--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, boyboy_8 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thought: > > there is an assumption within TMO and MMY's teachings > that using his specific mantra formulations is the ONLY > trustworthy way of assuring the correct transcendental > pathway to enlightenment, etc.
That may be an assumption within the TMO, but it ain't from MMY's teaching. > What happens if there are non-TM mantra-like sounds that > can lead the individual to transcend, lower heart rate, > calm mind, all without a Puja and money transaction? Bring 'em on! MMY used to say that there could well be methods of meditation that were as effective as TM, but they'd all be called "transcendental meditation." I understood him to mean the *method* would be identical, but the objects of attention could vary. > Isn't that what Benson proved, years ago? Only up to a point. He wasn't teaching the TM *method*, first of all (he had never learned TM himself, let alone take teacher training, because he wanted to remain "objective," so he really never undestood the nature of the instruction and wasn't able to replicate it); and the TM studies whose results he was able to match were among the earliest and crudest.
