Transcendental
Meditation:
Hinduism in a
Scientist’s Smock
Article from the 1976 book, ‘The Mystical Maze’ by Pat Means.
Copyright Ó1976 by Campus Crusade For Christ, Inc. pp 133-145.
Increased energy, heightened creativity, reduced stress, lowered blood pressure – the graphs and slogans on Transcendental Meditation (TM) posters across the nation boldly proclaim Nirvana on earth. Television talk shows, the news media, state legislatures – all are paying homage to the little guru from the Himalayas and the mushrooming movement he heads. Some 17 years after he brought Transcendental Meditation to the West, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi today finds himself atop a following of more than a million meditators in the U.S., with 30,000 new initiates joining each month.
Though originally just a fad for the jet set and the counter-culture, then a phenomenon found basically among collegiates, the TM ranks today have been swelled by educators, politicians, sociologists, businessmen and military personnel – all looking for the ultimate elixir for a profusion of societal problems, from drug abuse to employee inefficiency.
Nevertheless, the practice of TM continues to increase on college campuses throughout the U.S. Students’ International Meditation Society chapters meet on 95% of all public universities, and more than 100 campuses and adult education programs offer the Maharishi’s academically oriented Science of Creative Intelligence course for credit.
Why would so many college students – in fact, westerners of every race, creed, color and profession – be attracted to something as occult-sounding as Transcendental Meditation?
Probably because TM claims to offer a low-commitment, non-religious way to experience inner peace. And, TM appears to deliver on at least part of its promises; many Americans will attest to being more relaxed after beginning meditation.
But is TM merely a “scientific technique for relaxation,” as the organization claims? Or is it, as Colin Campbell put it in Psychology Today, “clearly a revival of ancient Indian Brahmanism and Hinduism”?1 I believe the facts clearly show the religious mold from which TM is cast.
The Mantra
The secret Sanskrit word used by a person in his meditation is called a mantra. For 20 minutes in the morning and again in the evening, the meditator is to sit quietly and silently repeat his mantra over and over. According to TM instruction, the silent repetition of the word produces psychic vibrations that positively affect mental and physiological functions. The mantra, then, becomes the key to the TM experience.
New initiates are never told the deeper, religious purpose of the mantra, however. Maharishi explains it:
“We do something here according to Vedic rites, particularly, specific chanting to produce an effect in some other world, draw the attention of those higher beings or gods living there. The entire knowledge of the mantras or hymns of the Vedas [Hindu scriptures] is devoted to man’s connection, to man’s communication with the higher beings in different strata of creation.”2
Recent research has revealed, in fact, that, far from being “meaningless sounds,” the TM mantras are actually inseparably related to the names of Hindu deities!3
Introductory TM lectures and literature are filled with vigorous disclaimers of TM’s religious character. But the published writings of Maharishi clearly contradict the organization’s carefully constructed public image. Consider these statements:
“Transcendental Meditation is a path to God.”4
“A very good form of prayer is this meditation which
leads us to the field of the creator, to the source of creation, to the field
of God.”5
"(TM) is the only way to salvation and success in
life; there is no other way.”6
Maharishi’s motivation in promoting a non-religious
facade is clearly that of shrewd opportunism, as seen in his book, The Science
of Being and Art of Living:
"Whenever and wherever religion dominates the mass consciousness,
transcendental deep meditation should be taught in terms of religion....Today
when politics is guiding the destiny of man, the teaching should be primarily
based on the field of politics and secondarily on the plane of economics...,It
seems, for the present, that this transcendental deep meditation should be made
available to the peoples through the agencies of government.”7
So hoping to avoid the constitutional issue of separation of church and state, Maharishi falsely claims that TM is purely secular,
Perhaps the clearest outcropping of underlying Hinduism shows up in the initiation ceremony in which all potential meditators are required to participate.
Former TM teacher Vail Hamilton gives us these insights into the ceremony she led many initiates through:
“At the beginning of the ceremony the candidate is asked to bring an offering of six flowers, three pieces of fresh fruit, and a white handkerchief, which are placed on an altar before a picture of Guru Dev (which means 'Divine Leader’], who is the Maharishi’s departed Master. The small room is candlelit and filled with in-cense. The candidate is asked to stand before this altar while the teacher sings a hymn of thanksgiving and praise to the entire line of departed Hindu masters who have passed down the knowledge of the mantras. At the end of the song, the teacher indicates to the person that he is to kneel for a few moments of silence, and then, both still kneeling, the teacher repeats the mantra selected for the person and has him repeat it until he has correctly pronounced it, and then they are seated for further instruction.
“Many candidates I encountered while teaching TM objected to this religious aspect, but went along with it in order to learn the technique. Once they experienced the pleasant sensation of meditating, they quickly forgot their immediate objection to the religious nature of the ceremony and rapidly embraced all that TM had to offer them.”8
TM teachers generally respond that the ceremony is just a ritual of thanksgiving to the line of departed TM teachers through the centuries. However, a recently obtained English translation of the hymn, or puja, chanted in Sanskrit by the initiator clearly shows the hymn to be a form of Hindu worship. The invocation reads, in part:
“To Lord Narayana, to lotus-born Brahma, the Creator ... to Shankaracharya the redeemer, hailed as Krishna ... I bow down. To the glory of the Lord I bow down again and again, at whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night. Adorned with immeasurable glory, preceptor of the whole world, having bowed down to him, we gain fulfillment.”9
Of course, because this is chanted in Sanskrit, the TM initiate never knows the nature of the ceremony in which he is taking part.
The TM public relations pattern is consistent. The mantra, they insist, is a “meaningless syllable,” part of a scientific technique. Maharishi’s own words, however, show it to be a spiritual tool to be used to call on spiritual beings “on other levels of creation.”
So what if Transcendental Meditation is religious in nature? Are there any inherent dangers involved in the practice of TM? Yes, there are several very real dangers, both on the physical and the spiritual levels.
“Unstressing”
Can Cause
Severe
Physical Reactions
TM’s alleged purpose is to relieve the meditator of built-up stress, both from this life, and from “previous lives” (reincarnation is a central TM/SCI doctrine). This process is known as ‘‘normalization of the nervous system,” or simply, “unstressing.” Introductory TM lectures are filled with glowing descriptions of the supposed positive benefits of the technique, but potential meditators are never warned of the violent reactions experienced by many advanced initiates.
Greg Randolph, another former TM teacher who has
become a Christian, has observed this reaction often: "When you’re unstressing
for a long time, large amounts of this (stress) can come out and actually
condition angry moods and cause heart attacks and all kinds of different
experiences.”10
But what about all the “scientific tests” supposedly documenting the positive benefits of TM? Dr. Peter Fenwick, consultant neurophysiologist at St. Thomas Hospital in England, has this to say about the TM tests:
“All of these studies need to be looked upon with reservations. Few include adequate control groups, and none that I am aware of have yet used a blind control procedure, where neither the subject nor the observer is aware of the treatment given or the aims of the experiment. Until this sort of study is carried out in meditating groups, it is almost impossible to draw any conclusions.”11
Recent studies reported in Psychology Today have indicated that TM “may have the side effect of decreasing our ability to think creatively.”12 This side effect is common to most forms of eastern meditation because they supposedly “transcend” conscious thought. The goal is to put your mind in neutral and to “get beyond” intellectual analysis and rational thought processes. TM initiates experience this twice a day at first, but eventually you’re encouraged to keep your mantra on “the back burner,” and to slip into a passive meditative state throughout the day.
This de-emphasis on the mind carries with it at least one inherent danger, namely, the dulling of the mind’s ability to make judgments, to discern, and to evaluate. Of course, much of eastern philosophy says this is a good thing. As we’ve seen, they say the mind is not really to be trusted; instead, their emphasis is on raw experience.
TM/SCI also says transcending thought not only relieves stress, but “automatically" and "spontaneously” produces moral character. No mental concentration or self-evaluation is necessary. The mind is set aside as an active participant in this supposed transformation.
Dr. Jacob Needleman, chairman of the philosophy department at San Francisco State University, asks this about TM: “... To what in a man does the idea of easy spiritual progress appeal? What sort of pleasure or ‘happiness’ does it bring to accept the thought that no struggle or sacrifice of any sort is needed for the radical transformation of the inner life?”13
The biblical perspective, on the other hand, is that God has given us a mind to help us evaluate the truth and error in the things we become involved in, as well as to help us evaluate the right and wrong within ourselves. The Bible gives us an objective standard for us to measure ourselves by, thus avoiding the trap of a totally subjective, experiential orientation.
TM Can Become a Substitute for a True Experience with God
The most serious danger involved in the practice of TM, then, is not physical or mental, but spiritual. What starts for many meditators as merely a search for an effective relaxation technique ends with embracing TM’s pantheistic philosophy in hopes of reaching “the field of God.”
All meditators are encouraged to go on to the advanced Science of Creative Intelligence course. There, meditators learn of the ultimate spiritual goals of the movement in terms of the “seven states of consciousness” through which an individual is to evolve. These states include the three that everyone experiences: (1) waking, (2) dreaming and (3) deep sleep, plus four additional levels, attained only through the practice of TM: (4) bliss consciousness, (5) cosmic consciousness, (6) god consciousness and (7) unity consciousness."14
The sixth state, god consciousness, specifically
refers to a pantheistic self-deification. As Maharishi explains, “He who
practices Transcendental Meditation becomes acquainted with the inner divine
consciousness. ”15
“Although we are all 100% Divine,” the Maharishi elaborates, “consciously we do not know that we are Divine, so there is no connection, there is no bridge and we suffer on the conscious level.”16 The practice of TM, then, is supposed to help the meditator to realize his true divine essence, and bridge the gap between the “conscious level” and the “transcendental level.” Through TM, the Maharishi concludes, “a sinner very easily comes out of the field of sin and becomes a virtuous man.”17
This promise is typical of the low-commitment nature of TM: presumably, little or no change in lifestyle is required to become “morally excellent or good.” This assumes, of course, that there is nothing in man’s basic nature that needs changing, and that a radical spiritual transformation can take place virtually effortlessly.
Oddly enough, ex-TM teacher Vail Hamilton experienced just the opposite in her search for “inner divinity.” “As I began meditating more and more,” she recalls, “I noticed a growing pride and insensitivity to others in myself – even though I felt more calm and confident than ever before. I realized I was becoming, in fact, my own god.”
How could a meditator be feeling more calm and confident, and simultaneously sense a growing ego problem? The answer is simple.
TM attempts only to suppress the symptoms that self-centeredness and sin produce, symptoms like guilt and lack of peace. The root problem of self-centeredness is never dealt with. This approach is appealing for a couple of reasons:
(1) No humbling is necessary. There’s no need to admit to anybody, God included, that you’ve been wrong.
(2) The TM experience reinforces an individual’s autonomy and independence and ultimately points him to a belief in his own divinity.
God’s words through the prophet Ezekiel reveal the foolishness of man’s attempts at self deification: “Thus says the Lord God, …’You have said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods’ in the heart of the seas”; Yet you are a man and not God, although you make your heart like the heart of God.' ”18 This attitude of self-will and independence is at the heart of what sin is all about. And it’s been man’s primary obstacle in establishing a close relationship with God ever since Lucifer decided second-best wasn’t good enough in the heavenly hierarchy.
Still, God has always desired to have a relationship with men and women. So He Himself bridged the gap between His perfection and our sinfulness. At a point in history, God reached down to man through Jesus Christ, and through His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins, made it possible for us to experience His cleansing and forgiveness and inner peace.
One of the most serious dangers for advanced meditators is the possibility of involvement in demonic activity.
The danger here comes from combining the mental passivity of the meditation state with the active repetition of the mantra, the purpose of which is “to produce an effect in some other world, draw the attention of those higher beings or gods living there,”19 to again use Maharishi’s words.
Vail first began experiencing activities of this kind during her TM teacher training course in Italy in 1972. She relates: “One night I awoke with a sense of fear because a spirit was putting pressure all over my body and head in an attempt to enter my body. I commanded it to leave and resisted it until it left. Other supernatural experiences also began to occur – ESP and clairvoyance, telepathy and the beginnings of astral travel.”
The dangers involved in the practice of TM are clear – and needless. To the Christian, Jesus promised, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you....”20 All of the resources of Jesus Christ are available to us if we are willing to yield the various areas of our lives to His gracious control.
Why turn to a dangerous spiritual counterfeit when the time-tested
promise of Scripture is to “let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus”?21
SOME PRACTICAL HELPS
I. Summary of Key Points
A. TM:
Science or Religion?
1. The mantra – designed to call on Hindu deities.
2. Maharishi’s own writings – reveal TM to be “a path
to God.”
3. The initiation ceremony is religious.
a. The offerings to "Guru Dev.”
b. The kneeling.
c. The puja (worship ceremony) praising Hindu
deities.
B. Dangers o f
TM.
1. “Unstressing” can cause severe physical reactions.
Z. Transcending thought causes spiritual dullness.
3. TM can become a substitute for a true experience
with God.
4. TM can open a person to demonic activity.
1. The vast majority of new TM initiates are involved in TM purely for the physiological benefits. They generally have no knowledge of the religious aspects of the practice. In fact, they generally have heard the organization deny being a religion so many times, that they find it hard to believe even when confronted with the facts.
2. In summary, you may or
may not be talking to someone with an “eastern mindset” when you talk to a new
TM initiate. Use the same approach you would for anyone else: share a
straight-forward presentation of the gospel.
3. Although it may be helpful to point out some of the dangers of involvement in TM, don’t make TM's religious nature the main emphasis of your interactions. Focus instead on their personal need to accept Christ as Savior and Lord.
4. For your Christian friends involved in TM obtain copies of the article "Transcendental Meditation: Relaxation or Religion?” from the Publications Department, Campus Crusade for Christ, San Bernardino, CA 92414, or let them read the information on TM in this book. Share with them the biblical principles for inner peace found in the presentation “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?” which is found in the Supplementary Research Section, pp. 269.
5. For almost all TM teachers and many advanced meditators who have gone on to take the Science of Creative Intelligence course or other advanced seminars, TM has become their religion, and Maharishi is their spiritual master. I’ve had several TM teachers admit this to me. In their advanced training they are exposed to the doctrines of reincarnation, karma and spiritual evolution through the practice of meditation. TM teachers are also trained to answer questions deceptively about TM’s religious nature.
6. For teachers, as well as new initiates, it’s best not to become involved in a long discussion about TM being a disguised form of Hinduism. Instead, focus on their personal need for Christ. Because they claim TM is not a substitute for any religious belief, they will generally be open to discussing it. You might introduce the gospel by asking, “Could I share what I believe as a Christian? Then you can tell me if it does conflict with anything in TM.” Stress Christ’s death on the cross and the need to ask forgiveness in order to know God and to experience peace. (TM says peace and a sense of “cleansing” come only by “clearing your mind” of all guilty thoughts through meditation.)
B. An encouraging encounter.
1. In a previous chapter I mentioned a TM meeting where a priest spoke on “TM: Conflict or Complement?” The evening was an exciting one that I think could be duplicated elsewhere.
In the question and answer time, I asked the priest if he was aware of the meaning of the puja or hymn that’s chanted during the TM initiation.
“No,” he said. “It’s all in Sanskrit. He could have been chanting through the telephone directory for all I knew.”
“Would you mind if I read a couple lines from the English translation?” I asked. “I’d like to ask you a question about it.”
“No. Go right ahead.”
I read the section that appears in this chapter on page 136 and then asked, “In view of the Hindu deities that are praised here, could you, being a priest of the Christian religion, now that you know the meaning of the puja, ever initiate someone into TM yourself?”
There was a long pause. “I don’t know," he said. "I’d have to think about that.”
At that point, several people who were meditators began asking questions. One couple in particular wanted to know why they hadn’t been told the significance of the initiation ceremony before. “It seems like you’re trying to keep something from us,” they said.
When the meeting finally broke up we were surrounded by people wanting to know more about the hidden religious aspects of TM and how they could get copies of the material we had. We were able to share the gospel with several individuals and made appointments with several others to talk later.
2. Be prepared.
In public situations like this keep in mind two principles: be prepared with fully documented facts, not just opinions, and be very courteous. Do not dominate the question and answer time if there are others who have questions.
Be prepared also for little tricks from the TM teacher designed to undercut the impact of your questions. Often, if a teacher senses that the questions are reflecting negatively on TM, he’ll say, “We need to get off this topic. If there are some who are interested in these religious questions, you can stay after the meeting and we'll discuss them.”
If this happens, try to talk to several people as soon as the meeting ends and make appointments to talk further. But, interestingly enough, a large number usually stay behind for the second meeting anyway.
C. Don’t argue. Reflect love.
1. Gordon Lewis, What Everyone Should Know
About
Transcendental Meditation (Regal Press).
2. David Haddon, TM: A Christian Analysis (Inter-Varsity
Press).
3. John White, Everything You Want to
Know About TM –
Including How to Do It (Pocket Books, Simon Schuster).