On wednesday, 5 February 2008 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died at
the age of 91 (most qualified estimation, as Maharishi never
did officially confirm his birth date). Born around January
12 1917 in Jabalpur, India, Maharishi became a disciple of
the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math in the Himalayas in his
early 20's. This led him onto his creation and ongoing development
of the world famous 'Transcendental Meditation' technique
and the 'Maharishi Vedic Science' (his scientific commentary
and translation of the ancient Vedic scriptures)
The Rise
Of Transcendental Meditation (TM)
In 1968 Transcendental
meditation - also known as 'TM' was made known to the western
world by 'The Beetles' who not only began practicing this
form of meditation but propagated it by visiting Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi at his ashram in India amongst a glare of publicity.
Following this,
Maharishi, known to be slightly on the shrewd side, persuaded
other big names such as Mia Farrow, the Rolling Stones, the
Beach Boys, Clint Eastwood, the director David Lynch &
Sixties pop star Donovan to practice TM and therefore propel
it out onto the masses.
John Lennon, however,
left the program claiming the Maharishi was materialistic,
allegedly writing the song 'Sexy Sadie' around these claims.
In the 1970's Maharishi
began his plans for the global colonization of TM teaching
centers, proposing one for every million of the population.
Today, courses cost around £1,280 in the UK for just
four '90 minute' consecutive days of instruction, offering
follow up over the first three to six months. That's quite
a fee for six hours of instruction and only the possibility
of follow up advise! I'm not sure the average man can condone
spending around £210 per hour for meditation techniques
...still, TM is an ever popular choice and has gathered many
devoted followers over the years.
David Lynch and
sixties star Donovan have been recently promoting 'conscious
based education' in schools around America using the TM technique.
Lynch is reported as explaining: "The technique of transcendental
meditation has seen a drop in stabbings, violence, depressions,
suicides and the use of illegal drugs in some of the worst
schools in the US you can imagine." Lynch also claims:
"When I started meditating I had a real anger in me,
and I would take this out on my first wife. Two weeks after
I started meditating, this anger lifted."
What Is
Transcendental Meditation (TM)?
Learning TM in an
official teaching center consists of a short initiation ceremony
where a mantra is assigned to the student who is then instructed
to use this to silently chant whenever meditating. From there
the student begins to learn the art of releasing the mind
of thoughts, feelings and fantasy by attempting to observe
them as they arrive in the mind as though from a third party
point of view and then return to chanting the mantra.
The aim of the program
is to achieve inner peace by transcending those everyday thoughts
and feelings that we are barraged with and maintain a higher
state of awareness.
Some scientists
have documented reports that prove the meditation to be beneficial
to general health and well being by lowering stress, anxieties
and illnesses. Statistics showed improved blood pressure,
lower heart rates and breathing whilst achieving higher concentration
and alertness
