Meditation practices using actual words or phrases for mantras may have a pleasing affect, allowing one to explore concepts or enjoy the feelings or ideas that the words or phrases might invoke, but such practices are not so conducive to going beyond mental activity to the more settled states of awareness. This is because they tend to keep the mind busy and engaged more on the surface — in the active realm of thinking and meaning. Such methods are not found to consistently induce transcending — the experience of the deepest, inmost level of one's Self.
The state of transcendental consciousness experienced during TM practice lies beyond mental activity, beyond all meaning and conceptualization at the source of thought.
Almost any kind of meditation will produce degrees of relaxation and resultant benefits, but practices that use sounds with meaning have not been shown through scientific research to consistently produce the deep, coherent physiological rest or holistic range of benefits gained from TM practice.
I heard that some mantras have meaning and can be religious — is this true of TM mantras?
Some people say the TM mantras have roots in a religious tradition — is this true?
Why are the TM mantras kept private?
So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?
Most Popular
-
Mindfulness meditation, often associated with Vipassana (a Buddhist practice), is generally considered to be a form of " open monitori... -
The Transcendental Meditation technique is not just watching your breath, contemplating , concentrating, or trying to be mindful. I t'... -
by Tom Ball The New York Times article, "The Man Who Saved the Beatles," written in response to the passing of Maharishi M... -
Mantra meditation practices are generally forms of controlled focus , employing degrees of concentration or sustained attention. The... -
Brain researchers have found that during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, the brain becomes more coherent and integrated... -
Editor's note: With thousands of Buddhist monks in Asia practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique , it may be interesting to c... -
Transcendental Consciousness David Orme-Johnson, Ph.D. Many scholars have noted that experiences of Transcendental Consciousness are univers...