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Transcendental Meditation

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Transcendental Meditation, or TM, is the trademarked name of a meditation technique introduced in 1958 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The technique, practiced for twenty minutes twice a day while sitting with one's eyes closed,[1] is said to be effortless, and not to involve concentration or contemplation.[2] The TM technique is said to have been taught to over six million people worldwide.[3]

Procedure

Maharishi says that the Transcendental Meditation technique is derived from the ancient Vedic tradition of India. The technique is taught to new practitioners in a standardized, seven-step procedure, comprised of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and a two-hour instruction session given on each of four consecutive days. Instruction begins with a short ceremony performed by the teacher, after which the student learns and begins practicing the technique. Subsequent sessions are said to provide further clarification of correct practice, as well as more information about the technique.[4][5]

Research on the Transcendental Meditation technique

Medical indexes, such as PubMed, show that over 250 studies have been conducted on the Transcendental Meditation technique. The universities and medical centers where this research has taken place include Harvard Medical School, Yale Medical School, Stanford University, Princeton University, MIT, Purdue University, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan Medical School, and the University of Texas.[6]

Effects on the physiology

Research studies have described specific physiological effects that occur during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The first of these studies was published in the early 1970’s in Science,[7] American Journal of Physiology,[8] and Scientific American.[9]

This research found that the Transcendental Meditation technique produced a physiological state that was termed "restful alertness." During the practice of the technique the physiology becomes relaxed, as indicated by significant reductions in respiration, minute ventilation, tidal volume, blood lactate, and significant increases in basal skin resistance, yet EEG measurements showed increased coherence and integration of brain functioning,[10] indicating that the physiology was alert rather than asleep.[11]

Studies suggest that this state of physiology promotes regulation of cortisol and other hormones associated with chronic stress and a healthier regulation of serotonin (a neurotransmitter associated with mood).[12]

Range of studies

A number of studies have reported finding a positive correlation between the Transcendental Meditation technique and various health-related conditions, including reduction of high blood pressure,[13] younger biological age,[14] decreased insomnia,[15] reduction of high cholesterol,[16] reduced illness and medical expenditures,[17] decreased outpatient visits,[18] decreased cigarette smoking,[19] decreased alcohol use,[20] and decreased anxiety.[21]

Some studies indicate that regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique leads to cumulative effects in the areas of mind (Travis, Arenander & DuBois 2004), body (Barnes, Treiber & Davis 2001) and behavior (Barnes, Bauza & Treiber 2003).

Research funding from the NIH

As of 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had spent more than $20 million funding research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on heart disease[3]. In 1999, the NIH awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S.[22]

The research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield, Iowa.[23]

Research in medical journals

A paper published in 1977 in The Lancet demonstrated that the Transcendental Meditation technique had no effect on blood pressure in patients.[24]

In 2005, the American Journal of Cardiology published a review of two studies that looked at stress reduction with the Transcendental Meditation technique and mortality among patients receiving treatment for high blood pressure.[25] This study was a long-term, randomized trial. It evaluated the death rates of 202 men and women, average age 71, who had mildly elevated blood pressure. The study tracked subjects for up to 18 years and found that the group practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique had death rates that were reduced by 23%. The review was funded in part by a grant from NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Also in 2005, the American Journal of Hypertension published the results of a study that found the Transcendental Meditation technique may be useful as an adjunct in the long-term treatment of hypertension among African-Americans.[26]

In 2006, a study published in the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine found that coronary heart disease patients who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique for 16 weeks showed improvements in blood pressure, insulin resistance, and autonomic nervous system tone, compared with a control group of patients who received health education.[27]

The American Heart Association has published two studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique. In 2000, the association's journal, Stroke, published a study that found that, on average, the hypertensive, adult subjects who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique daily experienced reduced thickening of coronary arteries, thereby decreasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. After six to nine months, carotid intima-media thickness decreased in the group that was practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique as compared with matched control subjects.[28]The association's journal Hypertension published the results of a randomized, controlled trial in which a group of older African-Americans practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique had reduced blood pressure.[29]

Also in 2006, a functional MRI study of 24 patients published in NeuroReport found that the long-term practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique may reduce the brain's response to pain.[30]

Research on cognitive function

A paper published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 1978 found no effect on school grades.[31] A 1985 study in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, and a 1989 study in Education showed improved academic performance.[32] [33]

A paper published in 2001 in the journal, Intelligence, reported the effects on 362 Taiwanese students of three randomized, controlled trials that used seven standardized tests. The trials measured the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique, a contemplative meditative technique from the Chinese tradition, and napping, on a wide range of cognitive, emotional and perceptual functions. The three studies ranged in time from six months to one year. Results indicated that taken together the Transcendental Meditation group had significant improvement on all seven measurements compared to the non-treatment and napping control groups. Contemplative meditation showed a significant result in two categories, and napping had no effect. The results included an increase in IQ, creativity, fluid intelligence, field independence, and practical intelligence.[34]

In 2003 a study in the journal, Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, reviewed ten randomized, controlled trials that looked at the effect of the Transcendental Meditation technique on cognitive function. Four trials showed a significant effect on cognitive function, while the remaining trials showed mixed results. Study authors, Canter and Ernst, noted that the four positive trials used subjects who had already intended to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique, and attributed the significant positive results to an expectation effect.[35] Orme-Johnson, co-author of one of these trials, has critiqued this study, noting errors and omissions.[36]

A 1971 survey by Leon Otis found that a significant percentage of those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique also report feeling anxiety, confusion, and depression.[37] Other researchers have found that the Transcendental Meditation technique has no correlation with these conditions.[38]

Theory of consciousness

Maharishi's theory of enlightenment

According to Maharishi's theory of enlightenment, there are seven major states of consciousness. The first three, Waking, dreamless Sleep, and Dreaming (REM) are commonly known. The last three states describe aspects of what Maharishi calls enlightenment (a state in which the human being is said to be fully developed ). Enlightenment, according to Maharishi, is the goal of long-term practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. According to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

Transcendental Consciousness, is a fourth state of consciousness, distinct from waking, sleeping or dreaming. During the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique thought can become increasingly subtle, until the finest level of thought is reached. From there the mind can further experience the source of thought, or is said to transcend thought itself.[39] [40] [41]

Cosmic Consciousness, the fifth state, is the state of "enlightenment" that results from alternating the experience of Transcendental Consciousness with the activity of daily life, so that eventually Transcendental Consciousness becomes permanently maintained along with the waking, sleeping, and dreaming states. This all-inclusive state of Cosmic Consciousness is said to be marked by a peaceful, non-changing, restful, yet alert, inner state that is maintained while one is actively engaged in life. [42]

God Consciousness is said to be a state where, during waking, sleeping, and dreaming states, the state of Cosmic Consciousness is accompanied by refined, sensory perception, awareness of the mechanics of creation, and development of devotion and love for the created universe and its creator.[43]

Unity Consciousness, the seventh state, is said to be a state in which all of the aspects of life are seen as expressions of one's inner life. The outer and inner realities of life are said to be bridged in Unity Consciousness.


Research on "higher states of consciousness"

While earlier studies focused on physiological effects during meditation, later studies began to focus on understanding the state of the mind and the body during the experience of higher states of consciousness (as defined above), and on episodes of what became known as "pure" Transcendental Consciousness during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Several common physiological markers for Transcendental Consciousness, including reduced breath volume, high alpha EEG coherence, and decreased heart rate as compared to the remainder of a TM meditation period, were found. [44] [45]

More recently, several studies have been conducted on individuals who report having experiences of Transcendental Consciousness in activity or sleep (referred to above as "Cosmic Consciousness"). A study published in 1997, in the journal, Sleep, found greater alpha and theta EEG power, but no difference in delta EEG power in long-term TM meditators reporting episodes of "higher states of consciousness" during sleep compared to controls.[46] A study published in 2002, in Biological Psychology, found distinct EEG patterns in the 17 long-term meditators as compared to two matched control groups. In addition, using a measure called choice-contingent negative variation, the researchers found that the subjects' brains responded more efficiently during tasks.[47] Using the same three groups of subjects, a followup study, that utilized content analysis to characterize and classify their subjective experiences, found that the group reporting an experience of Transcendental Consciousness during activity had unique subjective experiences. This was characterized by an on-going experience described as "unboundedness." [48]

History

In 1957, at the end of a festival of "spiritual luminaries" in remembrance of the previous Shankaracharya of the North, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (or simply "Maharishi" to followers) inaugurated a movement to "spiritually regenerate the world." From that point in time, the Transcendental Meditation technique has spread throughout the world.[49] Maharishi's publications during this period include Beacon Light of the Himalayas (1955),[50] Science of Being and Art of Living (1963), a translation of, and commentary on, the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita (1965), and the long devotional poem Love and God (1967).[51]

In the early 1970s, Maharishi launched a "World Plan" to establish one Transcendental Meditation teaching center for each million of the world's population, which at that time would have meant 3,600 TM centers throughout the world. Since 1990, Maharishi has coordinated his global activities from his headquarters in the town of Vlodrop in the municipality of Roerdalen in the Netherlands. The Global Country of World Peace is the name of the organization through which the TM technique is taught.

Maharishi founded Maharishi University of Management, which began offering classes in 1973 in California and relocated to Fairfield, Iowa, USA, in 1974. He has also founded a number of schools around the world. He inspired the founding of Maharishi Vedic City in southeast Iowa and the Natural Law Party, a political party that became active in several countries. To date most have been dissolved. The U.S. NLP closed on April 30, 2004.[52]

The official TM website indicates that more than 6 million people worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its inauguration,[53] including celebrities such as comedian Jerry Seinfeld,[4] Dolly Parton, Andy Kaufman, The Beatles, Beach Boys' Mike Love, Stevie Wonder, and Al Jardine, jazz musicians Eric Kloss and Charles Lloyd, actor Stephen Collins, radio personality Howard Stern, actor Clint Eastwood, film director David Lynch, actor Hugh Jackman, inventor and author Itzhak Bentov, Scottish musician Donovan, actresses Mia Farrow and Heather Graham [5]. For nearly eight years, Deepak Chopra was one of Maharishi's most prominent spokespersons and promoters of Maharishi Ayurveda or alternative medicine.[54] Political leaders who practice TM include Joaquim Chissano [6][7], former president of Mozambique.

Transcendental Meditation communities

There are several intentional communities centered on Transcendental Meditation:

  • In Israel there are two settlements in Galilee whose residents practice Transcendental Meditation - Hararit and Yachad.
  • Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, incorporated in 2001, has a total population of about 420, and is expected by its planners to reach a population of 1,200 by the year 2010.

Transcendental Meditation controversies

Relationship to religion and spirituality

Official Transcendental Meditation websites state that the TM technique is a mental technique for deep rest and for contacting what is described as a field of unlimited potential. These sites state that the Transcendental Meditation technique does not require faith, belief, or a change in lifestyle to be effective. [8]

Clergy have varying views when assessing the compatibility of their religions to the TM technique and programs. Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, believes, as he outlines in his 1984 pastoral statement, that the Transcendental Meditation perspective conflicts with Christianity. For example, unlike the Christian idea of God – a personal god caring for every individual – Archbishop Sin believes the inner reality one reaches through the TM technique to be impersonal. Man, as described by TM philosophy, is capable of increasing levels of perfection, but is not born in Original sin, a foundation of Christian doctrine. Pain and suffering as redemptive, another foundation of much Christian thought, is lacking in TM theory, according to Cardinal Sin. [9] Archbishop Sin also noted the belief that mantras used in the Transcenental Meditation technique are apparent invocations to deities. No information on mantras exists on official Transcendental Meditation technique web sites.

Maharishi does call Transcendental Meditation "a path to God", [55] and in his teaching often makes references to "God" or a creator.[56] Transcendental Meditation program websites indicate Maharishi makes no references to the Transcendental Meditation technique as a religious practice, although he does describe himself as a spiritual teacher.[citation needed] Kelly Zellers and Pamela Perrewe in their discussion of “The Role of Spirituality in Occupational Stress and Well-Being,” in Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance, describe meditation, yoga, and the Transcendental Meditation technique, one form of meditation mentioned, as spiritual and describe all three as coping strategies people may employ in business and in life in general.[57]

Clergy who find the TM technique to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs include Rabbi Allan Green who finds the Transcendental Meditation technique and its philosophy to provide insight into his work as a rabbi, [58] and Rabbi Raphael Levine who discovered that TM theory contains many of the same insights found in the teachings of Hebrew Prophets. [10]

Father Adrian Smith, a Catholic priest, describes Transcendental Meditation as compatible with any religion because of its pertinence to human nature rather than to religious virtue.[59] Father Basil Pennington, a Cistercian monk, believes that the deepest self described by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the Absolute is known to Christians, and is the same as "our God of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.[60]

An early controversy on the use of the Transcendental Meditation technique in schools arose in 1979, when the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court decision in Malnak v. Yogi (592 F.2d 197) that a curriculum in the Science of Creative Intelligence, which included the Transcendental Meditation technique, could not be taught in New Jersey public schools because it violated the Establishment Clause [61] of the First Amendment, which creates a wall of separation between church and state. [62] The lower court based the ruling in part on the brief ceremony (known as the "puja") involved in Transcendental Meditation instruction (though an appellate judge disagreed[63]) and also on the fact that the Science of Creative Intelligence dealt with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. Because the ruling centered around a curriculum in the Science of Creative Intelligence, and because the Wallace v. Jaffree decision in 1986 allows for quiet time/meditation with a secular purpose, instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique has continued in public charter schools, despite comments like those of sociologist Barry Markovsky, who felt that in teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique in the schools, there might be an undercurrent of religion. He labeled this as “stealth religion." [64] [65] Principals of public charter schools Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit and Fletcher-Johnson School in Washington, D.C., note that in their views the TM technique is not religious. [11][12]

Cult accusations

In 1987, the controversial and now defunct group “old” Cult Awareness Network (CAN) [66] held a press conference and demonstration in Washington, D.C., charging that Transcendental Meditation, “seeks to strip individuals of their ability to think and choose freely.” Steve Hassan, author of several books on cults, and at one time a CAN deprogrammer [66] commented in the same press conference that TM practitioners display what he considers to be cult–like behaviors.[67] These cult-like tendencies were also noted in Michael A. Persinger's book, TM and Cult Mania, published in 1980.[68]

David Orme-Johnson, former psychology professor and researcher at Maharishi University of Management and author of over 100 studies related to the Transcendental Meditation technique, cites research showing greater autonomy, independence, and innovative thought in TM practitioners, as well as increases in creativity, general intelligence and moral reasoning. Cult followers, according to Orme–Johnson allegedly operate on blind faith, and adherence, usually rigid, to arbitrary rules and authority, whereas Orme-Johnson notes that these studies indicate the ability of TM practitioners to make mature, independent, principle-based judgments. [13]

Lawsuits

Kropinski v. WPEC

In a civil suit against the World Plan Executive Council filed in 1985,[69] Robert Kropinski claimed fraud, psychological, physical, and emotional harm as a result of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. The district court dismissed Kropinski's claims concerning intentional tort and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and referred the claims of fraud and negligent infliction of physical and psychological injuries to a jury trial. The jury awarded Robert Kropinski $137,890 in the fraud and negligence claims. The appellate court overturned the award and dismissed Kropinski's claim alleging psychological damage. The claim of fraud and the claim of a physical injury related to his practice of the TM-Sidhi program were remanded to the lower court for retrial, and the parties then settled these remaining claims out of court.[70]

Butler/Killian vs. MUM

Two lawsuits were filed as a result of a stabbing at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa on March 1, 2004[71] The families of the murdered student and a student who was assaulted earlier in the day have sued MUM and the Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation. Their separate suits, filed on February 24, 2006, allege that the twice-daily practice of Transcendental Meditation, which the university requires of all students, can be dangerous for people with psychiatric problems. They also charge the university with failing to call the police or take action to protect students from a violent, mentally ill student.[72][73]

Consciousness and the unified field

Maharishi teaches that the Transcendental Meditation technique allows the mind to contact an underlying field of existence. Teachers of Transcendental Meditation hypothesize this field to be parallel to or the same as a hypothetical unified field described by physicists.[14][15] For a short time in the 1980s, the Transcendental Meditation technique was referred to as the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field.

The relationship between the mind and physics is a matter of dispute among physicists. In 1986 Heinz Pagels, who was at the time the executive director of the New York Academy of Science, wrote a letter stating that the philosophical claims of the TM organization willfully distort scientific truth.[74]

Issue of cost

In response to what they feel is a high course fee to learn TM, some former TM teachers offer instruction on their own. Other former TM teachers, critical of the organization, have published what they claim to be TM mantras. TM Independent says it is their goal to make TM available at an affordable price. Natural Stress Relief states that the technique they offer does not consist of the Transcendental Meditation program.[75]

The TM organization recommends that the TM technique be learned from an authorized teacher only.[76] The fee in the U.S. is currently $2,500.[77]

References

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  2. ^ Shear, Jonathan (2006). The Experience of Meditation, 25, 30-32, 43-44
  3. ^ The Transcendental Meditation Program
  4. ^ The Seven-Step Course
  5. ^ [http://www.maharishi.org/tm/learn_tm.html 7 Steps to Learn the TM
  6. ^ Scientific Journals
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  8. ^ Wallace RK. The Physiology of Meditation. Scientific American 1972;226:84-90
  9. ^ Wallace RK, Benson H, Wilson AF. A wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state. American Journal of Physiology 1971;221:795-799
  10. ^ Dillbeck, M.C. and E.C. Bronson: 1981, "Short-term longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on EEG power and coherence", International Journal of Neuroscience 14, pp. 147-151
  11. ^ Dillbeck, M.C., and D.W. Orme-Johnson: 1987, "Physiological differences between Transcendental Meditation and rest", American Psychologist 42, pp. 879-881
  12. ^ MacLean, C.R.K., et al: 1996, "Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on adaptive mechanisms: Changes in hormone levels and responses to stress after four months of practice", Psychoendrocrinology 22, pp. 277-295
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  14. ^ International Journal of Neuroscience 16: 53–58, 1982
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  22. ^ Vedic Medicine, Meditation Receive Federal Funds, U.S. Medicine,Matt Pueschel, July 2000
  23. ^ NIH Awards $8 Million Grant to Establish Research Center on Natural Medicine
  24. ^ Pollack, A. A., Weber, M. A., Case, D. B., Laragh, J. H. "Limitations of Transcendental Meditation in the treatment of essential hypertension." The Lancet, January 8, 1977, 71-73.
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  27. ^ Effects of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation on Components of the Metabolic Syndrome in Subjects With Coronary Heart Disease, Archives of Internal Medicine, Maura Paul-Labrador et al,, Vol. 166 No. 11, June 12, 2006
  28. ^ Stroke. 2000 Mar;31(3):568-73.
  29. ^ A Randomized Controlled Trial of Stress Reduction for Hypertension in Older African Americans, Robert H. Schneider et al, Hypertension, 1995, 26: 820-827
  30. ^ Orme-Johnson DW; et al. "Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain". Retrieved 2006-9-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |citation= ignored (help)
  31. ^ Carsello, C. J. and Creaser, J. W. "Does Transcendental Meditation Training Affect Grades?" Journal of Applied Psychology, 1978, 63, 644-645.
  32. ^ Nidich, S.I. and Nidich, R.J. Increased academic achievement at Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment: A replication study. Education 109: 302–304, 1989.
  33. ^ Kember, P. The Transcendental Meditation technique and postgraduate academic performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology 55: 164–166, 1985.
  34. ^ Intelligence (September/October 2001), Vol. 29/5, pp. 419-440
  35. ^ Canter, P., Ernst, E. (2003) The cumulative effects of Transcendental Meditation on cognitive function—a systematic review of randomised controlled trials Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2003 November 28;115(21-22):758-766
  36. ^ David Orme-Johnson: Critique of studies alleging that Transcendental Meditation technique has no effect
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  38. ^ Herron, Robert E., et al: 1996, “Cost-Effective Hypertension Management: Comparison of Drug Therapies with an Alternative Program,” The American Journal of Managed Care Vol. 11, No. 4, p. 433
  39. ^ Transcendental Consciousness: The State of Inner Peace
  40. ^ Enlightenment Online
  41. ^ name="SACM">Studies of Advanced Stages of Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist and Vedic Traditions. I: A Comparison of General Changes, Hethe House, eCAM, 2006 3(4):513-521
  42. ^ [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/alexander/index#C
  43. ^ name="gcuc">God Consciousness and Unity Consciousness: The Highest States of Peace and Fulfillment
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  45. ^ Travis F, Wallace RK. "Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspensions: possible markers of Transcendental Consciousness." Psychophysiology. 1997 Jan;34(1):39-46
  46. ^ Mason LI, Alexander CN, Travis FT, Marsh G, Orme-Johnson DW, Gackenbach J, Mason DC, Rainforth M, Walton KG. "Electrophysiological correlates of higher states of consciousness during sleep in long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation program." Sleep. 1997 Feb;20(2):102-10.
  47. ^ Travis, F. T., Tecce, J., Arenander, A., & Wallace, R. K. (2002), Patterns of EEG coherence, power, and contingent negative variation characterize the integration of transcendental and waking states. Biological Psychology, 61, 293-319
  48. ^ Travis, F., Arenander, A., & DuBois, D. (2004). Psychological and physiological characteristics of a proposed object-referral/self-referral continuum of self-awareness. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 401-420
  49. ^ Oates, Robert M. (1976)Celebrating the Dawn, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-11815-2
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  52. ^ Natural Law Party
  53. ^ The Transcendental Meditation Program
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  55. ^ Meditations of Maharishi. p. 59
  56. ^ Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Rev. Ed. 1967, p. 271
  57. ^ Zellers, Kelly L., Perrewe, Pamela. “The Role of Spirituality in Occupational Stress and Well-Being”, Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance, M.E. Sharp, December 2002.
  58. ^ Vesely,Carolin, “Its All in Your Mind” Winnipeg Free Press, March 21, 2006.
  59. ^ Smith, Adrian B. A Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: A Christian Understanding of Transcendental Meditation. Temple House Books, 1993.
  60. ^ Pennington, Basil. “TM and Christian Prayer”, Daily We Touch Him: Practical Religious Experiences. Doubleday, 1977:73
  61. ^ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/estabinto.htm
  62. ^ Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 203 (3rd Cir., 1979)
  63. ^ In his concurring opinion, Judge Adams said that the ceremony didn't violate the Establishment Clause because “(a) the Puja was never performed in a school classroom, or even on government property; (b) it was never performed during school hours, but only on a Sunday; (c) it was performed only once in the case of each student; (d) it was entirely in Sanskrit with neither the student nor, apparently, the teacher who chanted it, knowing what the foreign words meant. Moreover, the elements of involuntariness present in Engel and Schempp are wholly absent here.” Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 203 (3rd Cir., 1979)
  64. ^ Man Fails To Fly, Sues Camlot Owner, GTR News Online, Nancy K. Owens
  65. ^ The White Plain Journal News, Joy Victory, May 18, 2004
  66. ^ a b CAN, We Hardly Knew Ye: Sex, Drugs, Deprogrammers’ Kickbacks, and Corporate Crime in the (old) Cult Awareness Network, by Anson Shupe and Susan E. Darnell, October 21, 2000, paper presented at SSSR meeting
  67. ^ Group Says Movement a Cult, The Washington Post, Phil McCombs, July 2, 1987
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  69. ^ United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Civil Suit #85-2848, 1986
  70. ^ Kropinski v. WPEC, 853 F.2d 948
  71. ^ Trouble in transcendental paradise as murder rocks the Maharishi University, The Observer, May 2, 2004
  72. ^ Butler v. Maharishi University of Management, US District Court, Southern District of Iowa, Central Div., Case No. 06-cv-00072
  73. ^ Kilian v. Maharishi University of Management, US District Court, Southern District of Iowa
  74. ^ Deepak Chopra, The Skeptics Dictionary, Robert Carroll
  75. ^ We Do Not Teach Transcendental Meditation
  76. ^ Must be learned from a qualified teacher
  77. ^ Course Requirements

Further reading

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