Transcendental Meditation

Popularly known as Transcendental Meditation (TM) and officially called the World Plan Executive Council, this neo-Hindu meditative practice eschews classification as a religious group by drawing attention to its scientific basis, the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI). Research on TM reveals that its meditative technique brings about a relaxed state of mind, which has been verified using scientific methodology, and hence the practice yields benefits that are not necessarily religious. However, TM is unequivocally based in classical Hindu religious traditions and espouses a religious message that is outlined in the 1962 text The Divine Plan: Enjoy Your Own Inner Divine Nature, published by the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. In 1978 critics who opposed the teaching of TM in public school districts of New Jersey won their case in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey. The court ruled that TM was based on religious principles and therefore should be banned from the public schools. TM is seminal among the Hindu and Buddhist teachings that came to the United States after World War II.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1911–), the principal exponent of TM, comes from Uttar-Kashi in the Himalayan region of India. He learned TM during thirteen years of rigorous study with Guru Dev in India. Before beginning his disciplined meditation practice, he had earned a B.S. in physics at Allahabad University in India. Arriving in the United States on his first world tour in 1959, Maharishi initiated the growth of his movement during the 1960s. His plan was to bring the Age of Enlightenment by disseminating the meditative practices among new members. His World Plan, announced in 1972, inaugurated this mission to spread the Science of Creative Intelligence around the world. Although the meditative technique gained fame in the 1960s when some well-known entertainers such as the Beatles, Mia Farrow, and Jane Fonda practiced it, membership has decreased dramatically since the late 1970s. However, there are still numerous TM centers throughout the United States and Europe, and the international headquarters is in Switzerland. While Maharishi has no legal affiliation with the World Plan Executive Council, his teaching inspires several contemporary institutes and agendas. Located in Fairfield, Iowa, Maharishi International University offers courses from a TM perspective and awards both bachelor's and master's degrees. Adjacent to the university is the Maharishi Center for Ayur-Veda. The Natural Law Party, which the council sponsors, supported a U.S. presidential candidate several years ago, and the party is now active in the United States and Europe.

TM practice has its roots in the Indian traditions of Yoga, and the specific variety of Yoga that Maharishi teaches is a simple technique of sound meditation (mantra-yoga) that uses a mantra, a terse sound, the repetition of which is the vehicle to purify one's awareness. The meditator begins to practice after receiving his or her private mantra during an initiation ceremony that includes acknowledgment of Hindu deities and a lineage of gurus. The goal of the practice is to calm the fluctuations of the mind through concentration on the sacred mantra. Meditating from one-half hour to an hour every day not only promises to bring tranquillity of mind but also promotes increased productivity, creativity, and general well-being. More specifically, widespread research studies at universities worldwide have documented the positive role of TM practice in reducing alcohol and drug abuse and raising intelligence quotients.

Maharishi's book The Science of Being and Art of Living outlines the cosmology of TM that undergirds the meditative practice. According to him, "the unbounded field of the Being ranges from the unmanifested, absolute, eternal state to the gross, relative, ever changing states of phenomenal life" (Mahesh Yogi 1963, p. 31). The practice of TM "brings the life to a state of eternal freedom, supplementing it with unlimited creative energy and harmonizing the abstract absolute values of divine Being with the concrete physical material values of day-to-day human life" (p. 81). The goal is God-realization.

Although membership statistics for the World Plan Executive Council are not known, the council reports that more than a million people have taken basic TM courses in the United States alone. TM peaked in 1976, when it initiated the most people, and thereafter it began to decline rapidly. Currently, active meditators number in the tens of thousands.

See alsoGuru; Hinduism; Meditation; Practice; Yoga.

Bibliography

Bainbridge, William Sims, and Daniel H. Jackson, "The Rise and Decline of Transcendental Meditation." In The Social Impact of New Religious Movements, edited by B. Wilson. 1981.

Campbell, A. The Mechanics of Enlightenment: An Examination of the Teaching of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. 1977.

Emery, C. Eugene. "Maharishi Followers Try Presidential Run." Skeptical Inquirer 17 (1993): 122–123.

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. The Divine Plan: Enjoy YourOwn Inner Divine Nature. 1962.

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. Life Supported by Natural Law. 1986.

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. The Science of Being and Art ofLiving. 1963.

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. The Treasury and the Market. 1961.

Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults inAmerica. 1986.

Melton, J. Gordon. "World Plan Executive Council—U.S." In Encyclopedia of American Religions, 5th ed. 1996.

Patton, John E. The Case Against TM in the Schools. 1976.

Marcy Braverman