What's so special about the Transcendental Meditation mantras?

Harmonizing, life-supportive effect: Different sounds affect us in different ways. The Vedic Tradition of meditation, as revived by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is a science of consciousness that thousands of years ago established a systematic, comprehensive knowledge of mantras and their effects. Specific sounds were known for producing positive, soothing effects on mind, body and surroundings. These mantras are used today in the Transcendental Meditation program.

No meaning: The mantras used in TM practice are not associated with meaning. Whether spoken aloud or thought mentally, every word has its sound, but it also has meaning. The word rose has a meaning and a sound. Words or phrases with meaning engage the mind in the realm of thought and meaning. In TM practice, the mantra is used for the effect of its sound only. The fact that the TM mantra is used free of meaning helps the mind settle down, beyond thinking, to experience more refined stages of the thinking process until the meditator goes beyond the faintest impulse of thought and arrives at the field of pure consciousness. In this state, the intellectual activity that is involved with thinking and meaning is transcended. This is the revitalizing experience of pure "Being."

These unique qualities of the mantras used in TM practice — harmonizing, life-supportive effects and no association with meaning — facilitate the transcending process.

The right mantra: Certified instructors of the Transcendental Meditation technique are trained in systematic Vedic procedures of selecting and imparting mantras. Selecting the mantra is not guesswork. It's not a mystical process. Nor is there a one-of-a-kind mantra for every person. But there is a particular mantra that will be most effective for you, just as everyone has their own blood type. Over 50 years of teaching millions of people the TM technique to has shown that this timeless system works marvelously well.

Receiving the mantra: Certified TM teachers make sure that a person learning to meditate initially receives the correct, precise pronunciation of the mantra. But it is not the mantra or sound alone that produces the benefits. How one first receives the mantra — along with continued correct use — is just as important for getting results as is getting the right mantra.

Mantras found on the Internet, learned from books, or shared by friends or unqualified teachers are not learned with the precision and authenticity of the Vedic system of imparting mantras. Certified TM instructors adhere to the time-tested Vedic procedures. Learning the mantra properly in this way is said to activate the sound so it can be effectively used as a mantra. Otherwise the sound may fail to produce the intended results.

Correct use of the mantra
When you learn the Transcendental Meditation technique, you learn more than just the correct mantra: you learn how to use the mantra so that it becomes a vehicle for transcending.

Learning the TM technique is easy and enjoyable, but it’s also a delicate process, so delicate that the technique had been long lost to society — even in the land of its origin — because of misunderstanding and inadequate teaching methods. Maharishi reintroduced the practice of “effortless transcending” and structured a systematic, standardized course of personal instruction and follow-up. The seven-step TM course includes not only practical, customized instruction about how to meditate effectively, but also gives comprehensive knowledge of consciousness and higher stages of human development.

I heard that some mantras have meaning and can be religious — is this true of TM mantras?

What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

Do the TM mantras have roots in a religious tradition?

Why are the TM mantras kept private?

So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?

So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?

So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?

The seven-step Transcendental Meditation course gives you all the knowledge you need to meditate effectively and enjoy the benefits, but the TM course doesn’t train you in the art and science of teaching the TM technique. If you’d like to experience the joy of being a TM teacher, you’re welcome to attend a TM Teacher Training Course. It is a great gift to be able to instruct a person in the systematic procedure of effortless transcending.

TM teacher Training is currently a 4-5 month, in-residence program. The course offers in-depth, advanced knowledge of meditation and higher states of consciousness, and provides the skills necessary to successfully instruct anyone in the TM technique. To learn more, please contact your local TM Center.

Why are the TM mantras kept private?

It’s true that the TM mantras as well as the technique for using them have traditionally been kept private. This is to preserve the original effectiveness or purity of the Transcendental Meditation technique. If the mantras and the delicate procedure of how to use them were not carefully safeguarded, then proper instruction could not be guaranteed. The practice would be passed around loosely and consequently would naturally change over time; no one would know if they were practicing the authentic TM technique or some altered version. The technique’s purity would become diluted and its full effectiveness would soon be lost, as it was lost to society for generations before revived in this era by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The system of teaching the TM technique, established by Maharishi and in keeping with Vedic tradition, preserves the technique’s effectiveness by ensuring that the student receives the mantra correctly—in its pure form—and then is carefully instructed in how to use the mantra correctly.

This is why, when you learn the TM technique, you will be asked to keep your mantra to yourself, along with the procedure of how to meditate.


I heard that some mantras have meaning and can be religious — is this true of TM mantras?

What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

Some people say the TM mantras have roots in a religious tradition — is this true?

So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?

Where do the Transcendental Meditation mantras come from?

Some people say the TM mantras have roots in a religious tradition — is this true?

The mantras or sounds used in the Transcendental Meditation program come from a tradition of knowledge that is thousands of years old, the Vedic tradition, whose origins are buried in antiquity.

Scholars of the Vedic tradition recognize that these ancient mantras were originally used in a way that was not associated with meaning — that is, they were used for their sound value, for the effect produced by the very sound itself.

Vedic and Sanskrit scholars maintain that if any religious connotations were to be associated with these ancient mantras, it would be a departure from the mantras’ original use and would have come much later in the historical timeline of Indian culture. But historical scholarship does not hold that any standardized (or commonly agreed upon) religious meanings were ever prescribed to these ancient mantras — despite isolated, unsupported assertions one may find on the Internet.

More about the mantras and their traditional origins

What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

Why are the TM mantras kept private?

So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others?

Do Transcendental Meditation mantras have a religious connotation?

I heard that some mantras have meaning and can be religious — is this true of TM mantras?

No, this is not the case with TM mantras. It’s true that in certain other meditation practices, mantras may be used as meaningful thoughts for the purpose of contemplation or devotion and may have religious significance. But the mantras used in TM practice are not associated with any meaning, nor are they used in a religious context.

Even if a TM mantra were found to resemble an actual word or have an incidental meaning in a particular language — Hindi, Hebrew, Swahili or whatever — it would be irrelevant to TM practice. The TM mantra is strictly a vehicle for transcending, used for its sound value only (for the sound’s beneficial effects, not for any contemplation of meaning). The mantra, when used properly, allows mental activity to subside as the mind settles into the deeply restful state of pure consciousness — a peaceful, orderly level of mind beyond thinking and meaning.

This is why people of all religions — or no religion — practice the TM technique with no conflicts. The technique is secular in the truest sense of the word.

What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

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?

What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

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?

How is TM different from other forms of "mantra" meditation?

Mantra meditation practices are generally forms of controlled focus, employing degrees of concentration or sustained attention. 


The Transcendental Meditation technique, a process of "automatic self-transcending," involves silent use of a specialized mantra or sound, but uses the specific mantra in a unique way. The TM technique is fundamentally different from other kinds of “mantra” practices, primarily because of:

1. TM's effortlessness, naturalness and simplicity
2. Its holistic range of scientifically validated benefits
3. Its standardized, systematic, yet personalized program of instruction
4. The kind of mantras used—specifically, authentic mantras known to have life-supportive, harmonizing effects and which facilitate the process of transcending
 
What's a mantra?
The Sanskrit word 'mantra' came into common English usage in the 1970s — when millions of people around the world were learning the TM technique. The word now appears in English dictionaries, defined as “a repeated word or phrase.”

The different kinds of mantra meditations use a seemingly endless variety of "mantras" and use them in many different ways. Some forms of mantra meditation are religious — such as "centering prayer." TM practice is free of any religious context. 

In the Transcendental Meditation program, the word 'mantra' has a specific meaning: the mantra is a vehicle for transcending — for going beyond mental activity to finer and finer stages of the thinking process, until one arrives at the field of pure consciousness or the state of restful alertness. Meditators commonly describe this state as the deepest, most peaceful and creative level of the mind — one's silent, inmost self.

Personal instruction in the TM technique involves learning two main components: 

• A mantra or sound that is suitable for the individual

• How to use the mantra to transcend

More:

The Transcendental Meditation technique differs from other mantra-type meditation practices in these ways:

• The use of specific mantras long known to be effective for settling the mind. These sounds are not words, only sounds: they are not associated with meaning. That the sounds are free from meaning is important to facilitate transcending. Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies on the TM technique have shown that the correct use of these particular sounds (received in their proper pronunciation from a certified TM instructor) produces life-supportive, all-positive results.

• The traditional, specialized way in which TM mantras are imparted, ensuring that the student receives the correct mantra — in its proper form — and in accordance with the time-tested teaching procedures of this ancient tradition of meditation.

• The way one is taught to use the mantra properly in meditation — in a natural, effortless way that allows the mind to settle inward and transcend.

• The TM technique’s purity or authenticity in the Vedic Tradition.

• A systematic method of instruction — with experienced, rigorously trained certified teachers — allowing the technique to be easily learned and producing consistent results.

• Support and follow-up, including personal "checking" of meditation to stabilize correct practice — as needed, free for the rest for your life.

If you attend an introductory talk on the TM technique, the teacher will help further clarify the distinctions between TM practice and other forms of meditation.

VIDEO: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the correct use of mantras

What's so special about the Transcendental Meditation mantras—and how are they different from other mantras?

• I heard that some mantras have meaning and can be religious — is this true of TM mantras?

• What if I meditate using a mantra that has a meaning?

• Do the TM mantras have roots in a religious tradition?

• Why are the TM mantras kept private?

• So once I learn, I can’t teach the TM technique to others? 

Read more about the three major categories of meditation techniques:

• The Huffington Post: "How Meditation Techniques Compare—Zen, Mindfulness, Transcendental Meditation and More" 
• Physorg News: "Are All Meditation Techniques the Same?" 

Why a certified teacher?

Is TM the only way to transcend?