When I started seeking meditation and joined a yoga and meditation class, my teacher encouraged me to read books on meditation. It is in one of the books by Deepak Chopra I learned about transcendental meditation. Reading more about meditation, I came to know that this is most popular method of meditations. I naturally wanted to practice this. When I met the qualified and official teacher of this meditation, I came to know that I need to pay for learning it. Not having money I could not learn transcendental at that time but I continued my interest in it and started reading more about it. To my surprise, there is no book which actually teaches the steps of that kind of meditation. What I was looking for was to learn free transcendental meditation and there was no free course anywhere, If at all I wanted to learn then I had to pay thousands of dollars.
I continued to search for a way to learn the transcendental meditation freely as I did not like the teacher whom I met years back. He has not looked like a person who meditates daily. During my search, I came to know that transcendental meditation is just mantra meditation which many people in India practice without knowing that it is called Transcendental Meditation in the West. Mantra is just a sound. Mantra meditation technique involves chanting a mantra. The official transcendental meditation people claims it to be scientific, but for me meditation should be more of spiritual and mental.
Fortunately enough I visited a website on meditation where I could download meditation CDs and came to know that the type of meditation taught in that CDs are very similar to transcendental meditation. The lessons also gives you the mantra. Only thing you have to do is try all the mantras to see which takes you to a state of concentration fast and stick to it. Yes the effect of mantra is indeed different to different people. Oh yes, you can download the meditation course and try a free transcendental meditation type of course from (url removed on Oct 12, 2008 by Soham).
Update
I have removed the url (which someone thinks a link) to the website which offers course of meditation to be downloaded freely. Meditating always benefits you. If you cannot afford official transcendental meditation, go for any type of meditation taught freely. My personal opinion is meditation should be free of cost. I am an Indian and meditation is spiritual for me and I never paid for learning either meditation or yoga. Fee structure for both meditation and yoga is a "Western concept." I will write about the meditation which you can freely download in some other post where I will leave a link to the website.
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13 comments:
This post about meditation is a squeaky, thinly-veiled marketing ploy to promote "project meditation" CDs. Such PR tactics show no respect for meditation, or for the great breakthroughs that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi inspired as a teacher — establishing the benefits of meditation as a scientific reality.
Learning meditation requires proper instruction and guidance. The TM program is taught only by the non-profit, educational TM organization, which provides thorough instruction and ongoing lifetime followup and support as needed — for all TM meditators free of charge after you've taken the TM course. Such careful instruction and lifelong followup ensures correct practice and maximum benefit from meditation. Effective, effortless meditation is not something that can be learned from a slickly marketed "project meditation' CD.
The TM program is a form of meditation that allows 'transcending,' going beyond thought to experience the limitless reservoir of creativity and intelligence within you. Daily practice spontaneously unfolds higher states of consciousness and leads to a wide array of benefits for mind, body, and emotions, benefits verified by hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific research studies on TM. Check out the AsktheDoctors site to hear scientists, doctors and other highly credentialed experts lay out the facts about meditation.
Although this article disingenuously (and illegally) claims that it offers TM for free, what "project meditation" offers is not Transcendental Meditation. I've been practicing TM for years, enjoying many benefits, and I downloaded the "project meditation" thing to see what it's about. Believe me, it's nothing compared to the TM program. You get what you pay for, as the saying goes.
Laughing Crow thank you for the comment. You were wrong, I have nothing to do with Product Meditation, otherwise I would have given a link to that website.
Almost 15 years back I went to an official TM teacher. After giving me the information about TM, the first thing he asked me was about my caste. He also with a lot of pride told me that he belongs to the same caste to which the Chief Minister of that state of India belongs to.
From then on I was looking for CDs of TM not a teacher. I don't believe someone like that (he was a lecturer in one of Maharshi's business schools) can teach me meditation.
As for my post is concerned, I was just experimenting my knowledge in SEO and I am doing good with the CDs from "Product Meditation."
I have been enjoying Transcendental Meditation for over 20 years. It has been a wonderful 20 years, full of exponential personal growth, spiritual adventure, profound friendship and open-heartedness among my meditating friends (most of whom do TM, some do other practices), and a transformative exposure to the knowledge of Maharishi. I have traveled in India extensively and met many brahman priests and pandits, and I've read many, many books about yoga and vedic knowledge, and I can tell you this: TM is not just the simple "mantra meditation" that is commonly practiced in India. Nowhere but in the TM course do you find this technique of effortless transcending. The original commenter has misjudged, it seems. TM is, as Maharishi has explained it from the beginning of his teaching in 1957, a revival of correct practice of effortless meditation for transcending to the Self—Atma. It's as different from everything else practiced in India and advocated by the status quo as night and day.
Read Swami Vivekananda Mr. Joe. Profound knowledge has nothing to do with being brahman.
To learn about transcendental state of mind basic thing needed is Guru. If anyone explains about perfume of Rose flower you can't experience it. Only Guru can show you difference between Mango and Banana though both are sweet.
In TM course instructors can't teach transcendental state of mind.
Spending money there is not worth.
In India you can number of Saints in other cast who were not bramhins. Most of the Bramhins are knowledgable wise but can't be experienced that is required to be a Guru.
Anonymous, Mr. Joe said nothing about any need to be brahman for profound knowledge. I think he already knows it's not necessary, since he practices TM as I do and I suspect he knows that Maharishi was not brahman, but kshatriya or warrior caste.
The mantras have little power if you don't know how to employ them. The great gift of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the world was his ingenious engineering of teaching techniques that fostered practice spontaneously organized by nature, the natural tendency of the mind to seek fulfillment, so it became effortless with no need whatsoever for concentration. He taught that concentration was a not an expansion of consciousness, but a constriction of it, and that it is therefore impossible to experience the transcendent by concentrating. Concentration is by definition an act of limited, localized attention that binds us to the usual small-minded illusion of who or what we actually are and cannot therefore bring anything remotely related to enlightenment.
And Soham, I respect your idealism that spiritual practices should not involve financial costs, but it is indeed idealistic, especially in western society. Please bear in mind that traditionally in India this kind of knowledge was granted after many long years of dedicated service to a guru.
Although I am not a TM teacher, I know that at one time at least, TM teachers were allowed to teach members of their immediate family free of any charge. I have personally witnessed a number of cases in which such family members consequently placed no value on the practice and in fact did not practice it. The financial cost to learn TM in western society is a tremendous bargain compared to sweeping floors for a guru for a couple of decades. Yet, the people who are willing to pay this relatively small but still significant cost are naturally those who value TM highly and take it very seriously.
Just a note to add to the comments already given. I agree that TM is really something very special. I had the privilege to learn many years ago and have inspired many friends and family members to also learn despite the cost. TM has 500 scientific studies and is practiced by 5 million people around the world. To bring happiness and renewed health to that many people requires a top notch organization and that requires funds in this day and age. In an ideal world it would be offered for free through schools and doctors offices but until that day comes the fee is necessary. At the same time it’s comforting to know that TM is a non-profit organization and they have scholarships for students, families etc. They are really very sincere about creating a better world and nobody in the organization is getting rich. I am very impressed with the quality of the people in TM. Enjoy everyone!
Just a note to add to the comments already given. I agree that TM is really something very special. I had the privilege to learn many years ago and have inspired many friends and family members to also learn despite the cost. TM has 500 scientific studies and is practiced by 5 million people around the world. To bring happiness and renewed health to that many people requires a top notch organization and that requires funds in this day and age. In an ideal world it would be offered for free through schools and doctors offices but until that day comes the fee is necessary. At the same time it’s comforting to know that TM is a non-profit organization and they have scholarships for students, families etc. They are really very sincere about creating a better world and nobody in the organization is getting rich. I am very impressed with the quality of the people in TM. Enjoy Everyone!
I have heard some, from time to time, argue that Transcendental Meditation should be free, but I don’t really understand this reasoning. TM is a wonderful technique, which has given countless people great results. It is easy to do, even a child can do it, and yet it allows anyone to reach his or her deepest potential, to tap into the unused resources of the brain, developing creativity, intelligence, emotional stability, happiness, etc. I can’t think of anything that is more worth paying for! I learned TM a few years ago and I can’t even calculate the value of what I got out of it; but it certainly exceeded, many times over (and over, and over) the cost of learning..
Thanks all for you comments. Especially, Keith and Ctomas. I hardly met anyone who practice TM other than the teacher whom I met years back. I can say that your comments were effective and I would keep an open mind with regards to TM, and would like to learn it when ever possible. Thank you.
Ok so, as as far as I understand, NO MONEY-NO TM. This is objectively an elite posture that is suposed to do a 'better' world? Nobody is saying that is not worth paying for it, but if this is so easy, ,why this secretism? It's supposed to be a non sectary organization, but is certaninly elitist and obviusly sectary because not everybody has access to it.All the practitioners say the same (even friends of mine), but nobody is answering WHY IT CAN'T BE FREE. Does anyone has the answer. Thanks a lot, peace and respect.
Anything can be learned from a book and this can be published for free. If an instructor adds value, then sure, let someone pay for an instructor. But why not release the basic texts for free online? What harm would that do if a teacher really is so beneficial? And I disagree with "laughing", learning meditation does not require a teacher, it just requires good instruction.
TM is just a rebranded form of ancient Meditation so it could be Patented around the world then charge wealthy westerners thousands of dollars to make large amounts of money. A Eastern model goes right wing capitalist (opportunistic).
If you truly seek to make a better world. How can you say that if you can't afford to pay the price then you miss out. It is only for the wealthy elite. Sounds like the middle ages Catholic Church.
Mmmm. Fundamental flaws in the proposed theory and PR rhetoric.
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