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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the West to Transcendental Meditation (TM), died in the Netherlands on February 5 at the age of 91. TM was originally viewed with skepticism but eventually gained worldwide acceptance and medical credibility. The movement really took off after the Beatles visited Maharishi’s ashram in India in 1968. Maharishi had a profound influence on the Beatles’ late career. Other famous practitioners of TM include the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Mia Farrow, Sheryl Crow, Sting, radio host Howard Stern, and singer and song writer Donovan. Comedian Andy Kaufman and magician Doug Henning were also students of Maharishi, while Hollywood directors Clint Eastwood and David Lynch have both practiced the technique. Maharishi left six million TM practitioners and worldwide TM organizations behind.
TM was dismissed as hippie mysticism in the beginning. However, Maharishi’s relentless persistence on its scientific validations was unquestionably remarkable. Partly due to his efforts, there have been more than 600 scientific studies on the effects of the TM program that have been conducted at 250 independent universities and research institutes in 33 countries throughout the world during the past 40 years.
Reported individual health benefits aside, creating coherence in world consciousness and changing the global mood are among TM’s claims. These claims aim at working for the good of the society. However, some people might simply do it in order to get elected, to salve a guilty conscience, and for love of the spotlight. On the other hand, we also do it because there are many with the same thoughts, and thought is infectious when there is a channel in which it can flow. In this sense, TM’s claims do not have to be transcendental.
It is indeed sound practice to separate scientific theory from spiritual values, but to deny that there is any validity beyond the findings of science is absurd. It is no wonder that much of today’s science revolves around controlling pain. We humans don’t like pain and seek to avoid it. We are doing pretty well at it, and will do better. Perhaps we think that we are dedicated to the search for knowledge, but is that all? The old great question still abides: are we also dedicated to a search for truth? In another sentence, has the word “truth” any meaning beyond convenience? There is plenty of evil in the world, and there long will be. There is also compassionate kindness. The whole can present to all a life worth living. Yet this is by no means a final and satisfactory answer to the great question above. For the sake of argument, suppose we’ve conquered them all: diseases, poverty, violence, hate, etc. Is this why we are on the earth? Just to be comfortable? Just to create a soft utopia? Is that all there is, and have human beings no other mission? If we build a utopia would we then be eternally happy? If not, then what?
Here’s where faith comes in. Faith enters science in the form of privilege; it is the privilege of human beings to learn to understand. The essence of our being does not merely aim to prevail; it aims at knowledge for the sake of understanding. We have motivation, consciousness, and altruism. We can’t define them or prove their presence. Neither can we give any reason why we should have them. However, having these qualities, we are going to use them. They have been refined and brought to us by the process of evolution, and we hope to pass them to next generations even though we live in perilous days. We shall continue to delve and ponder even if we know that bombs will fall and things we love may perish. We shall do so, so that our children’s children may weigh them more than we do, and shall know a little more why all this is so.
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