1000 Dollars for Transcendental Meditation?

[GrandmasterP]

That TM seems to be very expensive.

$1,500 for the introductory course and then they want to sell you more courses.

Fair enough if it suits anyone and they can afford it but there are many far cheaper alternatives out there as BKA has demonstrated just this week in her fascinating posts from that retreat she's been on.

That ex TM teacher guy's article makes interesting reading and if, as he claims; the idea of TM is to encourage the student to become dependant on the teacher then that flies in the face of most cultivations and teaching.

The best kind of teacher hopes that the student will begin to become increasingly autonomous and able to 'do it for him or herself' and maybe even surpass the teacher.

Edited June 18, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Everything]

 

Ted Bundy was a serial killer. And there's no such thing as fulfilling your desires. You can have sex one thousand times and your desire for sex will never be satisfied. Eating a good meal, getting a hot wife, riding a roller coaster, the happiness these things give you is impermenent and it will disappear. And when it disappears you just want to go get it again, and you get it again and then it disappears again, and you end up what the Chinese use to call a wolf of the material world. Constantly on the hunt for things that don't actually make you happy, and then you die. And then you're reborn and you do it again.

Well, Obviously, you, I and the Chinese have no desire to become a serial killer. And I think we are not the only one. Far from it. This world is filled with good intentioned people who do want the planet to evolve towards more peaceful states of being.

[amoyaan]

 

If you understand Patanjali's limbs of yoga, you will realize that TM is cultivation in the opposite direction. It is training in non-sustained concentration. It is a method of self hypnotism in which you lose control and can really cause some overload problems, especially if you have other practices. I have not heard of one authentic case of enlightenment resulting from TM, just a few who somehow convinced themselves that they realized something, and then proceeded to sell their books to the unknowing.

 

 

Yes....I was taught TM about 14 years ago by a friend who took pity on the fact I was kind of broke and only charged about £100 or so. I was grateful. I practised it for a couple of years and found it very relaxing, but something about it never quite sat with me. I couldn't put my finger on it....it's almost as though rather than sharpening my mind it dulled my mind. It is kind of like self hypnotism, like entering a deep relaxation and feeling a bit 'out of it'. It's not a bad practise, but it's not worth paying an arm and a leg and I don't think it's the greatest form of meditation for someone serious about enlightenment.

[Tibetan_Ice]

You know, I ordered this course a few years ago when I was examining TM. I wanted to know the exact technique. But I didn't want to pay for TM at their crazy prices.

 

http://www.nsrusa.org/compare.php

 

I resented the fact that after purchasing the download, there is quite a stiff copyright clause in it, one which was not mentioned before purchase so, very much unethical. But I'm sure, since the author was once a TM teacher that he broke many vows when he stole the technique and marketed it for his own personal gain.

 

The course contains the technique. It also contains quite a bit about how to deal with the overload, pain and headaches.

 

I personally think that TM is just setting yourself up to enter the first stages of hypnagogic sleep and then remaining in that state throughout the day. Not spiritual at all... And eventually you get sick of spending the day in a zombie like haze. There is no clarity in that state, and clarity is very important.

 

Also, here is the TM checking routine...

 

http://minet.org/www.trancenet.net/secrets/checking/checking1.shtml

 

But if you really want to find out on your own, knock yourself dead!

 

Edited June 20, 2014 by Tibetan_Ice

[Satya]

This contains all of the TM techniques, for free!!!: http://minet.org/mantras.html Yay!

 

Gatito beat me to the http://minet.org site post, but this page, specifically, has all of the techniques.

 

The relaxation response stuff is great. I'm always for taking apart techniques, especially ones that cost so much, are so exclusive and leaning towards the cultish. There's a guy with a site who talks about how TM has a specific quality: http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/TMResearch/ComparisonofTechniques/index.cfm It's hard to know. TM institutes are well known for performing LOADS of research themselves (biased), and are often accused in academic circles in altering data.

 

Mantra meditation (even without initiation or doing specific stuff with corresponding deities) is certainly effective. Many yogic and other schools, traditions etc teach mantra meditation (Bihar/Satyananda, all Kriya schools, sometimes in Kashmir Shaivism, Spring Forest Qigong uses Om, the healing sounds, AYP, and more I'm sure). I personally lean towards the idea that Mantras are generally more powerful than secular 'Mantras' as in clinical meditation, or relaxation response. A lot of data says otherwise, but, they'd need to do a big, long study to really reveal that kinda stuff.

There are some troublesome articles about/around the TM movement, and it's founder.

Spreading relaxation/meditation techniques is great, but, when you've set up your own 'state' in a 1st world country from it (GCWP), with it's own currency, whilst there are still plenty of developing countries suffering from poverty and starvation, then, maybe there's something wrong.

It's claimed that the GCWP is for helping the world, etc, but, maybe there's too much spending on nice buildings, etc, and not enough on actually helping (unless someone can show me some evidence to the contrary).

In one way, I guess selling techniques is one of the only ways for such a meditation organisation to make money, and consequently use that money to do good. So, in that sense, high prices (if people can pay) isn't entirely unreasonable, IF the money was going to good causes. I don't know if it is.

[qigong1000]

I'm very confused. There's video's all over youtube where bums, prisoners, regular students, up to Ellen, Jim Carrey and even Jerry Seinfield can't tell you enough good things about the meditation, but absolutely no one, and nowhere on the internet is there a tutorial on HOW to actually do it. It's absolutely TOP secret. The founder Maharishi did explain it in the most general way possible, and talks about, as does everyone in existance, HOW SIMPLE IT IS! And yet no one can share how to do it, and you need a certified instructor and you have to pay atleast a thousand of dollars to learn what is claimed to be the most simple of meditations... Most effective and simple meditation OF ALL THE MEDITATIONS OUT THERE. Jerry Seinfield talks about how he's done it for 40 years and he doesn't even remember how the hell he came across it. Learned it somewhere when he was a kid. He didn't pay 1000 dollars for it, now did he? I think you will remember very clearly when you pay 1000 dollars for something. Why do we have to pay 1000-1500 dollars for it? If it is too hard to do on my own, then I will consider myself if I want help or not and wether I wanna pay 1000 dollars for it. But paying more then 1000 dollars for what is claimed to be the most simple of meditations in existance, which is nowhere to be found on the internet, sounds more like joining a cult to me.

 

Seriously, I can't even find ONE tutorial on youtube for Transcendental Meditation. Don't we have the right to freely share this information? Does learning Transcendental Meditation require an oath to keep it a secret? Does it require devotion to a certain Being of Unity in order to have this meditation revealed in your experience? Or perhaps, are all the claims about it a lie and is it the most complex meditation in all of existance, hence explaining why no one is willing to even bother sharing it and recommends a certified teacher?

 

I hope there's someone here who knows more about it.

 

Everything,

 

I never practiced Trancendal Meditation but have paid for many $1000 courses and much more for information I wanted. A teacher has the right to charge what he feels his time or information is worth. If someone does not want to pay then they should look for another teacher. The reason why noone reveals the trancendenatal meditation on youtube is obvious. Would you pay $1000 for a course then go post the course on youtube for free for everyone else? The stars that wrote comments were most likely paid to make comments and or get a piece so that is another reason for the cost.

 

About the right to freely share info. We do have that right! Some teachers make their living teaching and they charge alot because many students teach without their permission. I have seen student just learn info and go make a youtube video and post everything that was taught. So if the teacher charged a student very little money the student is more likely to do that. If he charges alot of money it protects the masters intellectual product in a way.

[GrandmasterP]

A product or service is worth whatever the seller can get for it.

It's fair to say that there's a lot of rebranding and selling on goes on in 'our' areas.

Somebody goes on a course, rips off the ideas then slightly alters things just enough to keep the lawyers away and then sells it on as their own product.

As a result the commercial players have to keep bringing out 'new and improved' courses too just to keep ahead of the game.

Thing is, when you unpick what is on offer, as a rule; all the basic info is free somewhere online.

Certainly enough to get anybody started.

There was a commercial operator advertised on here via a banner who charged a small fortune for 'entity removal' when the same service can be had for free or at minimal cost at any spiritualist centre.

Caveat Emptor!

Edited June 26, 2014 by GrandmasterP