What are
/r/transcendental's
favorite Products & Services?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The most popular Products mentioned in /r/transcendental:
The most popular Services mentioned in /r/transcendental:
Sci-Hub
ResearchGate
Scholarpedia
Wikiwand
Google Play Books
The most popular reviews in /r/transcendental:
>What claim is made anywhere that someone in moksha knows anything after they die?
you are stating that you are free after death
but you will be reborn and hence not free
सम्यक्सम्बुद्ध
well, lots of interesting books are self-published. I really like Rhoda Orme-Johnson's <em>Inside Maharishi's Ashram</em> for example.
Which tells the same story as Utopia Park, but from the perspective of a parent from that time.
"Sales Pitch for TM Instructors."
"It's just a marketing tool"
"Do not Buy"
"Agreed, waste of time and money"
"Name Dropper"
"Disappointed"
You'll find much the same on Amazon:
"Just a book-length ad"
"Does not provide instructions"
"Not an instructional book on TM"
"useless."
"Not what I expected"
"A very long sales pitch and waste of time"
"This book does not teach you how to do TM"
"This book is a shallow and transparent extended brochure of no value."
I see it's now new and improved with an introduction by King Tony, too.
For me, David Lynch's "Catching the Big Fish" was the catalyst for me to finally pursue TM in earnest.
https://smile.amazon.com/Catching-Big-Fish-David-Lynch-audiobook/dp/B000M8NLV0/
As many before have said, I just wish I'd learned much earlier than I had.
> I've been unable to find any reference that shows that all this ridiculous, supposedly Vedic architectural nonsense has any relationship to any authentic Indian tradition.
Hmmm...
"The basic theme is around core elements of central space, peripheral zones, direction with respect to sunlight, and relative functions of the spaces.[7][41]"
The reference wikipedia most likes is:
Indian Architectural Theory: Contemporary Uses of Vastu Vidya.
Which doesn't seem to think much of teh TM organization's take as it isn't mentioned at all that I could see.
Ceremonies like the puja evoke a TM-like state in teh listener, at least for a little while:
.
By learning your mantra and "how" to use it while in a TM-like state, this sets up a situation so that whenever you remember your mantra, your brain automatically starts to be in that state just by the simple act of remembering. When TM-like practices are taught without the puja, apparently the TM-like EEG doesn't appear when people practice the technique. When the deepest point of TM — the breath suspension/awareness-cessation state — emerges, that EEG pattern is at its strongest.
.
Since enlightenment appears to emerge when that EEG pattern starts to become a trait outside of meditation (and most long-term effects are from THIS, rather than merely from daily practice), the fact that you're not getting the long-term effect means that you are missing out on most of the benefits of TM (including, of course, enlightenment itself).
ALmost certainly. If you take Maharishi's word that it is all based on the style-of-rest outside TM becoming more and more like that found during TM, the research on EEG patterns certainly shows the most rapid changes in the first few months:
.
Now, that's not to say that you can't have fluctuations in that progression, just that the long-term trend is a flattening of the curve, whether its changes in EEG or changes in blood pressure or anything else.
.
There are ways of steepening that bottom curve, like the TM-Sidhis, so you can start growing faster again. The TM-Sidhis also seem to steepen the changes in the top curve, so that your average TM session becomes much more deep, much more rapidly than happens with TM by itself, which translates into not only faster growth but more room to grow as well, I think.
https://www.crestjewel.com/sandalwood_incense_review.html
Personally, I still have and use when I teach - "Yoga Brand". There are others.
For general use this: https://www.amazon.com/Satya-Champa-Sandalwood-Incense-Sticks/dp/B004VDSS42
> soft chairs they usually have in TM centers
Are those like these?
usually they are something like this amazon link. That's what I'm talking about, just very soft, simple comfortable chairs without the fancy details haha!
I picked up a 20 minute sandglass from Amazon very inexpensively that works fine for me. I can glance at it briefly and gently resume if the full period hasn't elapsed yet.
https://smile.amazon.com/SuLiao-Sand-Timer-Minutes-Hourglass/dp/B08KVQKCKW/
Dr. Peter Freund, a student of Maharishi's and a scholar at the Maharishi University, has done a wonderful translation of the Yoga Vasistha. Absolutely wonderful stuff, supremely accurate. Older translations did not have the experience necessary to interpret the text for the real meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Yogic-Flying-According-Yoga-Vasishtha/dp/1790917336
Is normal what you experiencing but at the end of the time 20 minutes stop thinking the mantra and rest for about 3 to 5 minutes without mantra just resting.
you can get the book by yogani deep meditation because there are everything that you need to know about the technique and yes is the same as TM. Hi
Sorta.
Maharishi defined enlightenment in terms of brain activity becoming more and more TM-like (in some sense), so things that take away from that are not likely to bring you to enlightenment, but certainly can be useful therapies for some specific health problem or issue, or just useful for life in general.
.
From his perspective, anything that allowed the brain to become more samadhi-like was enlightening, so reading a "great" work of literature, or seeing a beautiful sunset, etc., were all directly enlightenment-promoting.
Of THOSE kinds of practices and activities, he believed TM was best.
.
That said, he believed that the most spiritual thing a parent could do while their kid was growing up was to take care of their kid, andthat meditation was a tool to help THAT aspect of spiritual development, not the end-all of their life. In other words, despiate what many "mantra key" kids and their parents believed, he said to put parenting first, not TM first: during that time of life, TM was a tool to be a better parent, not something to be done for its own sake at the expense of the kids. The TM leadership (including perhaps Maharishi) didn't help with their attitude, either.
This was often "lost in the translation" by a bunch of dysfunctional parents whose children kinda resented TM when they grew up. See: Greetings from Utopia Park
.
I don't know what to tell you that I (and many others) haven't already said before, I just wish you understood science, and more specifically clinical trials. We've discussed this same topic several times before and you're just not interested in learning anything new, which is unfortunate.
Maybe try reading these books?
It's from the book by Bob Roth, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, about his 50 years experience teaching TM. After the Beatles Reunion Concert 10 years ago to support the DLF, Bob suddenly found himself cast as "Meditation Bob, meditation teacher to the starts," because Sir Paul and Sir Ringo started referring all their celebrity friends to him for meditation instruction.
So the book is filled with stories of teaching destitute kids as well as the kids of billionaires, as that is the range of teaching experience that Bob has had over the last 50 years.
.
All profit from the book sales goes to support the DLF, which is why Bob's book launch was as star studded as a DLF benefit concert.
.
A good read through and through and available through Amazon.
Meditation can really help with anxiety. There are literally hundreds of methods, 99.9% of which are totally free to learn. YouTube is filled with content. Tons of free eBooks to find and plenty of cheap books on Amazon. (Mindfulness in Plain English is great)
The anxiety of paying $1k to learn would be enough to make me avoid TM. Not to mention their cultish beliefs in supernatural woo. When you get "trained" you have to bow at alters. Pay homage to dead people with gifts and flowers. They believe in "invincible nations," yogic flying can create world peace, and maharishi even banged a bunch of his students. Avoid this group and their strange Scientology-esque ways.
Here's a great free link to get started: https://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate
If you replace in your post the branded, organized, expensive, agenda-ridden TM™ with the word "meditation" then I can help answer your question.
Meditation can really help. I've found tremendous benefit in my 30s, helping me be calmer, more focused and easier to live with (according to my wife!) Life seems fuller and more vibrant and seemingly-huge problems tend to shrink.
I've grown to really like meditation sessions, and cherish the silence and introspection. I think it's made me a better person and has helped with anxiety.
There are tons of great, free resources on the basics of meditation out there. Try the book Mindfulness in Plain English. Or check out this link: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate/
TM is a very specific thing with lots of specific language, "training" and lineage. There are centers that use the money you'd pay for lots of weird purposes. Look up Yogic Flying to get a sense of how nuts this organization is. While some celebs endorse it, be very cautious of this growing cult.
Meditation is for everyone and there are hundreds of "flavors." I recommend trying lots and seeing what works for you. TM probably works for some, because they have co-opted simple mantra meditation and made people invest in it, thus causing you to be more likely to do the practice. You will likely see folks come and vehemently defend it, saying they have practiced it for YEARS and the science proves its the best flavor of mediation. If you are really interested in learning a mantra thing, then check out /r/nondirective and save your money. But I would start simple and dive into YouTube and a couple books to learn and start your OWN practice.
Best of luck and ping me if you have any questions!
I actually just finished "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" and am amazed at the similarities between zen's idea of zazen and enlightenment when compared to "pure awareness" of TM. In fact, the book mentioned the "transcendent state of mind". I personally dive into the zen philosophy and compliment in with TM practice as my form of zazen. Say what you will.
True Indians did not have video 55+ years ago. Yet they also didn't have to deal with the buzzing western world filled with numerous distractions that have been developed to catch our attention and hack the reward system. Thus, due to the internet evolution, we have the ability to use video as an engagement for our mind, rather than a hinderance.
>learning TM does take a small amount of gentle effort.
Learning TM certainly takes the effort to go to the TM center and pay the money and sit through the lectures.
You probably meant practicing TM, and the effort for that is the effort involved in "putting your butt on the chair" as my local TM Center chairwoman Denise Deniston put it in our phone call discussing this issue 10 minutes ago.
.
She agrees with me: you need to go back and get checked. Your status as a former TM teacher hasn't protected you from becoming confused over the past few decades about something you no longer practice.