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[home] [research] [getting started] [law] [personal stories] [secrets] [news] [about TranceNet] Declaration of Gregory J. Randolph Declaration I, Gregory J. Randolph, declare as follows: I am a resident of the County of Shasta, State of California. My present address is 1823 Pine Street, Redding, California 96001. From October 1970 to October 1974, I practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. From January 1973 to May 1973, I participated in a teacher-training course which took place in La Antilla, Huelva, Spain. Along with a number of other people, I was personally trained by Maharishi to be an initiator or teacher of TM. From June 1973 to October 1974, I actually taught TM in Redding, California and initiated approximately 75 people into the practice of TM. One of the most important things I learned from being a TM initiator is that the whole TM movement is highly esoteric. There is a definite hierarchy of information; there are progressive levels of initiation, and the farther you go, the more you know. The general public has most of the truth about TM deliberately concealed from them. The average meditator, who has only achieved the first level of initiation, actually knows very little of what TM is really all about. It's only as a person advances to the level of initiator, or beyond, that he begins to get the teachings on an esoteric level. For example, when I was learning to be a TM initiator, Maharishi described the possible states of consciousness as waking, dreaming, sleeping, transcendental consciousness, cosmic consciousness, God consciousness, and unity consciousness. He also spoke very briefly about something he called "Brahman consciousness," which was supposed to be the ultimate development of unity consciousness. However, in the teachings that he gave, Maharishi said specifically that many people in Western society are not ready to hear about the higher levels of consciousness, and therefore, we as teachers should not mention them. He said that we were to teach in terms of cosmic consciousness only and not even talk about the states above it, such as God consciousness and unity consciousness because people would misunderstand them. He said that we, as initiators, were only supposed to give out 1 percent of the teaching we had received to the people we initiated, so it is obvious that the general public knows even less than that. Maharishi said that he feels that the next few years are critical years for the TM movement; that, in a couple of years, due to the influence of TM on the whole society, people will be much readier than they are now to hear about the true spiritual basis of TM; that he believes that he will soon be able to talk about TM in terms of spirituality and will not have to talk about it only in terms of science; that he believes this because he thinks we are entering the dawn of the age of enlightenment. In one of his talks, he explained that this age of enlightenment is predicted in the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures. It is known in the Sanskrit language as sat yuqa or "the age of truth." There are a lot of esoteric teachings in the TM movement that neither the general public nor the average meditator ever hears about directly. Another lecture that I recall was given by Maharishi on the subject of how meditators evolve through reincarnation over many lifetimes into fully enlightened humans and from there into angelic beings. He also commented on those portions of the Upanishads which describe the process of evolution into angels. He frequently taught us from portions of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. Maharishi would also have us begin every lecture session by listening to two Hindu Vedic pundits, who would chant the Vedas in Sanskrit. Most of us had no idea of the meaning of what was being chanted, of course, but Maharishi said that didn't matter. He said it was important to hear the chants at the beginning of each session because the vibrations themselves were holy and would purify the atmosphere and condition our minds to receive his teachings in the proper manner. I think it is important to realize that, although the average meditator never hears these teachings directly, he is indirectly being prepared to receive them by the teachings that he does hear. The whole world-view that is constantly being communicated through the teachers to meditators is basically Maharishi's world-view, which is to say that it is basically the Hindu world-view. The language is changed to seem more scientific, but the underlying ideas are the same. It is also important to realize that there is a constant, if subtle, pressure on meditators to "get more involved," to move deeper and deeper into the movement. The meditator is urged to go on weekend retreats, to attend teaching sessions at local TM centers and to become a "checker." The checker then is urged to become a teacher, and so on. In TM, one is constantly beckoned toward increasing involvement with the movement; and, of course, toward increasing exposure to Maharishi's esoteric religious teachings. Maharishi also taught us about the mantras during this teacher-training course. The mantra is a secret Sanskrit word which the teacher gives to the meditator at the time of the initiation ceremony. It is the word or sound which is the object or vehicle of meditation in TM. We were taught to give the definite and deliberate impression to the general public and to individuals we initiated that there are a very large number of mantras and that each meditator receives a mantra which is individually chosen for him and is uniquely suited to his personality. In actual fact, however, each teacher has a list of 16 mantras which are then assigned to meditators on the basis of age classification. The mantras were given to us verbally by Maharishi. We never saw them written down in any official version. We were told to take notes on them according to the way they sounded to us in order to memorize them, but after memorizing the list, we were instructed to burn our notes and strew the ashes on the ocean. After that, if we had any questions about the mantras, we were supposed to whisper to Maharishi in private. There was a strict taboo against speaking the mantras aloud. A copy of the list of mantras which I learned, together with the age brackets to which each mantra applies is marked exhibit "A" and is attached here to and incorporated herewith by this reference as though fully set forth herein. A major part of our teacher-training was devoted to memorizing the ritual of initiation. There were three separate portions of the ceremony which we were required to memorize. The first was the actual chant or "puja," to be sung in Sanskrit during the ceremony. The second was the physical movements which accompanied the chant, including the placing of the various offerings upon the altar, and the kneeling before the altar at the conclusion of the ceremony. We were taught to kneel and to gesture toward the initiate in such a way as to invite him to kneel along with the teacher. The third was the "puja-feeling." We had to memorize how we were supposed to experience each portion of the ceremony emotionally. Maharishi said that the performance of the initiation ritual was absolutely essential to making TM actually work for the meditator, and that was why we, as teachers, had to insist on performing the ritual in a set way and to insist that the initiate bring certain offerings to be used as a part of the ritual. He said that the Sanskrit hymn that is sung in the ceremony had a powerful effect upon the consciousness of both the teacher and the student, just because of the rhythms and the vibrations of the sounds. He said that the puja prepared the soil for the planting of the seed, which is the mantra. Maharishi taught us that the mind of the student must be taken to a subtler level of consciousness through the singing of this hymn so that he will be able to receive the mantra in the proper way. As a part of our training course, we were each given the official TM handbook on the initiation ceremony. The book was entitled The Holy Tradition, and we were strictly instructed to keep the book itself and all of its contents secret. We were told never to reveal any of the material in the book to anyone and never to discuss it with anyone other than another TM initiator. The book contains the chant or "puja," which is the main ingredient of the initiation ceremony, both in the Sanskrit version, which we memorized and used, and in English translation (which we did not use or reveal to the initiate) , as well as a verse-by-verse commentary on the puja which was designed to reveal its significance to us. Tie book is unattributed as to authorship, but it was understood by all of us that Maharishi actually wrote it. A copy of this book is marked exhibit "B"and is attached hereto and incorporated herewith by this reference as though fully set forth herein. At the end of my teacher-training course, all of those whom Maharishi had qualified as initiators were required to sign an oath of loyalty to Maharishi, to Guru Dev (Maharishi's dead master) and to the TM movement in general. At the time I signed the oath, I was in such a state of mental confusion from long hours of meditation that I was only vaguely aware of the significance of the document I was signing. An unsigned copy of this oath of loyalty is marked exhibit "C" and is attached hereto and incorporated herewith by this reference as though fully set forth herein. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Dated: February 2, 1976 Gregory J. Randolph STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) ) SS COUNTY OF SHASTA ) On February 2, 1976, before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public in and for said State, personally appeared GREGORY J. RANDOLPH, known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged that he executed the same. WITNESS my hand and official seal. [signed] Gladys W. Hoffman [home] [research] [getting started] [law] [personal stories] [secrets] [news] [about TranceNet] Member of the Internet Link Exchange To comment on this or any other trancenet.net page, go to trancechat. This page was last built with Frontier on a Macintosh on Thu, Oct 9, 1997 at 1:58:31 PM .

Creation has two sides: intelligence, which is the cause of everything, and the manifestations of intelligence, which are the physical and psychological features of the everyday world. Because Transcendental Meditation directly approaches intelligence, rather than the manifestations of intelligence, it solves problems by introducing harmony and well-being at the most basic level, and not by dealing with problems themselves. That's why it is so effective. Consider this example: The gardener supplies water to the root of a tree. That water, that nourishment, then reaches all parts of the tree - leaves, branches, flowers, fruit - through the sap. We can think of the sap as analogous to intelligence and the green leaves or yellow flowers as analogous to the manifestations of the intelligence. The leaves and flowers are the intelligence of the sap, after it has been transformed. So intelligence - like the leaves and flowers of a tree - appears as the many different forms of manifest life. Those manifestations include every aspect of existence, from the material and physiological, through the psychological, intellectual, and spiritual. All of those features of life come from transformations of intelligence. In meditation, we directly meet this essential intelligence. Therefore, we have the possibility of nourishing all of its other levels, and thus all levels of manifestation, in a way that is harmoniously related to the whole universe. How is Transcendental Meditation different from the various other forms of meditation? Maharishi: The basic difference is that Transcendental Meditation, in addition to its simplicity, concerns itself only with the mind. Other systems often involve some additional aspects with which the mind is associated, such as breathing or physical exercises. They can be a little complicated because they deal with so many things. But with Transcendental Meditation there is no possibility of any interference. So we say this is the all-simple program, enabling the conscious mind to fathom the whole range of its existence. Transcendental Meditation ranges from active mind - or performing mind - to quiet mind - or resting mind. In this resting mind, one has purity and simplicity, uninvolved with anything other than the mind, uninvolved with any other practice. In Transcendental Meditation, because we deal only with the mind, we nourish all expressions of intelligence. The mind meditates, gains Transcendental Consciousness and brings about transformation in different fields of manifestation. All fields of life, which are the expression of intelligence, are nourished or transformed and made better through experiencing Transcendental Consciousness. The mind, of course, is always concerned with other aspects, such as the physiology of the body, the environment, and the whole universe for that matter. But since Transcendental Meditation deals only with the performance of the mind, from its active states to its settled state, it remains unconcerned with those other aspects, though it deals with them all, because intelligence deals with them all. -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, unknown interview, copyright presumablyheld by Maharishi Vedic University, The Maharishi Foundation, or another group within the TM family. Cults come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Categories of cults that are recruiting successfully today include: Eastern meditation: characterized by belief in God-consciousness, becoming one with God. The leader usually distorts and Eastern-based philosophy or religion. Members sometimes learn to disregard worldly possessions and may take on an ascetic lifestyle. Techniques used: meditation, repeated mantras, altered states of consciousness, trance states. Religious: marked by belief in salvation, afterlife, sometimes combined with an apocalyptic view. The leader reinterprets the Scriptures and often claims to be a prophet if not the messiah. Often the group is strict, sometimes using physical punishments such as paddling and birching, especially on children. Members are encouraged to spend a great deal of time proselytizing. (Note: included here are Bible-based neo-Christian and other religious cults, many considered syncretic since they combine beliefs and practices). Techniques used: speaking in tongues, chanting, praying, isolation, lengthy study sessions, many hours spent evangelizing, "struggle" (or criticism) and confession sessions. Political, racist, terrorist: fueled by belief in changing society, revolution, overthrowing the "enemy" or getting rid of evil forces. The leader professes to be all-knowing and all-powerful. Often the group is armed and meets in secret with coded language, handshakes, and other ritualized practices. Members consider themselves an elite cadre ready to go to battle. Techniques used: paramilitary training, reporting on one another, guilt, fear, struggle sessions, instilled paranoia, long hours of indoctrination. -- Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, Lalich and Tobias, Hunter House, 1993.