Global InformationTranscendental Meditation movement information
The Transcendental Meditation movement (TM) are programs and organizations that promote the Transcendental Meditation technique founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in the 1950s. The organization was estimated to have 900,000 participants in 1977,[1] a million by the 1980s,[2][3][4] and 5 million in more recent years.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Programs include the Transcendental Meditation technique, an advanced meditation practice called the TM-Sidhi program ("Yogic Flying"), an alternative health care program called Maharishi Ayurveda,[12] and a system of building and architecture called Maharishi Sthapatya Ved.[13][14] The TM movement's past and present media endeavors include a publishing company (MUM Press), a television station (KSCI), a radio station (KHOE), and a satellite television channel (Maharishi Channel). Its products and services have been offered primarily through nonprofit and educational outlets, such as the Global Country of World Peace, and the David Lynch Foundation.
The TM movement also operates a worldwide network of Transcendental Meditation teaching centers, schools, universities, health centers, and herbal supplement, solar panel, and home financing companies, plus several TM-centered communities. The global organization is reported to have an estimated net worth of USD 3.5 billion.[15][16] The TM movement has been called a spiritual movement, a new religious movement,[17][18] a millenarian movement, a world affirming movement,[19] a new social movement,[20] a guru-centered movement,[21] and a personal growth movement.[22] TM is practiced by people from a diverse group of religious affiliations.[23][24][25][26]
- ^ Stark, Rodney and Bainbridge, William Sims (1985) University of California Press, The Future Of Religion, page 287 "Time magazine in 1975 estimated that the U.S. total had risen to 600,000 augmented by half that number elsewhere" =[900,000 world wide] "Annual Growth in TM Initiations in the U.S. [chart] Cumulative total at the End of Each Year: 1977, 919,300"
- ^ Petersen, William (1982). Those Curious New Cults in the 80s. New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing. p. 123. ISBN 9780879833176. claims "more than a million" in the United States and Europe.
- ^ Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996); p 66, citing "close to a million" in the United States.
- ^ Bainbridge, William Sims (1997) Routledge, The Sociology of Religious Movements, page 189 "the million people [Americans] who had been initiated"
- ^ Analysis: Practice of requiring probationers to take lessons in transcendental meditation sparks religious controversy, NPR All Things Considered, 1 February 2002 | ROBERT SIEGEL "TM's five million adherents claim that it eliminates chronic health problems and reduces stress."
- ^ Martin Hodgson, The Guardian (5 February 2008) "He [Maharishi] transformed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multimillion-dollar global empire with more than 5m followers worldwide"
- ^ Stephanie van den Berg, Sydney Morning Herald, Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies, (7 February 2008) "the TM movement, which has some five million followers worldwide"
- ^ Meditation a magic bullet for high blood pressure – study, Sunday Tribune (South Africa), (27 January 2008) "More than five million people have learned the technique worldwide, including 60,000 in South Africa."
- ^ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – Transcendental Meditation founder's grand plan for peace, The Columbian (Vancouver, WA), 19 February 2006 | ARTHUR MAX Associated Press writer "transcendental meditation, a movement that claims 6 million practitioners since it was introduced."
- ^ Bickerton, Ian (8 February 2003). "Bank makes an issue of mystic's mint". Financial Times. London (UK). p. 9. the movement claims to have five million followers,
- ^ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader Dies, New York Times, By LILY KOPPEL, Published: 6 February 2008 "Since the technique's inception in 1955, the organization says, it has been used to train more than 40,000 teachers, taught more than five million people."
- ^ Sharma & Clark 1998, Preface
- ^ Welvaert, Brandy (5 August 2005). "Vedic homes seek better living through architecture" (PDF). Rock Island Argus. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ Spivack, Miranda (12 September 2008). "Bricks Mortar and Serenity". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". The Times. London (UK). 7 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ For new religious movement see:
Beckford, James A. (1985). Cult Controversies: The Societal Response to New Religious Movements. Tavistock Publications. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-422-79630-9. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
Parsons, Gerald (1994). The Growth of Religious Diversity: Traditions. The Open University/Methuen. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-415-08326-3. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
For neo-Hindu, see:
Alper, Harvey P. (December 1991). Understanding Mantras. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 442. ISBN 978-81-208-0746-4. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
Raj, Selva, J.; Harman, William, P. (2007). Dealing With Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia. SUNY Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-7914-6708-4. Retrieved 12 February 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Persinger, Michael A.; Carrey, Normand J.; Suess, Lynn A. (1980). TM and Cult Mania. North Quincy, Massachusetts: Christopher Pub. House. ISBN 978-0-8158-0392-8.
- ^ Dawson, Lorne L. (2003) Blackwell Publishing, Cults and New Religious Movements, Chapter 3: Three Types of New Religious Movement by Roy Wallis (1984), page 44-48
- ^ Christian Blatter, Donald McCown, Diane Reibel, Marc S. Micozzi, (2010) Springer Science+Business Media, Teaching Mindfulness, Page 47
- ^ Olson, Carl (2007) Rutgers University Press, The Many Colors of Hinduism, page 345
- ^ Shakespeare, Tom (24 May 2014). "A Point of View". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
- ^ "the TM technique does not require adherence 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."
- ^ "Its proponents say it is not a religion or a philosophy."The Guardian 28 March 2009
- ^ "It's used in prisons, large corporations and schools, and it is not considered a religion." Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Concord Monitor
- ^ Chryssides, George. "Defining the New Spirituality". Cesnur. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
One possible suggestion is that religion demands exclusive allegiance: this would ipso facto exclude Scientology, TM and the Soka Gakkai simply on the grounds that they claim compatibility with whatever other religion the practitioner has been following. For example, TM is simply – as they state – a technique. Although it enables one to cope with life, it offers no goal beyond human existence (such as moksha), nor does it offer rites or passage or an ethic. Unlike certain other Hindu-derived movements, TM does not prescribe a dharma to its followers – that is to say a set of spiritual obligations deriving from one's essential nature.