---The key ingredient is the power of the mantra, irrespective of the purported superficial meaning. For example, the mantra "OM Namah Shivaya" clearly alludes to Shiva, so there can be no argument as to whether a "God" is involved. The big question is the amount of Shakti connected to the mantra. If there were a negligent amount of Shakti, then just get your mantras from a library book. No way with TM!! Personal initiation is required. However, SOME Shakti can be conveyed through audio-visual transmissions such as DVD's, CD's.
In [email protected], "John Davis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, > > Many thanks for all your comments, thoughts, and advice. If I'm not replying > to every individual email, it is to avoid cluttering up your list! But I > have read and considered all of them. > > The concept/fact of the TM mantras being older than the Hindu religion, and > so also older than the gods named after them, which might then be seen as > personalisations of a pre-existing sound, makes a good deal of sense to me. > In which case, as someone pointed out, using a mantra in TM is not actually > an act of prayer or worship at all. (Though, as an aside to OffWorld, I > think you can pray to something you do not exist in - how many kids spout > the Lord's Prayer every day at school without a shred of thought or > belief?! - which lack of belief is what to me makes the act disingenuous, > and not something I would want to do.) > > I'll also investigate some of the other forms of meditation mentioned. > > As for insomnia, someone asked whether I feel tired during the day. And, > oddly, not much. A little wearier, but certainly not as tired as I should > have expected on only a few hours sleep. Further, on contemplation, it > occurs to me that the hours awake lying in bed pass remarkably quickly. So > perhaps what I'm thinking of then as being awake, whilst certainly not > unconscious asleep as such, is not complete wakefulness. Still, I'll be > looking into the various and varied pieces of advice offered. > > Thanks once again for all your help, > > John > > > > > John Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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. > > > > 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. But if this is > > so, > > then the technique is not universal but rooted in a particular culture. > > 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. > > > > 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? If so, why? If > > not, > > why?! Do there by any chance exist other non mantra-based, non- religious, > > 'aimless' meditations? Are my thought processes described above flawed? If > > so, why and how? > > > > Anyways, thanks for reading this far, and any advice would be greatfully > > received. > > > > John > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > You snooze, you lose. Get messages ASAP with AutoCheck > > in the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. >
