Talk:Transcendental Meditation/religion

Religion sources

Sources that discuss religion and TM, organized by date.

• I've put some items here with a variety of sources just to give an overview of what's out there. In some cases I have included quotes from representatives of the TM organization as its good to have a view of how the organization itself has characterized TM over the years. When we summarize we can sort through and cite the most reliable sources.-- — Kbob • Talk • 20:52, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

1970s

1975

• Some have expressed concern that Transcendental Meditation is a form of religion. I would refute that claim categorically. A Hindu monk in Switzerland made the technique available to millions of people. But he is a Hindu, and he is a monk. I am a Christian, and I am a minister. The technique is equally applicable for both of us, although we are thousands of miles apart both geographically and theologically.
  • John Dilley, December 10, 1975, "TM Comes to the Heartland of the Midwest", Christian Century, p. 1132
• The non-religious gospel of Transcendental Meditation had been blessed with a mixed reception.
  • 1975 The News and Courier [1]

1976

• THE CHARGE that underneath its "scientific" vocabulary Transcendental Meditation is fundamentally an expression of Hinduism may finally be decided in court. A diverse group called the Coalition for Religious Integrity has petitioned a U.S. district court here to halt the teaching of TM and its related course, the Science of Creative Intelligence, in four northern New Jersey high schools on the grounds that TM is a religious exercise that violates the First Amendment doctrine of separation of church and state. [..] State and local school officials in New Jersey who were offered the course by an official of the American Foundation for Creative Intelligence, part of the TM establishment in the U.S., have said they found no religion in the material. But Patton says that they, like many other Americans, are ignorant of Vedanta and Hindu monism, the view that reality is one organic whole. [..] TM is religious in the required initiation ritual, the suit charges. Prospective meditators are to bring offerings of fruit, flowers and a white handkerchief. During the ceremony they receive their secret Sanskrit mantra to facilitate meditation. In reality, the coalition says, the ceremony chanted in Sanskrit by the teacher is a Hindu puja rite which pays tribute to various Hindu deities in the Shankara tradition, the order to which TM's chief guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, belongs. The gods listed begin with legendary creator deities and end with Guru Dev, the Maharishi's teacher, who died in 1953. [..] TM teachers contend that the Maharishi's religious views are separate from the popular meditation method. Prospective meditators are merely "witnesses" to the puja ritual designed to remind the teachers of the masters who passed the meditation tradition through the ages, the instructors say. [..] But the lawsuit argues that the Maharishi and his American associates realized that TM had to be presented not as a religion but as a technique of materialistic well-being to make it palatable in secular society. [..] In the 1959 California incorporation certificate of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement Foundation, the Maharishi's first U.S. organization, and in amendments in 1961 are assertions that the corporation is "a religious one" with a purpose "to promote spiritual welfare as a thought group," the suit says. [..] The Maharishi himself has written that TM is "a path to God" (Meditations, 1968). He has also written that the "fulfillment of religion lies in man gaining a direct way to God-realization" (The Science of Being and Art of Living, 1963). The average meditator does not see TM from this perspective, nor does the average meditator study the Maharishi's esoterica. But sociologist Robert Bellah of the University of California at Berkeley and Gerald James Larson, specialist in Asian religions and chairman of the department of religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, found enough religion in TM to swear out affidavits in support of the lawsuit.
  • JANIS JOHNSON, "A Court Challenge to TM", pp 300-302, The Christian CFNTURY, March 31, 1976
• A growing number of religious officials are concerned about TM, particularly because they doubt its claim to be non-religious.
  • 1976 St. Petersberg Times, [2]
• “TM could be thought of as the core of religious practice. But this does not make TM itself a religion”.
  • p. 132 Peter Russell, TM, 1976 [3]

1980s

1983

• “Transcendental Meditation denies vehemently that they are a religious organization, he said, but when they give you your mantra, or secret word, it’s often the name of some Hindu deity.” [4]
  • The Spokesman Review quoting NRM author Dr. Ronald Enroth, March 2 1983
• In Maharishi, the religious message and secular technique are aligned in the notion of TM, a meditation technique that many find attracted large numbers of purely secular followers who contend its use makes them happier, healthier, more creative and more capable of dealing with stress. [5]

1985

• In this Maharishi Vedic University, said school spokesman Bob Roth, "we will use modern science" to study the Maharishi's ancient teachings to test their validity and find out exactly why Transcendental Meditation (TM) works.TM is not a religion, a cult or a philosophy, said Roth, who objects to its practitioners being called "followers" of the Maharishi. "TM is just a technique, one that is easily learned," said Roth, who has taught TM to professional sports teams.
  • Chicago Tribune, 1985, [6]
• The problem of religious cults is terrible, and parents are to be encouraged in taking an aggressive watchfulness toward groups that coerce, kidnap and brainwash. But in watching for the invidious, we must be careful not to condemn the beneficial. I have practiced Transcendental Meditation for 12 years. I started because I understood I would gain freedom to be fully myself, with greater energy and clarity. That is still why I meditate. No one associated with TM has ever made a demand or cast a restriction on me-not then, when I was an excited new meditator, and not now that I am a successful novelist. I have expanded, not restricted, my freedom to enjoy my own … The Washington Post [7] 1985

1990s

1993

• The practice of transcendental meditation, though not considered a religious practice, is similar to techniques thousands of years old. Washington Post, June 5, 1993

• Then there is the question of whether TM is a religion or something else. Rev. Miles Holmes, former president of the Niagara Falls Evangelistic Association, says it is a religion. Mr. Holmes has campaigned against Maharishi Veda Land because TM "is a version of Hinduism that's been dressed up in scientific terms to make it acceptable to the Western mind. So let's just be honest and call it a religion." TM counters with a massive four-volume series of "scientific studies" proving that TM's effects are object- ively verifiable, and calls it the Science of Creative Intelligence. "It comes down to one point - do you need to change your belief system in any way whatsoever?" says failed candidate Hyman. "In fact, you don't have to believe in TM for the technique to work. So it's not a religion." TM practitioners reject the label of religion, saying that the Vedas are not Hinduism, but that like TM, the Hindu religion grew out of the Vedas. Nonsense, say critics. "The Vedas are a large collection of hymns," says University of Alberta sociologist Stephen Kent, who has studied Hinduism and meditation extensively. "They are the prayers of an agrarian people. And TM tries to base science on what are clearly non-scientific texts." Archa Mati, director of the Sahaj Yoga Centre in Toronto, calls TM "an arrogant misuse of meditation." Nature, she says, does not "govern" the universe, which is full of terrors such as earthquakes, volcanoes and predatory animals. The centrepiece of TM, of course, is intense meditation. Get enough meditators together, all experiencing the "bubbling bliss" that results from TM, and the world will return to harmony with the laws of nature. Wars, famine and plague would be replaced by serenity. As Mr. Paterson expressed it at an NLP press conference: "Nature's government is the perfect government." [..] But what does contraction of thigh muscles have to do with politics or religion? Charles Tysoe, of the Christian Research Institute, an evangelistic Christian organization fighting cults, is as mystified as others about the connection. "These guys take themselves totally seriously," he says. "Neil Paterson says he's the guardian of the Constitution of the Universe. You know, there are a lot of people locked up for saying those kinds of things."
  • REJECTION BY THE VOTERS ONLY SERVES TO MAKE THE NATURAL LAW PARTY'S APPEALS MORE URGENT, ITS PLANS MORE GRANDIOSE, ITS CLAIMS MORE STRIDENT. JACK KAPICA. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Nov 27, 1993. pg. D.3

• But TM's links to religion are strong. Pandit O.P. Sarma, the chief priest at the Hindu Temple of Ottawa, says TM's practices and approaches are all described in Hindu literature. The Concise Dictionary of Religion, written by University of Calgary Prof. Irving Hexham, says the Maharishi denies TM's connection to Hinduism in order "to appeal to a wide spectrum of people who might otherwise have ignored his teachings. "Taken to court in 1978, TM was found to be a religion under the terms of American law. It teaches a simplified form of yoga and practises an initiation with occult overtones, using mantras in Sanskrit which appear to invoke various Hindu deities. Mike Kropveld, of Infocult, a cult-watching group in Montreal, says TM is really a religion, not a secular movement. It has borrowed its techniques, rituals and beliefs from Hinduism without giving any credit to one of the world's great religions, Kropveld says. Neil Paterson, leader of Canada's Natural Law Party and head of the TM movement in North America, maintains TM is neither Hinduism nor a religion. Paterson notes TM was developed from the Vedas , the sacred scriptures of the Hindus. He even quotes sections of these books in the party platform. But, he says, the Vedas pre-date religions. [..] Many other religions have qualms about TM. The Vatican told Catholics in 1989 that it was a mistake to mix Christian and non-Christian meditation. "The love of God, the sole object of Christian contemplation, is a reality which cannot be `mastered' by any method or technique, said the Vatican. Nevertheless, TM does attract religious leaders of many faiths, and they say it does nothing but enhance their own beliefs. Rev. Kevin Joyce, a Catholic priest in San Jose, Calif., has been practising TM for 20 years. He says the purpose of TM is to help one know oneself. Without that knowledge, it's hard to come to know God, he says. Keith Wollard is a retired United Church minister now living in Peterborough and former director of communications at the church's head office.
  • Establishing Transcendental Meditation's identity; Few can agree if it's a religion, Hinduism or meditation; Bob Harvey. The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 18, 1993. pg. C.6

1997

• Though religious in origin, going back for several millenia, the transcendental meditation introduced to the West is not attached to any one religion. Rather is it a means for developing human potential, thus enabling people to devote themselves more fully to their vocation.
  • Silent Music by William Johnston, p 15, [8] 1997

1999

• The emergence of Fairfield as a high tech hub of sorts has its roots in the 1960s, when a large number of urbanites were drawn to new religions often derived from Asian mystical beliefs. One of the most successful and enduring of these movements, Transcendental Meditation {TM}, led by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, grew large and wealthy enough to seek out a more substantial base of operations to replace its small, crowded headquarters in Santa Barbara, California.
  • Resurgence of the Rural Life Joel Kotkin, 08.23.99 Forbes.com [9]

• "When America is ready for Hinduism, I will tell them." (attributed to MMY)
• Few religions are more defective or deceptive.
  • Ankerberg, John; Weldon, John (1999). Encyclopedia of cults and new religions: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Mind Sciences, Baha'i, Zen, Unitarianism. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers. pp. 446–447. ISBN 978-0-7369-0074-4.

2000s

2002

In a few words, I would say what is essential of transcendental meditation is that man divests himself of his own "I"; he unites with the universal essence of the world; therefore, he remains a bit depersonalized. In Christian meditation, on the contrary, I do not lose my personality; I enter a personal relation with the person of Christ. I enter into relation with the "you" of Christ, and in this way this "I" is not lost; it maintains its identity and responsibility.At the same time it opens, enters a more profound unity, which is the unity of love that does not destroy. Therefore, in a few words, I would say, simplifying a bit, that transcendental meditation is impersonal and, in this sense, "depersonalizing." Christian meditation, meanwhile, is "personalizing" and opens to a profound union that is born of love and not of the dissolution of the "I"--Cardinal Ratzinger[10]

2003

• Prayer has often been compared and contrasted with meditation and the specific technique known as Transcendental Meditation (TM). Though “meditational prayer” has been identified and discussed, meditation does not always imply religion.
  • The Psychology of Religion, Bernard Spilka, Ralph W. Hood Jr, Bruce Hunsberger, Richard Gorsuch, p. 65 2003 [11] 2003
• The Peace Palace would require a combination of residential and commercial zoning to allow Transcendental Meditation students to book one- or two-week stays for training purposes, local Transcendental Meditation leader Penny Hintz said. The building would not be considered a church because Transcendental Meditation is not a religion.
  • LA Times, Bob Pool, June 14, 2003, [12]

2005

• Lynch estimates that world peace, or what Maharishi's followers call "Heaven on Earth," can be purchased for the price of 31/2 B-1 bombers. "In which case," Lynch says, "it would be a bargain." [..] (In a later interview, Lynch described his first time, in 1973: "You're taught how. I went to a little room. Quiet. I closed my eyes. Started that mantra. It was like I was in an elevator and they snipped the cables. And fuummm! Down I went into pure bliss. I've said this many times, but the word unique should be saved for that experience.") [..] Next up is John Hagelin, a Harvard-trained physicist, past presidential candidate from the Natural Law Party (dominated by TM- ers) and now at Maharishi University. Hagelin alludes to such concepts of physics as the Grand Unified Theory and cosmic superstrings, though he does not describe them in any detail. "The universe," he announces, "is superficially complex and fundamentally simple." This does not seem to blow anyone's mind. Hagelin and Travis appear to serve a need in that the TM movement strives to prove itself as "scientific" as opposed to "religious" (because the meditation does have its roots planted in the Hindu tradition). [..] There are "52 published studies," Hagelin says, that prove "the spillover effect" that TM emits, like some kind of cosmic wi- fi, into the surrounding communities. [..] Using meditation to reduce stress is one thing. But these peace factories, even Lynch says, "sounded kind of unbelievable." Yeah. "They say it's pie in the sky. They say it's baloney." Okay. "But to enliven this beautiful field of bliss, love, the unity of life. Through the greatest machines on Earth, the human brain, to dive within, because we are built to dive within. We're built for enlightenment."
  • Yogi Bearer; Dark Films Aside, David Lynch Brims With the Light of Transcendental Meditation; William Booth. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Dec 2, 2005. pg. C.01
• Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late 1950's, T.M. is a technique whereby individuals repeat a mantra to themselves during two 20-minute sessions per day. [..] Lynch and Hagelin say that a mass meditation of this size could have a palliative effect upon the "unified field" of consciousness that connects all human being and thereby bring about the conditions for world peace.
  • Accredited Bliss, Charles Watson, New York Times, Dec 11 2005
• "Though the TM movement, which claims to have taught six million people worldwide, has over the years had to weather allegations of being a cult, today meditation, in all its many forms, has become as acceptable as yoga and herbal medicine." London Times, A Peace of His Mind, Sharon Krum, Sept 3 2005

2006

• Transcendental Meditation involves sitting quietly and focusing on a repeated sound, called a mantra, for about 20 minutes every morning and evening. The practice traces its roots to ancient India. MSNBC 2006 [13]
• “A simple program of mediation for reducing stress. TM is taught by qualifed teachers in seven steps, beginning with the assignment to each student of a secret mantra, a word or phrase repeated over and over by the practitioner in a meditative trance.” AMA Medical Encyclopedia[14]
• "Transcendental Meditation or TM, a relaxation and awareness technique, is thriving here." Wash Post, 11/12/06, Transcendental Iowa, Gary Lee
• "Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the technique involves sitting with closed eyes and silently repeating a mantra." Teacher Magazine, Take Your Meditation, Sept 1 2006
• "The Transcendental Meditation program is a nonreligious practice started by the East Indian spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi." Boston Globe, Conference Promotes Meditation in Schools, May 6 2006.
• "TM is not a religion; it doesn't ask the practitioner to change his lifestyle". Providence Journal, Teachers Get a Lesson, May 5 2006

2007

• What's religious about learning to follow your breath?" asks Wendi Caporicci, a devout Catholic and the principal at Oakland's Emerson Elementary. George Rutherford, the principal at Ideal Academy, takes a similar view of transcendental mediation, which he has practiced for over a decade. "I'm a Baptist, and my wife has a doctorate in Christian education," he says, adding that TM "is not a religion."
  • LA Times July 25, 2007 [15]
• I should also say that I find some elements of the organisation rather embarrassing. It is important to understand that you can learn TM without having anything more to do with the organisation, but it is worth pre-emptively dealing with a few issues in case they put you off learning in the first place. Perhaps the most troubling feature is the unquestioning veneration of the leader Maharishi (literally "the great seer") Mahesh Yogi. The technique has an Indian pedigree, and within the organisation you can discern Vedic structures and practices. However, TM is not a religion and requires no change in belief or lifestyle. Moreover, the TM movement is not a cult.
  • The Herald Scotland, April 21, 2007 Meditation-for-old-hippies-or-a-better-way-of-life?
• The TM technique is a form of meditation in which practitioners sit comfortably, with their eyes closed, and silently repeat a mantra -- a sound, word or phrase -- to calm the mind and body. Reuters, 2007 [16]
• “The meditative technique of the Maharishi is grounded in a neo-Vedanta meta-physical philosophy in which an unchanging reality is opposed to an ever-changing phenomenal world”.[17]

2008

• Transcendental Meditation is a technique that uses a repeated mantra to achieve a relaxed, focused state twice a day for 20 minutes at a time. Cleveland.com March 24, 2009[18] 2008
• Maharishi helped gain medical respectability for the ancient Hindu practice of mind control that he called transcendental meditation, or just TM. Fox News 2008 [19]
• Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control known as transcendental meditation gradually gained medical respectability.USA Today 2008 [20]
• The technique involves the repetition of a Sanskrit mantra. BBC 2008 [21]
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi exposed His teachings to the world what he claimed it to be a traditional meditation technique from the Vedas. He named it as 'Transcendental Meditation'. Living One India 2008[22]
• Transcendental meditation, known as TM by its followers, involves reciting a mantra that practitioners say helps the mind stay calm even under pressure. It gradually gained medical respect over the decades as the Maharishi challenged Western scientists to investigate its health benefits.[23]
• "He preached the use of a Hindu-based mind-control technique he called Transcendental Meditation that eventually became a multimillion-dollar enterprise with an estimated 5 million practitioners, though some followers, including the Beatles, with the exception of George Harrison, became disenchanted, the Telegraph said."[24]
• "Transcendental meditation, known as TM by its followers, involves reciting a mantra that practitioners say helps the mind stay calm even under pressure." Reuters Feb 5 2008 [25]
• "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who died on Tuesday, probably aged 91, had a profound influence on the Beatles' late career and repackaged ancient Hindu methods of transcendental meditation; TM, as it was known, was aimed at enabling western disciples to achieve a blissful oneness with the infinite in the still depths of the self - at the cost of minimum inconvenience." The Telegraph, Feb 7 2008 [26]
• "Known as TM, a trademark, the technique consists of closing one’s eyes twice a day for 20 minutes while silently repeating a mantra to gain deep relaxation, eliminate stress, promote good health and attain clear thinking and inner fulfillment" The NY Times, Feb 6 2008 [27]
• "Based on the theory and practice of yoga, transcendental meditation involves a mental technique that can reportedly be easily learnt and practised by anyone to reach a "state of pure consciousness" and gain deep rest. By repeating in the mind a Sanskrit mantra, a short word or phrase, a practitioner is supposedly able to find deep relaxation, which in turn leads to enhanced inner joy, vitality, and creativity." Feb 7 2008, BBC News [28]
• TM is the trademarked name of a meditation technique created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1958. [..] TM doesn't have a calming influence on everyone. Critics believe that TM is a repackaged Eastern religious philosophy that should not be infiltrating public schools. They argue that TM invokes Hindu deities and in some cases is step one toward joining a cult. TM's private "Puja" initiation ritual in Sanskrit, involving incense and a candle and the bestowing of mantras, is a focus of the concern. "TM has always been rooted in the religion of Hinduism," says Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which keeps a close legal eye on the TM movement. "There are no imminent cases right now, but people, including conservative Christian parents will say if Christianity can't be taught in the public schools then Hinduism can't be either." Advocates of TM, however, say that TM practiced by itself is purely a mechanical, physiological process, that the initiation is a two-minute ceremony of appreciation for the teacher with no deities invoked, that mantras are simple sounds without meaning and that the practice pre-dates Hinduism by 5,000 years. "Things have changed over the past 25 years. If you take out the trivial, ceremonial part of this—and I've seen tapes of the Puja (initiation) ceremony, it's not religious—you'll see this is not being promoted as a religion but as a way to physically and emotionally relax," says Carter Phillips, a lawyer who represents the TM movement. "This 1-2 minute ceremony of gratitude in India is traditionally done in appreciation for one's teacher," says Robert Roth, vice president of the David Lynch Foundation. "Bottom line: One should not confuse something that is cultural with something religious." [..] Back in 1979, a federal appeals court ruled that a course called the Science of Creative Intelligence Transcendental Meditation could not be taught in public schools in New Jersey because it "had a primary effect of advancing religion and religious concepts" and violated the First Amendment. "If they want TM in private universities or schools, no problem," says Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "But when they move into public schools they are crossing that same constitutional line that was crossed in 1979." Francisco Negrón, general counsel for the National School Boards Association, says that while relaxation techniques around test taking might be OK and that a nonsectarian approach to meditation is plausible, "the devil is in the details. The concern would be that here is a religious angle to it that amounts to indoctrination or proselytizing." In 2006, on learning the Lynch Foundation was offering a $175,000 grant for the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, Calif., half a dozen parents protested vehemently, some arguing it was a cult—and the funding was withdrawn. The parents argued it could lead to lifelong personal and financial servitude to a corporation run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the recently deceased founder of the TM movement. "TM is not really Hinduism. It's an amalgam of beliefs that puts Maharishi—or whoever his successor will be—as the ultimate arbiter of all things spiritual," says Ford Greene, a lawyer who represented parents at the raucous meeting. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute, which threatened to sue the Lynch Foundation over Terra Linda, says doing TM during a school's "quiet time"—a short period many schools adopt for children to use as they wish for prayer or relaxation—is constitutional. "But it's like a literature class that teaches the Bible. That's not unconstitutional, but the school district has to be careful the class doesn't become evangelical." Despite the criticism, many parents say they've seen profound results from meditation and that that they hardly view TM as exclusively, or even overtly, religious. Lynch himself is a Presbyterian. "When I started doing transcendental meditation, I found that my relationship with God deepened," says Dick DeAngeles, a meditator who has had five of his children—all devout Roman Catholics who regularly attend Sunday school—learn TM at the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa.
  • Newsweek, Much Dispute About Nothing, May 29 2008 [29]

2009

• However , the woman who took the classes, Wendy Rosenfeldt, said teachers were responsible for the complaints and their concerns centred around religion. "Some teachers went to the (education) department with misinformation from the internet, ” she said. [..] She said TM was non-religious meditation and she hoped the program would resume once teachers were better informed.
  • 'Community' complains about school meditation, QLD News, Mark Bode ,15th September 2009 [30]
• “Transcendental meditation is a nuanced practice that devotees - and some scientific studies - say helps clarify thought and makes the brain work more effectively. It's used in prisons, large corporations and schools, and it is not considered a religion.” 2009 [31]
• Derek Cassells, head of the private Maharishi School in Ormskirk, Lancashire, the only specialist transcendental meditation (TM) school in the country, is understood to have had discussions with the Government about sponsoring two academies…The meditation is not linked to any religion, and children of all faiths would be admitted to the schools.
  • Feb 13 2009 UK News [32]
• In the 1970s , after TM was introduced in schools in New Jersey, critics objected that the techniques employed ancient Hindu chants and that their use in the classroom violated the separation of church and state. TM has vigorously insisted that it is a technique and not a religion.
  • Providence Journal, 2009 [33]
• The technique involves adults meditating for 20 minutes morning and night and children for 10 minutes twice a day. Its proponents say it is not a religion or a philosophy. The movement also has many critics on the internet, including former followers who dispute its claims to be a non-religious movement and question the fees charged for the training.
  • The Guardian March 28, 2009[34]
• The Beatles helped popularize Transcendental Meditation -- described as a simple mental technique to combat stress -- in 1967 when they sought spiritual guidance from an Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[35]
• The TM technique is a mantra meditation. ……Unlike some forms of meditation, the TM technique does not require adhearence to any belief system—there is no dogma or philosophy attached to it, and it does not demand any lifestyle changes other than the practice of it. [36]
• "There is plenty of info about Transcendental Meditation online—basically sit-down meditation that utilizes a mantra to gradually enter new states and planes of consciousness. [..] Lynch claims to be a loyal practitioner of TM dating back to the early ’70s, and has invested and raised money to spread awareness and education via TM with the David Lynch Foundation that he founded in ‘05. (All royalties from the aforementioned book are said to go to it). I’ve heard people compare Lynch’s involvement in jest to Scientology, but personally I find TM to be far more agreeable, not batshit insane, and a sensible alternative for many in the present day to all religions[37] Slash Film (Note, this appears to be a blog and probably isn't a WP:RS)
• "TM is considered to be one of the simplest meditation techniques. Practitioners sit comfortabley for 10-15 minutes with their eyes closed, silently repeating a mantra--a sound, word or phrase-- to calm the mind and body." Reuters, Meditation seen promising as ADHD therapy, Jan 5 2009

2010

• Transcendental Meditation, a stress-busting technique, may help reduce symptoms of depression, according to two new studies. [38]
• TM is a form of mantra based meditation practiced for centuries in India. The idea of bringing TM to public schools is not without its critics. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Seperation of Church and State, believes that TM is rooted in Hinduism and he maintains he is keeping “a close eye on the TM movement”. Although according to a recent Newsweek article, “Can Meditation Help At-Risk Kids?” Brad Dacus, of the Pacific Justice Institute, says practicing TM during a school’s “quiet time” is constitutional. [39] page 30, 2010
• Critics claim it can be used to spread a quasi-religious message and that meditation can be dangerous for some. [40] 2010
• Transcendental meditation - TM - is a popular form of relaxing the mind and body with your eyes closed, usually associated with music or chanting. [41] 2010
• Although, the perspective behind it has roots in Vedanta, it is not connected to any religious tradition and is based on specific meditation techniques.[42]
• Transcendental Meditation® — and that’s registered service mark, by the way — and “meditation” aren’t identical; the former is a subset, and a controversial one, of the latter, and discussions of the technique often founder on disputes about its overseers. Many of the earlier studies that specifically addressed Transcendental Meditation techniques were criticized for poor methodology, and it has been derided as a religion and pseudoscience.[43]2010
• The TM technique uses a mantra to help people achieve a relaxed state, and the practice is typically done for about 15 to 20 minutes twice a day. [44] 2010
• Transcendental Meditation comes from a Hindu tradition and some are uncomfortable with that. [45]Times Online from the Sunday Times, Free Your Mind, May 16, 2010
• The Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, founded by Indian spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, as a non-religious and scientifically verified way to prevent war and terrorism.-- Published remarks from TM representative[46] 2010
• "It's not a religion. It's not against any religion, it's not mumbo-jumbo. It truly does transform life," David Lynch told ABC News.2010 [47]