Never was myself a TM teacher and personally I WAS interested in MMY's commentary on the Gita and his SBAL - as an underlying universal spiritual perspective to the practice of TM, but one which was not forced down your throat (unless perhaps you became a teacher?). Because of that it WAS OK to see the technique independently, as a SECULAR procedure.
The fact that mantras were "sounds" of Hindu significance was to be expected, given MMY's cultural background, but there was nothing in TM practice itself that resembled a religious practice - no required articles of faith, moral commandments to follow, nothing that resembled traditional prayer. OK certain behaviours were discouraged - smoking, alcohol, drugs, consumption of meat etc. But these were on grounds of health, for a more refined nervous system. MMY seemed friendly in relating to people of different faiths and was not out to alienate anyone from their beliefs. The SRM spiritualism was more like a deeper common denominator between religions, but his SCI orientation seemed an attempt to find an even more non-religious, secular language, focusing on the scientific and social significance of the practice. The situation in the TMO now is COMPLETELY different. It no longer is "engaging" with secular society or with other faiths. It has become a shrinking enclave of fanatical practitioners, has rid itself of more rational, dissenting insiders, and has become completely Hindu in character. From a Western perspective it's now just a peculiar cult. But maybe after MMY dies this more Vedic emphasis, with its chanting pandits and Rajas in Hindu dress, might help establish the Movement more widely in India itself. But hoping to see it spread now in the West is as unlikely as the West converting on mass to Islam.. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Curtis wrote: > > So Richard claims to know more about TM > > than MMY, but I claim to know more about > > his teaching than people who haven't gone > > through TTC. > > > Maybe so, but you don't know more about TM > than I do regardless of your TTC claims. The > proof is here for anyone to read. > > So, what, exactly, in his teaching would you > be knowing more about? You didn't seem to be > aware that the Maharishi never mentioned any > "demons" in SBAL. What's up with that? > > So, if you knew so much why didn't you tell > everyone that TM was a religion that taught > people to chant the nick names of the Hindu > demi-Gods? What's the big secret? > > And why were you so silent about where the > TM mantras come from? You really suck as an > informant. Why all the secrecy? >
