TM-EX NEWSLETTER TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION EX-MEMBERS SUPPORT GROUP SPRING 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IOWA REASSESSING TM Tranquil state of TM shaken by former meditator's charges Since the 1974 day that Maharishi International University moved onto the campus of bankrupt Parsons College in Iowa, the world has viewed its claims as benign fantasy. Through transcendental meditation, people at the Fairfield school say they can fly; they can create peace; they can reverse the aging process, change the weather and boost the stock market. They are dead serious. Today, many people who spent years as advanced practitioners of TM are now taking the organization to court. The essence of their complaint is this: The TM system is little more than reconstituted Hinduism cloaked in academic and scientific garb, and it has been successful in attracting and retaining devoted followers--not to mention their money. Starting young, the former meditators say, they spent years doing a twice-daily practice that produced a powerful euphoria, taught them to ignore ``negativity'' and ultimately left them unable to think independently. Regardless of what the critics may say, TM is not just a good relaxation system, it's ``perfect,'' say movement officials. Through meditation, one can achieve ``Heaven on Earth.'' Iowa is no stranger to perfect settlements. The Amana Colonies and even the short-lived socialist experiment at Communia in Clayton County in the 19th century were attempts in their own way to create earthly perfection. However, TM is distinct in its recruitment and publicity, and in its ambitious claims. It is international, with operations in Europe, India and across the United States. In October, TM held a news conference here in which the maharishi, via telephone from the Netherlands, said 7000 flying meditators could end the Persian Gulf crisis in a week. MIU President Bevan Morris then amplified the maharishi's themes, and the movement spent more than $56,000 on advertisements in the Washington Post calling on the wealthy to underwrite the project. The ads flatly state that the emir of Kuwait could have protected his country had he heeded earlier calls on heads of state by the maharishi to support TM. Des Moines Register, November 18, 1990, Kenneth Pins ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REASSESSING TM Are TM meditators being held hostage by thought control? Leonard Goldman, a lawyer at MIU in Fairfield and a teacher of TM, asks: If TM is such a powerful thought-reform program, why has the movement fallen well short in its effort to attract 7000 meditators to Fairfield from the estimated 1.5 million who have learned the technique? Why has the TM purusha program in which meditators lead a celibate, monastic lifestyle of meditation and studying ancient Indian scriptures never reached its goal of 1000 enrollees? ``That shows you how effective our thought control program has been,'' Goldman said. Those who have left the movement, however, phrase the question differently: Why would an organization that says it's neither cult nor religion want 1000 people leading a celibate, monastic lifestyle? Margaret Singer is a clinical psychologist in Berkeley, Calif., who says she has worked with more than 75 former members of TM and has testified against TM in court. She is convinced TM uses mind control, or thought reform. ``There's nothing mysterious about what people call mind control,'' Singer said. In freshman psychology, the idea is called behavior modification: rewards and punishments applied systematically, she said. Steve Hassan, a former member of the Unification Church wrote a book about mind control in which he said the essential point about cults is that they change a person's beliefs without their ``informed consent.'' TM fits that, he said. Critics like Singer say practicing TM is a form of self-hypnosis that makes even the belief that meditating leads to peace seem logical. Goldman argues that Singer's thought-control theories lack a scientific foundation. Questions about the admissibility of her testimony influenced an appeals court to order a review of an earlier court decision against TM, he noted. It is true, Goldman agrees, that people who learn the advanced TM techniques are told they bear an obligation to practice TM in a group. ``We emphasize the social responsibility of doing the program,'' Goldman said. ``I don't see the distiction between those statements and what I grew up with, which was `If you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.'' That, he said, does not make it a cult. How far TM officials will go in trying to enforce that point appears to be a conundrum. Jan Nierling, editor of the Fairfield Ledger, said even some of her meditator friends think the university went overboard when it blamed those who failed to show up for group meditation for the massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Des Moines Register, November 19, 1990, Kenneth Pins ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TM: Flying in the face of scientific standards The 1983 International Peace Project, a controversial study in Israel, is one case where [MIU professor Charles] Alexander asserts TM has made its case. In the summer of 1983, Alexander and David Orme-Johnson set out to see if a group of 200 TM fliers (the square root of 1 percent of Israel's population) meditating in a Jerusalem hotel could improve conditions. Over 61 days, the number of meditators fluctuated. During the two weeks when the number of meditators was highest, said Alexander, there was a 71 percent reduction in deaths in the Lebanon war. So emboldened were they by the results, Alexander and OrmeJohnson held an October 1983 news conference in Tel Aviv. Later they bought an advertisement in Psychology Today. However, it took five years to get the study published. From the start, the idea had an image problem, including claims from Dr. Mordecai Kaffman, medical director of an Israeli clinic, that earlier groups of meditators had failed to improve matters. ``Quite the contrary: During the period of the TM group's activity the Lebanon war broke out in the immediate vicinity,'' he wrote, and conditions ``took a marked turn for the worse.''Alexander wrote a rebuttal, and today he says, ``For whatever reason, it was clear to me that he wasn't neutral about what we were doing.'' He said statistical tests on the results showed there was more than a coincidental relationship between the meditation and the lower death rate in the war. Yale University political scientist Bruce Russett is editor of the Journal of Conflict Resolution, which published the study. He said it did pass a peer review before publication, but added that ``does not establish truth with a capital T.'' He noted that scientists continue to publish studies attempting to show that smoking does not lead to cancer. ``You can pile up dozens of studies on both sides of the issue,'' said Russett. A rebuttal to the MIU study will be published in December, he said. Des Moines Register, November 20, 1990, Kenneth Pins ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CANADA TM'ERS EXPECTED REACTION TO NEWSLETTER Depending upon the percentage of total daily time involved with the belief, the frustrated believer: (1) displays initial autonomic arousal and increased verbal activity towards the source of frustration; (2) attempts complete rejection or avoidance of the denial source, usually by means of discrediting; and/or (3) relies heavily upon the last ditch saving ploy of personal proof--``you have to experience it to know it.'' TM believers would be expected to follow the same patterns. Automic arousal (emotional change), aggressive outburst (verbal or muscular) and increased verbal activity of frequency will be the initial response pattern of unstable TM believers. These individuals are characterized by histories of (1) continuous rewards whenever TM statements had been made; (2) high frequency of these rewards within a short time, in the order of months, with little punishment or denial, and (3) emotional commitment of total life style to a simple ritual. The TM believer will attempt to dismiss, discredit or avoid the source of frustration. The [Newsletter] will be called ``uninformed,'' ``prejudiced,'' or ``lacking enlightenment.'' Those who rely heavily upon group pressure and peer group sanctions will terminate reading the [newsletter] after the first few [pages]; they would never read the [newsletter] after it appears on the ``sacrilege [reading] list.'' The more arrogant, vindictive types will merely dismiss the [newsletter] as trivial by evoking their primary defense mechanism: superiority. When TM believers are confronted by our questions, they will avoid them altogther by changing the subject or giving the old condescending semi-relaxed smile of, ``Well, you read what you want, but I'm offering you the universe.'' Since a person's memory and experience are used as fundamental references for evaluating new events, changes or peculiarities in the memories or experiences are difficult to detect. The possibility that these private experiences are erroneous, illusionary or subject to massive changes, would indict the person's concept of self. By relegating an argument to the mode of ``you have to experience it,'' the proof is placed upon the cherished and safely guarded belief in individual validity. Ojectively, the ``experience is proof'' arguments are futile and unrealistic when extrapolated to their necessary ends. The single human being cannot experience every detail of possibility within a life time. In this complex world of technology, we are forced to accept the results, observations and conclusions of other people. Excessive ``proof by personal experience'' demands travel to Siberia to be sure that it's really there, consumption of strychnine to test if it is really poison, walking through a firing squad to prove invisibility, jumping off a tower to demonstrate levitation. From TM and Cult Mania, Persinger, Carey and Suess, Christopher Publishing House, Massachusetts~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GERMANY GERMAN STUDY: The Various Implications Arising from the Practice of Transcendental Meditation On May 29, 1989 the West German High Court ruled this study valid. Excerpts: 4.1.9 The initial positive meditation experiences together with the promises and encouragement of the TM movement lead many to take further courses. In these courses they become more deeply involved in the teaching and ideology of transcendental meditation. They believe in the effectiveness of TM even when in the meantime negative experiences and results are evident. These are interpreted as an on-going release of stress. Far reaching changes in the perception of reality occurred, as well as changes in self-evaluation and evaluation by others. The length of time given to meditation each day increased in half of the total cases, from 40 minutes to at least two to four hours daily; in one case to more than eight hours. This tendency is encouraged in courses, this at times being a direct instruction to meditate longer each day. As well as this meditators invest more time and energy in the TM movement. 7.1.2 DECEPTION IN THE INITIATION INTO TM Even at the beginning of the new meditator's contact with TM, he is being knowingly deceived. The true meaning of the puja is kept from him and it is claimed that mantras are specially chosen for the new initiates. In fact they are given out according to the age group of the person being initiated. Only one person knew during the initiation ceremony that the puja was a religious invocation. None of the meditators knew what the translation of the puja was, which is celebrated in Sanskrit during the ceremony. All ex-meditators in our study were told that the mantra was a sound without meaning and none knew that the mantra was given out in a standardized way (i.e. other people of the same age would receive the same mantra). Every meditator kept the mantra a secret. That they all kept the mantra to themselves is an indication of the strong influence of TM and a foundation of further unquestioning obedience to TM directives. 7.5 SIDHA-LANDS In recent years there has been effort made by the TM movement to set up economically self-sufficient Sidhalands, in which meditators live and meditate, as well as having the opportunity to work in one of the TM concerns set up there. This institutionalization reflects the real attitudes of meditators. The attitude of the emigrant, who withdraws from all areas of social intercourse and can finally only be happy in his meditation and its institutionalized form. One of TM's formula/mottos, to `meditate and be active' is fulfilled in the Sidha-lands. The double-talk employed by TM would rule out an ordinary interpretation of this last sentence, i.e. that meditation is only fulfilled or effective when the meditator engages in energetic activity. Although TM gives this impression by its use of everyday language in its advertising, what TM really means by `meditate and be active' is something completely different. The meditation and activity are directed solely towards TM and its organization. Only when directed towards the organization can a meditator engage in meaningful activity, and in doing this he will also work effectively for his own evolution. Therefore it is not an activity in the social sense (social welfare) which is required, rather an activity in accord with ``evolution'' and ``the laws of nature''. Sidhalands offer the opportunity of undisturbed meditation, far away from outside influence. In a sidhaland a person can wish himself anything he desires; the Sidhaland becomes a land of milk and honey. 1.6.2.6 THE MANTRA AND STANDARDIZATION OF THE PROCEDURE OF THE MEDITATION Meditation with the help of a mantra is a common method and one in great demand in Hinduism. This is because of the belief in the magical power of certain sounds or words, by the use of which the initiated can attain godly powers. On account of this the mantra must be kept secret. Although it is said in the TM movement that the mantra is a sound without meaning, the belief in the magical power of the mantra is still maintained. It may not be exchanged, and has to be a certain one chosen from Hinduism, which, according to its also does have a traditional meaning: (for example a Hindu god). In order to resolve the conflict between religiosity and scientific appearances, Maharishi has deliberately mechanized and standardized his meditation procedure. He has made it useful for the needs of the westerner. The type of mantra given depends on age, and the mantra is supposed to function automatically. The checking of mistakes in the practice of meditation, (called ``checking'') also follows a 30 point procedure. This standardization finds its theoretical expression in orgin, the description: ``The mechanical path to God-realization.'' It is the highest and most complete path to God-realization, which in public is often paraphrased as self-realization by the TM movement. This interest in the occult and parapsychological phenomena, as well as the central role of evolution is their epistemology. This shows an inner relationship with Aurobindo's teachings. A more detailed analysis would almost certainly lead to the conclusion that TM is very closely related to particular strands of neo-Hinduism, more than would appear at first glance. But a strong westernization has been intended from the start, evident up to the standardization of the meditation process.~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ USA The Mechanics of Mysticism India has more pretenders to paranormal powers per square mile than any other country on Earth. Almost every town has at least one magician/holy man who can purportedly materialize objects, walk on water, or perform yoga feats like stopping his heart. Yoga, which means ``union,'' is a spiritual goal pursued through an intricate combination of physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditative techniques. The supernormal control of the body through yoga has captured the attention of scientists working on the Yoga and Consciousness Project at India's National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in Bangalore, about 100 miles southwest of Puttaparthi. For the past ten years the Indian government has amply funded the project under the direction of neurophysiologist T. Desiraju. Internationally recognized as an expert in sleep research, Desiraju designed the lab to evaluate a few of the staggeringly diverse yoga practices. When published this year, the results of the decade-long probe are bound to cause controversy. Indian scientists claim the Bangalore lab is the world's most sophisticated center for investigating mystical experiences. There's a 16-channel electroencephalograph machine, an electrocardiograph, an electromyograph that measures the tone of involuntary muscle movement, a stethoscope to measure breathing, a polygraph for gauging skin resistance to electrical currents, an ultraviolet device that detects peripheral blood flow, and a host of other instruments. Together they provide a constellation of computer-coordinated readings while subjects meditate in a partially soundproof room lit by a low-watt light bulb. The meditation room has enough space for subjects to stretch, do yoga exercises, or lie down. Because the EEG leads and all the other measuring clips are all electronic, there are no cumbersome wires to make the mystics uncomfortable. Indeed, the Yoga and Consciousness Project team has been unable to identify any physiological standard for so-called enlightenment. Even meditation has proved hard to define. This is a dramatic divergence from the well-known Transcendental Meditation studies pioneered by Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson and physiologist Keith Wallace. But Transcendental Meditation may have no special claim to fame. Apart from a few superyogis, Desiraju and his colleagues examined 50 subjects, including nine senior TM teachers, as well as experts in breath control and raja-yoga. Each meditator sat for at least 25 sessions, more than most previous studies required. Among the general findings: Meditators' heart rates are as likely to increase as decrease, while breath rates and skin response to electrical stimuli are just as eccentric. Based on their early results, Desiraju and B.R. Kanchan reported that ``TM subjects often lapsed into drowsy states during both transcendental meditation sessions,'' whereas ``the alpha power of the TM subjects showed no significant change.'' While meditators generally reported feeling peaceful, the physiological correlates were consistently unpredictable. Individually, meditators showed great physiological variability from one session to the next. Practitioners of the same technique also displayed little conformity. No technique of meditation could be called superior, though TMers were drowsier and their EEGs showed weaker alpha and theta waves, according to abstracts of the Bangalore studies. ``For several years we couldn't believe the unexpected results we were getting,'' one Indian scientist comments. ``Now its seems that the relevance of yoga lies in helping each practitioner reach his or her own harmony in accord with the individual's unique potential. No two minds are alike. And no yoga text ever said that any two persons' psychosomatic systems will change in the same way. Yoga will help normalize people who are abnormal, but once normality is achieved, the physiological path to expanded awareness is as uncharted as the individual mind.'' Desiraju also reports that meditation helps practitioners achieve less stressful, healthier lives. But this so-called homeostatic balance varies according to the individual, and TM is not directly responsible for bringing it about. It's difficult to referee the conflicting stories coming from Bangalore and the TM establishment. The sheer volume of TM literature is impressive compared to Desiraju's sample. Yet Desiraju gave each meditator far closer scrutiny than the original Wallace-Benson experiments, which also involved small groups of subjects. Omni, Nov. 1990~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW YORK PAGEL AFFIDAVIT My comments here are intended to serve as an affidavit in the civil action No. 85-2849, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. My summary opinion, as a theoretical physicist specializing in the area of quantum field theory, is that the views expressed in the literature issued by the Maharishi International University, and appearing in the ``World Government News'' and other publications associated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that purport to find a connection between the recent ideas of theoretical physics--unified field theory, the vacuum state and collective phenomena--and states of consciousness attained by transcendental meditation are false and profoundly misleading. No qualified physicist that I know would claim to find such a connection without knowingly committing fraud. While I am not an expert on the meditation techniques advocated by the Maharishi I have experienced and studied meditation methods in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. There is no known connection between meditation states and states of matter in physics. Individuals not trained professionally in modern physics could easily come to believe, on the basis of the presentations in the Maharishi literature, that a large number of qualified scientists agree with the purported connection between modern physics and meditation methods. Nothing could be further from the truth. What was especially interesting to me, in reviewing this literature, is the claim put forth by the Maharishi and his followers, that transcendental meditation and ``The Science of Creative Intelligence'' qualify as a science. Although the word ``science'' is much abused, it continues to imply an adherent to logic, the clear presentation of assumptions and deductions, and the experimental method. Most importantly, any science necessarily contains a recipe for its own falsification. None of these central features of the Western concept of science are present in ``The Science of Creative Intelligence.'' This is not science. Many of the ideas of modern physics written about by Dr. Lawrence H. Domash in ``The Physics of Unity'' (World Government News, Oct. 1978) are correctly presented. But Dr. Domash goes on in his article to interpolate these ideas as a vindication of transcendental meditation and ``the unity of consciousness.'' The claim that the fields of modern physics have anything to do with the ``field of consciousness'' is false. The notion that what physicists call ``the vacuum state'' has anything to do with consciousness is nonsense. The claim that large numbers of people meditating helps reduce crime and war by creating a unified field of consciousness is foolishness of a high order. The presentation of the ideas of modern physics side by side, and apparently supportive of, the ideas of the Maharishi about pure consciousness can only be intended to deceive those who might not know any better. Reading these materials authorized by the Maharishi causes me distress because I am a man who values the truth. To see the beautiful and profound ideas of modern physics, the labor of generations of scientists, so wilfully perverted provokes a feeling of compassion for those who might be taken in by these distortions. I would like to be generous to the Maharishi and his movement because it supports world peace and other high ideals. But none of these ideals could possibly be realized within the framework of a philosophy that so willfully distorts scientific truth. Sincerely yours, Heinz R. Pagels, Ph.D., Executive Director, The New York Academy of Sciences, July 1, 1986.~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IOWA MIU RESEARCH UPDATE As the methodology of MIU researchers has improved, some of their studies report observations that challenge the validity of the TM movement's doctrinal stance; for example, a Ph.D. thesis (D, MIU, 1989, T735.494, in the MIU library) called The Transcendental Meditation technique: A new direction for smoking cessation programs. In this study, 60 percent of smokers who began TM and were still practicing TM twice daily after 20 months, quit smoking. TM may help someone to quit smoking if the individual stays with the practice for 20 months (great!). Data also revealed that 20 months after 505 individuals began TM, 29.7 percent were no longer meditating, 38.2 percent were occasional practitioners, 13.3 percent practiced TM once a day, and only 18.8 percent still practiced TM twice daily as instructed. Some people have long suspected that it is inaccurate for the TM movement to base assertions regarding the number of people who practice TM on the numbers of people who have been instructed. Now there is hard data in the MIU library that confirms this suspicion--in the MIU library--until this newsletter is published, that is, because the MIU administration does have a practice of removing books not supportive of doctrinal claims made by the TM organization, as was observed and verified by Albert Miller in 1989. A second example, a paper by Drs. John Kesterson and Noah Clinch, which was published in the March 1989 edition of the American Journal of Physiology (p. R632) reports on the most in-depth study to date on the effects of TM on respiration (breathing) and metabolic rate (level of rest). Even using longterm meditators as subjects, including Purusha [full time male staff] members, the authors had to conclude that TM resulted in no greater level of rest than was observed in controls who sat with their eyes closed. Kesterson and Clinch also state in their paper that TMers reached the deepest levels of rest while lying down after TM, not while practicing TM. Maharishi's teaching is at odds with these findings. In Maharishi's teachings, enlightenment, from a physiological perspective, is said to be gained by release of stress and normalization of the nervous system due to deep rest in TM; the rest is said to be unique and deeper than sleep at night. If TM doesn't provide any more rest than sitting with eyes closed, what's the new explanation for how it produces enlightenment on a physiological level? There isn't one. TM administrators haven't had to provide a new understanding: Instead they suppressed the findings of Kesterson and Clinch's study through selective inattention. These two MIU researchers did find a physiological indicator of TM, but it is not one that a TM person would expect. In their subjects practicing TM, but not in control subjects, they observed a slight decrease in respiratory exchange ration, which indicates a probable increased retention of carbon dioxide (usually considered to be a waste product) by subjects during TM.~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART 1: The Hook: In the Name of Science BY A. MILLER On March 6 The Daily Iowan ran a half-page ad by the Transcendental Meditation movement claiming a host of human-potential benefits from the practice of TM. This ad was followed by Susan Stapleton's article March 7, TM Reduces Stress, Taps Creative Ability, which cited other benefits along with cameos of a few local people crediting TM for their business successes. TM introductory lectures were held that day in Iowa City and at the Iowa Memorial Union. That super-positive media image for TM made it appear hard to beat for the money. At the introductory lecture you learn the cost is only $400 to get your mantra with instruction for twice-a-day use to achieve success and the American dream, if you believe the testimony of TM proselytes reported by Stapleton and all the ``scientific evidence'' for personal improvements to be had, neatly illustrated during the lecture. There's a lot more going on here than meets the eye, however. I believe people should know what they're getting into and would like to offer readers a few facts about Transcendental Meditation not revealed in promotions or lectures, based on practicing TM myself and a 20-year exposure to the movement. The TM movement places great emphasis on all of its glowing research studies. They declare these studies to be scientific proof of TM's plethoric physiological and behavioral benefits. That's the hook. You won't hear at the TM lecture that the studies they quote from are performed by TM movement people or by people they sponsor (at Maharishi International University and at other universities) without using double-blind (1) or expectancy controls. Since 1973 when MIU was founded, it has been in the TM movement's direct interest to create and then flaunt this selfserving research to support increasing claims for the efficacy of TM practice and their ``ideal'' SCI (2) educational system, to attract meditating proselytes, to recruit students for MIU, to enhance belief among followers and to promote Maharishi's world government and international Vedalands, his enlightenment enterprises, services and products worth $3.5 billion plus, and his plans for a quantum leap in new sales and influence (3). Aside from outright fraud charged by two former MIU faculty members (4,5), such non-controlled TM studies are proven to be influenced by the tendency a priori to confirm the researcher's indoctrinated belief in TM (expectancy). Conversely, the motivation of subjects being tested who began TM on their own (pre-selection), plus the movement's subsequent influencing of those subjects to expect benefits from TM (placebo)--each of these phenomenon in a tightly controlled research study by Jonathan Smith has been proven to produce by itself the observed benefits and not the practice of TM per se (6). The successful business innovators cited in Stapleton's March 7 article admit they could have been successful in their businesses without TM; all said they felt meditation had improved their inner potential (i.e., expectancy). Suppressed by the TM movement are many carefully controlled nonmovement research studies that have uncovered the following actual effects from TM, especially from its long-term practice or from its more intense daily use, called rounding: 1. No specific or broad scale special benefits. 2. Partially impaired mental faculties. 3. Depersonalization. 4. Loss of self-determination and motivation. 5. A high percentage of psychological disorders. 6. Adverse effects in social relationships. 7. Aggravation of pre-existing mental illness. Unbiased scientific studies on TM have been performed by researchers such as Benson, Castillio, Desiraju, French, Glueck, Heide, Holmes, Kaffman, Kesterson, Lazarus, Otis, Persinger, Singer, Smith, the Stanford Research Institute and the West German Government among others.~ PART II: And Now For Enlightenment: The Sting You will hear at the introductory lecture that TM is scientific and has nothing to do with religion; that all the benefits are obtained through a mental technique using your personal mantra, supposedly a meaningless sound. You may hear further that knowledge of mantras and their use come from the Vedas (circa 1,500 B.C.), that the science of sound and its effects associated with using TM mantras are known only by the rishis (16), that this precious knowledge has been passed on for thousands of years by masters in the lineage of Maharishi's time-honored tradition up to its present scientific status. Now comes the sting: Getting your mantra and starting TM is only the beginning of the services and products you will be urged to buy into. In addition to mere business success and other mundane benefits already claimed for TM, there is a galaxy of super-normal dividends you will be told to expect from continued and advanced TM practices, such as spontaneous right action, pure creativity, cosmic consciousness, support of nature and the reversal of aging to name but a few. You will be told that these incredible realizations along with enlightenment can be yours, especially if you opt for the movement's advanced mantras (six at $400 each every six months), its psychophysiological and primordial sound techniques ($700 each), five-day sesame oil panchakarma massage ($1,200 every three months), a group-of-four occult herbal concoctions ($45 each per month), residence indoctrination courses and so on. Then comes invincibility with the power to levitate the body, among yet another group of psychic powers to be gained -- if you will just go for the $3,000 TM-Sidhi instruction. This will more than double your original time in meditation in order to murmur nineteen sidhi sutras for (mesmerical) enlightenment and psychic powers. Meditators who take the sidhis course become ``sidhas.'' Part III: The Expose: Mantras to Move the Gods Information available at the University of Iowa libraries is usually at odds with MIU and the TM movement's spoon-fed lectures on their mantras and the Hindu holy Vedas. For example, contrary to TM dogma, source documents on Indian civilization at University of Iowa clearly show the mantras used in TM are not meaningless sounds at all, but are from the personal deity, Tantra yoga system of the Dravidians (7), the natives of pre-vedic India, circa 5,000 B.C. (8) The Tantra was intuitional in nature. It was a pre-historic, god-appeasing, spirit-belief cult strongly influenced by sacrifice, charms, magic and superstition. It sought personal liberation through psychic powers by using Sanskrit deity seed mantras to invoke the gods (9) at the dawn of civilization. In the name of science (10), TM teachers have used these same deity mantras since 1957. They are from the Tantra-repackaged Atharva-Veda of the Hindus (11). Few people in the West would have started TM if this fact were known, so the Yogi cleverly declares his deity mantras (12) to be meaningless in America. When learning TM you get a sworn-to-secrecy deity seed mantra (claimed to be meaningless) chosen from a list of 16 according to your age (13). A few TM mantras and the gods who respond (14) by that primitive tradition are: shring for Mahalakshmi, kiring for Kali, hirim for Shiva, shiama for Krishna, aing for Saraswati, and ram for Rama, according to Hindu-Tantra scholars Chattopadhyaya, Singh and Woodroffe (8). Without their knowledge or consent, therefore, MIU students and all who practice this meditation twice a day are invoking the grace of an ishtam(15) by ancient tradition, a Hindu personal god whoes Tantric devata essence is contained (just) in the silent sounding (16) of their $400 sanskrit seed mantras. MIU students and meditators who are sidhas then do their $3,000 TM-Sidhi practice (17). This includes mentally repeating a sutra to themselves: ``relationship of body and akasha [space]--light- ness of cotton fiber,'' while hopping frog-like on foam padding trying to levitate against gravitational principles of Newtonian physics! If all that doesn't get it for you, you can now bring some super deity intervention to bear and do really serious karma-busting at the same time with the Maharishi ``science'' by signing up for ``yagya,'' a ritual chanted by a TM Hindu pundit in India who appeals for grace of the gods on your exclusive behalf (18). Yagyas go for $11,500, $8,500, or $3,300 depending on what level of divine intervention you are judged to need [by your TM Ayurvedic astrologer, one of the twenty approaches to Maharishi-Ayurveda]. From the bizarre to seemingly practical, merchant gurus for ages have pitched methods for idyllic life, its enlightenment techniques, products or services. Today the Maharishi's TM movement accommodates by offering the works. Immense time, effort and fortune are being wasted by trusting followers. 1-Double-blind denotes a comparative research experiment in which the identities of the control group are known neither to the subjects nor to the researchers. 2-The Science of Creative Intelligence, TM's philosophy. 3-David Friend, The Return of Mr. Bliss. LIFE magazine, November 1990, pp. 82.92. 4-Anthony D. Denaro, counsellor at law. Affidavit - equivalent (12 pages) Sea Cliff, NY: July 16, 1986. Former MIU legal counsel and professor of law and economics, and former MIU Director of Grants Administration. 5-Dennis E. Roark, Letter to Pat Ryan: Confirming a conversation of July 11, 1987 (2 pages). Physics Department head, Warner Pacific College, Oregon. (Dr. Roark was former head of the MIU Physics Department and former MIU Dean of Faculty.) 6-A ten page listing of such research, abstracted and with related subject documtation is available from TM-EX. 7-Tantra was a spirt-belief cult of the Dravidians of pre-vedic India where superstition, sacrifice, charm, and magic were dominant forces. They practiced the worship of devatas, attempting to get psychic powers through divine influence by using deity mantras, 5,000 to 3,000 B.C. Tantra sastra doctrine greatly influenced the later Aryan-Vedic tradition of the Hindus, particularly the Atharva-Veda where the importance of prana (controlled breathing), chakras (spiritual centers of the body) and deity mantras are stressed (see Barclay). Hindu Tantra mantras used in TM are from the istadevata (personal deity) bhakti (devotional) yoga system which pervades the whole of Tantra. Shiva is the godhead of the Tantra. (Lalan Prasad Singh, Tantra, Its Mystic and Scientific Basis, p. 11, 16, 19 and 114ff.) 8-Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, Reflections on the Tantra Vol. I, 217ff, Vol. II, p. 160-163, 170, 196-197; Lalan Prasad Singh, Tantra, Its Mystic and Scientific Basis, p. 77ff, 80ff, 84 and 90ff. 9-Seed mantras, some of which are sworn-to-secrecy mantras used in TM, are eternal Brahaman according to the repackaged Atharva-Veda of the Hindus, all have presiding deities (hence `deity mantras') and they are the phonetic source of the Sanskrit alphabet. By Tantric-Vedic tradition, just sounding your assigned deity mantra with one - pointed devotion (japa), engages that deity of Hindu pantheon who transforms the individual self (jiva) from a state of ignorance (avidya) to ultimate liberation, uniting the self with Brahman, the godhead of the Vedas. Ultimate liberation here means the achivement of the ``four fruits'' or ends of human pursuit namely, righteousness (dharma), wealth, (artha), fulfillment of desire (kama) and final emancipation (moksha) as well as the escape from birth and death (samsara). (Woodroffe, op. cit. Vol. I, p. 217ff and Vol. II, p. 170; see also Singh, op. cit., p. 84, 90ff.) 10-Based on hundreds of studies performed by TM movement affiliated researchers, allegedly showing a variety of benefits from their meditation practice, TM has been declared empirically to be ``a science'' by the Maharishi: the Science of Creative Intelligence. The science claim is completely rejected by unbiased science professionals. 11-Principles of Tantra, Vol. II, p. 160ff; Lalan Prasad Singh, Tantra, Its Mystic and Scientific Basis, p. 77ff. 12-The following quotation are from Maharishi's 1955 Beacon Light of the Himalayas: For our (householder) practice we select only personal gods and make us happier in every walk of life. (BLH, p. 65) Thus he develops intensity of ragas (attachment) for the ishtam...and the grihastha (housholder) feels the presence of his ishtam...in all his thoughts, speech and action. (BLH, p. 76) Maharishi bala bramachari Mahesh Yogi Maharaj Beacon Light of the Himalayas: The Dawn of a Happy New Era in the Field of Spiritual Practices; Mind Control, Peace and Atmanananda. Published in Kerala, India, October 1955. 13-The TM deity mantra is assigned according to age, age and/or sex (a non-Tantric method) and is given out during initation in a Hindu divine-invocation Shiva ritual (puja worship) as a chant by the TM teacher. The initiate hears the mantra-chant and start imitating the teacher to assure correct pronunciation. 14-The Mantra Sastra doctrine of Tantra is quoted in this regard as follows: ``By the force or lack of force of the sadhaka's sadhana (aspirant's discipline) on the devata appears or disappears therefrom.'' Then later on as follows: ``It is certain that the form of a particular devata will appear from the particular mantra of which the devata is the presiding deity, for the devata's body is formed out of the (silently sounded) bija mantra,'' i.e., seed mantra. (Woodroffe, op. cit. Vol. II, p. 196-197.) 15-Ishtam means presiding deity of one's seed mantra; the highest object of immedate worship; eternally possessed of sidhi (occult powers and perfection); granter of ultimate liberation. (John Woodroffe, Principles of Tantra, Vol. II, p. 162-163.) 16-The concept of a primordial sound (sabda) is central to the religious philosophy of the Tantra-influenced Atharva-Veda of the Hindus (circa 1,500 B.C.), beginning with the notion that the Creation is but the result of an unmanifested, undifferentiated cosmic sound (sabda-Brahman) which, according to Tantra, gives rise to the manifest sound of its bija mantras, i.e., seed mantras for invoking deities of the Hindu pantheon. (Singh, op. cit., p. 80ff) 17-The TM Sidhi instruction costs $3,000 (accomodations are additional) after first learning to the TM technique. It consists of a group of 19 sutras largely in English, translated from the Sanskrit yoga aphorisms repeated silently during post-TM meditation in order to achieve liberating perfection (sidhi) along with miraculous powers. There is one power per sutra, of which body levitation is one of the alleged powers. First introduced in 1976, no one has attained to any of the miraculous powers yet, but they keep at it, convinced mainly by the movement's latter day claim (1979) that they are producing a ``superradiance'' emanation called the ``Maharishi Effect'' from their ``yogic flying,'' which allegedly eliminates all local and world problems including war. The TM movement attempts to prove this effect using science by analogy, citing positive newspaper stories as anecdotal evidence for it. Negative news is rationalized as being the result of ``too few yogic flyers.'' Meditator hopping on foam in the seated, cross-legged or lotus position (called ``yogic flying'') has been described by unbiased physiologists as a simple psychomotor reaction to repeated thought stimulus (reciting the flying sutra) easily done by non-meditators in a padded gymnastic setting. 18-Yagya means a religious performance of holy ritual, a sacrificial ceremony in which gifts are offered to the presiding deity (meditator's personal god) and are consumed in fire. If during such activity, a man cherishes the act of pleasing the gods ... it brings him greater support from these powers in nature. (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, On the Bhagavad-Gita, p.194.) The gross aspect of (yagya) deals with ritualistic performances to please different Vedic gods and win their blessings, while the subtle aspect deals with training the mind to contact higher powers and receive their blessings. (Maharishi, op. cit., p. 195.) Thus we find that every yagya is permeated with, and gives rise to some degree of divine consciousness. In its higher aspect, yagya is the way to cosmic consciousness; in its lower, it is the performance of rites and rituals to win the favor of the gods. This is the complete conception of yagya. (Maharishi, op. cit., p. 206.) ~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PUJA: The Iniation Ceremony A federal judge calls it religious, the movement claims it's not. Invocation: Whether pure or impure, whether all places are permeated by purity or impurity, Whoever opens himself to the expanded vision of unbounded awareness gains inner and outer purity. Invocation: To Lord Narayana, to lotus-born Brahma the Creator, to Vasishtha, to Shakti and his son, Parashara, to Vyasa, to Shukadeva, to the great Gauda-Pada, to Govinda, ruler among yogis, from him to his disciple, Shri Shankaracharya, from him to his disciples, Padma Pada and Hastamalaka, to him, Trotakacharya and Vartika-Kara, to others, to the eternal tradition of our masters, I bow down. To the abode of the wisdom of the Shrutis, Smritis and Purana, to the abode of compassion, to the personified glory of the Lord, to Shankara, emancipator of the world, I bow down. To Shankaracharya, the Emancipator, adored as Krishna and Badarayana, to the two authors of the commentary on the Brahma Sutras, I bow down. To both expressions of the Divine, in Shankara, I bow down again and again. At whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night. Adorned with immeasurable glory, preceptor of the whole world, having bowed to Him we gain complete fulfillment. Skilled in dispelling the cloud of ignorance of the people, the bestower of happiness, the glorious emancipator, Brahmananda Sarasvati, the supreme teacher, full of brilliance, Him I bring to my awareness. Offering the invocation to the lotus feet of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down. Offering a seat, ablution, cloth, sandalpaste, full rice, flower, incense, light, water, fruit, water, betel leaf, coconut to the lotus feet of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down. Offering camphor light. White as camphor, the incarnation of kindness, the essence of creation garlanded by the Serpent-King. Ever dwelling in the lotus of my heart, Lord Shiva with Mother Divine to Him I bow down. Offering light, water to the lotus feet of Shri Guru Dev I bow down. Offering a handful of flowers. Guru Dev is the glory of Brahma the Creator, Lord Vishnu the Maintainer, and the great Lord Shiva. Guru is the glory of the Supreme Transcendent personified, to Him, to the glory of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down.The Unbounded, like the endless canopy of the sky, by whom the moving and unmoving universe is pervaded. By whom the sign of That has been revealed, to Him, to the glory of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down. Guru Dev, Shri Brahmananda, Bliss of the Absolute, transcendental joy, the Self-Sufficient, the embodiment of pure knowledge. Beyond and above the universe like the sky, the aim of `Thou art That' and other such expressions which unfold eternal truth. The One, the Eternal, the Pure, the Immovable, the very being of that which is the witness of all intellects. Beyond the sphere of thought, the Transcendent along with the three gunas, the teacher of Absolute Truth, to the glory of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down. The blinding darkness of ignorance is removed by the application of the ointment of knowledge, by whom the eye of knowledge has been opened, to Him, to the glory of Shri Guru Dev, I bow down.~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MANTRAS: Separating Fact from Fiction According to the TM doctrine, the mantra is a critical part of learning the meditation process. A mantra must be selected for the individual by a qualified teacher. ``It becomes extremely important that the correct sound be selected for each individual.'' They claim the mantras used in TM come from an ancient Indian tradition known as the ``Vedic Shankaracharya Tradition.'' According to TM publications, the ``Shankaracharya tradition has preserved not only these sounds, but also a system of rules or formulae by which they are to be assigned to individuals.'' At the introductory lecture, the mantras are said to be ``meaningless sounds whose effects are known'' that are chosen for the individual based upon a trade secret formula. A search of TM documents has uncovered the following statement by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of TM: WE CAN TAKE ANY WORD. EVEN THE WORD ``MIKE'' CAN BE TAKEN . . . THUS WE FIND THAT ANY SOUND CAN SERVE OUR PURPOSE OF TRAINING THE MIND TO BECOME SHARP. He goes on to say: FOR OUR PRACTICE, WE SELECT ONLY THE SUITABLE MANTRAS OF PERSONAL GODS. SUCH MANTRAS FETCH TO US THE GRACE OF PERSONAL GODS AND MAKE US HAPPIER IN EVERY WALK OF LIFE. How are the TM mantras given? The mantras is given in a private ``initiation'' ceremony, or ``puja,'' in which the initiate brings fresh fruit, flowers and a new handkerchief, to be offered to a picture of Maharishi's deceased ``Master'' in an incense-filled, candlelit room. The recruit is warned not to reveal the mantra because it is destructive of the teaching and will weaken the process of TM. The puja is said to protect the teaching so that nothing is added or subtracted. Its performance is said to insure that TM is taught without change, as purportedly it has been taught for the last 5000 years. Court documents reveal that many methods for choosing mantras have been used by the TM movement for the past 30 years. The mantras are chosen on the basis of age, and/or age and sex, depending on the particular teacher training course the initiator [TM-teacher] was trained. [see box] A psychologist's explanation of the initation process is called ``hypnotic trance induction.''~ 1961 1976 1977 1978 ---- 3-10 ENG 3-10 ING 3-10 ENG MALE -- RAM 10-12 EM 10-12 IN 10-12 EM 12-14 ENGA 12-14 INGA 12-14 EMGA 1969 14-16 EMA 14-16 INA 14-16 EMA ---- 16-18 AENG 16-18 AING 16-18 AENG MALE 18-20 AEM 18-20 AIM 18-20 AEM 0-15 ING 20-22 AENGA 20-22 AINGA 20-22 AENGA 15-30 AING 22-24 AEMA 22-24 AIMA 22-24 AEMA 30-45 SHRING 24-30 SHIRING 24-30 SHIRING 24-30 SHIRING 46+ SHIAM 30-35 SHIRIM 30-35 SHIRIM 30-35 SHIRIM FEMALE 35-40 HIRING 35-40 HIRING 35-40 HIRING 0-15 IM 40-45 HIRIM 40-45 HIRIM 40-45 HIRIM 15-30 AIM 45-50 KIRING 45-50 KIRING 45-50 KIRING 30-45 SHRIM 50-55 KIRIM 50-55 KIRIN 50-55 KIRIM 46+ SHIAMA 55-60 SHIAM 55-60 SHIAM 55-60 SHIAM 60+ SHIAMA 60+ SHIAMA 60+ SHIAMA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: TM has led me on a wild goose chase since 1979. I never received the publicized benefits from the practice of the technique. What I did receive from TM was most disheartening and painful. They told me that their techniques were ``scientifically validated,'' that everyone, regardless of past experience or knowledge, would receive the same benefits. They, in essence, took a sincere seeker of spiritual wisdom and lied about how that wisdom was attained. They treated me with such neglect that I have now come to see the organization as epitomizing all that is un-spiritual: a complete lack of concern for the spiritual and emotional welfare of others, the constant dispensation of false promises, manipulative teaching techniques intended to keep the meditator meditating rather than to answer his or her questions, misleading or erroneous notions surrounding spiritual attainment, and the use of business practices which can only be considered deceitful. Be forewarned! TM may help some with its powerful techniques of suggestion. But, those of us who are seeking real guidance and are sincerely interested in evolving on the spiritual path won't find help here. G.A., Ohio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [This letter was sent to the editors of LIFE.] Dear [Editor]: Your article on TM in the November issue of LIFE is witty, tongue-in-cheek and amusing. Of course everything Maharishi says and does is ludicrous. However, it is incredibly irresponsible reporting not to have questioned the dark side of the TM movement. Did you ever ask any of the parents, spouses, siblings, or other relatives or friends of members of TM about the tragedy of losing a loved one to this group? Did you not even wonder how so many thousands (or worse, millions, as they claim) of intelligent, educated people from all walks of life have ended up as ``true believers'' willing to follow the guru's every whim? Did you wonder where Maharishi was and what he was doing all the years you said he'd disappeared? (That statement alone shows you did very superficial research.) Did you wonder where the staggering wealth comes from, both in the United States and abroad? Have you examined the physical and psychological damage this belief system has caused--even so far as the mental disorders and suicides of members? Have you questioned the accreditation of MIU or the licensing of the AyurVedic ``medical'' clinics? (You mention courses composed by the professors at MIU without batting an eye.) Did you look behind the facade of the compound for boys in India? Have you read the various court cases against TM? Are you versed in the techniques and manifestations of mind control? Are you familiar with the term ``destructive cult'' and the criteria on which a determination of such is based? How many TM believers do you know personally? Did you know them before they got involved? If so, how have they changed? Did you contact the Cult Awareness Network or TM-EX for their input? Yes, go ahead and laugh at how ridiculous Maharishi's claims are and at the people who fawn at his feet. However, it would be of far greater value to recognize the power and corruption and the sheer horrific waste of productive, bright citizens for which he has been responsible. If anything is going to stop cult leaders like Maharishi and so many others from practicing their manipulative techniques on innocent, trusting, honest people, we all have to face the facts. Our constitutional freedoms aren't worth the paper they are written on without freedom of thought. It would be wise for you to examine that issue. Finally, please don't make fun of what has happened to our loved ones. It hurts enough without that. Sincerely, Sara L. Jones [Parent] November 16, 1990~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [This letter was sent to the Editorial Offices of the Wall Street Journal] Dear Good People: It is remarkable that Richard Gibson could print an advertisement for Transcendental Meditation on the front page of October 11th's Wall Street Journal. His human interest column, a facsimile of TM's flaky sales pitch, leaves the impression of a harmless group of crazies. Unfortunately, TM is a dangerous group. Mr. Gibson apparently missed the suit by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC 202-254-8630) against TMer [affiliated] International Trading Group (ITG) for fraudulent financial marketing. It seems that 85% of ITG's clients experienced losses totaling $428 million during a period when ITG took in $283 million in profits. The allegation of fraud is based on ITG's claim of the influence over the stock market that Gibson quotes TMers as still believing. He also missed other important TM financial news: the federal RICO lawsuit against the TM conglomerate; Ed Beckley's ``sidha company'' being charged with the largest case of consumer fraud in Iowa history; the numerous bankruptcy filings for TM related business in Iowa; and, in India, the seizure of the TM organization's assets by the finance ministry during the first week of 1988 The Illustrated Times of India, January 17-23, 1988. It is amazing that Gibson recites TM's delusions to us, yet fails to mention the lawsuits for fraud and negligence against them. He apparently did not talk to the TM-EX members group or read Leslie Goldberg's Meditation Movement: From Levitation to Litigation in last September 10th's San Francisco Examiner. It is remarkable that he didn't speak with the friends and families of the dead men and women who committed suicide while taking TM courses. Yet he reports the glowing health claims of this cult. Gibson ends his article with a quote from the formerly respectable Dr. Keith Wallace, who says with apparent pride that his mother has become a ``sidha.'' On February 6th, 1984, Dr. Wallace's ``sidha'' ex-wife shot another ``sidha'' in the TM ``flying room'' with real bullets. She claimed the victim was sapping her energy, thus preventing her from lifting off. This and many other disconcerting realities are reported in the depositions of Kropinski v. M.M. Yogi (Washington, D.C. District Court). Gibson describes the pedigreed faculty of MIU, TM's ``university,'' but seems ignorant of former professors who admit and regret the fraud they were part of. If he had read Steven Hassan's Combatting Cult Mind Control, he could have warned readers that experts on destructive cults consider TM to be one of the worst. Richard Gibson's writing gives credence to TM's claimed scientific validation of their wishful thinking. Too bad that he missed MacArthur Fellow James Randi's Flim Flam, which contains a critique of TM ``research.'' It shows that their data is often not the same as the sources they say it comes from. The real data in these cases disproves TM's claims. That the highly respected Wall Street Journal could have its journalistic integrity compromised by such a group should serve as a warning to journalists everywhere. The free press should ``stake life on truth'' and use its human interest reportage in the human interest. Please fearlessly expose frauds like Mr. Mahesh and his TM crew. Richard Gibson's article is hardly funny. It's a sick joke gone too far. [Name withheld by request], Massachusetts, U.S.A. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: Is Fairfield Rajneeshpuram revisited? The new spiritual movement for the rich? New techniques cost $700; a visit to the present clinic is about $130/day. To really get a blast from the gods, $11,000 for a yagya (a ceremony performed by pundits in India to gain the gods' support). Now America's largest health spa is to be built in Fairfield to keep 5000 sidhas and potential sidhas rotating through Fairfield maintaining the magical 7000. Are there 125,000 (5000 x 25 2-week periods per year) people with money and motivation to spend two weeks a year at a health spa in one of America's most boring landscapes and viciously variable climates? I always look back to the early 1970s. Meditate twice a day and you could be enlightened in 5 years. Many 5 year phases have passed and we are in the 90's. No one has reached enlightenment, and now it is only available for the wealthy with a lot of spare time. Rajneesh was the guru for the rich. Maharishi has now taken that role. Rajneesh had guards with paramilitary weapons guarding Rajneeshpuram, Maharishi has guards with paramilitary weapons guarding Maharishi Nagar. As their movements matured both separated themselves from their followers. How sinister does the TM movement have to become before more people realise the game? Former sidha, Fairfield ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: The fires caused by sesame oil in Fairfield reported in your ``heaven on earth'' statistics reminded me of a sign in a Fairfield laundromat: No sesame oil soaked sheets in the dryer. They had a tendency to catch on fire! Former Fairfield resident ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX, I came upon your newsletter inadvertently. My first reaction was one of confusion and slight disdain. I had long ago removed myself from the TM movement, recognizing and allowing myself a long period of anger which eventually led to virtually not caring what the movement was up to. It became just another undesirable organization and held little interest for me. Your newsletter therefore initially affected me as an angry publication produced by people who were still caught in that stage and therefore unable to fully remove themselves from the movement. I couldn't see the sense in pointing a finger and what I construed as wasting time complaining about the past. But something in me kept me reading, or more appropriately devouring every word. As I read I found myself exclaiming in disbelief, shaking my head in sorrow, feeling my anger once again rise and even sardonically laughing out loud. Where were all these emotions coming from for one who had so well achieved a state of not caring? By the time I had finished your newsletter I knew. They came from a part of me that had been so thoroughly altered from all my years in the movement that I wasn't fully aware of it consciously. A aspect of my personality forever marred by the fact that for a significant part of my life I was not a master of my destiny. I was not a knower of reality. I was not a lighthouse to my family or my community. I was instead a marionette, owned and controlled by a confused society of people, dominated by peer pressure and delusion, deeming me virtually incompetent. I was also a source of sorrow and a constant financial drain on my parents, an estranged elitist to my once loyal friends who I now referred to as ``non-meditators.'' I was a damaging influence on my younger adoring brother, eager to follow in my footsteps. I misled the innocents attending my lectures by convincing them TM was not an off shoot of the Hindu religion. I brought a trusting clergyman to his knees before a graven image forbidden him. I evaded sincere questions regarding mantras and the puja. I promised enlightenment in five to seven years. I put on airs, changed my manner of speech, sorely lacked a sense of humor and kept people waiting for dinner while I bounced around on a piece of foam. Worst of all I was untrue to myself. I remember feeling during my first encounter with TM teachers that something was wrong. These people acted strangely. They all talked the same, ate the same, dressed the same. I felt unnatural and awkward around them. But I was only nineteen, impressionable and looking for something to believe in and so in a frighteningly short period of time, with my first taste of yogic relaxation, an experience I now know is available in a myriad of ways (you were right Herbert Benson), I was one of them. I no longer thought about what I thought. I only thought about what Maharishi thought. I have been brought out of my apathy upon reading the TM-EX newsletter. An apathy that was both untrue and unfitting. I've discovered things from your publication that have helped to further my personal progress in de-programming. A process I had assumed finished. And I now understand that de-programming is an ongoing life process. A cultured awareness of what it is that allows people to be coerced out of independent thought. I've become suddenly sensitive in all of my dealings with people, not to be a target for mental dominance. I am seeing with renewed understanding that the movement continues to be dangerous, a threat to be feared and dealt with. For whatever good it gave us; the time to look within, an opening to spiritual values, it performed blasphemy on those same lessons by dictating how one was to seek, how one was to pray, and how one was to be spiritual. I have found crevices of my mind, attitudes, assumptions that are still under the influence of TM teachings and I have begun to reconsider them, to ascertain exactly what my own true beliefs are. I feel freer, happier, and even more committed to being my own person. Finding my own way, my own God. A knower of reality. The master of my destiny. Thank you, TM-EX. Cut loose in Vermont ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi--I read with interest the article on TM-EX at the Maharishi gathering. I was hoping you would speak about the Maharishi Ayurvedic Clinic in Washington. I consulted the clinic several weeks ago, as I am interested in Ayurvedic medicine. I am still trying to ``digest'' intellectually what I was told, since I don't think that I am the body type I was told I am. If you have any information/advice/suggestions about the clinic; I would be most grateful. Many thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, D.B., Maryland P.S.: The prices for the Ayurvedic products seem exorbitant, e.g. $5.00 for a box of teabags! Could you address this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: I got your info today. Thank you--I found it very interesting. Many things the TM folk have said to me did not correspond with my experience. It was nice to read some of the articles to have this affirmed. I hope this card finds you well on the way to recovery. Thanks, D.S., Connecticut ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aloha! Our staff just read the Fall 1990 Newsletter, an impressive collection of TM's questionable ethics. Please put us on the mailing list; to keep our readers informed. Palanaswami, Editor, Hinduism Today ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: Many thanks for the info you sent and for putting us on your mailing list. We had a brief but pleasant visit with [our Purusha relative] over Christmas. He says he's happier than ever with his work. I told him I respected his commitment, but that if he ever wanted to change direction, we'd help any way we could. Thanks for all your help. U.S.A. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: I've just received your newsletter ... You better take me off your mailing list. I'm not happy to receive this, and I don't want to ever receive it ever again. A.M. Washington, D.C. [Request granted.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: I would like to receive any written information you might have about the effects of TM. Thank you. C.R., Maryland ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: I've spent hours photocopying the TM-EX newsletter and the Des Moines Register articles, giving them to all my TM friends. I now call my degree: ``M.A. in Mind Control.''Could you please place all the back issues of the TM-EX newsletter in the files of the Fairfield Public Library? I hope that MIU's mail department lets the TM-EX newsletter be delivered. I hope there is no problem with the mail at MIU. Thank you again. C.H., Illinois [Many newsletters sent to MIU have been returned marked ``no forward address.'' Follow-up calls to MIU reveal in some cases the addresses are current MIU residents. We recomend private post office boxes in Fairfield.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: Thank you for sending your recent newsletter, we found it very ``enlightening'' (TM joke, ha!). We just want to be on your mailing list and allowed to recover from TM in quiet and privacy. Thank you. Washington ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear TM-EX: I'm glad to know you exist. If you have a mailing list, please put me on it. I've enjoyed reading the information you make available. I have intuitions about some of these things and you have validated many of them. I have been a part of the movement since 1973 and I know I need more objectivity about what the movement is really all about. I've lived in Fairfield since 1980 though when I left I vowed never to come back, but did after many years. Despite overt and manipulative pressures, I refuse to set foot in the domes. I seem to be much more suspicious than most of my friends here of Maharishi's motives behind his words and actions. I'm surprised I'm here, I don't like Fairfield, I don't like the movement, I don't like Maharishi. Someone here once said to me, ``I feel somewhat like I'm under a spell here'' and these words keep coming to my mind with a strange ring to them. Have you heard similar experiences of people as this? Also, please let me know who the local contact for TM-EX is here. Thank you. Fairfield ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Sirs: Recently I received a TM-EX newsletter in my MIU mailbox, even though I did not request one. I must say that I was appalled by Albert Miller's recent article on the death of Mark Totten. It is filled with lies and distortions regarding Mark Totten, his health, his family and his death. I can't say he was a close friend of mine. He was an acquaintance. Mark was indeed experiencing medical problems. He was often sick. He was always alone whenever I saw him, which is highly unusual for an M.I.U. student. David McLatchie, Video-technical training student, M.I.U. [Albert Miller stands behind his story.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AND TELEPHONE CALLS... I just received, unfortunately, in the mail, your newsletter. I want you to immediately take us off your mailing list. I think that this is the most disgusting publication I have ever looked at. And you guys focus on the most trivial, insignificant, absolutely, and miss the whole big picture. I absolutely hate your publication. If I ever receive it again, it immediately goes into the garbage, and I don't want to be on your mailing list. I am completely insulted that you sent me this in the first place. I don't wish you any good luck. I think what you are doing is absolutely horrid. Mrs. L.N., Fairfield ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want you to take me off your mailing list. I don't know where the f--k you got it. I'm more successful than you'll ever be. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You people should take your two minutes to come out of meditation and do at least two sets of asanas properly twice a day, and maybe you'll be successful, instead of screwing around with this s--t trying to waste people's time. If I get another piece of mail from you, or any contact, you're going to be sued. Alright? So watch yourself. A.B., Massachusetts ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was given a copy of your newsletter, and I'd like to be put on your mailing list, for one thing. And I also would like the name of a local contact. So if you would call me. Thank you. G.G., Maryland ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "LETTERS" is a forum reflecting the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent those of the editors. Due to volume of letters, not all can be published. We reserve the right to edit for space and clarity. Please send letters, essays, and articles to TM-EX. Because of the sensitive nature of our publication, authors' names printed by request only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ November 1990 3) A financial pinch at MIU School has led to the layoff of a total of 13 persons; bicycle thefts have been reported to the police. 6) Four sentenced on guilty pleas, criminal mischief, driving under revoked license, drug possession. 7) Bicycle reported missing at MIU; trial set for hit-and-run accident; cars and deer collide. 10) $8,000 damage in rural collisions; tools reported stolen; fire call to 206 S. Main St. where a pan of sesame oil was burning. 14) Woman (MIU Student) reported assaulted in park; vandals strike two cars and one house. 19) Two purses reported stolen; bicycle, luggage carrier reported stolen; vandalism reported at North Bay Apartments, Mi-Ti-Mart; two windows shot out of a truck at Utopia Park; Fire department called to Utopia Park; five judgments entered in cases involving, domestic abuse, driving under the influence, theft and driving under a revoked license. 29) MIU student commits suicide. 30) Jefferson County jobless rate climbs sharply. December 1) Three injured in crash. 3) Vandalism reported to a car; bicycle reported stolen at MIU; theft of purses from parked car. 7) Driver charged with driving under revoked license; Governor of the AOE reported theft of tools from MIU parking lot; Fairfield man sentenced for possession of a controlled substance. 9) Driver ticketed after four car accident; fire reported at MIU. 11) Crash in parking lot at Pamida. 14) Thefts reported of speakers; Sidha reports credit cards stolen. 18) Numerous traffic violation charged; trial date set for charge of altering serial numbers with fraudulent intent; man ordered to spend 24-hours for domestic abuses. 20) Couple charged with car theft; driver charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. 24) Trial set in domestic abuse case. January 3) Car vandalized. 4) $1,500 tools reported stolen; man ticketed for failure to maintain control of vehicle. 7) Gun theft reported; $5,000 damage when car hits electric pole. 8) Icy roads cause traffic mishaps; man pleads guilty to arson charge. 9) Police alerted to thefts; attempted break-in; Zehr Electric reported theft of a ladder; Ross Motors reported FAX missing and rings missing. 10) Billfold reported stolen. 14) Senior Center burglarized. 16) U.S. inflation highest since 1981; two cars collide on Burlington Ave.; man charged with forgery. 19) Five vehicles damaged in accident; driver cited for illegal driving. 21) Wallet stolen. 24) Men charged with: driving while intoxicated, theft, serious assault. 25) Car fire reported; court judgments ordered for car theft. 26) Vandalism to a vehicle was reported; Utopia Park resident ticketed for failure to maintain control of a vehicle. 27) Iowa Electric reported theft of 6000 feet of wire; Sidha reports ladder missing. 28) Theft reported items valued at $950 from MIU campus. 31) Theft of wheels reported by Fairfield Toyota; MIU student reports theft for car on MIU campus. February 12) Fairfield criminal arrests rise in 1990; arrests involving juveniles increased from 61 in 1989 to 83 in 1990; man charged with burglary; Fire department called for ``smoking clothes dryer.'' 25) Nine citations for illegal possession were issued; juveniles charged with second-degree burglary. March 4) Two men charged with theft. 5) Traffic mishap at MIU, damages $900; mailboxes vandalized. 8) Fire injures small child causes $10,000 damage to home; court handles heavy docket, possession of drugs, driving with suspended licenses, serious assault public intoxication. 13) MIU student charged with failure to yield. 14) Utopia Park resident told police her car struck an parked car .~ on campus. She reportedly left the scene to get paper in order to leave a note in the car and couldn't find the vehicle when she returned. 15) Clarinet reported missing; driver ticketed for operating a vehicle while under the influence. 18) Man sentenced on forgery charges. 19) Burglary reported by church; window reported broken out of Leazers TV and Appliance Inc. 22) Jefferson County Sheriff Department is investigating two reported break-ins; theft reported of tools; purse reported stolen at Chautauqua Park. 25) Vandalism reported to auto gas tank; men's bike reported stolen; jacket reported stolen; garden tools reported missing. Study finds one in eight children in US hungry. 27) Dealer car reported missing; Theft of purse reported; Book bag reported stolen. 28) Police have the report of the theft of cash from a purse; Resident reports video cassette recorder stolen. 29) Jobless rate rises in Iowa. 30) Thefts of milk cans, Sharp TV, Scott stereo, Mercedes hood ornament, rings, money by two residents. National Crime Survey released show assaults, attempted robberies and personal larcenies increased in 1990. The number of completed violent crimes rose 2.4 percent. April 1) Police received reports of seven incidents of criminal mischief including damage to four vehicles at MIU. 2) A $1000 painting was reported stolen form a dormitory at MIU. 5) Farem theft reported, missig ammunition and knifves. 8) criminial mischief reported to police 16) car break-in and vandalism reported on MIU campus. 17) Settlment in three TM lawsuits reached. 20) A money door and change was reported to have been taken from a pop maching at the MIU student Union. 23) Theft reported from MIU campus of cash, hip pack and rings. 26) Harper Brush Works burglarized. 27) Purse stolen. 29) 22 arrested in beer party raid 30) Lap top computer reported stolen. Bandalism reported at North Bay Apartments. Sidha pleaded guilty to charge of assault. May 2) Firefighters took a smoking pan for m a stove burner that had been left turned on i Building 110 MIU. 4) Theft of hood ornament from a 1987 Cadillac at Utopia Park 6) Theft reported of cassette player and speakers. 9) A Kenwood palayrer was pulled for a car on MIU campus. Theft of brown leather briefcase reported on MIU campus. 10) MIU resident reports theft of a citizens band radio and rader detector from MIU. 11) Car Vandalized. 12) Utopia Park resident is being held on burglary count. 16) Purse stolen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lifespring A Washington, D.C. jury has awarded $300,000 in damages to Democratic Party worker Mark Gorman who charged that the personal development Lifespring organization caused him to have a psychotic break after five days of mental and emotional manipulation. The jury found that Lifespring acted negligently in administering its training and that it made fraudulent representations to him, but that it had not intentionally inflicted emotional distress. Cult Awareness News,8/90. NSA Soka University, founded three years ago by the Japan-based Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai sect on the Calabasas, CA campus vacated by the Church Universal and Triumphant, is now expanding. The organization has acquired nearly 600 surrounding acres for as much as $56 million--perhaps twice what it was worth--and intends to grow into a four-year liberal arts college for 5000 students. Los Angeles Times, 9/24/90. CUT In the wake of a large oil spill at their giant bomb shelter complex in Montana earlier this year, and numerous conflicts with neighboring communities since relocating there several years ago, the Church Universal and Triumphant appears to be cultivating a new image. The group now stages weekly dinner theatre productions at a church-owned restaurant, hosted local community leaders to a Fourth of July hoedown-barbecue, and went on the Donahue show in July to argue that they are, in the words of leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet, ``happy, competent, normal people.'' Montana Standard, 6/17/90. Hare Krishna The local leader of the Hare Krishna movement [in Moscow], Sergei Zuyev, says ``Our movement has been increasing in number so fast, it is hard to keep up count.'' He estimated up to 10,000 followers are now among the 300 million Soviet citizens. ``Hare Krishna isn't only a religion,'' he said, but ``a philosophy of spiritual happiness and that is what we try to provide. Young people are open to what we are trying to teach.'' Detroit News, 8/18/90. est Over the last 10 years, Erhard [founder of est] has found himself under an increasing barrage of allegations that he was running not so much an enlightenment program as an authoritarian cult. Former disciples have come forward with stories of violence and intimidation by Erhard and his staff. Last year, after a longtime member of Erhard's inner circle sued for wrongful discharge, several people filed supporting declarations, charging Erhard with using abusive tactics to enforce obedience. This year alone, three lawsuits--involving allegations of wrongful discharge, wrongful death and fraud--are expected to go to trial. Charlene Afremow, one of Erhard's closest associates, filed a $2 million lawsuit against Erhard and WE&A [Werner Erhard & Associates] claiming she was fired when she opposed such policies as making employees work in excess of 12 hours per day and six days a week. Because trainers were overworked, she said, some of their clients suffered psychotic episodes. Two of Erhard's daughters have spilled their own harrowing tale of alleged physical and emotional abuse inflicted, they say, on them and their mother, Ellen. Although he has made so much money claiming to be a great humanitarian and human relations expert, they said in actuality he is an abusive man who, when they were growing up, forced him to watch while he got his aide [an M.D.] to kick and choke their mother. Their only interactions with him as children were scheduled meetings to review their activities in the presence of his staff members. Erhard apparently controlled his now divorced wife Ellen so completely that he assigned someone to be with her at all times, kept track of her weight, controlled when she could see her children, did not allow her to have money or drive a car, and even forced her to act as a family maid who could not talk to her children. Erhard sold his $70 million/year empire last month to a group of employees. They will continue to run The Forum and other programs that had been run by WE&A. Newsweek, 2/18/91; 60 Minutes, 3/3/91. Rajneesh By the time he died in Poona, India last year, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had initiated thousands of Westerners into the ancient eastern tradition of discipleship. But now his disciples must find thier own way or continue the movement in a new form. New religious movements face many challenges in their early history, but the death of a charismatic leader is always a watershed, presenting three main possibilities: fizzle out; survive and consolidate; or break down into rival factions. The movement's continuity is in some doubt also because Rajneesh never certified any of the sannyasins as ``enlightened,'' much less appointed one as his successor. Nine months before his death, he formed an ``Inner Circle'' of 21 sannyasins to administer day-to-day affairs and apparently not at all to constitute an esoteric ruling inner circle. It is too soon, then, to speculate further about the future, and whether the movement will succeed in living down disreputable events of the past, particularly in America. But the very fact that the movement is seeking to clear Rajneesh's name and presenting him as a Jesus-like figure murdered by the ruling religion (he claimed that Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. government put the CIA up to poisoning him) could inspire sannyasins to rally and come closer together. Religion Today (U.K.), Vol. 6, No. 1, 1990~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NCAHF Newsletter (National Council Against Health Fraud), P.O. Box 1276, Loma Linda, CA 92354. To aid in activism against health fraud, misinformation and quackery. Cults: What Parents Should Know, Joan Carol Ross and Michael Langone. An excellent study about cult involvement from the perspective of the family and the cult member. Cults & Consequences: The Definitive Handbook, edited by Rachel Andres and James R. Lane. Contains invaluable information which could prevent someone from joining a cult or help those who are dealing with a cult problem. Cultic Studies Journal, American Family Foundation, P.O. Box 335, Weston, MA 02193. The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, A Review of Contemporary Meditation Bibiliography, 1931-1988. Esalen Institute, 230 Forbes Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901. Health Schemes, Scams and Frauds, Consumer Reports Books, 51 East 42 Street, New York, N.Y. 10017. A consumer's guide to identifying and avoiding health quackery; vital protection in an ever-more-dangerous medical marketplace. Combatting Cult Mind Control, by Steven Hassan. MUST reading for anyone who has been touched by cult phenomena. TM and Cult Mania, by M.A. Persinger, Ph.D. An in-depth investigation into the claims of TM, hypnosis and research. PSYCHIATRY INTERPERSONAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES, Volume 53, Number 2, May 1990, "Depersonalization and Meditation." Study of six long-term TMers. PSYCHIATRIC ANNALS, Volume 20, Number 4, April 1990, "Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties." Reviewing the history of thought reform and mind control programs [case examples include TMer]. Influence: The New Psychology of Modern Persuasion, by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. A landmark publication in furthering our understanding of the persuasion process. Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, by Dr. Robert J. Lifton, M.D. A new re-issued edition of a classic textbook and case study on victims of thought reform and the elements of thought reform programs. Skeptical Inquirer, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215. Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. The Fringes of Reason: A Whole Earth Catalog, Harmon Books, 1989, Edited by Ted Schultz. A consumer guide to New Age frontiers, unusual beliefs and eccentric sciences. Books and full reprints of most articles are available from the Cult Awareness Network, 2421 West Pratt Blvd. Suite 1173, Chicago, Illinois 60645. (312) 267-7777. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHAT IS TM-EX? Transcendental Meditation EX-Members Support Group (TM-EX) was founded by former Maharishi International University (MIU) faculty, students, TM teachers, sidhas, meditators, and caring relatives of members of the TM movement. TM-EX is a support network to help former and current members of the TM movement in making the transition to life outside the TM movement. As former members, we have experienced the transition and are available to assist you. WHAT DO WE DO? We are a referral network and source of information to movement members, former members, exit counselors, family members and experienced therapists and professionals. THE TM-EX newsletter is a forum for a varitety of opinions that often cannot be expressed within the movement without fear of reprisal. Contributors do not represent any particular philosophy, opinion or lifestyle. Although numerous religious based groups have challenged TM in the past, TM-EX is not affiliated with any of these. Its members come from a wide variety of religious and philosophical backgrounds. What we do have in common, is our desire to assist those leaving the movement; to make the public aware of the fraud within the movement; and the physical and psychological harm, that has resulted for many, from the practices of the TM Program. We welcome your input: comments, articles, letters, help with printing and postage. Call or write TM-EX: P.O. Box 7565, Arlington, VA 22207 (202) 728-7580 [All telephone calls will be returned collect.}