Transcendental Meditation

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Transcendental Meditation or TM is a form of meditation developed in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a disciple of Brahmananda Saraswati. A body of scientific research shows positive effects from Transcendental Meditation.

History

It has been suggested that The Spiritual Regeneration Movement be merged into this article. (Discuss)

In 1957, at the end of a great "festival of spiritual luminaries" in remembrance of the previous Shankaracharya of the North, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, his disciple Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (or simply "Maharishi" to followers) announced the formal beginning of TM. In the movement's initial stages, Maharishi operated under the auspices of an organization he called the "Spiritual Regeneration Movement".

In the early 1970s, Maharishi launched his "World Plan" to establish a TM teaching center for each million of the world's population, which at that time would have meant 3,600 TM centers throughout the world. Since 1990, Maharishi has co-ordinated his global activities from his headquarters in the town of Vlodrop in the municipality of Roerdalen in the Netherlands.

The TM Movement founded a nationally accredited university, the Maharishi University of Management (formerly, Maharishi International University), in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, in 1971; a number of schools around the world; Maharishi Vedic City in south-east Iowa, (incorporated 21 July, 2001); political parties in many countries around the world known as the Natural Law Party, the US branch having closed on April 30, 2004 (see ) in favour of the Global Country of World Peace, founded in 2002.

More than 6 million individuals worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its inauguration , including celebrities such as the Beatles, radio personality Howard Stern, film director David Lynch, and actresses Mia Farrow and Heather Graham.

Procedures and theory

The Transcendental Meditation technique comes from the ancient Vedic tradition of India and is practiced for twenty minutes twice daily while sitting with the eyes closed. The TM technique comprises of an effortless, silent mental repetition of a simple sound known as a mantra. The first research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, conducted at UCLA and Harvard Medical Schools and published from 1970 to 1972 in Science, American Journal of Physiology, and Scientific American, revealed that the Transcendental Meditation technique produces a unique state which they called “restful alertness” in the mind and body, otherwise referred to as "transcendental consciousness" .

The goal of this meditation, according to practitioners, is called pure consciousness (in Sanskrit: turiya or samadhi). The TM organization emphasizes in its teaching that the procedure for using the mantra is very important, and can only be learned from a trained teacher of TM.

Theory of Consciousness

According to Transcendental Meditation theory there are eight states of consciousness, of which the first three are familiar to non-TM meditators:

waking state of consciousness
dreaming state of consciousness (REM)
dreamless sleeping state of consciousness
Transcendental state of Consciousness (TC)
Cosmic Consciousness (CC)
God Consciousness (GC)
Unity Consciousness (UC)
Brahman Consciousness (BC)

Learning TM

The technique has been taught to people in a variety of formats over the years. Currently, it is taught - for a fee - in a seven step process, which include an introductory lecture, personal interview and instruction, and checking afterwords to verify the technique was learned properly.

TM-Related Research

Research suggests that there are numerous health benefits associated with the TM technique, including reduction of high blood pressure , younger biological age , decreased insomnia , reduction of high cholesterol , reduced illness and medical expenditures , decreased outpatient visits , decreased cigarette smoking , decreased alcohol use , and decreased anxiety .

Some studies indicate that regular practice of TM leads to significant, cumulative benefits in the areas of mind (Travis, Arenander & DuBois 2004) harv error: no target: CITEREFTravisArenanderDuBois2004 (help), body (Barnes, Treiber & Davis 2001) harv error: no target: CITEREFBarnesTreiberDavis2001 (help), behavior (Barnes, Bauza & Treiber 2003) harv error: no target: CITEREFBarnesBauzaTreiber2003 (help) and environment (Hagelin et al. 1999) harv error: no target: CITEREFHagelinRainforthOrme-JohnsonCavanaugh1999 (help). One study showed that TM had positive effects on arterial wall thickness in African-American people with high blood pressure. (PMID 10700487).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $21 million conducting research on the beneficial effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on heart disease alone . In 1999, 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. The new 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 .

Other components of TM

Beyond the initial technique, the Trancendental Mediation program includes numerous other programs, retreats and even healthcare.

The TM Siddhi program is an advanced technique which is claimed to deepen one's meditation and eventually lead to levitation.

The TM movement also offers its own version of Ayurveda, Indian Medicine, called Maharishi Ayurveda, practices Vedic Astrology which the movement calls Maharishi Jyotish, and has its own trademarked brand of food Vedic Organic Agriculture.

Sthapatya Veda

In his televised press conference of November 16, 2005, Maharishi stated that he believed that it was vital for everyone in the world to live and work in buildings constructed according to Sthapatya Veda or Vastu, architecture based on Vedic principles according to which the arrangement and layout of one's home has important effects on all areas of one's life (similar beliefs exist in Feng Shui). According to Sthapatya Veda, it is most auspicious for the main entrance of all structures to face the east, and all the rooms in a Vedically-correct building must be arranged around a central "Brahmastan" or seat of divinity.

In his November press conference, Maharishi said that it was very important that all members of the organization quickly move into dwellings constructed according to Vedically-correct principles and that he would no longer talk or deal with any member of the TM community who lived in structures not built according to Vedic principles.

The Maharishi University of Management demolished a Christian chapel on its campus because it was not constructed according to Vedic principles . The TM movement has encountered public resistance to its plans to tear down historic buildings in order to replace them with Vastu-compliant structures, including a former Christian monastery in the Netherlands .

TM-Sidhi Program and the Maharishi Effect

The TM movement defines the Maharishi effect as "the influence of coherence and positivity in the social and natural environment generated by the practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs" . James Randi, noted skeptic and critic of paranormal claims, investigated the claims of Dr. Rabinoff, an MUM professor and TM researcher on the "Maharishi effect," that a large gathering of TM meditators had reduced crime and accidents and increased crop production in the vicinity of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. After speaking with the Fairfield Police Department, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, and Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles, Randi said that there was no evidence to support these claims (Randi 1982) harv error: no target: CITEREFRandi1982 (help).

The results of a more recent study on the Maharishi effect show the correlation of the installation of a permanent group of 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in the District of Columbia with a 48% reduction in HRA crimes in that city (Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153–201). Some researchers have reviewed and dismissed this study, saying that it is methologically flawed in numerous ways . One study which wished to review the raw data upon which the claims to the validity of the "Maharishi Effect" was denied access to the raw data, despite numerous requests for copies of it. .

Political activities of the TM organization

The TM organization founded the Natural Law Party in 1992 in support of candidates for public office dedicated to promoting both TM and Maharishi's far-reaching political goals at all levels of society. The Party ran Dr. John Hagelin, former physics professor at Maharishi University of Management, for president of the United States in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 elections, without notable success. The Natural Law Party did not run a candidate for president in the 2004 election and the NLP is no longer a registered party in the UK. Following repeated NLP failures at the polls, Maharishi unilaterally inaugurated his own Global Country of World Peace and crowned Dr. Tony Nader as Raja (Vedic king) of the new government, which is devoted to achieving Maharishi's goals, including the practice of TM in the public schools and the demolition and reconstruction of all public and private structures throughout the world along Vedic principles. In many of his most recent weekly press conferences, Maharishi has repeatedly expressed his strong opinion that democracy is an ineffective and weak form of government. He advocates instead a parallel system of monarchical government based on Vedic traditions and knowledge in which the leadership is selected by him .

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