This is one of the reasons why I always felt someone like Deepak Chopra should have begun his experience in the TMO as a Flower Boy on Saturday mornings. Chopra is very much someone who, deservedly, was a star pupil because he studied his ass off...but he was also the Dauphin-like golden boy.
I think the experience would have humbled him. It certainly did me and certainly convinced me of the power of the puja. I would wait outside the doors of the puja room and be the person who would guide the initiates to the room where they do their first meditation. Sitting outside the puja room I would always notice an incredible energy change in the area which exponentially ratcheted up about the time the mantra was given out. It was incredibly palpable and convinced me that something was happening...yes, I would say that it was the enlivening of the Holy Tradition and, yes, making the recitation of the puja an essential requirement of receiving a mantra. And, most definitely "yes", it does toggle the power of the mantra (to use Edg's term, below). "Toggle" is a really good word to describe it! With such an important thing at hand, why would anyone want to take a chance they weren't getting the full effect? I'm not 100% sure, but I've asked this question before and have been told that in Chopra's meditation technique he doesn't preceed it with a puja. If true, he's an irresponsible prick who is playing with people in a very irresponsible way. Not that what he is teaching them isn't better than them not learning anything at all; only that it is not complete and the effects won't be what they could have been. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_re...@...> wrote: > > Rick, > > Do you feel the puja etc. is necessary for the technique to "get > activated by Guru Dev" or something of that ilk? > > Seems to me that an ancient ritual has a chance of helping (deluding?) > a newbie to imprint on the technique, so that's a practical benefit, > but do you actually think there's something mystical happening that > toggles the power of the mantra or its use or that "somehow" primes > the pump of the initiate's mind? > > I once loved the idea of the 5,000 year tradition being carried > forward and that the mantras were as ancient and as long-understood > for their effects, but all that was hooey as far as anyone can tell > these days since we have no provenance of the mantras. > > Why tell your friend to cheat the TMO out of a fee and all that if the > dang system of meditating only ended up with a dysfunctional > organization of ill repute? And, hey, if your friend really takes off > and has incredible experiences, how is he/she going to approach the > TMO to further or intensify their program if they're not officially a > paying-member of the TMO? If the experiences are THERE your friend > may be quite vulnerable to many risks when the passion to amp up the > results skews their decisions about what organization to become > involved with. Your friend might equally "get off" on an Amma hug, ya > see? Where's the beef that your friend thinks he/she's going to get? > Why aren't you more fully advising this person about the vagaries of > spiritual methodologies such that a more informed decision about "how > to meditate and why to do so" becomes clearer to that person? > > Edg > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@> wrote: > > > > From a friend: > > > > A friend of mine is very interested in learning TM, though he cannot > > afford the current fee of $2500. Does anyone know of an independent TM > > teacher who can provide instruction for less, in the San Francisco Bay > > Area? It should still be the TM instruction, with puja, checking and > > all of that. Thanks. > > >
