The
technique of Eastern meditation known as "Transcendental Meditation"
(or "TM" for short) has attained such popularity in a few years,
especially in America, and is advocated in such an outrageously flippant tone,
that any serious student of contemporary religious currents will be inclined at
first to dismiss it as merely an over-inflated product of American advertising
and showmanship. But this would be a mistake, for in its serious claims it does
not differ markedly from Yoga and Zen, and a close look at its techniques
reveals it as perhaps more authentically "Eastern" than either of the
somewhat artificial syncretisms, "Christian Yoga" and "Christian
Zen."
According to one standard account of this
movement, "Transcendental Meditation" was brought to America (where
it has had its most spectacular success) by a rather "unorthodox"
Indian Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and began to grow noticeably about 1961. In
1967 it received widespread publicity when the popular singers known as the "Beatles"
were converted to it and gave up drugs; but they soon abandoned the movement
(although they continued to meditate), and the Maharishi hit his low point the
next year when his American tour, together with another convert singing group
called the "Beach Boys," was abandoned as a financial failure. The
movement itself, however, continued to grow: By 1971 there were some 100,000
meditators following it, with 2000 specially-trained instructors, making it
already by far the largest movement of "Eastern spirituality" in
America. In 1975 the movement reached its peak, with about 40,000 trainees a
month and upwards of 600,000 followers in all. During these years it was widely
used in the Army, public schools, prisons, hospitals, and by church groups,
including parishes of the Greek Archdiocese in America, as a supposedly neutral
form of "mental therapy" which is compatible with any kind of
religious belief or practice. The "TM course is one especially tailored to
the American way of life and has been sympathetically called "a course in
how to succeed spiritually without really trying"; the Maharishi himself
calls it a technique which is "just like brushing your teeth." The
Maharishi has been strongly criticized by other Hindu Yogis for cheapening the
long tradition of Yoga in India by making this esoteric practice available to
the masses for money (the charge in 1975 was $125 for the course, $65 for
college students, and progressively less for high school, junior high school,
and very young children).
In its aims, presuppositions, and results,
"TM" does not differ markedly from "Christian Yoga" or
"Christian Zen;" it differs from them chiefly in the simplicity of
its techniques and of its whole philosophy, and in the ease with which its
results are obtained. Like them, "TM does not require any belief,
understanding, moral code, or even agreement with the ideas and
philosophy"; it is a technique pure and simple, which "is based on
the natural tendency of the mind to move toward greater happiness and
pleasure... During transcendental meditation your mind is expected to follow
whatever is most natural and most pleasant." "Transcendental
meditation is a practice first and a theory afterwards. It is essential at the
beginning that an individual does not think intellectually at all."
The technique which the Maharishi has devised is
invariably the same at all "TM" centers throughout the world: After
two introductory lectures, one pays the fee and then comes for
"initiation," bringing with him a seemingly strange collection of
articles, always the same: three pieces of sweet fruit, at least six fresh
flowers, and a clean handkerchief. These are placed in a basket and taken to
the small "initiation room," where they are placed on a table before
a portrait of the Maharishi's guru, from whom he received his initiation into
yoga; on the same table a candle and incense are burning. The disciple is alone
in the room with his teacher, who is himself required to have received
initiation and to have been instructed by the Maharishi personally. The
ceremony before the portrait lasts for half an hour and is composed of soft
singing in Sanscrit (with meaning unknown to the initiate) and a chanting of
the names of past "masters" of Yoga; at the end of the ceremony the
initiate is given a "mantra," a secret Sanscrit word which he is to
repeat ceaselessly during meditation, and which no one is to know except his
teacher. The English translation of this ceremony is never revealed to
initiates; it is available only to teachers and initiators themselves. It is
contained in an unpublished handbook called "The Holy Tradition," and
its text has now been printed by the "Spiritual Counterfeits Project"
in Berkeley as a separate pamphlet. This ceremony is nothing but a traditional
Hindu ceremony of worship of the gods (puja), including the deified guru of the
Maharishi (Shri Guru Dev) and the whole line of "masters" through
which he himself received his initiation. The ceremony ends with a series of
twenty-two "offerings" made to the Maharishi's guru, each ending with
the words "To Shri Guru Dev I bow down." The initiator himself bows
down before a portrait of Guru Dev at the end of the ceremony and invites the
initiate to do likewise; only then is the latter initiated. (The bowing is not
absolutely required of the initiate, but the offerings are.).
Thus the modern agnostic, usually quite unawares,
has been introduced to the realm of Hindu religious practices; quite easily he
has been made to do something to which his own Christian ancestors, perhaps,
had preferred torture and cruel death: he has offered sacrifice to pagan gods.
On the spiritual plane it may be this sin, rather than the psychic technique
itself, that chiefly explains the spectacular success of "TM."
Once he has been initiated, the student of
"TM" meditates twice daily for twenty minutes each time (precisely
the same amount recommended by the author of Christian Yoga), letting the mind
wander freely, and repeating the mantra as often as he thinks of it;
frequently, one's experiences are checked by his teacher. Quite soon, even on
the first attempt, one begins to enter a new level of consciousness, which is
neither sleep nor wakefulness: the state of "transcendental
meditation." "Transcendental meditation produces a state of
consciousness unlike anything we've known before, and closest to that state of
Zen developed after many years of intense study." "In contrast to the
years that must be spent to master other religious disciplines and Yoga, which
offer the same results that TM proponents claim, teachers say TM can be taught
in a matter of minutes." Some who have experienced it describe it as a
"state of fulfillment" similar to some drug experiences, but the
Maharishi himself describes it in traditional Hindu terms: "This state
lies beyond all seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting — beyond all
thinking and feeling. This state of the unmanifested, absolute, pure
consciousness of Being is the ultimate state of
life." "When an individual has developed the ability to bring this
deep state to the conscious level on a permanent basis, he is said to have
reached cosmic consciousness, the goal of all meditators." In the advanced
stages of "TM" the basic Yoga positions are taught, but they are not
necessary to the success of the basic technique; nor is
any ascetic preparation required. Once one has attained the
"transcendental state of being," all that is required of one is
twenty minutes of meditation twice daily, since this form of meditation is not
at all a separate way of life, as in India, but rather a discipline for those
who lead an active life. The Maharishi's distinction lies in having brought
this state of consciousness to everyone, not just a chosen few.
There are numerous success stories for
"TM," which claims to be effective in almost all cases: drug habits
are overcome, families are reunited, one becomes healthy and happy; the
teachers of TM are constantly smiling, bubbling over with happiness. Generally,
TM does not replace other religions, but strengthens belief in almost anything;
"Christians," whether Protestant or Catholic, also find that it makes
their belief and practice more meaningful and deeper.
The swift and easy success of "TM,"
while it is symptomatic of the waning influence of Christianity on contemporary
mankind, has also led to its early decline. Perhaps more than any other
movement of "Eastern spirituality," it has had the character of a
"fad," and the Maharishi's announced aim to "initiate" the
whole of humanity is evidently doomed to failure. After the peak year of 1975,
enrollment in "TM" courses has steadily declined, so much so that in
1977 the organization announced the opening of a whole new series of
"advanced" courses, obviously devised in order to regain public
interest and enthusiasm. These courses are intended to lead initiates to the
"siddhis" or "supernatural powers" of Hinduism: walking
through walls, becoming invisible, levitating and flying through the air, and
the like. The courses have generally been greeted with cynicism, even though a "TM"
brochure features a photograph of a "levitating" meditator (see Time
Magazine, August 8, 1977,
P. 75). Whether or not the courses (which cost up to $3000) will produce the
claimed results -which are in the province of the traditional
"fakirs" of India — "TM" itself stands revealed as a passing phase of the occult interest in the second half of the 20th
century. Already many examples have been publicized of "TM" teachers
and disciples alike who have been afflicted with the common maladies of those
who dabble in the occult: mental and emotional illness, suicide, attempted
murder, demonic possession.
In 1978 a United States Federal court came to the
decision that "TM" is indeed religious in nature and may not be
taught in public schools.* This decision will undoubtedly further limit the
influence of "TM," which, however, will probably continue to exist as
one of the many forms of meditation which many see as compatible with
Christianity — another sad sign of the times.
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