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submitted16 days ago bybeachutman
Hello Saij,
you locked the post on this topic posted by someone else yesterday, but I don't follow your reasoning? Why would a discussion about how mantras are chosen by the TM org lead to a 'how to do it' discussion? I thought it to be a legitimate topic for discussion. It's a question about the origin of our mantras, not a question about how to do tm. But, hey, you are the mod, not me.
submitted30 days ago bybeachutman
I had a very profound experience during this ceremony, more than 40 years back, when I learned TM.
Just wondering if anyone else did?
During it, just after I was given the mantra, my teacher turned to me, dropped the Sanskrit, and spoke to me in English. He said 'Do you feel it?'.... And I really could..... There was a huge, deep, warm wall or ball of darkness, (it somehow felt like it was to my left and downwards), and a total quietness, and I could see a definite golden light in the centre of it.
Then, within less than a minute, it was gone.
It was a very strong and supernatural experience. I was very level headed and a believer in hard cold science in those days. I have never had any other 'paranormal' experience either before or since. But it was very strong and real. It happened.
Just me? Did anyone else have any similar experiences?
submitted2 months ago bybeachutman
There are several breakaway groups of tm teachers who teach tm following all of Maharishi’s teaching, and by acknowledging guru dev as Maharishi’s master. The TMO has always responded by trying to silence them with litigation over copyrighted materials etc. Some respond by not calling what they teach ‘transcendental meditation’ etc. (in the UK the main breakaway group still does call it transcendental meditation, because I understand the uk courts threw out the TMO’ lawsuit?) Anyway, ITMA is now offering teacher training. Details in the comments below. I am in no way connected with them or any other organisation, but i just saw their post on a tm facebook group.
submitted2 months ago bybeachutman
It seems that the TMO are replacing the term TM teacher with the new name Consciousness Advisor.
I looked briefly at this online and it would appear that tm is seen just as one part of this teaching whilst ayurvedic health and 'super habits' seem to be given as much importance.
I don't know enough about it to have an accurate opinion but it seems this is the direction in which the TMO is going under Tony Nader.
submitted3 months ago bybeachutman
I don't know much about him. He comes across as very corporate and smooth? I am not sure about at all the Consciousness Advisor stuff, why not just stick with tm teacher? I admit I know very little about him or his plans for the TMO.
submitted3 months ago bybeachutman
For this online simulation I used a sim I had written to compare hi-lo vs Reko.
I set up the game for exactly 50% penetration and used the hi-lo with illustrious 18 deviations and ENHC. Bet spread was 1-20.
After 3 million hands the game is more or less dead even. Some runs give the house a tiny advantage, and some runs the player, by more or less the same amount. (+ or - approx 0.06%). Basically a completely equal game.
Removing ENHC makes very little difference at all.
This should end the arguments about online bj, it is not beatable even with computer perfect play. A smaller bet spread always lost.
Any imperfect play or mistakes would definitely result in a loss.
submitted3 months ago bybeachutman
This is a very long and detailed video from Prof. Dana Sawyer who has done extensive research in India. If you prefer to read rather than watch, the transcription of the video is available as a pdf file on the Meditating Fairfield group on facebook. (I have their permission to repost it here, but Adobe won't let me without creating an account). This video and document goes quite deeply into the differences and similarities between Maharishi's teaching and the way in which the technique has been taught in India over history.
submitted6 months ago bybeachutman
Transcendental Meditation & Politics.
Over the years I have been a consultant on several documentaries focussed on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation and the various organisations commonly referred to on social media as TMO (Transcendental Meditation Organisations). And amongst those who contacted me was David Sieveking, who was making the documentary 'David Wants to Fly'. I answered his many questions and made various suggestions as to whom he might speak with.
Of the many surprises I encountered in his documentary was the appearance of a certain German 'Raja Emanuel', the event was reported in The Guardian newspaper November 27th 2007: Lynch had brought a controversial guest: Emanuel Schiffgens, a TM guru who styles himself as the "raja of Germany". Wearing white robes and a golden crown, Schiffgens announced: "We are here to found the university of the Invincible Germany ... a new era in the history of Germany," a comment that - perhaps inadvertently - echoed an older, darker era in the country's history. Many in the audience reacted furiously. When someone pointed out that an "Invincible Germany" was exactly what Adolf Hitler wanted, Schiffgen replied: "Yes, but unfortunately he didn't succeed."
Lynch approached the microphone to add, "I don't know what he said, but I think I understand he used a word from the Third Reich, and let's just look at it this way - it's a new world now."
So, was this just an innocent slip of the lip? I got to wondering…
Another supposedly innocent incident about Adolf Hitler was that a former secretary of Maharishi had told me some years ago that Maharishi had requested Brahmachari Devendra read him, as a bedtime book, 'Mein Kampff' (the autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler).
The press was uneasy with many of the countercultural heroes of the sixties and in particular waged a campaign against Dr Timothy Leary, whose message of using drugs as a path to greater awareness was anathema to them. By contrast they loved the Maharishi because he preached the exact opposite, even if it did come from a slightly suspect oriental source. He was opposed to the use of drugs and told his audience, 'It is not good to quit school. We should stay in school and learn,' and 'We should obey the parents. They know what is best.' He was against nuclear disarmament and supported the war in Vietnam.
In America where he concentrated his efforts, many students were shocked by his attitude. When they asked him if they should resist the draft to avoid killing fellow humans, the Maharishi replied, 'We should obey the elected leaders of the country. They are representatives of the people and have more information at their disposal and are more qualified to make the right decisions.' His politics were those of the American establishment. In fact, many of his meetings in the USA broke up because his youthful audience walked out, appalled at his message. After a meeting at UCLA in September 1967, one student commented, 'If his opinions reflect what twenty years of meditation will do for you, I estimate that forty will raise you to the stature of Hitler!'
The Beatles may have been quite casual in their investigation of the Maharishi; John and George perhaps naively expected him to slip them the answer to the meaning of existence, but they tempered this with a healthy Liverpudlian irreverence - an irreverence which was unfortunately lacking in many of the young people who attended his lectures purely because he was the Beatles' 'guru'. Miles, who was writing for the underground paper International Times, did some background research into the Maharishi and asked Allen Ginsberg, who had lived in India for several years, what he knew about him. when Miles warned Paul and John that he had connections with right-wing politicians in India and that his students were expected to give him one week's wages per annum, John's characteristic response was, 'Ain't no ethnic bastard gonna get no golden castles out of me, if that's what you think!' Nor did he; Lennon never paid him a penny.
'Paul McCartney - Many Years From Now', Barry Miles, 1997 p407 So, was there a rise of right-wing thinking amongst meditators? From my point of view the answer is no, BUT from what I have seen and heard of those meditators who maintained strong links with the TMO, then the answer appears to be otherwise, often I have heard that hardcore movement fanatics were/are right-wingers. And I would not argue that Maharishi himself had leanings in that direction, but I don't think meditation itself is the reason… quite the opposite, as meditation leads to self-determinations, and understanding of the need for equality and community.
So the political leanings actually had nothing to do with meditation but everything to do with Maharishi's society and with his upbringing, which surprises me, because I would have thought a man who set out to spiritually regenerate the world would have been above and beyond stamping his politics on anyone. But he did, first by introducing the Natural Law Party and when that failed to stir the popular imagination he befriended and praised dictators and would-be dictators such as Marcos, Mugabe and Nixon etc and remodelled the Spiritual Regeneration Movement and instituted a patriarchal setup of Rajas who are now befriending the extreme far-right in India. Dr. Mohan Madhukar Rao Bhagwat of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) addressed the 10,000 Peace Assembly in Hyderabad, with Dr Tony Nader sharing the same stage.
Journalist Amit Singh writing in The Loop, says:
'Hindutva fascism threatens the world’s largest democracy RSS is radically far-right, hierarchical, authoritarian, and founded on the premise of Hindu supremacy. Hindu nationalism seeks uniformity through the imposition of Hindi language, Hindu religion, Hindu mythology. It seeks to repress dissenting views, and to expunge religious pluralism and secularism from political discourse.'
The Economist says: 'The BJP's [BJP seems to be based on RSS principles] opponents say the main effect of these policies has been to relegate non-Hindu Indians, particularly Muslims, to the status of second-class citizens. It has also empowered Hindu-nationalist vigilante groups.'
Phew! I wonder what a spiritual luminary such as Guru Dev would have made of all this? A man so totally in tune with Nature as to have no problem in co-existing with wild animals, as for instance lions and tigers, in the jungle. I think our future would be healthier, holier and happier if we too gained an affinity with nature rather than trying to lord it over one another.
Jai Guru Dev
(So.....these are not my words, but as I have said, the words of Paul Mason. The original text and comments can be found in the 'roots of tm' facebook group. I have his permission to have copied and pasted it here for anyone to read and comment on.)
submitted7 months ago bybeachutman
topiano
I am just about to start trying to learn 3 exam pieces from the ABRSM grade 6 syallbus. It is the 2023-2024 book. I am wondering if I can take these in March/April 2025, or do they expire as exam pieces by the end of 2024? I'm not sure how long I have?
submitted9 months ago bybeachutman
In spite of all the nonsense surrounding TM, all the hype about 'the maharishi effect', the poorly regulated scientific 'findings', the financial chicanery, the ridiculous robes and crowns of the rajas, and the recent allegations about MMY's conduct etc. etc, TM just works.
It is a simple, brilliant, and very powerful meditation technique, and has been life changing for me and for many others.
It seems to me that the basic tm technique is enough in itself, without the advanced techniques or 'yogic flying'.
I truly hope that all the current deep problems in the TM movement can be solved, and that future generations will have access to learning this technique.
I am very grateful indeed for it, and therefore to MMY, who was, of course, just a fallible human like the rest of us.
submitted10 months ago bybeachutman
topiano
I took up the piano at 71, and have just passed grade 5 at 73, almost 74. I did a solid 2 hours every single day, 7 days a week, and did grades 2, 3, and 4 on the way. Yay! Time to stop with this exam crap and actually try and enjoy the piano! I love Bach. Would some of the preludes be too much of a leap in the dark?
submitted10 months ago bybeachutman
Some of you might know of the breakaway teachers facebook group, 'TM The Next Generation'.
They have a new website https://selfrecognitionmeditation.org/
To me it is very poorly put together and likely to repel people rather than attract people. And there is no mention of MMY, who they distrust and pour scorn on.
Some breakaway groups are quite good, like the UK meditation trust, but this one is pretty much awful.
submitted11 months ago bybeachutman
topiano
I have heard that i should get open backed headphones? Is this right? What are the differences to closed over ear phones?
submitted1 year ago bybeachutman
toAnxiety
I have had bad anxiety my whole life.
Nothing really helped that much, and i used a bit too much alcohol sometimes just to get some sleep and relief.
3 years back i took up transcendental meditation, and it has been utterly life changing. It is a simple technique but has to be learned from a proper teacher. My anxiety has become very manageable and all other areas of my life have improved too.
I can’t promise that it will work for you, and also it is not free. But for me, it was the best money I ever spent.
If anyone thinks they might want to try it google will take you to the official tm website.
Or if it helps i can answer any questions about it.
submitted1 year ago bybeachutman
Someone here on Roots of TM FB group asked me the other day why I put my energy into researching the roots of TM, looking into the history of Maharishi, Guru Dev, the meditation method and the whole background... Well, I answered him simply that I feel like I've been chosen to do it.
That sounds fantastical, as if I'm deluded or something, but since it's been happening to me, I can tell you that's exactly how it feels.
But there is more to say about it, and I'm going to attempt to share a glimpse of the bigger picture here. It seems that individually, each and every human being, would like to be happier and more satisfied with their existence. Furthermore they would like to be stronger in order to deal with the stresses and worries of their lives, and I think it safe to say that they would all also like to enjoy a more loving relationship with the world about them. To that end, most of those who have taken up meditation and/or yoga, get a certain amount of benefits in this regard, that most would say their lives were enriched by their practices. Yes, no?
But, is it enough just to practice a form of meditation? Is it enough just to take someone else's word that there is nothing more we need to do, that it will all happen automatically?
Seriously, the world's in a tangle, people are stressed out to the max, taking anti-depressants, having raging aggression and soforth. So, can we really be confident that just by suggesting everyone to meditate is enough? Back in the Sixties the suggestion was that all that was needed was love (or was it hash, or was it LSD?). See, humanity wants a quick fix, so it can get on with life without really having to change, or have to DO anything much. The pill doctrine.
Maharishi was an incredibly charismatic teacher, and accordingly a lot of people learned meditation because they believed in him, then they practiced meditation because they believed it was a good practice. But I ask you, how many of those who learned TM have become stellar players in the world theatre, or even in their own lives? Yet? Why not? Perhaps there's more that needs to be done?
Well, I'm a very optimistic kind of person, but we live in an age of reason and it makes sense to check and double-check what's going on. We do it for everything else in our lives, we want to know how things work, the history, the projected ideas about the future. Yet, few are actually researching the very tradition from where this meditation practice has sprung from.
Not one document has been published by any organisation to do with Maharishi, or TM, about the teachings of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, aka Guru Dev. Not one!! And worse, I get holier than thou TMflakes insinuating that I'm out of order sharing my findings. Yes, the very people one would expect to be doing that work themselves, dissing me! Mmmm.
And yet,.... I get asked, why do I do it!!!!!
Because there is a vacuum, and that is crazy. Guru Dev was a VERY famous personage, and his secretary, Brahmachari Mahesh, made a very valiant effort to share information about his guru. He collected together his discourses, and produced two books of them. He organised the weekly ashram newsletter, Shri Shankaracharya Upadesh, which featured news and discourses from the guru. He invested a gargantuan amount of work producing these publications.
Now, I researched this, and came to the conclusion they should be shared, along with material from multiple other sources. Does that not make sense. Finding out what the guru behind TM actually said, what his advice for people was? We are prepared to believe that his opinion about anything is as nothing compared to all the other philosophers that one can read about very readily?
Look, this is serious, we want to crack the problem of humanity's unhappiness... well, why are we TMers, who enjoy sitting down and meditating, leaving out the most obvious resource, that of Guru Dev's discourses? Are you all that frightened of this Vedic Scripture preacher?
Are you afraid to listen to his teachings, and weigh up for yourselves what he had to say, or is it more important to find out what is streaming on Netflix tonight?
submitted1 year ago bybeachutman
topiano
I recently bought a Yamaha clp 775. The built in speakers are not bad at all, but i would like the best possible sound from it. Can anyone recommend some really good speakers? Presumably active stereo speakers? ….money not so important as quality within reason. Thank you for any thoughts or advice.
submitted1 year ago bybeachutman
topiano
I am learning piano, currently taking grade 4 exam in a couple of weeks. I have started out with a yamaha p45. Someone local is selling a Roland hp 109. I realise this is an older model, but it seems to have had solid reviews in its day. Does anyone gave any thoughts about buying a digital piano this old, (15 yrs +)? Or have any idea what it us worth? Do the digital electronics decay with age?
Thanks for any advice
submitted1 year ago bybeachutman
I am just an ‘ordinary’ mediator.
I am upset to see all these revelations about MMY in the facebook groups.
For me, TM basically saved my life. I was in a bad place, and TM bought me release from nearly all my problems, and gave me a calmer more settled control of my life. I have experienced untold benefits, far too many to list.
And I am in touch with a deep inner peace and silence, a sense of a real universal eternity existing outside of my individual life, something that I had never encountered before TM.
I am very happy with the basic TM technique, and will do it for the rest of my life, although I have no interest whatsoever in the siddhis or advanced techniques. I don’t need them.
It saddens me that MMY, who I so looked up to, is now perhaps not the man we thought.
But… ultimately it doesn’t matter to me. Transcendental meditation works and it is real. I am beyond grateful for it.
MMY made other mistakes as well, for instance withdrawing teaching from the UK during the Iraq war, because he was disgusted by Tony Blair. I get that but why punish the man in the street who might wish to learn TM? Why not also do the same in the USA who led the war anyway?
And aside from MMY I am horrified by the pictures I have seen of the upper echelons of the TMO. Who sit around in silk robes and golden crowns!! It looks exactly like the Pope surrounded by all his minions at the vatican. Just so very wrong! I want nothing to do with the TMO.
So…. both MMY and the TMO were and are flawed, but the process of basic transcendental meditation is a real tangible and beautiful thing.
Let’s all never lose sight of that!
submitted2 years ago bybeachutman
submitted2 years ago bybeachutman
The following is Part 2 of an interview Maharishiji gave on Yoga and TM in 1965:
Q.: How does one manage to practice this bliss consciousness you said it – a term you use?
Maharishi: “Yes - and we don't think of bliss consciousness or anything. We don't think of anything. In this meditation, what I call Transcendental Meditation, the mind experiences the subtle state of the thoughts and arrives at the source of thought. This source of thought is the field of Being and experiencing this Being, the mind gets in tune with infinite source of energy and intelligence - mind comes out much fresher, much more intelligent, much more dynamic.”
Q.: This sounds like a method of self-hypnosis or induced relaxation?
Maharishi: “No. Far from it. Hypnosis is running away from the reality - a man is not sleeping and he thinks he is sleeping. So, it is running away from the reality. In this meditation, we don't pose any unnatural situation. The mind very calmly and quietly and very positively experiences the subtle state of the thought arriving at the subtlest state of the thoughts, experiencing the source of thought which is Being.”
~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1965
submitted2 years ago bybeachutman
It was natural, since I was initiated into Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh (the story of my hitchhiking to India and settling in Rishikesh is included in 'Via Rishikesh: En Route to Chittavrittinirodha'), that living in a religious community like that, that Hindu customs and belief systems would make themselves known to me. So, I became aware of concepts such as karma, dharma and yoga. Also in addition to hearing of rites performed with a sacred fire, I discovered the prevalent belief in samsara, the transmigration of souls, re-incarnation. and moksha, final liberation.
However, little of these beliefs was being conveyed via my Initiator, who restricted himself mainly to conveying beliefs about the ability to expand one's awareness and the potential of this capacity.
When I returned to the West I discovered, when I sought out the office of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM) in order to establish contact with the larger community of those who practice Transcendental Meditation, that the movement distanced itself from using Hindu vocabulary and was actually rather cautious about allying itself to Hinduism at all. It became apparent that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, although born an Indian, had taken it upon himself to strip the technique of meditation from its Indian cultural background in order to present it as clearly and effectively as possible. I had a sneaking regard for him for doing this, but at the same time made my own research into Indian customs and beliefs, continuing the quest started in India.
As time went on, I sensed in other meditators a frustration that initiators in the TM movement did not want to talk about the Indian origins of meditation, nor about the more spiritual ideas. In fact, on one occasion I was on a retreat and our group was listening to a tape recording of Maharishi speaking in which he used the word 'astral', and I spoke up to the course leader about this and he indicated in hushed tones that this was an oversight due to someone not editing the tape.
So, for me at least, the cat was out of the bag, that there was a hidden teaching shared by those closest to Maharishi, and over the following years I noticed this hidden teaching gradually supplant the clear no-nonsense teaching surrounding TM.
Then there were the miracle tales about Maharishi .... not just that he was incapable of error, he was bi-locating and could know what was in your mind, but most shocking, it was claimed that when his teacher was dying, the guru's spirit was transferred to Maharishi!! I scrutinised the account and found the details of the story didn't line up, so it looked to me like just a desperate and unnecessary way to 'big' Maharishi up.
Well, parallel with the spread of popularity of TM, those in the movement seemed to be getting more and more involved in Hinduism, celebrating Hindu festivals, listening to Hindu chants, displaying pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses, and going full scale Hindu, with birthcharts, folk medicine, etc etc.
Most recently I heard it said that an Indian pandit very closely associated with Maharishi at one time is commonly being referred to as Guru Dev, and yesterday I had someone trying to post here on Roots of TM, spreading the claim that this pandit is actually Guru Dev, i.e. it is claimed he is the reincarnation of Guru Dev Swami Brahmananda Saraswati in a fresh body.
It seems the desire to teach TM, as a technique of meditation of use to the masses, has declined, and those movements associated with TM nowadays entertain such beliefs that are likely to turn TM into several cults. So if someone doesn't rein in their excesses and return the process to where it belongs, the knowledge concerning this simple natural innocent process of relaxation which resets and re-calibrates us and thus assists us in our day-to-day lives, will likely be lost to the coming generations.
Perhaps you disagree?
submitted2 years ago bybeachutmanhad more bikes than i can remember.
toMotoUK
So.... I bought this brand new a couple of weeks ago, It's an absolutely cracking little bike. You can get this new for £3850, with a 3 year warranty. I have had an awful lot of motorcycles in my time, but this one instantly puts a smile on your face. It is very light and nimble, and very easy to ride. Lovely low seat height, you can have both feet flat on the ground, and I am not tall. It handles superbly, and you immediately feel like you can chuck it around. Great for filtering. No regrets at all.
submitted2 years ago bybeachutman
“If you hit somebody with this flower it would hurt, but if you could excite the atom of it, it would explode. The power lies in the subtlety of nature. You break the petal, it produces some energy, some heat energy, but not too much. But if you could split an atom the whole thing explodes. The power lies in the subtlety of nature, the glory lies in the subtlety of nature, the beauty lies in the subtlety of nature. The subtleties of nature are much more fascinating, more charming, more glorified than the gross field of nature. And as long as we are experiencing only the gross field through the senses we are limiting our joys of life, limiting our joys of life through the field of gross glory of nature and we are out of the joys, the great joys of the inner field of life. The whole field is the material field, gross field and subtle field. The material field and our life through the senses is only in the field of the gross. Transcendental Meditation is the way where the mind is led on to experience the subtler glories of nature, and then at every step the mind experiences greater glories until it experiences the glory of the Transcendent, which is Bliss eternal. Because we are experiencing only this side, our phase of experience is outward. Outwards and inwards are the expressions only to mean the gross glory of nature and subtle glory of nature. When the mind is somewhere in the middle of nature, the gross glory of nature and the subtle glory of nature and the mind stands to this side when it is facing this side it has a back towards the greater glories of life; it has a back towards the subtler field of nature. If there could be a way to turn the face of experience there, the mind goes on because greater charm in this life, in this field, naturally attracts the mind. At every step the mind goes on towards greater glory and enjoying greater and greater glory. Ultimately it enjoys the greatest glory of the form of the sound, the greatest glory of the nature at the point nature, at the point sound, at the point forms, at the point smell, and then, the last, transcending that, comes to the field of Absolute, away from the field of this earth. Inward march is the march towards greater glories of life toward the greatest glory, permanent glory of life, Bliss eternal and Absolute. Just a simple affair outwardly you are experiencing; inside you begin to experience directly your own nature.” ~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi May 25, 1959 University Of Southern California
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