Transcendental Meditation — Systematic and Scientific

The Transcendental Meditation Technique

When Maharishi Mahesh Yogi first started his teaching in the late 1950s, even the concept of Transcendental Consciousness was absent from scientific circles. But the appearance of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation program made it possible for scientists to investigate this profound state of inner peace—in which the human mind directly experiences the unified field of natural law.

Large number of subjects

First, scientists needed a ready source of meditation experts available for study. While meditators were next to nonexistent in the West when Maharishi began teaching, the numbers of people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique grew rapidly; by now millions of people worldwide have learned the practice (two million of those in America) and more than 100,000 have learned the advanced TM-Sidhi program.

Scientific and systematic instructions

Both the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs are taught through systematic procedures followed precisely worldwide—allowing researchers to avail themselves of a subject population meditating according to uniform instructions.

Wide range of subject types

In addition, researchers dislike studies that are biased due to a narrow range of subject types. With the Transcendental Meditation technique, subjects are available from every age, religion and walk of life. There are several reasons for this. First, the Transcendental Meditation technique is easy to learn and effortless to practice, requiring no effort or concentration; even children from the age of ten can easily learn. In addition, there are no necessary levels of intelligence or educational attainment, and no need for any particular set of religious or philosophical beliefs—allowing researchers to easily find a wide range of subject types, from students to senior citizens.

Naturalness at the basis

The Transcendental Meditation technique contrasts with other techniques of relaxation or meditation. Rather than keeping the mind active (attending to thoughts, for example), the Transcendental Meditation technique allows the mind to settle down completely and transcend thoughts—attaining a state of silence and inner peace. Rather than forcing the mind to be quiet through concentration—which takes constant effort and actually keeps the mind active—it allows the mind to settle down spontaneously, of its own accord. Once the process of transcending has begun, the mind moves naturally inward, toward its own most fundamental level of intelligence, the unified field of natural law. It does so motivated by its natural tendency to seek experiences more charming and fulfilling—because no other experience is so completely satisfying. Half a century ago, meditation was considered difficult and impractical. By now hundreds of studies have demonstrated that the natural, effortless approach of the Transcendental Meditation technique does indeed produce the experience of Transcendental Consciousness, with all its attendant benefits.

The Founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Nearly fifty years of constant teaching activity around the world have made His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi widely known and revered. Having received his university degree in physics before studying with the most illustrious recent master of the Vedic tradition (His Divinity Brahmanda Saraswati), Maharishi combines expertise from both modern science and ancient wisdom. He has thus been uniquely qualified to bring about a synthesis of objective, materialist science with the subjective Vedic science of consciousness. For his contributions to this profound body of knowledge, Maharishi is widely recognized as the world’s foremost Vedic scholar, as well as the leading scientist of consciousness. For his practical ability to teach the transcending process, and open the experience of the unified field (in Transcendental Consciousness) to millions around the world, he is similarly understood to be the most effective teacher of enlightenment in many generations.