I've been told by Vedic priests that Hinduism doesn't accept converts. You are
either born a Hindu or you are not. You can wanna be all you want but until you
take birth into a genetic line of Hindus, you aren't. The person practicing TM
is practicing a mental technique embraced by Hinduism but is not Hinduism
anymore than fasting is the practice of Christianity or Judaism or any other
religion. Now, I will agree with you that when most TM teachers recite the
puja, they are most likely defying their dharma( according to Hinduism). Most
TM teachers from the west were born into Judeo/Christian families which would
be part of their dharma, life experienced with those values. Those religions
forbid the worship of other deities such as mentioned in the puja. On one
course I attended, a Jewish fellow asked Maharishi if he had to bow at the end
of the Puja because it was against his religion to bow to a man. M said ,
paraphrasing here," you've sinned all your life, what's one more?"
OK , so we've all made some detours in our lives. It's never too late to get
back into our dharma. I haven't recited the puja in years and don't anticipate
doing it again but I'll continue to do TM because I like the over-all effect. I
guess I'm practicing dharma with a Christian perspective, LOL. I may stand
before Christ some day and he may ask "What the *F* were you doing down there?
I'm going to have to send you back!" Those in Christ have eternal life... He
just doesn't say *where*.
From: "TurquoiseBee [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<FairfieldLife@yahoogroups. To: FairfieldLife <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2015 8:45 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] A request for the TM teachers reading Fairfield Life
Since no one really responded to the issue I brought up in the post titled
"I think former TM teachers fear the C word because of the D word," I'll try to
put it a different way, in hopes that one of you will be able to explain things
to me and to others reading this forum.
See, here's the issue as I see it. Many of you TM teachers (or former TM
teachers) don't seem to like being referred to as cultists, but you ACTED like
cultists for many years, LYING to literally every person you instructed. In the
intro lectures you gave to these people, you parroted what you had been told to
say if the subject of religion came up -- "TM is NOT a religion."
What I'm wondering is HOW you could have said this when before you instruct
someone in TM, you have to perform a puja. You chant the puja in Sanskrit, but
you were clearly instructed on your TM Teacher Training Course to "hold the
English meaning of the words lively in your mind" as you chanted the Sanskrit
words. You were even *tested* on your ability to do this before you became a
teacher.
So here's the thing...here you are in the puja room, chanting in Sanskrit but
with the following English-language meaning "lively in your mind" the whole
time:
To Lord Narayana, to lotus-born Brahma the Creator, to Vasishtha, to SHAKTI and
his son, Parashara, to Vyasa, to Shukadeva, to the great GaudaPada, to Govinda,
ruler among yogis, from him to his disciple, Shri Shankaracharya, from him to
his disciples, Padma Pada and Hastamalaka, to him, Trotakacharya and
Vartika-Kara, to others, to the eternal tradition of our abode of the wisdom of
the Shrutis, Smritis and Purana, to the abode of compassion, to the personified
glory of the Lord, to Shankara, emancipator of the world, I bow down.
To Shankaracharya, the Emancipator, adored as Krishna and Badarayana, to the
two authors of the commentary on the Brahma Sutras, I bow down To both
expressions of the Divine, in Shankara, I bow down again and again At whose
door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night Adorned with
immeasurable glory, preceptor of the whole world, having bowed to Him we gain
complete fulfillment.
So what's up with this?
I mean, you were chanting words you *clearly knew the meaning of*, saying that
you were *bowing down* to quite a few Hindu deities, who were either mentioned
by name or by their common nicknames. You had all of this bowing down to Hindu
deities "lively in your mind" every time you instructed someone.
And yet the next time you gave a TM intro lecture, you looked straight into the
eyes of the people who asked you "Is TM religious?" and you told them "No.
Absolutely not. No way TM is religious."
Do you see my problem with this?
You KNEW that you were bowing down to Hindu gods. It was "lively in your mind"
during every puja. And yet in pretty much *every* intro lecture you ever gave
you said that TM was not in any way religious.
Please explain this to me.
How can a rational person NOT consider you a cultist for doing this?
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