addition, the TM program at Nitaki Talibah school was the subject of a pilot study by Rita Benn, director of the Integrative Medical Education program at the [[University of Michigan]]'s Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Research Center.<aref> Business Week, Meditation for Moppetts, Susan Garland, March 29, 2004</ref> Benn compared the Nitaki Talibah students practicing Transcendental Meditation twice a day to a peer group of students of the same age who did not practice Transcendental Meditation and concluded that TM helped the Nitaki Talibah students to improve their [[stress management]] and [[self-esteem]], as well as lowered their anxiety and depression.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/style/14iht-rmed.html "International Education" Meditation helps students"], Dana Micucci, New York Times, February 15, 2005</ref> In 2005 Benn said she was expanding her research to include "more rigorous" controls than in her initial pilot study.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070322031053/http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=1923651 NBC News, TM helps students with ADHD, June 7, 2004]</ref>{{Verify source|date=January 2010}} |
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Over the years, the program at Nitaki Talibah has been funded by various foundations including [[General Motors]], [[Daimler Chrysler]], the Liebler Foundation and more recently, the [[David Lynch Foundation]]. In 2006, six public schools were each awarded $25,000 by the David Lynch Foundation to begin a similar program.<ref>NEA Today, National Education Association,Clear Your Mind, May 2006,</ref> |
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By 2006, twenty five public, private, and [[charter school]]s in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students.<ref name=Brody/> In 2006, the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California canceled plans for Transcendental Meditation classes due to concerns of parents that it would be promoting religion<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-10-19-meditation-school_x.htmSchool cancels plans for TM in school] "usatoday".com</ref> [[University of South Carolina]] sociologist Barry Markovsky describes teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique in schools as "stealth religion".<ref>[http://www.gtrnews.com/greater-tulsa-reporter/753/once-grand-camelot-hotel-had-a-quick-demise ''Man Fails To Fly, Sues Camelot Hotel Owner''], ''GTR News Online'', Nancy K. Owens<br /></ref> George Rutherford, the Principal at Ideal Academy Public Charter School, says that after learning Transcendental Meditation he and his wife “realized it had nothing to do with religion”.<ref name="Pathways 2009"/> |
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According to a ''Newsweek'' article, critics believe that Transcendental Meditation is a repackaged, Eastern, religious philosophy that should not be used in public schools. Advocates say that Transcendental Meditation is purely a mechanical, physiological process.<ref name=Conant>[http://www.newsweek.com/id/139206 Conant, Eve, "Much dispute about nothing", ''Newsweek'' (May 29, 2008)]</ref> According to Barry Lynn, executive director of [[Americans United for Separation of Church and State]], Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism and, when introduced into public schools, it crosses the same constitutional line as in the Malnak case and decision of 1979. In May 2008, Lynn said that the Americans United for Separation of Church is keeping a close legal eye on the TM movement and that there are no imminent cases against them.<ref name=Conant/><ref>[http://www.newsweek.com/id/139206 Newsweek, Can Meditation Help At-Risk Kids?]</ref> Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says doing Transcendental Meditation during a school's "quiet time" (a short period many schools have adopted that children use for prayer or relaxation) is constitutional.<ref name=Conant/> |
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Schools in other countries, such as the Netherlands, Australia, India, Ecuador, Thailand, China, Great Britain and South Africa, have also used Transcendental Meditation as part of educational programs.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nadine Naidoo |url=http://www.cbesa.org/partnerSchools.html |title=Partner Schools | CBE Schools South Africa |publisher=Cbesa.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> |
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===Establishment Clause ruling: TM as religious=== |
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In 1979, the [[Third Circuit Court of Appeals]] affirmed the decision of the [[US District Court]] of [[New Jersey]] that a curriculum in the [[Science of Creative Intelligence]] (SCI)/Transcendental Meditation was religious activity within the meaning of the [[Establishment Clause of the First Amendment|Establishment Clause]] and that the teaching of SCI/TM in the New Jersey public high schools was prohibited by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]].<ref name="conlaw">{{cite web|author=Doug Linder |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/estabinto.htm |title=Introduction to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment |publisher=Law.umkc.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref name="malnak">http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/592/592.F2d.197.78-1882.78-1568.html Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 203 (3rd Cir., 1979)</ref> The court ruled that, although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. The court found that the religious nature of the course was clear from careful examination of the textbook, the expert testimony elicited, and the uncontested facts concerning the puja,<ref>The TM puja ceremony is extensively described in the opinion of the US District Court in [http://trancenet.net/law/nj/nj5.html Malnak v Yogi], including the [[Sanskrit]] chant and the English translation thereof from the book "The Holy Tradition", written by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.</ref> but was also largely determined by apparent involvement of government. The court also found state action violative of the Establishment Clause, because the puja involved "offerings to deities as part of a regularly scheduled course in the schools' educational programs".<ref name="malnak"/> |
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==Relationship to religion and spirituality== |
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Official Transcendental Meditation websites state that the Transcendental Meditation technique is a mental technique for deep rest that is associated with specific effects on mind and body, practiced by people of all religions and that it does not require faith, belief, or a change in lifestyle to be effective as a relaxation technique.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.org/discover/glance/what.html |title=Meditation Techniques |publisher=Tm.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> Maharishi called the technique "a path to God",<ref>''Meditations of Maharishi''. p. 59</ref> and it has been described as "spiritual" but not religious, and as a coping strategy for life.<ref>Zellers, Kelly L., Perrewe, Pamela. "The Role of Spirituality in Occupational Stress and Well-Being", ''Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance'', M.E. Sharp, December 2002.</ref> According to ''Time Magazine'', Transcendental Meditation owes something to all major religious traditions—[[Christianity]], [[Judaism]] and [[Islam]], as well as the Eastern faiths— because at one time or another they have included both meditation and the repetition of a mantra-like word.<ref name=Craze/> |
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William Johnston, in ''Silent Music: The Science of Meditation'', says that, despite the fact that its origins are religious, and several thousand years old, the TM technique as introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the West has no attachments to any particular religion.<ref>Johnston, William. Silent Music:The Science of Meditation. Fordham University Press. p15. ISBN 9780823217748.</ref> Former [[Maharishi University of Management]] Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor of Education, James Grant, writes in a chapter of the book titled, ''The University in Transformation'', that the Maharishi's techniques for the development of consciousness are non-sectarian and require no belief system. He goes on to say that millions of people from many cultures and many faiths have benefited from these techniques.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Inayatullah | first1 = Sohail | last2 = Gidley | first2 = Jennifer. | title = The university in transformation : global perspectives on the futures of the universit | year = 2000 | publisher = Westport, Conn. : Bergin Garvey | location = | isbn = 978-0-89789-718-1 | page =209|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=I_jaYF-iyp0C&pg=PA217&dq=maharishi+university+of+management+%26+technology&ei=dnLWSqmPIoa6zATLxs26Dg#v=onepage&q=maharishi%20university%20of%20management%20%26%20technology&f=false }}</ref> |
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Bainbridge found Transcendental Meditation to be a "...highly simplified form of Hinduism, adapted for Westerners who did not possess the cultural background to accept the full panoply of Hindu beliefs, symbols, and practices."<ref name=Bainbridge/><ref name="web.archive.org">http://web.archive.org/web/20060831081613/religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/tm.html</ref> Bainbridge describes the Transcendental Meditation [[Puja (Hinduism)|puja]] ceremony as "...in essence, a religious initiation ceremony".<ref name=Bainbridge/> |
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Jaime Sin, a [[cardinal]] and the [[Archbishop]] of [[Manila]], wrote in 1984 that neither the doctrine nor the practice of TM are acceptable to Christians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rcam.org/library/pastoral_statements/1981-1986/0025.htm |title=October 16, 1984 - The Basic Conflict Between Maharishi and Christianity |publisher=Rcam.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> In 1989, a [[Roman Curia|Vatican]] council published a warning against mixing eastern meditation, such as TM, with Christian prayer.<ref>{{cite web|author=moreorless |url=http://www.cesnur.org/2003/vat_na_en.htm |title=The Vatican document on the New Age (Feb. 3, 2003) |publisher=Cesnur.org |date= |accessdate=2009-11-15}}</ref> [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] [[Maximos (Aghiorgoussis) of Pittsburgh]] of the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] describes TM as being "a new version of Hindu Yoga" based on "pagan pseudo-worship and deification of a common mortal, Guru Dev".<ref>{{cite journal|title=The challenge of metaphysical experiences outside Orthodoxy and the Orthodox response|first=Maximos|last=Aghiorgoussis|work=Greek Orthodox Theological Review|location=Brookline|date=Spring 1999|volume=44|issue=1-4|pages=21, 34}}</ref> |
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Other clergy, including Catholic clergy, have found the Transcendental Meditation technique to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs.<ref>Vesely, Carolin, "Its All in Your Mind" ''Winnipeg Free Press'', March 21, 2006.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Smith | first1 = Adrian | title = A Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: Christian Understanding of Transcendental Meditation | year = 1993 | publisher = Book Guild Ltd | location = | isbn = 0-86332-863-6 | pages = }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Pennington | first1 = M. Basil | title = Daily we touch Him : practical religious experience | year = 1977 | publisher = Doubleday | location = Garden City, N.Y. | isbn = 0-385-12478-3 | page = 73 }}</ref> |
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Religion scholar Charles H. Lippy, author of ''Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century'' writes that earlier spiritual interest in the Transcendental Meditation technique faded in the 1970s and it became a practical technique that anyone could employ without abandoning their religious affiliation.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Lippy | first1 = Charles H. | title = Pluralism comes of age: American religious culture in the twentieth century | year = 2000 | publisher = M.E. Sharpe | location = Armonk, N.Y. | isbn = 978-0-7656-0151-3 | page = 112 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gNvKatGnoUcC&pg=PA112&dq=students+international+meditation+society&ei=BKgRStaZLIGuzATxjdCQAw#v=onepage&q=students%20international%20meditation%20society&f=false }})</ref> |
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In addition to the 3rd Circuit opinion in ''Malnak'' holding that Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intellingence were religious under the Establishment Clause, in 1996 the Superior Court for the District of Columbia ruled in ''Hendel v World Plan Executive Council'' that the practice of Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program is a religion and that trial of fraud and other claims for damages by a former TM and TM-Sidhi practitioner against the [[Transcendental_Meditation_movement#World_Plan_Executive_Council|World Plan Executive Council]] and [[Maharishi University of Management|Maharishi International University]] would involve the Court in excessive entanglement into matters of religious belief contrary to the First Amendment.<ref>''Hendel v World Plan Executive Council'', 124 WLR 957 (January 2, 1996); ''affd'' 705 A.2d 656, 667 (DC, 1997 |
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</ref> |
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==Corporate Programs== |
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Transcendental Meditation has also been utilized in corporations both in the U.S.A and in India. According to an article in the Washington Post, The Tower Companies, "one of Washington D.C.'s largest real estate development companies", has added classes in Transcendental Mediation to their employee benefit program in order "to contain stress-related ailments and health care costs". Seventy percent of the employees at The Tower Companies participate in the program.<ref>Washington Post, More Area Firms Paying Employees to Relax, Transcendental Meditation Seen As Health Care Boon, Annys Shin, Washington Post Staff Writer, March 3, 2005</ref><ref>Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine, Cubicle Karma, Mellisa Chessher, October 2005</ref><ref>Time magazine, How to Get Smarter One breathe at a Time, Lisa Cullen, January 16, 2006, p. 93</ref> |
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Some Indian companies are giving their managers training in Transcendental Meditation to reduce stress. These companies include: AirTel, [[Siemens]], [[American Express]], SRF and Wipro, Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, [[Hewlett Packard]], BHEL, BPL, [[ESPN]]-Star Sports, Tisco, [[Eveready]], Maruti and Godrej. Another company called Marico, has all of its employees practice Transcendental Meditation in a group as a part of their standard workday. According to the Hindu Times, it benefits both employees and employers.<ref>The Times of India, August 17, 2003, "TM: Corporate India’s latest stress buster", Sakina Ysuf Khan</ref> |
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==References== |
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{{reflist|colwidth=30em}} |
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;Bibliography |
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{{Refbegin}} |
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*{{cite book|author=Ospina MB, Bond TK, Karkhaneh M, Tjosvold L, Vandermeer B, Liang Y, Bialy L, Hooton N, Buscemi N, Dryden DM, Klassen TP.|url= http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/meditation/medit.pdf|title= Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research|publisher= [[Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality]]|date=June 2007.}} |
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*{{cite journal |author=Ospina MB, Bond K, Karkhaneh M, ''et al.'' |title=Meditation practices for health: state of the research |journal=Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep) |volume= |issue=155 |pages=1–263 |year=2007 |month=June |pmid=17764203 |doi= |url=}} |
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{{Refend}} |
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==Further reading== |
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*Denniston, Denise, ''The TM Book'', Fairfield Press, Fairfield, Iowa, 1986 ISBN 093178302X |
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*Geoff Gilpin, ''The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement That Transformed American Spirituality'', Tarcher-Penguin 2006, ISBN 1-58542-507-9 |
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*Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council, 853 F, 2d 948, 956 (D.C. Cir, 1988) |
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*''Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita : A New Translation and Commentary'', Chapters 1-6. ISBN 0140192476. |
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*''Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Science of Being and Art of Living : Transcendental Meditation'' ISBN 0452282667. |
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*{{Harvard reference | First=Paul| Last=Mason | Year=2005 | Title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World | Chapter= | Editor= | Others=Language: English | Pages=335 pages | Publisher=Evolution Publishing | ID=ISBN 0-9550361-0-0 | Authorlink= }} |
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*{{Harvard reference | First=Michael| Last=Persinger | Year=1980 | Title=[[TM and Cult Mania]] | Chapter= | Editor= | Others=Language: English | Pages=198 pages | Publisher=Christopher Pub House | ID=ISBN 0-8158-0392-3 | URL= | Authorlink= }} |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.tm.org ''Official site'']. |
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{{Transcendental Meditation}} |
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[[Category:Transcendental Meditation movement| ]] |
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[[Category:Meditation]] |
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[[Category:Parapsychology]] |
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[[Category:Self religions]] |
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[[cs:Transcendentální meditace]] |
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[[el:Υπερβατικός διαλογισμός]] |
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[[es:Meditación trascendental]] |
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[[fr:Méditation transcendantale]] |
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[[he:מדיטציה טרנסצנדנטלית]] |
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Revision as of 16:20, 25 January 2010
The Transcendental Meditation technique, or TM® technique, is a form of mantra meditation introduced in India in 1955[1][2][3][4] by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917–2008).[5] Taught in a standardized seven-step course by certified teachers, the technique involves the use of a sound or mantra and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day, while sitting comfortably with closed eyes.[6] TM is a registered trademark of the Maharishi Foundation[7] through which he developed a worth of more than $3 billion dollars as of the 1990s.[8] At one time it was reported to be one of the most widely researched and practiced of meditation techniques.[9][10][11][12]
In 1957, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began a series of world tours during which he introduced and taught his meditation technique.[13] In 1959, he founded the International Meditation Society and, in 1961, he began to train teachers of the technique.[13][14] From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, both the Maharishi and TM received significant public attention in the USA, especially among the student population.[15][16] During this period, a million people learned the technique, including well-known public figures.[15]
A 2007 review of meditative practices that included Transcendental Meditation concluded that the definitive health effects of meditation cannot be determined as the scientific evidence was of poor quality.[17] The review concluded, based on an exhaustive review of the limited evidence, that Transcendental Meditation has no advantage over health education to improve blood pressure, body weight, heart rate, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients, and that there was no basis in the evidence to prefer one meditation tecnnique over another.[18][19] Another review did find a reduction in diastolic and systolic blood pressure in those who practiced TM compared to controls.[20]
Transcendental Meditation is part of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health[21] and is made available worldwide by a number of organizations sometimes collectively referred to as the Transcendental Meditation movement. In 1977 and 1996, US courts declared Transcendental Meditation a religion within context of the First Amendment.[22]
Characterizations
In 1997 Carl Sagan in The Demon-Haunted World described TM as "the most recent successful global pseudoscience".[8]
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes Transcendental Meditation as one which requires no preparation, is simple to do, and can be learned by anyone.[23] The technique is described as being effortless[24] and natural, involving neither contemplation nor concentration, and relying on the natural tendency of the mind to move in the direction of greater satisfaction.[25][26][27][28]
In his book The TM Technique, Peter Russell, a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who had spent time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says, Transcendental Meditation allows the mind to become still without effort, in contrast to meditation practices that attempt to control the mind by holding it on a single thought or by keeping it empty of all thoughts.[29] He says trying to control the mind is like trying to go to sleep at night — if a person makes an effort to fall asleep, his or her mind remains active and restless.[29] This is why, he says, Transcendental Meditation avoids concentration and effort.[29]
According to Wayne Teasdale's book The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions, Transcendental Meditation is what is called an open or receptive method that can be described as giving up control and remaining open in an inner sense.[30]
Anthony Campbell says that because TM is a natural process, its practice requires no "special circumstances or preparations". Campbell writes that Transcendental Meditation is "complete in itself" and is "not depend upon belief" or require the practitioner to accept any theory.[31]
Principles
Use of a mantra
During the initial, personal instruction session, the student is given a specific sound or mantra. The sound is utilized as a thought in the meditation process,[32] allowing the individual's attention to be directed naturally from an active style of functioning to a less active or quieter style of mental activity.[32] In Transcendental Meditation the mantra is used as a vehicle on which the attention can rest.[27]
Selection
According to Russell, the sounds used in the Transcendental Meditation technique are taken from the ancient Vedic tradition.[33] Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains that the selection of a proper thought or mantra "becomes increasingly important when we consider that the power of thought increases when the thought is appreciated in its infant stages of development".[34] The Maharishi says that certain, specific vibrations suit certain people and that this method of meditation enables the mind to experience subtler phases of the vibration until the source of all vibration is experienced.[35]
According to pundits of the mantra tradition and Rig Veda tradition, the sounds used in the Transcendental Meditation technique are taken from the ancient Tantric tradition.[36][37][38]
William Jefferson in The Story of the Maharishi, explains the importance of the "euphonics" of mantras. Jefferson says that the secrets of the mantras and their subsequent standardization for today's teachers of the technique were unraveled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi after his years of study with his own teacher, Guru Dev (Brahmananda Saraswati) so that selection is foolproof, and that the number of mantras from the Vedic tradition, which could number in the hundreds, have been brought by the Maharishi to a minimum number.[39]
Author George Chryssides says that, according to the Maharishi, the mantras for "householders" and for recluses differ. The Transcendental Meditation mantra is an appropriate mantra for householders, while most mantras commonly found in books are mantras for recluses. Chryssides says that TM teachers claim that the results promised by the Transcendental Meditation technique will not occur unless a trained Transcendental Meditation teacher chooses the mantra for the student.[40]
TM meditators are instructed to keep their mantra private. Robert Oates writes that this is a "protection against inaccurate teaching".[41] In his 1997 book, The Sociology of Religious Movements William Sims Bainbridge wrote that the mantras given for Transcendental Meditation are "supposedly selected to match the nervous system of the individual but actually taken from a list of 16 Sanskrit words on the basis of the person's age".[42]
In January 1984, Omni (magazine) published a list of mantras, received from "disaffected TM teachers".[43]
Meaning and sound value
The 1995 expanded addition of Conway and Siegelman's Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change describes a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who says: "I was lying about the mantras — they were not meaningless sounds they were actually the names of Hindu demigods - and about how many different ones there were — we had sixteen to give out to our students".[44] In the 1977 court case Malnak vs. Yogi (see below), an undisputed fact in the case was that the mantras are meaningless sounds.[45]
In a speech the Maharishi gave in Kerala, India, in 1955, he mentions a connection between the mantras and personal deities and similar references can also be found in his later works.[46][47] More commonly, the Maharishi describes the mantras as working automatically.[47]
Philosophy of science scholar Jonathan Shear, in his book The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions, characterizes the mantras used in the TM technique as independent of meaning associated with any language, and are used for their mental, sound value alone.[26] Fred Travis, Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management, writes in a 2009 article published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology that "unlike most mantra meditations, any possible meaning of the mantra is not part of Transcendental Meditation practice".[25]
In his book Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction, sociologist Stephen J. Hunt says that the mantra used in the Transcendental Meditation technique has no meaning but that the sound itself is sacred.[27]
Teaching procedure
The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardized, seven-step course[6] that consists of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and four, two-hour instruction sessions given on consecutive days.[48][49][50] The initial personal instruction session begins with a short puja ceremony performed by the teacher, after which the student is taught the technique. The student then practices the technique twice a day. Subsequent sessions with the teacher ensure correct practice. Session 5, called "First Day of Checking" is to verify the correctness of the practice and give further instruction; Session 6, called "Second Day of Checking" is to understand the mechanics of the TM technique based on personal experiences; and, Session 7, called "Third Day of Checking" is to understand higher stages of human development.[6]
The technique is practiced morning and evening for 15–20 minutes each time, but is not recommended before bed.[15][15][49] According to Russell and the official TM web site, the Transcendental Meditation technique can be learned only from a certified, authorized teacher.[29][51] The terms "Transcendental Meditation" and "TM" are servicemarks owned by Maharishi Foundation Ltd., a UK non-profit organization.[52] These trademarks have been sub-licensed to the Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation (MVED), an American non-profit organization which offers the Transcendental Meditation technique and related courses in the U.S.A.[53]
The price for the 5 days course is about 2500 dollars.[54] The organization which teaches it is non profit and tax exempt.[55] However it has had some of its tax exempt status refused in 2001 with the Maharishi Spiritual Center deemed not educational.[56] The Skeptics Dictionary refers to it as a "spiritual business".[57]
Health effects
A 2007 review of evidence on meditation including Transcendental Meditation said that firm conclusions on health effects cannot be draw as the evidence base is of poor methodological quality.[17] The review included studies on adults through 2005. A particular focus of the review was research on hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse. An examination of five studies comparing TM and health education, two of which were judged to be high quality, found that overall the improvement as a result of TM is no greater than health education regarding blood pressure, body weight, heart rate, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients.[18] A revised version of the review published in 2008 reaffirmed the weaknesses of the research but also said that there has been a statistically significant increase in quality over time, with 10% of the 400 clinical trials found to be of good quality.[58]
These results were similar to a 2004, review examining the effects of TM on blood pressure which concluded that there was "insufficient good-quality evidence to conclude whether or not TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure." The review said that the RCTs published had important methodological weaknesses and were potentially biased by the affiliation of authors to the TM organization.[59]
A 2008 review found a 4.7 mmHg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mmHg diastolic blood pressure decrease in those who practiced TM verse a controls group.[20] The review and its primary author were partially funded by Howard Settle[20] a known proponent of TM.[60]
A 2009 review of 16 pediatric studies on meditation that included 6 studies on Transcendental Meditation found that meditation in general "seems to be an effective intervention in the treatment of physiologic, psychosocial, and behavioral conditions among youth."[61] A primary outcome of the studies on Transcendental Meditation was the reduction of hypertension relative to controls, as well as reductions in absenteeism and attentional problems. The review said that because of limitations of the research, larger-scale and more demographically diverse studies need to be done to clarify treatment efficacy.[61]
Psychological effects
A 2003 review concluded that evidence does not support a specific or cumulative effect from TM on cognitive function. The trials that did show positive results recruited people with favourably opinions of TM, and inappropriate controls.[62]
A 2006 Cochrane review examined a 1980 study that showed a reduction in anxiety but said that this study was insufficient evidence to draw conclusion regarding the effectiveness of meditation for anxiety disorders.[63] According to a 2008 review, relaxation training, including Transcendental Meditation, has consistently been found to be effective.[64]
Educational Research
A study by Maharishi University of Management and American University researchers measured Brain Integration Scale scores for reactions to stressful stimulus, and sleepiness in 50 students from American University and found improvement.[65]
Maharishi Vedic approach to health
Transcendental Meditation is part of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH).[21] MVAH (also known as Maharishi Ayurveda[66][67] and Maharishi Vedic Medicine[68]) was founded in the mid 1980s by the Maharishi. MVAH is considered an alternative medicine and aims at being a complementary system to modern western medicine.[69] It is based on Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine developed in India in ancient times.
Research funding
In 1999, the NIH awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S.[70] The research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield, Iowa.[71] The NIH funding has come via the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.[72]
By 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had awarded more than $20 million in funding for research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on heart disease.[73][74]
In 2009, the National Institutes of Health awarded an additional grant of $500,000 per year for two years for research on using the Transcendental Meditation technique in the treatment of coronary heart disease in African-Americans. The award was for research in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention and Columbia University Medical School in New York City. The award was from the American Recovery and Investment Act via the NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.[75][76]
Views on human development
According to Vimal Patel, a pathologist at Indiana University, Transcendental Meditation is one of the most scientifically investigated meditation techniques and has been shown to produce states that are physiologically different from waking, dreaming and sleeping.[77] Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says in his 1963 book, The Science Of Being and Art Of Living, that, over time, the practice of allowing the mind to experience its deeper levels during the Transcendental Meditation technique brings these levels from the subconscious to within the capacity of the conscious mind. According to Maharishi, as the mind quiets down and experiences finer thoughts, the Transcendental Meditation practitioner can become aware that thought itself is transcended and can have the experience of what he calls the 'source of thought', 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being'; 'the ultimate reality of life'.[32][78][79] TM describes itself as a technology for consciousness.[27]
Seven states of consciousness
According to the Maharishi there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) waking; (ii) dreaming; (iii) deep sleep; (iv) transcendental or pure consciousness; (v) cosmic consciousness; (vi) God consciousness; and (vii) Supreme knowledge, or unity consciousness. The Maharishi says that the fourth level of consciousness can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that the fifth state can be achieved by those who meditate diligently. Higher levels are attainable depending on one's commitment to meditation and purification. (See section below for research concerning long-term effects.) Maharishi states that "enlightenment" is the normal state of health for the body and mind, and is the result from the full development of consciousness.[80] The Maharishi says that his teacher, Guru Dev, had achieved the seventh level of consciousness.[81][82] According to Paul Marshall, these states of consciousness are re-expressions of the doctrine which emerged out of the Upanishads and are prominent in Vedantic teachings.[83]
Campbell states that for Maharishi, enlightenment is dependent on how the nervous system functions.[84] He describes how different "dispositions" of the human nervous system correspond to different states of consciousness, and that Unity Consciousness is the most advanced state that a human can reach.[85] Campbell summarizes the characteristics of the different state of consciousness, as follows:
The Seven States of Consciousness[86]
State of Consciousness | Awareness of Self | Awareness of Outer World | Absolute-Relative Paradox | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dreamless Sleep | Absent | Absent | _ |
2 | Dreaming | Absent | Hallucinatory | _ |
3 | Waking | Absent | Present | Discoverable by intellect |
4 | Transcendental Consciousness | Present | Absent | Absent |
5 | Cosmic Consciousness | Present | Present | Present to perception |
6 | God Consciousness | Present | Present | Partially resolved |
7 | Unity Consciousness | Present | Present | Resolved |
Origins
According to religious scholar Kenneth Boa in his book, Cults World Religions and the Occult, Transcendental Meditation is rooted in the Vedantic School of Hinduism, and that fact is "repeatedly confirmed" by the Maharishi's books such as the Science of Being and the Art of Living and his Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.[87] George Chryssides similarly states that the Maharishi and Guru Dev were from the Shankara tradition of advaita Vedanta.[40] Boa writes that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi "makes it clear" that Transcendental Meditation was delivered to man about 5,000 years ago by the Hindu god Krishna. The technique was then lost, but restored for a time by Buddha. It was lost again, but rediscovered in the 9th Century AD by the Hindu philosopher Shankara. Finally, it was revivied by Brahmananda Saraswati (Guru Dev) and passed on to the Maharishi.[88] Russell states that the Maharishi believed that since the time of the Vedas, this knowledge was lost and found many times, recurring principally in the Bhagavad-Gita, and in the teachings of Buddha and Shankara, a cycle discussed in the introduction to his commentaries on the Bhagavad-Gita.[89] Chrissides notes that, in addition to the revivals of the Transcendental Meditiaton technique by Krishna, the Buddha and Shankara, the Maharishi also drew from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.[40] Patel also says that it is derived from Patanjali's Yoga.[77]
History
1950s
In 1955, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian ascetic,[90] began teaching a meditation technique that he said was derived from the Vedic tradition,[91] and which later came to be called Transcendental Meditation. The Maharishi had served as a "close disciple" and secretary to Swami Brahmananda Saraswati from 1941 until Brahmananda Saraswati's death in 1953.[26]
In 1958, The Maharishi began a number of tours worldwide promoting and disseminating the TM technique.[92] This tour began in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar). The Maharishi remained in the Far East for about six months teaching Transcendental Meditation.[13]
In 1959, the Maharishi taught the Transcendental Meditation technique in Hawaii.[13] Later that year, Maharishi went to California and became a guest at the home of Roland and Helena Olson and their daughter Theresa, who later described and published their experiences. He continued to visit and teach Transcendental Meditation from the Olsons' home over the next few years.
1960s and 1970s
According to a history written by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 21 members of the Indian Parliament issued a public statement endorsing the Transcendental Meditation technique in 1963.[93] He writes that news articles on the technique appeared in Canadian newspapers such as the Daily Colonist, Calgary Herald and The Albertan.[94]
Beginning in 1968, a number of celebrities such as Donovan, The Beatles, members of the The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Doug Henning, Clint Eastwood, Deepak Chopra, Andy Kaufman, Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Shirley MacLaine, Joe Namath, Stevie Wonder, and Howard Stern, as well as author Kurt Vonnegut and Major-General Franklin M. Davis, Jr reported using the technique.[15][16][95][96][97][98]
In 1970, the first scientific study on the Transcendental Meditation technique was published in Science magazine and the first course on the Science of Creative Intelligence was held at Stanford University in California.
On January 12, 1975, Maharishi introduced the theory of the Maharishi Effect for the first time, based on the finding that in cities in the USA where 1% of the population meditated, the crime rate dropped.[99]
In 1975, the Maharishi began teaching advanced mental techniques, called the TM-Sidhi Program, that included a technique for the development of what he termed Yogic Flying.[26] In that same year, Transcendental Meditation received favorable testimony in the Congressional Record and was advocated by Major-General Franklin M. Davis Jr of the US Army.[32]
A Gallup Poll conducted in August 1976 said that four percent (4%) of those Americans questioned had engaged in TM.[100] The average number of people learning TM fell from a peak of approx. 40,000 a month in 1975 to approx. 3,000 in November 1977.[42][101][102] Bainbridge wrote that, as of 1977, "Most of the million who had been initiated either ceased meditating or did so informally and irregularly without continuing connections to the TM Movement."[42] The official TM web site reports that more than 6 million people worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its introduction in 1958.[103]
1980s to the present
In 1990, a delegation of Transcendental Meditation teachers from Maharishi International University traveled to the former Soviet Union to provide instruction in Transcendental Meditation. The trip, initially scheduled to last ten days, was extended to six months and resulted in the training of 35,000 people in the technique.[104]
School programs
Charter School and "Quiet Time" Programs
In 1994, the Transcendental Meditation program became a part of the school day at the Fletcher Johnson Educational Center of Washington, D.C.[105][clarification needed]
The Ideal Academy Public Charter School began using the TM program in 1996 with the approval of the Washington, D.C. Board of Education.[106][107][108] The 2005-2006 pilot project at Ideal Academy was conducted along with research to document the effects of the program.[105]
In Detroit, the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse incorporated Transcendental Meditation into their school in 1996 and the program was featured on the Today Show in 2003.[109] The school has since been classified by the Skillman Foundation as a "High-Performing Middle School".[110] In addition, the TM program at Nitaki Talibah school was the subject of a pilot study by Rita Benn, director of the Integrative Medical Education program at the University of Michigan's Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Research Center.<aref> Business Week, Meditation for Moppetts, Susan Garland, March 29, 2004</ref> Benn compared the Nitaki Talibah students practicing Transcendental Meditation twice a day to a peer group of students of the same age who did not practice Transcendental Meditation and concluded that TM helped the Nitaki Talibah students to improve their stress management and self-esteem, as well as lowered their anxiety and depression.[111] In 2005 Benn said she was expanding her research to include "more rigorous" controls than in her initial pilot study.[112][verification needed]
Over the years, the program at Nitaki Talibah has been funded by various foundations including General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, the Liebler Foundation and more recently, the David Lynch Foundation. In 2006, six public schools were each awarded $25,000 by the David Lynch Foundation to begin a similar program.[113]
By 2006, twenty five public, private, and charter schools in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students.[107] In 2006, the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California canceled plans for Transcendental Meditation classes due to concerns of parents that it would be promoting religion[114] University of South Carolina sociologist Barry Markovsky describes teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique in schools as "stealth religion".[115] George Rutherford, the Principal at Ideal Academy Public Charter School, says that after learning Transcendental Meditation he and his wife “realized it had nothing to do with religion”.[105]
According to a Newsweek article, critics believe that Transcendental Meditation is a repackaged, Eastern, religious philosophy that should not be used in public schools. Advocates say that Transcendental Meditation is purely a mechanical, physiological process.[108] According to Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism and, when introduced into public schools, it crosses the same constitutional line as in the Malnak case and decision of 1979. In May 2008, Lynn said that the Americans United for Separation of Church is keeping a close legal eye on the TM movement and that there are no imminent cases against them.[108][116] Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says doing Transcendental Meditation during a school's "quiet time" (a short period many schools have adopted that children use for prayer or relaxation) is constitutional.[108]
Schools in other countries, such as the Netherlands, Australia, India, Ecuador, Thailand, China, Great Britain and South Africa, have also used Transcendental Meditation as part of educational programs.[117]
Establishment Clause ruling: TM as religious
In 1979, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the US District Court of New Jersey that a curriculum in the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI)/Transcendental Meditation was religious activity within the meaning of the Establishment Clause and that the teaching of SCI/TM in the New Jersey public high schools was prohibited by the First Amendment.[118][119] The court ruled that, although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. The court found that the religious nature of the course was clear from careful examination of the textbook, the expert testimony elicited, and the uncontested facts concerning the puja,[120] but was also largely determined by apparent involvement of government. The court also found state action violative of the Establishment Clause, because the puja involved "offerings to deities as part of a regularly scheduled course in the schools' educational programs".[119]
Relationship to religion and spirituality
Official Transcendental Meditation websites state that the Transcendental Meditation technique is a mental technique for deep rest that is associated with specific effects on mind and body, practiced by people of all religions and that it does not require faith, belief, or a change in lifestyle to be effective as a relaxation technique.[121] Maharishi called the technique "a path to God",[122] and it has been described as "spiritual" but not religious, and as a coping strategy for life.[123] According to Time Magazine, Transcendental Meditation owes something to all major religious traditions—Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as the Eastern faiths— because at one time or another they have included both meditation and the repetition of a mantra-like word.[15]
William Johnston, in Silent Music: The Science of Meditation, says that, despite the fact that its origins are religious, and several thousand years old, the TM technique as introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the West has no attachments to any particular religion.[124] Former Maharishi University of Management Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor of Education, James Grant, writes in a chapter of the book titled, The University in Transformation, that the Maharishi's techniques for the development of consciousness are non-sectarian and require no belief system. He goes on to say that millions of people from many cultures and many faiths have benefited from these techniques.[125]
Bainbridge found Transcendental Meditation to be a "...highly simplified form of Hinduism, adapted for Westerners who did not possess the cultural background to accept the full panoply of Hindu beliefs, symbols, and practices."[42][126] Bainbridge describes the Transcendental Meditation puja ceremony as "...in essence, a religious initiation ceremony".[42]
Jaime Sin, a cardinal and the Archbishop of Manila, wrote in 1984 that neither the doctrine nor the practice of TM are acceptable to Christians.[127] In 1989, a Vatican council published a warning against mixing eastern meditation, such as TM, with Christian prayer.[128] Metropolitan Maximos (Aghiorgoussis) of Pittsburgh of the Greek Orthodox Church describes TM as being "a new version of Hindu Yoga" based on "pagan pseudo-worship and deification of a common mortal, Guru Dev".[129]
Other clergy, including Catholic clergy, have found the Transcendental Meditation technique to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs.[130][131][132]
Religion scholar Charles H. Lippy, author of Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century writes that earlier spiritual interest in the Transcendental Meditation technique faded in the 1970s and it became a practical technique that anyone could employ without abandoning their religious affiliation.[133]
In addition to the 3rd Circuit opinion in Malnak holding that Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intellingence were religious under the Establishment Clause, in 1996 the Superior Court for the District of Columbia ruled in Hendel v World Plan Executive Council that the practice of Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program is a religion and that trial of fraud and other claims for damages by a former TM and TM-Sidhi practitioner against the World Plan Executive Council and Maharishi International University would involve the Court in excessive entanglement into matters of religious belief contrary to the First Amendment.[134]
Corporate Programs
Transcendental Meditation has also been utilized in corporations both in the U.S.A and in India. According to an article in the Washington Post, The Tower Companies, "one of Washington D.C.'s largest real estate development companies", has added classes in Transcendental Mediation to their employee benefit program in order "to contain stress-related ailments and health care costs". Seventy percent of the employees at The Tower Companies participate in the program.[135][136][137]
Some Indian companies are giving their managers training in Transcendental Meditation to reduce stress. These companies include: AirTel, Siemens, American Express, SRF and Wipro, Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, Hewlett Packard, BHEL, BPL, ESPN-Star Sports, Tisco, Eveready, Maruti and Godrej. Another company called Marico, has all of its employees practice Transcendental Meditation in a group as a part of their standard workday. According to the Hindu Times, it benefits both employees and employers.[138]
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{{cite book}}
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ignored (help) - ^ Russell, p. 134
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has generic name (help) - ^ "The mystic who inspired The Beatles: The town that lost its guru". The Independent. February 7, 2008.
- ^ Swatos, William H.; Kivisto, Peter (1998). Encyclopedia of religion and society. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press. p. 525. ISBN 978-0-7619-8956-1.
- ^ Celebrating the Dawn, Oates, Putnam's, 1975, P. 226
- ^ York, Michael (1995). The emerging network : a sociology of the New Age and neo-pagan movement. Lanham, Md.: Rowman Littlefield. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-8476-8001-6.
- ^ Ryan, Leyland, "Transcendental Meditation hits hard times", The Colombia Missourian (January 8, 1978) p.B3 [dead link]
- ^ "Behavior: Seer of Flying". Time. 1977-08-08. ISSN 0040-718X. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
{{cite news}}
: Check|issn=
value (help) - ^ http://tm.org
- ^ "Soviets Learn To Meditate". Omaha World-Herald. 1990-06-01. p. 23.
- ^ a b c Pathways, Taking Care of the Student, Winter 2009, Cynthia E. Johnson,
- ^ "George Rutherford: ZoomInfo Business People Information". Zoominfo.com. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ a b Brody, Alison, Shin, Shirley & Street, Nick, "Transcendental Meditation in Schools", News 21 (July 24, 2007)
- ^ a b c d Conant, Eve, "Much dispute about nothing", Newsweek (May 29, 2008)
- ^ "Student Wellness". Ntsd.com. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ Skillman Foundation, Making The Grade
- ^ "International Education" Meditation helps students", Dana Micucci, New York Times, February 15, 2005
- ^ NBC News, TM helps students with ADHD, June 7, 2004
- ^ NEA Today, National Education Association,Clear Your Mind, May 2006,
- ^ cancels plans for TM in school "usatoday".com
- ^ Man Fails To Fly, Sues Camelot Hotel Owner, GTR News Online, Nancy K. Owens
- ^ Newsweek, Can Meditation Help At-Risk Kids?
- ^ Nadine Naidoo. "Partner Schools | CBE Schools South Africa". Cbesa.org. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ Doug Linder. "Introduction to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment". Law.umkc.edu. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ a b http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/592/592.F2d.197.78-1882.78-1568.html Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 203 (3rd Cir., 1979)
- ^ The TM puja ceremony is extensively described in the opinion of the US District Court in Malnak v Yogi, including the Sanskrit chant and the English translation thereof from the book "The Holy Tradition", written by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
- ^ "Meditation Techniques". Tm.org. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ Meditations of Maharishi. p. 59
- ^ Zellers, Kelly L., Perrewe, Pamela. "The Role of Spirituality in Occupational Stress and Well-Being", Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance, M.E. Sharp, December 2002.
- ^ Johnston, William. Silent Music:The Science of Meditation. Fordham University Press. p15. ISBN 9780823217748.
- ^ Inayatullah, Sohail; Gidley, Jennifer. (2000). The university in transformation : global perspectives on the futures of the universit. Westport, Conn. : Bergin Garvey. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-89789-718-1.
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20060831081613/religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/tm.html
- ^ "October 16, 1984 - The Basic Conflict Between Maharishi and Christianity". Rcam.org. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ moreorless. "The Vatican document on the New Age (Feb. 3, 2003)". Cesnur.org. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ Aghiorgoussis, Maximos (Spring 1999). "The challenge of metaphysical experiences outside Orthodoxy and the Orthodox response". Greek Orthodox Theological Review. 44 (1–4). Brookline: 21, 34.
- ^ Vesely, Carolin, "Its All in Your Mind" Winnipeg Free Press, March 21, 2006.
- ^ Smith, Adrian (1993). A Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: Christian Understanding of Transcendental Meditation. Book Guild Ltd. ISBN 0-86332-863-6.
- ^ Pennington, M. Basil (1977). Daily we touch Him : practical religious experience. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. p. 73. ISBN 0-385-12478-3.
- ^ Lippy, Charles H. (2000). Pluralism comes of age: American religious culture in the twentieth century. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-7656-0151-3.)
- ^ Hendel v World Plan Executive Council, 124 WLR 957 (January 2, 1996); affd 705 A.2d 656, 667 (DC, 1997
- ^ Washington Post, More Area Firms Paying Employees to Relax, Transcendental Meditation Seen As Health Care Boon, Annys Shin, Washington Post Staff Writer, March 3, 2005
- ^ Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine, Cubicle Karma, Mellisa Chessher, October 2005
- ^ Time magazine, How to Get Smarter One breathe at a Time, Lisa Cullen, January 16, 2006, p. 93
- ^ The Times of India, August 17, 2003, "TM: Corporate India’s latest stress buster", Sakina Ysuf Khan
- Bibliography
- Ospina MB, Bond TK, Karkhaneh M, Tjosvold L, Vandermeer B, Liang Y, Bialy L, Hooton N, Buscemi N, Dryden DM, Klassen TP. (June 2007.). Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research (PDF). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
{{cite book}}
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(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Ospina MB, Bond K, Karkhaneh M; et al. (2007). "Meditation practices for health: state of the research". Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep) (155): 1–263. PMID 17764203.
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Further reading
- Denniston, Denise, The TM Book, Fairfield Press, Fairfield, Iowa, 1986 ISBN 093178302X
- Geoff Gilpin, The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement That Transformed American Spirituality, Tarcher-Penguin 2006, ISBN 1-58542-507-9
- Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council, 853 F, 2d 948, 956 (D.C. Cir, 1988)
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita : A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1-6. ISBN 0140192476.
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Science of Being and Art of Living : Transcendental Meditation ISBN 0452282667.
- Template:Harvard reference
- Template:Harvard reference