Transcendental Meditation
At an even further remove from traditional Hindu thought is a meditative discipline that denies it is a religious philosophy at all: Transcendental Meditation. “TM,” as it is popularly known, was founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (19187-2008), a figure surrounded by mystery (which includes uncertainty about his given name or actual date of birth).
A graduate of India’s prestigious Allahabad University (in physics), he spent thirteen years at a monastery in northern India studying under Swami Brahmananda Saraswan, commonly called Guru Dev. After Guru Dev’s death in 1953, the Maharishi (a self-appointed title meaning “Great Seer”) went into seclusion. When he emerged, he set out to share the techniques of meditation he had learned from Guru Dev with the world. Having first established a meditation center that he named the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in Madras in 1958, the Maharishi went on to open similar centers in Los Angeles and in London in i960, which led to the founding of the International Meditation Society in 1961 and (a decade later) the opening of the Maharishi International University in Iowa in 1971. Each of these institutions was designed both to disseminate the Maharishi’s teachings and to promote greater understanding among diverse peoples. In the 1990s, TM renamed itself the Maharishi Foundation, and as part of its plan to promote world peace, it sponsored the creation (in Great Britain) of the Natural Law Party, whose manifesto calls for bringing existing political systems into line with “the intelligence and infinite organizing power that silently maintains and guides the evolution of everything in the universe.Those who promote TM as the solution to all human problems define it, variably, as a “technology of consciousness” and as a “Science of Creative Intelligence,” though its presumed benefits have been questioned by skeptical observers who find little objective evidence to support TM’s claims to enhance physical well-being and conflict resolution.
This is particularly true of the technique known as yogic flying, during which the TM practitioner rocks back and forth with legs crossed, hoping to levitate a few inches. The object of this exercise is to maximize mind-body coordination; TM literature suggests that the key to future spiritual and moral evolution lies in this yogic form of physical transcendence. In addition, TM students are given a special mantra to recite—consisting of a sacred sound rather than a word—with the expectation that reciting this mantra will facilitate a transformation of consciousness leading to greater peace of mind. Those who have benefited from this procedure insist that it has led to significant stress reduction.The question remains whether this is merely a therapeutic procedure of possible psychological value or a spiritual discipline of personal growth. Unlike Christian Science and other religious philosophies influenced by New Thought, TM offers its disciples no dogmas, and its view of life is entirely “world affirming.”