Excerpt from chapter four in: A Catholic Response to the New Age Phenomenon by the Irish Theological Commission in 1994. To see the contents of the whole chapter, click here.
"New Age Movement" is abbreviated as NAM.
Transcendental Meditation has been popular in various forms for a long time. What are we to make of it? In his book TM: A Cosmic Confidence Trick, by John Allan, we find the practice analysed and its dangers pointed out. TM has come to us from India. It was passed on from Guru Dev to his devoted follower Maharishi. When Guru Dev died in 1953, Maharishi went into seclusion for two years. He then emerged to found an International Academy of Meditation near the Himalayas. There he developed a worldwide strategy to spread TM around the globe. From then on he was called Maharishi (meaning 'great sage') Mahesh (his family name) Yogi (meaning: 'united with God'). He travelled to America and began, after some initial difficulties, the fastest-growing cult in the west. By 1972 it had 500 conversions per month in Britain alone. John Allan claims that by 1980 75,000 Britons had been initiated into TM, which was, by then, a movement in its own right.
TM is ancient Brahmanism and Hinduism. God is seen as the impersonal Brahman, and it is very important to open up to this Being. It teaches that the world is just maya or illusion, and so it is harmful to get too deeply involved in the affairs of the world. There are many ways to open up to this being, through many forms of yoga. The Maharishi advocates hbakti yoga as the discipline of devotion. The technique for showing devotion is meditation, a type of meditation that transcends ordinary consciousness, and lifts our awareness to a higher level. One must work to achieve 'cosmic consciousness' whereby one can be completely at rest in the midst of a hectic life. No wonder so many want to try it out! The danger that is not pointed out is that in this state of socalled cosmic consciousness people are open to spirit influences without being in control, for they have surrendered to this 'consciousness'.
Initiation into TM involves the puja ceremony, which the TM teacher carries out on behalf of the pupil. The pupil is assured that this is not a religious ceremony, even though they must bring the traditional gifts, namely, fruit, flowers, a fee, and a white handkerchief. These gifts are then dedicated by the teacher in a simple Sanskrit ceremony before the teaching begins. During this ceremony the teacher and pupil sit before an altar covered with the white cloth on which there is a picture of Guru Dev, a candle, incense, as well as other objects.
The pupil is warned not to speak about the ceremony to anyone. The gifts are laid on the altar and dedicated. Incense is offered to the picture of the Guru. A long litany in Sanskrit is then chanted, calling on the Hindu Pantheon and Guru Dev. The pupil is invited to join in the chant with the new mantra, which is seven during the ceremony. The mantra is used to bring people down into the emptiness of their being. The silent repetition of this sound causes psychic vibrations which affect the meditator's mental and physiological functioning.
TM specialists insist that the Puja ceremony is the power behind TM! In her major work The Externalisation of the Hierarchy (eighth printing 1989; pp. 144-145), Alice Bailey says that the true mantra is OM. This is the 'Sacred Word' even though 'there are several such mantric formulas and Words of Power'. When used correctly they 'automatically become dynamically effective' she says, and 'they will produce changes in the person and their circumstances in life.' Alice Bailey is speaking out of an occult background where the mantra is known and used properly.
The puja ceremony involves breaking the First Commandment which forbids us to call upon strange or false gods. It is also an initiation into Hinduism, which the unsuspecting Christian may not realise. Nevertheless Maharishi denies that TM has anything to do with religion! He has tried to present it to the western mind as a purely scientific technique, but the scientific claims are hard to prove.
TM is, therefore, not something that a Catholic can be involved in. We have a long tradition of Christian meditation, which brings us into union with God. Remain with Jesus, the only Saviour. Guru Dev is nobody's saviour, not even his own.
