Devotional practices such as "bhakti" are also just tools. The ancient
yogis needed a way to explain the laws of nature and the universe
(physics) to simple folks. So they used metaphors.
I was going to mention this in the thread about "quiet time" because the
mantras really aren't "names of Hindu gods" but just vibratory sounds
that have some effect. The problem I have with TM and the way MMY went
about the teaching was hiding so much of what was behind it and the fact
that the beej mantras given won't actually "work for anyone". It's a
much broader science than that. And then there is the profiteering
issue which even Charlie Lutes had a problem with back in the day.
On 03/25/2014 05:15 AM, Michael Jackson wrote:
As Mark Landau told me, TM is actually a Hindu devotional practice, so
I guess it qualifies as japa. Marshy himself is quoted in the old
Hermit inthe House book as saying the mantras are the names of gods.
He also equates TM with prayer in the book Meditations of Maharish
Mahesh Yogi and given the fact that Marshy told hundreds of lies over
decades of time, it ain't much of a stretch to know that he lied about
the mantras in many ways including in the early days his claiming that
each individual received a carefully chosen mantra when in fact he was
giving raam to everyone who came to him.
