the Organizations founded by Maharishi. And to you,
Maharishi, I promise that as a Meditation Guide I will be
faithful in all ways to the trust that you have placed in
me.9
The Mantra: More Lies
In his book, Roth states that your meditation teacher will give you
your mantra—a word or sound that has no meaning associated
with it. Roth offers a more detailed explanation of the mantra in a
YouTube video featured on TM’s flagship website, TM.org:
I have been asked, “Aren’t mantras the names of
Buddhist Deities or Hindu gods or whatever?” And the
answer is a flat-out no. There is no meaning associated
with the sound… They are not the names of some
deity. They are not the names of anything. They are
just a sound. [Bold added]10
For more than sixty years, TM has kept three mantra secrets. The
first is that the mantras that TM sells are not necessary to meditate.
Beacon Light of the Himalayas, a publication long suppressed by
TM, documents a religious meeting in Kerala, India in 1955. At
that meeting, Maharishi told his Indian audience that any word
or sound could be used to meditate. Holding a microphone,
Maharishi said that one could even use the word mike as a mantra:
By reducing the sound of the word “mike” to its subtler
and still subtler stages and allowing the mind to go on
experiencing all the stages one by one, the mind can
be trained to be so sharp as to enter into the subtlest
stage of the sound ‘mike’, transcending which it will
automatically get into the realm of [pure consciousness]
and experience it.11
Second, according to Maharishi, TM mantras invoke the spirits of
Hindu gods. Although a word such as mike would work, Maharishi
proposed that repetition of his mantras offers something unique:
They produce special vibrations. Hindu audiences learned that
these vibrations attract the “grace” of a personal Hindu god. Again,
from Beacon Light of the Himalayas, in Maharishi’s own words:
But we do not select the sound at random. We do not
select any sound like ‘mike’, flower, table, pen, wail, etc,
because such ordinary sounds can do nothing more
than merely sharpening the mind ...For our practice,
we select only the suitable mantras of personal
gods. Such mantras fetch to us the grace of personal
gods… [Bold added]12
Third, Roth likens competence in TM mantra selection to that
of a physician who has specialized training in how to identify a
person’s blood type. He says that the selection of the mantra is
based on three things:
• The information the student completes on the interview
form.
• The personal meeting with the teacher.
• The teacher’s own comprehensive certification
training.13
When I became a TM teacher, there was one criterion: the
student’s age at the time of instruction. To the best of my
knowledge, this has not changed.
No Negative Results—Ever
Discussing the safety of TM mantras, Roth states, “In fact, there
has never been any study published in a peer-reviewed journal
that has shown any negative impact, only positive.”14 That is true
only because TM doesn’t publicize information about those who
have been damaged by the practice. My book, 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, includes an entire chapter on TM casualties.15
In researching my book, I needed less than five minutes to
identify case histories of more than thirty people who were
submitted as evidence in a lawsuit against TM. The lawsuit was
filed by several long-term meditators who claimed to have been
physically, psychologically, and financially damaged by the
practice. TM chose to make significant settlements with many of
them rather than face them in court. In an affirmation written in
1986 in support of the lawsuit, a former Maharishi International
University (MIU) professor and legal counsel wrote that he had
witnessed:
A system of denial and avoidance, as well as outright
lies and deception, to cover up or sanitize serious
problems on campus. These included nervous
breakdowns, episodes of dangerous and bizarre
behavior, threats of and actual attempted suicide
and homicidal ideation, psychotic episodes, crime,
depression, and manic behavior.16
Many former TM teachers, myself included, believe the TM
organization is well aware of potential dangers of TM and, in my
opinion, the organization does not adequately disclose these
risks to potential students prior to instruction. As an example,
following TM instruction, every student’s meditation is checked
according to systematic procedures resembling a flowchart. TM
teachers do the checking, and the teachers have to memorize
the checking procedures. Roth is undoubtedly familiar with
them.
10 ICSA TODAY
Roth’s book attempts to sanitize
more than fifty years of TM by
failing to mention key elements
that reveal TM as much more than
the scientific, secular, relaxation
technique it pretends to be.
Maharishi, I promise that as a Meditation Guide I will be
faithful in all ways to the trust that you have placed in
me.9
The Mantra: More Lies
In his book, Roth states that your meditation teacher will give you
your mantra—a word or sound that has no meaning associated
with it. Roth offers a more detailed explanation of the mantra in a
YouTube video featured on TM’s flagship website, TM.org:
I have been asked, “Aren’t mantras the names of
Buddhist Deities or Hindu gods or whatever?” And the
answer is a flat-out no. There is no meaning associated
with the sound… They are not the names of some
deity. They are not the names of anything. They are
just a sound. [Bold added]10
For more than sixty years, TM has kept three mantra secrets. The
first is that the mantras that TM sells are not necessary to meditate.
Beacon Light of the Himalayas, a publication long suppressed by
TM, documents a religious meeting in Kerala, India in 1955. At
that meeting, Maharishi told his Indian audience that any word
or sound could be used to meditate. Holding a microphone,
Maharishi said that one could even use the word mike as a mantra:
By reducing the sound of the word “mike” to its subtler
and still subtler stages and allowing the mind to go on
experiencing all the stages one by one, the mind can
be trained to be so sharp as to enter into the subtlest
stage of the sound ‘mike’, transcending which it will
automatically get into the realm of [pure consciousness]
and experience it.11
Second, according to Maharishi, TM mantras invoke the spirits of
Hindu gods. Although a word such as mike would work, Maharishi
proposed that repetition of his mantras offers something unique:
They produce special vibrations. Hindu audiences learned that
these vibrations attract the “grace” of a personal Hindu god. Again,
from Beacon Light of the Himalayas, in Maharishi’s own words:
But we do not select the sound at random. We do not
select any sound like ‘mike’, flower, table, pen, wail, etc,
because such ordinary sounds can do nothing more
than merely sharpening the mind ...For our practice,
we select only the suitable mantras of personal
gods. Such mantras fetch to us the grace of personal
gods… [Bold added]12
Third, Roth likens competence in TM mantra selection to that
of a physician who has specialized training in how to identify a
person’s blood type. He says that the selection of the mantra is
based on three things:
• The information the student completes on the interview
form.
• The personal meeting with the teacher.
• The teacher’s own comprehensive certification
training.13
When I became a TM teacher, there was one criterion: the
student’s age at the time of instruction. To the best of my
knowledge, this has not changed.
No Negative Results—Ever
Discussing the safety of TM mantras, Roth states, “In fact, there
has never been any study published in a peer-reviewed journal
that has shown any negative impact, only positive.”14 That is true
only because TM doesn’t publicize information about those who
have been damaged by the practice. My book, 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, includes an entire chapter on TM casualties.15
In researching my book, I needed less than five minutes to
identify case histories of more than thirty people who were
submitted as evidence in a lawsuit against TM. The lawsuit was
filed by several long-term meditators who claimed to have been
physically, psychologically, and financially damaged by the
practice. TM chose to make significant settlements with many of
them rather than face them in court. In an affirmation written in
1986 in support of the lawsuit, a former Maharishi International
University (MIU) professor and legal counsel wrote that he had
witnessed:
A system of denial and avoidance, as well as outright
lies and deception, to cover up or sanitize serious
problems on campus. These included nervous
breakdowns, episodes of dangerous and bizarre
behavior, threats of and actual attempted suicide
and homicidal ideation, psychotic episodes, crime,
depression, and manic behavior.16
Many former TM teachers, myself included, believe the TM
organization is well aware of potential dangers of TM and, in my
opinion, the organization does not adequately disclose these
risks to potential students prior to instruction. As an example,
following TM instruction, every student’s meditation is checked
according to systematic procedures resembling a flowchart. TM
teachers do the checking, and the teachers have to memorize
the checking procedures. Roth is undoubtedly familiar with
them.
10 ICSA TODAY
Roth’s book attempts to sanitize
more than fifty years of TM by
failing to mention key elements
that reveal TM as much more than
the scientific, secular, relaxation
technique it pretends to be.
