Franklin Merrell-Wolff (younger readers will have to look him up on
Wikipedia as he's fallen into obscurity in recent years) claimed that he
never learned a single meditation practice that he didn't have to
"tweak" before he could get the maximum benefits from the practice. I
have to confess, I've had the same experience with TM. The effortless
repetition (or favouring) of the mantra for sure elicited some dramatic
changes in consciousness, including (on rounding courses) experiences of
Richard Bucke-style "cosmic consciousness". But the TM technique always
insisted one concentrate (if "concentrate" is the right word) on
"hearing" the subtle sound of the syllable - with no reference given to
where ones vision (perhaps a better expression is "inner vision") might
be centred. I've since found that, for me, allowing my "inner vision"
awareness to centre on the space immediately in front of my eyes greatly
enhances the effects of TM and makes me more centred immediately after a
mediation session. (I'm not actually crossed-eyed (!) during my
sessions, but presumably the location does suggest the Ajna chakra.)
I've heard that other spiritual groups recommend centring ones attention
on the Ajna chakra if you're more the "thinking type" - that would
describe me - but they also recommend centring attention on the heart
chakra if you're more the touchy-feely type. By the way, dire warnings
are given (especially by Theosophical-influenced groups) on allowing
one's attention to centre on the lower - the root or genital chakras -
unless you're sexually "pure" as that can increase one's libido and lead
to sexual obsessions - or "sex addiction" as modern parlance has it.
Now, only being myself your bog-standard meditator, I'm curious if other
(more advanced) FFL posters have experienced a similar effect to me.
That is, combining mantra favouring with relaxed, inner visual attention
centred in front of the eyes has improved your results. And also I'm
curious if those of you who took TM-sidha training, or trained as
teachers, ever heard Maharishi mention chakras to your inner core of
"true believers" . . .
By the way, if what I'm saying sounds presumptuous why not give it a try
yourself for a few days?
