Element contents
The Transcendental Meditation Movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2023
Summary
This Element provides a comprehensive overview of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement and its offshoots. Several early assessments of the as a cult and/or new religious movement are helpful, but are brief and somewhat dated. This Element examines the TM movement's history, beginning in India in 1955, and ends with an analysis of the splinter groups that have come along in the past twenty-five years. Close consideration is given to the movement's appeal for the youth culture of the 1960s, which accounted for its initial success. The Element also looks at the marketing of the meditation technique as a scientifically endorsed practice in the 1970s, and the movement's dramatic turn inward during the 1980s. It concludes by discussing the waning of its popular appeal in the new millennium. This Element describes the social and cultural forces that helped shape the TM movement's trajectory over the decades leading to the present and shows how the most popular meditation movement in America distilled into an obscure form of Neo-Hinduism.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009365482Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 09 February 2023
References
Bainbridge, W. S & Stark, R. (2003). “Cult Formation: Three Compatible Models.” In Dawson, L. L., ed. Cults and New Religious Movements. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 59–70.Google Scholar
Barker, E. (1985). The Sacred in a Secular Age. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985). Habits of the Heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, H., Cain, M. P., Jaffe, D. T., & Kory, R. B. (1974). TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress. New York: Delacorte Press.Google Scholar
Borland, C. & Landrith, G. (1977). “Improved Quality of City Life through the Transcendental Meditation Program: Decreased Crime Rate.” In Orme-Johnson, D., & Farrow, J. T., eds. Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhis Program: Collected Papers, Volume 1. Livingston Manor, NY: MIU Press, 639–646.Google Scholar
Bourque, J. (2010). Robes of Silk, Feet of Clay. Self-published, printed in Lithuania, ISBN: 978–91–633–6278–1, www.robersofsilkfeetofclay.com.Google Scholar
Carlsen, R. W. (1979). The Sunnyside Drama: the First Three Years of Enlightenment. Victoria, B.C.: Snow Man Press.Google Scholar
Center for Resilience. (2022). “Quiet Time Program.” David Lynch Foundation. www.davidlynchfoundation.org/schools.html.Google Scholar
Clark, G. (1975). “The TM Craze, Forty Minutes to Bliss.” Time Magazine, 106, no. 5, 71–74.Google Scholar
CNN Larry King Weekend. (2002). “Interview with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.” May 12. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/12/lklw.00.html.Google Scholar
Cooke de Herrera, N. (1992). Beyond Gurus: A Woman of Many Worlds. New Delhi: Blue Dolphin.Google Scholar
Cowan, D. E. & Bromley, D. G. (2008). “Transcendental Meditation: The Questions of Science and Therapy.” In Cowan, D. E. & Bromley, D. G.. Cults and New Religions, a Brief History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 38–58.Google Scholar
D’Antonio, M. (1992). Heaven on Earth: Dispatches from America’s Spiritual Frontier. New York: Crown.Google Scholar
Denniston, D. & McWilliams, P. (1975). The TM Book: How to Enjoy the Rest of Your Life. Allen Park, MI: Versemonger Press.Google Scholar
Dragemark, E. (1972). The Way to Maharishi’s Himalayas. Stockholm: Forenede Trykkerier AS.Google Scholar
Driscoll, Francis G. (1972). “TM as a Secondary School Subject,” in Phi Delta Kappan, 54: 236–7.Google Scholar
Ebon, M., ed. (1968), re-released in 1975). Maharishi, the Guru. New York: Signet Books.Google Scholar
Gautier, F. (2008). Guru of Joy: Sri Sri Ravi Shannkara and the Art of Living. Temple City, CA: Hay House.Google Scholar
Gilpin, G. (2006). The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement that Transformed American Spirituality. Toronto: Penguin Random House.Google Scholar
Hagelin, J. (1998). Manual for a Perfect Government: How to Harness the Laws of Nature to Bring Maximum Success to Governmental Administration. Fairfield, IA: MIU Press.Google Scholar
Humes, C. A. (2005). “Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the TM Technique.” In Forsthoefel, R. A. & Humes, C. A., eds. Gurus in America. Albany: State University of New York Press, 55–70.Google Scholar
Humes, C. A. (2009). “Schisms within Hindu Guru Groups: the Transcendental Meditation Movement in North America.” In Lewis, J. R. & Lewis, S. M., eds. Sacred Schisms: How Religions Divide. New York: Cambridge University Press, 287–305.Google Scholar
Kanellakos, D. P. & Lukas, J. S. (1974). The Psychobiology of Transcendental Meditation: A Literature Survey. Menlo Park, CA: W. A. Benjamin.Google Scholar
Knoles., T. (2022). “What Is Vedic Mediation.” https://thomknoles.com/what-is-vedic-meditation/Google Scholar
Leary, T., Metzner, R. & Alpert, R. (1964). The Psychedelic Experience. New York: University Books.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. (2003). Legitimating New Religions. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Lowe, S. (2010). “The Neo-Hindu Transformation of an Iowa Town.” Nova Religio, 13, no. 3: 81–91.Google Scholar
Lowe, S. (2011). “Transcendental Meditation, Vedic Science and Science.” Nova Religio, 14, no. 4: 54–76.Google Scholar
Lutes, C. F. (1968) . “Preface.” In Yogi, M. Mahesh, Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. New York: Bantam Books. The short preface can be accessed online at www.maharishiphotos.com/write3.html.Google Scholar
MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Mason, P. (2014). Quotes from “Beacon Light of the Himalayas” are in Dandi Swami, 34. The book has no listed publisher but “Premananda,” 2014, ISBN:978–0–9562228–4–8.Google Scholar
Mahesh Yogi, M. (1963). The Science of Being and Art of Living. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Maynard, A. (1968). “From Gurdjieff to Maharishi.” In Ebon, M., ed. Maharishi, the Guru. New York: Signet Books, 125–129.Google Scholar
McCutchan, R. (1977). “The Social and the Celestial: Mary Douglas and Transcendental Meditation.” The Princeton Journal of Arts and Sciences, 1: 130–163.Google Scholar
McWilliams, P. (1994). LIFE 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You. Los Angeles: Prelude Press.Google Scholar
Miller, J. M. (2006). A Wave in the Ocean: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation, Mallory & Me. Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press.Google Scholar
Nader, A. (1994). Human Physiology: Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature. Fairfield, IA: Maharishi Vedic University Press.Google Scholar
Nattier, J. (1997). “Buddhism Comes to Main Street.” Wilson Quarterly, 21, no. 2: 72–80. http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/buddhism-comes-main-street.Google Scholar
Olson, H., Olson, R. & T.. (2001). His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: A Living Saint for the New Millennium. Schenectady, NY: Samhita Productions.Google Scholar
Orme-Johnson, D. W., Dillbeck, M. C., & Bousquet, J. B.. (1978). “The World Peace Project: An Experimental Analysis of Achieving Peace through the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field.” In Orme-Johnson, David & Farrow, John T., eds., Collected Papers, Volume 4. Fairfield, IA: MIU Press (Published simultaneously in Germany by Maharishi European Research University Press).Google Scholar
Orme-Johnson, D. W., Wallace, R. K., Dillbeck, M. C., Ball, O., & Alexander, C. N.. (1981). “Behavioral correlates of EEG phase coherence.” Paper presented at the annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August, 1981. Reprinted in Orme-Johnson, David, ed. Collected Papers, Volume 2. Fairfield, IA: MIU Press.Google Scholar
Park, R. (2000). Voodoo Science: the Road from Foolishness to Fraud. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reddy, K. & Egenes, L.. (2002). Conquering Chronic Disease Through Maharishi Vedic Medicine. Schenectady, NY: Samhita Productions.Google Scholar
Robins, A. & Himber, J. A. (1976). Dawn of a New Age: The TM Program and Enlightenment. Berkeley, CA: Medallion Books.Google Scholar
Roth, Robert (2011). TM – Transcendental Meditation. Fairfield, IA: Maharishi University of Management Press.Google Scholar
Selye, H. (1974). “Forward.” In Bloomfield, H., Cain, M. P., Jaffe, D. T., & Kory, R. B.. TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress. New York: Delacorte Press.Google Scholar
Sharma, H. & Clark, C.. (1998). Contemporary Ayurveda. New York: Churchill Livingston.Google Scholar
Trout, P. (2001). Eastern Seeds, Western Soil: Three Gurus in America. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.Google Scholar
Wallace, R. K. & Benson, H. (1972). “The Physiology of Meditation.” Scientific American 226: 84–90.Google Scholar
Wallis, R. 1984). The Elementary Forms of New Religious Life. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Wallis, R. (2003). “Three Types of New Religious Movements.” In Dawson, L. ed., Cults and New Religious Movements. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 36–58.Google Scholar
Weber, J. (2014). Transcendental Meditation in America: How a New Age Movement Remade a Small Town in Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.Google Scholar
Wilkins, Charles (1785). The Bhagavad Gita: Dialogues of Krishna and Arjun. London: Nourse.Google Scholar
Winquist, W. T. (1976). “The Transcendental Meditation Program and Drug Abuse: A Retrospective Study.” In Orme-Johnson, David & Farrow, John T., eds. Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhis Program: Collected Papers, Volume 1, pp.494–497. Livingston Manor, NY: MIU Press.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 13
- Cited by