--- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > on 11/3/05 12:38 PM, authfriend at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], "feste37" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >> I wonder about this "meaningless sounds" business. At the > >> preparatory lecture, I always used to say the mantras were "sounds > >> the effects of which are known," or "words selected for their sound > >> quality," or something like that. I never said, "meaningless > >> sounds" and I wonder whether using that phrase was ever an official > >> instruction. It's a very unfortunate phrase, in my opinion. > > > > Whatever associations they may have in Hinduism, > > as they're used in TM they're semantically > > meaningless sounds. > > Meaningless, but the bija mantras are fundamentally connected with Devatas, > and these Devatas are instrumental in producing the effects that result from > meditating with their mantras. > > > > I know all the "names of gods" stuff from Trancenet, > > but that's just inaccurate. At most, they're sounds > > that are associated with gods in Hinduism. > > But if you regard Hinduism as anything more than a mythological tradition, > then you might acknowledge that it's colorful depictions of gods and > goddesses might represent actual celestial entities who are powerful > governors of nature's mechanics. > > >But even > > Hindus who are taught TM are told to treat the mantra > > as pure sound during meditation (at least that's what > > I was told by a long-time TM teacher who did a lot of > > initiations in India way back when). > > Hindus who are taught TM in India are asked who their cherished deity is, > and on that basis their mantra is chosen.
Are you certain of this? > > > > If you want to get all esoteric about it, the mantras > > are in some sense devas, but then you have to get into > > the whole Nama-rupa thing and how Sanskrit syllables > > aren't symbolic, like regular language; they don't > > *stand for* things, they *are* things. And if you're > > going to say mantras are gods, well, you gotta first > > believe in gods. I'm a lot happier with "impulses of > > creative intelligence," myself. > > Just a Western phrase Maharishi chose to make a Hindu concept seem more > scientific. > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
