MAHARISHI SAYS “SHOW ME THE MONEY!”

 WHERE IS THE MAHARISHI MONEY?

Maharishi, along with his family in India, created an astonishing array of profit-making businesses ranging from gemstones to solar energy to television stations. These businesses, along with TM’s massive real estate holdings throughout the world, made him a multi-billionaire. 

An article in India Today, published in June 2012, valued Maharishi's estate at his death at approximately $9 billion. Most of the value was in land across India. Maharishi lived in a 200-room palace in Holland and airplanes, helicopters, and fleets of cars were at his disposal. TM claims to have spent $95mm on a Vedic chanting center known as a Brahmasthan located in rural India. By 2009, it was a ghost town. TM is reportedly raising $400mm to build a replacement. Maharishi’s designated successor, Tony Nader, recently purchased the most expensive lot for a house in the history of Palm Beach, Florida for over $4mm.

 DAVID LYNCH USES AT-RISK GROUPS TO GET FUNDING FOR TM’S COFFERS

Why is the Lynch Foundation doing fundraiser after fundraiser when Maharishi had billions? When Maharishi was alive, nothing was for free. Had he wanted to, he could have made TM available to hundreds of thousands of people for free. So why is TM suddenly targeting at-risk populations? I think the answer, at least in part, is that the bulk of Maharishi's estate went to a niece, and two nephews in India. Also, fundraising in the United States has plummeted in recent years. In 2011, TM’s Global Country of World Peace raised $47 million. By 2013, fundraising had dropped to $5.5mm and further plummeted to only a little over $1mm in 2015. TM may hope that targeting at-risk populations, even without evidence of benefit, will allow it to attract public funding along with foundation and corporate grants. 

TM AIN’T THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE MEDITATION BENEFITS. THE RELAXATION RESPONSE CAN BE ATTAINED FOR FREE (UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY $1000 TO LYNCH, BOB ROTH & CO)

The TM organization promotes the idea that TM practice is the best way to realize the benefits of meditation. However, as Dr. Benson demonstrated, the health benefits of meditation come from triggering a “relaxation response." TM is not the only way to trigger the response, and for the reasons documented above, it may be the worst. I do not expect celebrities to understand TM's research issues. What is stunning, however, is the lack of due diligence on the part of respected health professionals, including cardiologists, and even a noted medical school. Like celebrities, they lend credibility to TM by their association with the organization.

TM does a disservice by promoting the idea that triggering a physiological relaxation response must cost a thousand dollars, and that a Hindu religious ceremony and mantra are required. That type of exclusivity, built on the back of deception, has no place in the future of wellness.

 KEEP TM OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS & REPLACE WITH SECULAR MEDITATION!

We should all be committed to keeping TM out of public schools. Our children should be safe from deliberately hidden religious practices and agendas. Adults should also have a right to informed consent. One primary reason that TM's hyperbolic claims, for the most part, go unchallenged is the vast network of celebrities and health professionals who endorse it. Hopefully, some will reconsider their support once they understand that the relaxation derived from meditation—the main component of meditation that can help many people—is available elsewhere and virtually free.

Now is the time to explore serious non-religious, secular meditation alternatives to Transcendental Meditation and promote them within public schools. Meditation is a key tool for improving mental health, particularly during our times of stress, but TM is an illegal method because it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Join the cause to promote secular meditation alternatives! https://www.tmdeception.com/donate

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