On May 22, 2007, at 6:41 AM, John Davis wrote:
Hi,
I'm new to this list, so I hope the following post is appropriate.
It is
also somewhat lengthy, for which I apologise - conciseness was
never my
strong point. But I am in search of a spot of advice, and wondered
if anyone
here could help...
I learned TM about nine months or so (I know, a newbie!). It
appealed to me
since whislt I consider myself in a sense spiritual, I am not
religious, and
TM seemed to offer a non-faith based approach to meditation. And it
has not
been entirely without benefit. But since then I have suffered
increasingly
from insomnia. Not to a dreadful degree, but I'm lucky if I get
three hours
sleep a night. Growing unhappy with my instructor's standard 'part
of the
process' response, I took a look online and found this wasn't entirely
uncommon, and nor was it necessarily temporary. But, in addition, I
also
came upon the translations of the mantras. And here lies my real
problem.
I am not overly bothered by the deception involved when I was told, on
learning, that they are without meaning, since, for me at least,
they were.
But not any more. Now it seems to me that any universal truth has, by
definition, to transcend cultures, or it is not universal. The laws of
gravity, for example, might have been discovered in the west, but
gravity
works everywhere at all times no matter what it is called or how it is
defined (well, a few claims to the contrary aside!). The processes of
nature, the existence of the bundle of emotions and feelings we
define as
love, the existence of bad television shows...the list goes on, in all
disciplines of life. And if meditation has value, then similarly,
the same
should be the case, must be the case.
Well, let's be clearer then about what your TM mantra really is, and
then you would need to reexamine whether or not you feel comfortable
with it or not. Your TM mantra is the seed-syllable (bija-akshara) of
a Hindu deity. If your mantra is shreeng or a variant thereof, the
deity you are invoking is Laxmi, the deity of prosperity. If your
mantra is aieeng or a variant thereof, the deity you are invoking is
Saraswati, the goddess of learning and wisdom. If the mantra is
hring, you are invoking Maya, the power behind illusions. If your
mantra is Kring, you are invoking Kali, transcendental power.
The question I would ask myself is 'is there any inner aspect of this
I would like to develop as the side effect of my meditation practice
and does that jive with my beliefs'? If the answer is "yes", you're
in great shape: just continue as you are. If the answer is "no", you
might want to consider other alternatives.
Some other alternatives might be Vipassana 10-day course, taught for
free. It's opened the door for hundreds of thousands and leads to
awakening. Shamatha with an object leading to shamatha without
support (of object), resting in the natural state seems to be what
you're describing. Or Christian centering prayer which has evolved
into a very naked "presence" style meditation (rather than an object
based meditation on a mental object per se).
So. There seem to me to be two possibilities. One, that the actual
mantra
used is irrrelvant, meaningless. Just a word to return to during
meditation
as a way of letting go of thought. But if this is so, why the
insistence, in
TM and indeed other traditions, on the use of particular mantras?
Or two,
that the mantra used is important, and does have meaning.
Because specific mantras, when giving correctly to a student of a
certain disposition, can help awaken certain latent tendencies. When
they are given out by a list or by someone who doesn't really know
you, sometimes problems can arise.
But if this is so,
then the technique is not universal but rooted in a particular
culture.
Nor is the form of meditation truly non-sectarian. For example, if
you are Jewish and observe the mitzvah's, then you may want to
consider if invoking mentally a deity is a violation of the mitzvah
to "take no other god before me". This is just an example, Christians
or Muslims might have a similar issue.
Moreover, when meditating I am in effect praying to a god not of my
culture,
and of whom I have no knowledge, which leaves me deeply uncomfortable.
At a certain level, you reach the universal aspect of a cosmic
personality and presumably it is that aspect mantra mediators are
seeking to imbibe, not some limited cultural manifestation.
There are, of course, non-mantra based meditations. But those that
I have
encountered seem based around the breath. And although this would
indeed
seem universal, what quiet I do find through TM comes when thought
of breath
has fallen away (as a woodwind musician, I am rarely unaware of, if
not
actively controlling, my breath).
Hmm. I'm not sure there is a question in the above, so much as a
seeking of
thoughts and opinion. Is the mantra used of importance?
Yes.
If so, why?
The sequence of letters creates a certain wave in consciousness that
over time creates a specific effect.
If not,
why?! Do there by any chance exist other non mantra-based, non-
religious,
'aimless' meditations?
Yes, there are.
Are my thought processes described above flawed?
It sounds to me that you've wisely asked many of the right questions.
Good luck!
