HINDUISM - SLICED, DICED & LOOKING NICE

HINDUISM - SLICED, DICED & LOOKING NICE

Maharishi sliced and diced the Hindu religion in part by selling anything he thought could make a profit. For example, TM's version of Ayurveda medicine (expensive, untested and unproven medicinal and herbal products) along with gemstones to speed up enlightenment and prevent illness. TM also sells Hindu prayer services known as 'yagyas' (that cost thousands of dollars), Hindu astrology, and a Hindu version of Feng Shui known as Sthapatya Veda. 

TM also sells Vedic organic vegetables; Vedic tunes are chanted to the veggies for an hour a day over loudspeakers as they grow. Except for gemstones, each of these profit centers has a separate website. None of them are linked to TM.org. That site is scrubbed of anything Hindu, perhaps because TM wants public funding to pay for TM in public schools and as a treatment for PTSD. 

TM BENEFITS ARE UNIQUE (EXCEPT WHEN THEY AREN’T IN ANY WAY UNQUE, WHICH IS ALL OF THE TIME)

TM claims it produces unique benefits; it doesn’t. The Relaxation Response developed over forty years ago by Harvard Professor, Herbert Benson, produces an identical set of physiological changes as TM. Benson should know; he did the original research on TM. 

By the year 2000, Dr. Benson’s book, The Relaxation Response, had sold four million copies, topped the New York Times bestseller list, and was translated into thirteen languages. Dr. Benson is regarded as a pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine and founded the Benson Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. The Institute works closely with the Boston Red Sox’s Home Base Foundation. 

FREE SUPPORT FOR HOMEBASE

The relaxation response is a critical component of the services Homebase provides, free of charge, to over 23,000 veterans suffering from PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury. Dr. Benson and his collogues have published over a hundred studies on the relaxation response in top medical journals. Last year, to support this work, the Wounded Warrior’s Foundation gave Massachusetts’s General a $67mm grant, the second largest in the hospital’s history. 

YOUR SECRET TM MANTRAS – IF AT FIRST. YOU CAN’T DECEIVE, OBFUSCATE!

TM claims its mantras are sounds without meaning. However, during a speech to a Hindu audience in India in 1955, Maharishi admitted that any sound could be used to transcend. Pointing to the microphone he was holding, he said even the word “mike” would work. Then, he continued:

For our practice, we select only the suitable mantras of personal gods. Such mantras fetch to us the grace of personal gods... (Emphasis mine.) 

My first advanced TM mantra added the Sanskrit word 'nemah' to my then existing mantra. The translation of nemah is, “I bow down.” 

THE PUJA. TM CLAIMS IT ISN’T HINDU.

TM claims the puja is simply a “ceremony of thanksgiving” performed by the teacher that the student only witnesses. For over 50 years Maharishi engaged in a calculated, deliberate coverup of the puja that continues unabated to this day.

Bob Roth is the Executive Director of your Foundation. He is also the foremost TM teacher in the world today. How is it that Roth’s recent book on TM doesn't mention the word "puja." He describes (what is actually) the puja as "a simple thank-you ceremony...a lovely cultural tradition, and not religious in any way." Roth's definition is at odds with the online Oxford Dictionary that defines puja as "the act of worship." Roth fails to mention that a picture of Maharishi’s guru occupies the center of an altar surrounded by brass cups filled with camphor, rice, and other items. They are all used by the instructor to make 17 worship offerings to the guru during the ceremony. 

At the time of instruction, students are required to bring flowers, fruit, and a handkerchief; they are part of the offerings made by the instructor. In the Hindu religion, bringing items used in the puja is known as Dakshina and, by definition, makes the student an active participant, not a “passive witness” as Roth claims. TM hides this from the public. Roth also leaves out that after the ceremony, the student is invited to join the teacher in bowing down before the guru’s picture. 

WHEN THE NEW JERSEY US DISTRICT COURT COURT RULED TM IS ILLEGAL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

As mentioned earlier, the New Jersey US District Court ruled that teaching TM in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Although the case is forty years old, it remains illegal to teach TM in public schools. The puja was one of the main reasons the Court gave for the decision.

Although defendants have submitted well over 1500 pages of briefs, affidavits and deposition testimony in opposing plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, defendants have failed to raise the slightest doubt as to the facts or religious nature of the teachings of the Science of Creative Intelligence [TM’s Hindu underpinnings] and the puja. 

The level of calculated deception should be an embarrassment to anyone associated with TM, especially for school administrators who are responsible for the education of our children.

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Aryeh Siegel is the author of TRANSCENDENTAL DECEPTION: Behind the TM curtain—bogus science, hidden agendas, and David Lynch’s campaign to push a million public school kids into Transcendental Meditation while falsely claiming it is not a religion. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and family. Discover more at www.tmdeception.com

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