Actually, it's not really different from any old meditation, if you know how to do it.  I'm just not good at those things, and I had a period in my life where I was searching for it.  Did you see that website?  That's where all the money goes!

Oh, well, it was still kind of cool to listen to, especially David and Donovan.

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole -- DL

Those prices are exorbitant on the website.  However, a product for sale is different then a spiritual teaching for sale.    I certain do believe in meditation and  universal love and connectedness, health, and peace and  the teaching of how to attain that as quickly and safely as possible, but  from a personal point of view, if I had the knowledge of teaching someone that, I wouldn't charge for it.

Or at least, if one has to cover just basic charges for the building rent to teach it in and electricity etc, perhaps if there was a charge by donation, like what one could afford  or have it be based on a sliding scale according to their income then that would be more reasonable.

If this information on Transcendental meditation could be more available for all kinds of peole of all incomes then it would be more ideal. 

At the same time, I think it is wonderful that they are encouraging meditation and for using it as a way to help create a better world- its just that the high fee to learn it doesn't ring true with the purpose of the teachings.   

Vesica, I agree with you.  But have you ever paid for a even a yoga class?  They don't practice what they preach.  I go to a chiropractor who is totally into the Quantum Physics thing, and his standard line is "Everything happens for a reason."  I know all about Albert Einstein and the connection to the Dalai Lama and Deepak.

Sometimes it just gets too preachy after a while, and then when I'm still in pain, I don't believe in any of it.  I suppose those people would say I'm on the journey...

I did read they are going to rebroadcast the whole seminar and possibly sell it on DVD, so I contacted them to ask about it.

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole -- DL

Actually, I haven't paid for a yoga class specifically, Annie, though I took one offered at the fitness club I used to have a membership at when I was a teenager, or if you count the "intensive" I took with Siddha Yoga.

I have bought yoga videos and dvds, but that is a hard product.

I do understand that they may have to charge something for the TM course to cover the cost they have for the building rent, etc, but I think that the fee they ask for sounds so high. Maybe to them, $2500 is what $250 is to me.

Maybe they don't think it is that much money because they make more money in comparisson.

I used to be involved with Siddha Yoga since I was a child, which my mother got me into. I can compare the TM course with how expensive an "intensive" was. I fell back from Siddha Yoga because of that reason, that it seemed like they were too money oriented. however, I did learn so much from Siddha Yoga and that is where I learned to meditate in the first place, so I am grateful, but at the same time, I feel torn about the cost.

TM seems so wonderful, and then to find out about how expensive it is to learn makes it seem like there is something wrong goign on there. Perhaps I am more influenced by my experience with SY.

I am going to continue meditating in my own way though, and if anyone wants to learn how I do it I will tell them for free.

Though I am curious about TM, I just don't have the money for it anyway and am not sure if it is right to charge so much.

Besides, when it comes down to it, everyone really has all the knowledge they need inside, if they just sit quietly and listen deep within...these methods of meditation offered are just ways to speed things up a bit.

This is totally bizarre.  I went to read this long post from a guy in Live Journal who attended the whole weekend.  Of course, he had a wonderful time.  Then somebody else comes on and says, "Now that you have learned about TM from its promoters, I recommend researching what its detractors have to say about TM.  For starters, I suggest checking out http://www.suggestibility.org/ and http://behind-the-tm-facade.org/ "

So I went to look at those sites.  The suggestibility one is really scary.  It describes my old experience to a T, with the initiation ceremony and exactly the same mantra as I got for $60.  With the rate of inflation from 1976, it would probably be way more expensive now.  Luckily, I am not very suggestible, and have never learned to meditate or be hypnotised.

But I did defend David, and said he was probably all into it with a good heart to help people, which I believe he would be.  Maybe he never rechecked all his sources.  Or maybe he just meditated.  I have an old friend who was a nun and meditated for about 50 years and stayed young and healthy doing that.

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole -- DL

The first time I head about Maharishi Mahesh was the Beatles'experence with him, and that he was a money grubbing fraud.

Of course, you have to be skeptical of any group that wants to take your money in exchange for help, especially if you are easily persuaded. I mean, I have serious doubts about the Christian church I grew up in and the psychiatry I experienced. There is something seductive about believing someone else has all the answers, and it's easy to lose objectivity.

People are social creatures. We crave community and want to belong to something, but cult mentality is pervasive in most groups, especially the ones where someone is profiting (propheting) and that should be a glaring red light. But, as we've witnessed with Scientology, the wealthy are prone to eccentricity, and may justify the cost to themselves by believing that secrets of these practices are for the elite and priveleged.

I didn't want to accpet that Maharishi had his hands so deep in this Lynch weekend until I saw that there weren't turning people away. Did they perhaps start offering refunds because they figured that those who would complain about $45 wouldn't pay for pujas (secret initiations,) bija mantras (tantric names of hindu gods) and yagyas (Vedic Hindu ceremonies.) I was curious before, but now I've heard enough.

I really pored through thar sites (thanks, Annie) and feel badly that Lynch has been exploited and is using these seratonin-releasing relaxation techniques as a crutch, oweing his creativity to pseudo-spritual hypnosis. Hmmm, "bliss?" Seratonin releasing? Can anyone say Ecstasy? And I thought he was drug free. Maybe Paul McCartney can give DL a jingle and talk him into saving his dollars and sense.

Happy to read the latest comments. 

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Gawd, I loathe those people who have THE Answer!!! I do believe it is a natural human response to reject with vitality those who would hoist THE Answer upon us, too.

I've said it before in other like threads on the Maha Phenom, but his holiness will and does prey upon the life blood of those (i.e. Doug Henning), who for whatever reason have forfeited their natural human response to snort heartily when offered The Snake Oil End of Violence, Poverty, Illness AND Bad Weather -- but I will say it again: Bunkum. Fraud. Downright foolish. That kind of megalomania needs to be addressed for what it is. This is one of those rare cases where what you see is what you get. And what you don't see -- a soaring Maharishi flying over the universe -- is what you'll NEVER get. And, not to rub salt in the wound, but has anyone noticed there's still a nagging bit of violence here and there on the planet? Some people remain poor as church mice. Some people still get ill; some even die! Well,maybe 4 out of 5 of them anyway. I've even noticed that the weather has been getting WORSE, not better. But, oh, what SEVEN billion dollars might do toward fixing this all! BTW, it was only ONE billion when this Peace Palace Plot first got off the ground in 2003 but I guess inflation accounts for the SEVEN fold increase. Anyone want to venture a guess on what it might be in two more years?

When I was a young woman following the Trial du Jour upon my arrival in the City of Angels, I wondered WHY anyone would have followed Charles Manson. Around that same time, I wondered why anyone would follow LR Hubbard. The Maharishi. Then David Koresh. Reverend Jim Jones. Now back to the passe Maharishi?! But anyway, when I gave it some thought I noticed commonalities. I noticed that your guru types begin with a vociferous initial offering of Truth A. Everyone buys Truth A because it's a universal truth. It's True! It might be something like "Life is Rough" or "It's all about suffering."

Truth B comes along and says, "This is the way it has ever been." Everyone nods in agreement. With a handy assortment of colorfully presented anecdotes and the group endorsement, it starts to seem like the Guru has his finger on the pulsebeat of the Universe. Like, WOW!!!!

Then you are thrown for a loop. "But it doesn't have to be this way." Truth C? Or half-truth? Or lie? Whaddever.

From this point on, you are either immersed in the Bubbling Bliss of wanting to believe that someone Wiser than Thou has the Elusive Answer. You go for the ride.

He may be a street smart con man with prison creds. He may be a clever ex-science fiction writer pal of local Satanist rocket scientists who revel at orgies in Pasadena mansions. He may be a 200-year old bearded Hindu wise guy man from the EAST (where they grow on trees). It doesn't matter. If they catch you in their thrall with their charisma, their couple of basic truths presented artfully and the HOPE that they know more than you know, you can be taken on the same dead end journey. Hey-Sus-Kree-Stose, wasn't it 30 years ago when John Lennon, former follower, told us all, "I don't believe in mantra, Gita, Zimmerman..." etal. etc. 

Hey, don't take my word. Take the word of His Holiness himself. There may be no cheaper thrill, nor greater amateur comedy, than printing out this interview, gathering a group of friends together over pizza and lotsa wine, and then doing an interpretative reading with one friend playing Larry King and the other friend doing the Maharishi. PRICELESS wisdom! I promise you'll add five years to your life from the jubilation of laughter! You won't end violence but it'll be a hoot!

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/12/lklw.00.html

One gem to inspire a click to the link:

"I'm establishing a government in the world which will disallow the sprouting of negativity in any country, in any country..."

It's up to you to guess if that is a Larry King or a Maharishi quote.

I've got more where this came from! But try this one first.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole -- DL

Whatever David Lynch is saying about the $2500 (I didn't know the price went up -- last I heard it was $2000) for a mantra is only part and parcel of the indoctrination. It is surprising to me that any discerning adult could have advanced so far down the bumpy Maharishi road, but I imagine there are explanations for what one can charitably hope is only a detour.

It's all disturbing. It's not the most disturbing event in recent history, but disturbing all the same. I think the reason for the dissonance many of us are feeling is that the artistic product of David Lynch has been unique to him as an Individual and not as a byproduct of having been a member of any Group.

I've been reading the archives of Global Good News (doncha love the word choices?) and found this one pretty funny.

http://press-conference.globalgoodnews.com/archive/september/05.09.28.html

Its title reads like a Victorian novel's chapter heading:

Found it cute that the Maharishi now incorporates the Lynchian "it's a beautiful thing" into his own lexicon. Lots of swell ideas about an international constitution to replace the one Dr. Hagelin describes as the shoddy second rate US version created by "underdeveloped level of intelligence of the founders." If you follow the Maharishi's drift in this weekly press conference, one would reasonably deduce that he expects film to help convey his message to the unsuspecting unenlightened masses worldwide.

Politics: How about this nugget from the Maharishi:

Our champions are collecting the details on how wrongly the present buildings of governments are oriented. Some are oriented towards the south, some are to the west, some are to the corner. ALL THE WRONGS AND CONFLICTS THAT EXIST IN SOCIETY COME FROM WRONG ORIENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.

Who the f*** knew? It's all been about the orientation of the buildings, folks!

None of this has much meaning to the world at large. It's either of interest to Lynch fans or Maharishi fans. To others the Maharishi lost his luster decades ago. The press, IF and when they cover these stories, only do so for the oddity factor of a film legend being linked to a 60s cariciature. To me this wackiness is but one manifestation of post-9/11 stress syndrome and those interest me. And sadden me too.

Anyway, check out the Global Good News and see how much you can read without choking on the meaninglessness of it all. If you break it down sentence by sentence and try to analyze WHAT he's saying, you'll find nothing. A big zero -- or as the maharishi would describe "zero" -- the hollowness of the banyan seed. No one could argue that the Maha- is not intimately acquainted with "zero."

I find myself humming a lot lately. He's a real no-where-man... ..lalalala...

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

OK, I went to Global Good News, and I can't say I read too much, but I found a place where you can learn TM in Omaha for the going price of $2500!!!  I can't believe that went up so high!  For craziness...

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole -- DL

First, Paul McCartney is still a Meditator, as was George up until his death. In fact, the woman who initiated me and my family was with him just before his death. Clint Eastwood was and still is a Meditator, as is Merv Griffin, Laura Dern, Heather Graham and Richard Beymer. So are the Moody Blues and Mike Love of The Beach Boys. Many people do not talk about this, as most figure they will be labelled a 'kook'. Well, hell, I made my living being a 'kook', so I don't care about any scorn you may heave my way.

Meditation has been good for me, and since 2000, I have consulted with an Ayurvedic doctor and changed my diet and life habits, and lost 35 pounds and my cholesterol has come down 150 points. I cannot complain. Meditation has made me more mellow and I am able to concentrate more and work longer at a higher level of concentration. David says that within weeks of his start in 1972, his perpetual anger was gone and he was also able to concentrate more and work better.

You know, I have been there from the very beginning of David's activism with Maharishi. David spent a month with him a few years ago, and was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. It's funny, my fiancee's company, a huge software company, regulary gets Interns from MUM and they are the brightest and most focussed people they get. David's entire mission is to try to turn the negative energy of the world around, by whatever means might work. Now, for some, that means Christian prayer or Jewish davening or contemplation of navels, or 'MoveOn.org' home parties, or sex toy home parties, but for Dave, he is working within the framework that has worked for him for over thirty years. He is not brainwashed (nor am I) and he is not being led by a nosering through the metaphysical 4H fair. He is very serious and is not a poster child for anyone.

Please, enjoy his work if you like it, discuss endlessly the meanings of his things which he will never tell you, but do not throw the man into the ditch for his activism in a thing which if it works can help the world, and if it doesn't, cannot hurt anything and spreads a peaceful message regardless. His art is no less and his vision is if anything enhanced by his his Meditation.

Susan (nuart) you know I love you, and I respect your disdain for all this - you have a right to your opinion, but cut David some slack. His Meditation practices and his work for Maharishi's organization do not detract from his art which you like so much, they in fact enhance it.

As to the fees, well it was $1,200 when I started, and $2,000 for the family plan, but in the Phillipines it was $5.00 and in Poland it was $30. The US is a very wealthy nation and the fees we pay help subsidize the low costs elsewhere.

The flack shown here is. i think, directed at the Maharishi's establishment, not TM itself. Many people meditate individually, some in various other groups for example the Malindi Centre in England. I have used meditation lite over the years and after a back injury was prescribed yogi exercises in physical therapy. There is the kook label that goes with these disciplines. My wife wondered what the f--- I was doing when she walked in on yours truly doing a downward facing dog one afternoon.    These methods have worked for me. But, so has weight lifting. AND, I am skeptical of the Maharishi organization. What can I say?

John N., you mentioned Paul and George as meditators. Were they ,however, deeply envolved with the Maharishi's organization in latter years? Thanks.

I understand where John's coming from.  I'm still impressed that the "sitting quietly" he does in interviews is meditation.  And if I felt I could "do good" on a grand scale I would. 

BUt I still can't rationalize having a cost.  Meditation can be enjoyed without the purcasing of Hindu ideas disguised as something else, and last I heard, it was free to practice Hindu.  TM is Maharishi's livlihood and from what I've read he's sharp, charismatic, and opportunistic, like any good leader or salesman.   Is this really just about the good willed spread of ideas?  So it's not just for the elite, but maintaining costs and promoting worldwide influence seemt to be 2 of the goals of the movement.

One leader with that much influence terrifies me, like the Pope.  But everyone has to find what works for them. 

...and you know I love you, John. I offer my opinion whenever these discussion arise for one reason. To be an advocate for the other side -- the side of common sense, reason and recognition of the human world we all inhabit. There are many young people who, out of love for the art of David Lynch, want to grasp onto whatever that elusive quality may be that has made him a great artist. That's natural. And I don't mean Natural Law.

I offer the counterview NOT to the benefits of MEDITATION but to expose the Maharishi's own words, as they illustrate far better than I could, his problematic powers of reason, his personal megalomania, and his distorted and aggrandized sense of self. Were he living out his final years in quiet anonymity, I'd not be here reminding people of his Deep Thoughts on the Universe and Everything. That would be cruel. But he's poking his head into the 21st century with inanities that I feel I must counter. Frankly I am amazed there is even a need to say something like, "Uh, wait a minute guys. Even with $7 billion worth of Maharishi trained experts in properly oriented Peace Palaces, no one is going to fly! Furthermore, even if you suspend disbelief about human butterflies for a millisecond, their hovering isn't going to stop the human condition in its tracks." I mean seriously! The CHUTZPAH! I know you can't believe that, John!

Ah, ,come on, Sue, let 'em try. It's for a good cause. World Peace. Maybe as a result, some disgruntled student will not take up arms against a riot cop in the Place de la Republique. Maybe some pissed off kid with a sawed off shotgun won't burst into a rave party and shoot anything that moves. Maybe someone else will leave that hateful madrassa in Karachi and spread love and peace. Yeah, well, maybe. But the better part of a half-century+ of life on planet earth leaves me to believe there are better ways to spend a peace buck. And there are better paths toward the recognition and correction of that which is imperfect on the planet rather than setting oneself up for the inevitable fall. That kind of fall that could take place when, after a lifetime of trying to meditate hard enough to fly and training others to fly all the while thinking PEACE, you turn on your TV and discover that 19 guys have hijacked 4 planes and they're going to do what????!!!! After having being instructed that group meditation can even control the climate, then having to reconcile with a trans-continental tsunami. Or a Katrina. How many more Vedic Flyers would have been required to downgrade that hurricane? Do you see my point?

I cut David Lynch plenty of slack, John. I think he's a fine, earnest, thoughtful, caring and sensitive man. I watched the Q&A session from the recent Iowa event and it's still clear these things are so. His life has been of primary importance to my own and I appreciate and honor him for that. I wish him only the best in life. I can't pretend to know what is at work in the deepest recesses of his mind. I can only guess based on his own words and my own limited understanding of human nature. I don't even care so much about how the connection with the Maharishi does or doesn't affect his artistic output. Every artist has their own methods and means for reaching that zone and more power to them. But I cannot say that I won't be smiling a great big smile when/if the day comes when David Lynch parts company from the Maharishi.

It is the Maharishi who is on the receiving end of my disdain.

I have no problem with meditation, yoga, prayer, contemplation, herbs or bliss. I have always repeated this, or in the Maharishi's words, "We've said this over and over and over and will continue to say it over and over and over." That's fine if some graduates from MUM are bright and talented. I know other tales of infighting within Fairfield community which reinforce my premise that the central concept of no anger-no discord is not even possible within the closest circles of like-minded souls flying about in Iowa.

Ben Franklin strove for personal perfection. That was his quest. He figured out it wasn't possible but the goal was worthy. But I don't recall him suggesting he could affect the behavior of the multitudes. I don't know how anyone could read or listen to his Holiness without deconstructing the words. One gets lost in the many ways he says NOTHING. In some ways, reading the Global Good News, I could almost imagine DOCTOR John Hagelin rolling his eyes, biting his lip and hoping the Maharishi would stop digging himself into a deeper hole. I know the feeling as I have it when listening to Bush.

But seriously, John, how how how can does one honor a man who wants to rid the world of that pesky concept of "democracy?" Who claims bad government is simply a matter of buildings facing the wrong way???? And who tells people he will train them to FLY! Even with the given that meditation is beneficial, there is too much else that defies the common sense. The meditation angle is the salt and pepper on the massive roast that is the Maharishi's Folly. The meditation angle, by the way, in no way belongs to the Maharishi even if he has trademarked his particular Rolls Royce version. So what are we left with when we subtract the transcending art of meditation? A banyan seed.

I have significant problems with flim flam snake oil salesmen of all ilks and I will strive to be precise when discussing the subject. What is bothersome to me is not that David Lynch meditates or that he brings others to meditation. it is the Maharishi and his obvious departure from the human plane of existence. You know, Barry Scheck, that fine defense attorney, once said that if a witness is not credible in one realm, you may consider him/her not credible in all realms. That basic truism exists outside of the courtroom as well.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Susan, I wasn't attacking you and you are entitled to your opinion. Maharishi says some odd things, but I do not judge it one way or another. I have seen the trancenet and other sites too.

CCC, I enjoy your posts and your avatars, do not go away. No one has to go away. As to the 'boring' stuff, when people ask me a question, I try to answer as succinctly as possible. If the moderators would rather see this done in PMs, fine with me.

I do not know if Paul and George worked to further the TM organization - I think not, though. They just kept meditating as it gave them something they wanted. I know George stayed in touch with the organization.

I haven't seen trancenet, John. I get my info from the horse's mouth. Speaking of horses...

Susan

PS Well I just tried to check out trancenet.com (if that's the address) and got this:

www.trancenet.com      $2,910

So now I'm trying to decide if I'd rather spend $2910 on the website or $2500 on... Nah.  I think I'll hold. 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

For those of you interested in the Beatles experience with Maharishi

This is from the yogi's bio http://www.paulmason.info/themaharishi/mmych12.htm  and this is from a book on cults http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/maharishi.asp

Other sources say that George is the only one who stuck with TM, and this site says Paul "never was or is a follower" but that his new book clears Maharishi's name. http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0112/ET30-7068.html  (Thought I'd share...  ) 

I noticed they put up webcast replays on the site, for anyone interested it's a good opportunity to see and hear David and the others:

http://www.lynchweekend.org/replays.html

Total of 11 movies and more than 6 hours of quality material online. Highly recommended for anyone with an open mind. I've downloaded all of them and now slowly watching and enjoying.

My full support to David in this endeavor, of course ;-)

Cheers