On Feb 12, 2008, at 3:45 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote:
I did ask if anyone was aware of effortless transcending techniques outside of TM but no clear answer as of yet.
There's been lengthy discussion on this topic before. MMY has stated that TM is not effortless. It is however very easy and natural. To some, that may seem be hair-splitting but the only reason it is significant is because there are forms of meditation which are indeed effortless, but in each case these are 'pathless paths' where there is no "support" used, i.e. a mantra, the breath, etc.
Any meditation method that uses a support, by definition, cannot be effortless. Patanjali talks of this in the yoga-sutra. If something, anything needs to be "transcended" there was a process involved (of some sort) and therefore some subtle effort.
It took me making the mistake of describing TM as "effortless" in front of some pundits from the Holy Shanakarcharya Order to get my first lesson on this. But the same distinctions also occur in Buddhist meditation, and no doubt others as well.
As Patanjali says: "The effort to remain there is practice". Interestingly the Sanskrit word for meditative effort, prayatna, is also the word the word for meditation technique or method. To be effortless: no meditator, no method, no goal.
