transcendental meditation (religion)

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION [transcendental meditation] religious movement based on Vedanta philosophy, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Stressing natural meditation and the liberating pleasures such practices could invoke, the method is believed to help individuals achieve a higher level of consciousness. Brought by Maharishi from India to the West in 1959, transcendental meditation was a distinct subculture within the 1960s youth movement, attracting actress Mia Farrow, cultural philosopher Marshall McLuhan, and the Beatles, who eventually rejected the Yogi's teachings.

Bibliography: See A. Campbell, Seven States of Consciousness (1973); R. Roth, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Mediation (1987); D. Chopra, Return of the Rishi (1991).



Author not available, TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2005

transcendental meditation (TM) Meditation technique based partly on Hindu practice and rediscovered in the 20th century by an Indian spiritual teacher, Guru Dev (d.1958). After his death, his pupil the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced the technique to the West. Those who practise TM concentrate on and repeat a mantra over and over in order to become relaxed and achieve self-understanding. In physiological terms, TM decreases oxygen consumption and heart rate and increases skin resistance and alpha brain waves, yielding a relaxed mental state differing from sleep or hypnosis.