Question – What do you think of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his views on transcendental meditation?
Osho – Transcendental meditation is neither transcendental nor meditation. But still what he is doing is good. What he is teaching in the name of meditation is only an ancient method of chanting. If you chant any word or any mantra continuously inside the mind, other thoughts stop because they don’t have any space. And this continuous chanting is a certain device of auto-hypnosis; it is not meditation.
It does not lead you to any spiritual enlightenment, but it certainly gives you a good feeling of wellbeing and health. You will feel refreshed — just as you feel refreshed after a good shower; but a shower is not a transcendental meditation.
So there is nothing wrong with what he is doing. It cannot harm anybody. He is harmless, but he is misdirected. He is giving a toy which is not the real thing. If people enjoy toys — and many people enjoy toys — I have nothing against them. If they are happy, that’s perfectly good.
But one thing I want to make clear: it is not meditation. It is just a mental trick which can also be done by auto-hypnosis, looking just at one thing continuously without blinking your eyes, you will fall into a sleep and that sleep will be deeper than your ordinary sleep. Certainly it will give you a feeling of rejuvenation, of well-being.
So it is something that should be part of gymnasium programs. It has nothing religious in it, nothing spiritual in it, but it is a good exercise. People who are doing physical exercise in gymnasiums should learn transcendental meditation; after their exercise for fifteen or twenty minutes they can relax, and it will help their bodies, but not their beings.
Source – from Osho Book “The Last Testament, Vol 4”
Osho’s information about Transcendental Meditation is incorrect. The mantra is not used to try to push out thoughts. It is a comfortable vehicle for the natural tendency of the mind to ride on. The Transcendental Meditation technique, which is taught by personal instruction, is the opposite of hypnosis, which confines the mind within specific boundaries. During Transcendental Meditation, the boundaries of thought are transcended. The effect of hypnosis, whatever is outwardly apparent, is to raise the metabolism. The opposite of TM.
For a full explanation, see my website: http://www.tmderby.org.
John Windsor
Every word Rashneesh said is wrong. It’s obvious that he knows nothing about Maharishi’s techniques. There’s a fool born every minute.
Yes Osho didn’t know the TM technique for sure. He’s comparing it to self hypnosis by staring / concentrating at something. I’ve learn TM & practice it everyday, and surely I just observe my thought, & don’t concentrate on anything.
I don’t know anything about transcendental meditation because there is nothing to transcend. and if you think you are transcending something in particular you are one of the fools born every minute. A technocrat is far from truth and any meditation is a technique but, the question is – for whom?! sure, you believe your self to be a certain someone – you are also mistaken.
Osho is right about TM because his point of view is from the ’emptiness’ in which nothing has happened, will ever happen, nor is anything happening now – INCLUDING TM! Emptiness, darkness, nirvana – they are states of being – as long as you transcend or ‘do something’ there is an identity. I say: NO TM is helping you, nor are you practicing TM, nor are you observing thoughts. You are CAUGHT!
I am no follower of Osho – i read his stuff here and there because I see the truth in those statements and i mean SEE! not understand or intellectually comprehend. It’s subjective seeing and words used to describe the ‘vision’ of emptiness. Again, your TM is ILLUSION!