On 05/17/2011 04:19 AM, Vaj wrote: > Unhooking From Maharishi's Teachings: Laurie Interviews Sudarsha about > the Puja (Ceremony) > Posted by Laurie at 5/14/2011 06:17:00 PM > > I (Laurie) left TM 30 years ago, after 10 years in the TM movement, > and I have been "deprogramming" myself ever since. I now believe that > everything I was taught on the TM Teacher Training Course while I was > "rounding" (meditating many times a day) bypassed my critical > thinking, and went straight into my belief system. Therefore, even > today I am still finding unexamined beliefs inside myself that hook me > into Mahesh Prasad Varma's system. (According to Wikipedia, "Mahesh > Prasad Varma" may be Maharishi's given name.) > > One of those beliefs was that the puja had magical powers. Mr. Varma > told us that the word "puja" translates as "traditional ceremony of > gratitude," but most other translators say it means "worship". On my > TM Teacher Training Course in La Antilla, Spain, in 1974, Mr. Varma > taught us that the puja must be performed before the person is > instructed in TM. Without it, he said, TM cannot be successfully > learned or practiced. He gave quasi-scientific and quasi-mystical > reasons why this was so; and I was left with fear and trembling for > the sacred, God-given puja. > > Therefore, it was helpful to my recovery to learn that after his > disillusionment with Mr. Varma's movement, Sudarsha, (one of the > co-editors of TM-Free), successfully instructed many people in TM > without first chanting the puja. > > (...) >
I tend to ignore these threads because too many people who did TM didn't move on to other traditions or organizations and learn some of the actual information on how these things are supposed to work. Anyone who knows what shakti does and knows what the TM puja is would know it was used to "charge" the mantra given with shakti. Those who don't experience shakti or maybe just don't know what it is even though they have increased shakti will think that is hooey. In other traditions the guru would observe and after the disciple is considered to have enough accumulated shakti to transfer it during an initiation. The TM puja was implemented so that people with far less experience and accumulation might still empower a mantra. That part of TM I have no problem with. Some here have argued they have taught meditation without using a puja but then we don't know how much shakti they have already accumulated. Some people may have been born with enough shakti to empower a mantra. But when you teach en mass you need a way to assure that the technique works for everyone.
