Implicit in the prayer is the desire to connect with "someone other" it seems
to be moving beyond the experience of the "unconditioned individual self"
(which of course since there is no content is not really an experience but a
natural state of "rest'or "witness")to call upon the ultimate reality, which
the prayer and certainly St Theresa experience as personal, since person-ness
would be part of the infinity of the One who is being called, since by
definition it includes all Reality.
In this context the TM is being used as a means to, in effect, transcend
transcending, through the action of the "Other", or if I'm understanding the
way in which many are referring to as "enlightenment", to transcend
enlightenment and seek relationship to "the Other". This of course by this
definition has to come from the action of "the Other" as is implicit in the
above and is certainly how St Theresa understood it, although her methods of
opening were probably different. Interestingly in this philosophy enlightenment
would not be required for the "Other" to make contact, but it would certainly
make it easier in my opinion.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, maskedzebra <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> Re: Beautiful Prayer
>
> This prayer demonstrates the utter sincerity of the person who composed it. As
> well it demonstrates the extreme beauty and power of the experiential context
> of
> TM and the TM-Sidhis program. And there is the real sense of a prayer being
> addressed to a Personal God, not just the Absolute (or, as Maharishi calls it
> in
> The Science of Being and The Art of Living: the Impersonal God).
>
> In my estimation there could not be a more apt and relevant prayer. The only
> question that comes in is: does the bliss of TM and the TM-Sidhis program
> constitute the same bliss that St Teresa of Avila experienced when her heart
> was
> pierced with love. I have come to the strange and unprovable conclusion that,
> while TM and the TM-Sidhis program can produce plenty of the ecstasy and sense
> of inner gratitude that is implied by the person who created this prayer, that
> ecstasy and gratitude comes about from a very different and ultimately alien
> source than what engendered this experience inside St Teresa.
>
> Her experience is no longer available to us (since the death of the
> supernatural
> reality of the Roman Catholic Church), and so, anything which would provide
> some
> imitation of that experience (such as TM and the TM-Sidhis program) must
> perforce not be essentially supernatural. It must be something else. (Even
> though we are convinced, as I certainly was, it *is* the same.]
>
> My prayer became quite the opposite of this: as in: Save me from my experience
> of Unity Consciousness. And: Let me be entirely free of all the effects of
> having done TM and TM-Sidhis program.
>
> The answer to my prayer is being slowly, painfully granted to me.
>
> But again: this prayer (below) is one of the best things to come out of TM.
>
> And all that I can said against it is nugatory.
>
> The prayer as I read it, then, only goes to show that, in our lifetime at
> least,
> there has never been anything as convincing and powerful as TM and the
> TM-Sidhis
> program. I defy one person to tell me that, comparatively, they have received
> a
> spiritual experience from some other tradition than Maharishi's which exceeded
> their TM experience in terms of its depth and subtlety.
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "johnt" <johnlasher20002000@> wrote:
> >
> > Doesn't sound like anything different than TM with a prayer before it.
> > Centering prayer though outwardly similar and probably with aspects from TM
> > is an entirely different approach.
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill" <emptybill@> wrote:
> > >
> > > This sounds like the contemplative prayer technique used
> > > in Centering Prayer. This technique works but it is prayer
> > > based - i.e. offering up the field of experience to God.
> > >
> > > Hard core Catholic fideists ("This Rock" magazine) call
> > > Centering Prayer a TM sibling and straightforward Hinduism.
> > > They consequently condemn it and TM.
> > >
> > > Read it and weep.
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "johnt" <johnlasher20002000@>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I came across this prayer which the author says before their program.
> > > Kind of puts things in a different perspective for me.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Dear God
> > > >
> > > > Please accept my practice of the TM and TM-Sidhis program, as an
> > > expression of my intention and willingness to come before you just as I
> > > am, without thoughts, feelings, images or other distractions which could
> > > impede my awareness of your presence. Please guide me into a state of
> > > openness to your presence and action within me. Let my practice
> > > integrate the state of openness into my daily thoughts and actions, so
> > > that I may be in a state of prayer continuously. Thank you for your
> > > blessings.
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
