The term "meditation" is familiar to everyone, even those who have never been interested in the East and yoga. There is nothing to be done, the popularity of oriental teachings and "secret knowledge" has grown so much that even Hollywood actors and actresses consider it necessary to join them. But the doctrine in its pure form has not been presented for a long time, perhaps because it sounds unusual for a Western man, or maybe because it can not be earned on it. Therefore, there are many branches, practices and techniques that have the same eastern wisdom as their bases, but differ significantly in principles, and sometimes even contradict them. Such practices include a relatively new technique of transcendental meditation. Its adherents say that such meditation helps in stressful situations , changes the outlook on life and promotes the formation of personality. But the opponents accuse this method of expressed religiosity, calling people practicing such meditation by sectarians. Curiously, which of them is right?
Technique of transcendental meditation
In the East, it is believed that everything in the world is interconnected, which means that the person is influenced not only by what he eats, drinks, breathes, but also the colors and sounds surrounding him. Even there is a table of correspondences between colors, notes and emotional states of a person. It is on music that the technique of transcendental meditation is based. It uses special sounds, mantras, which must be played during the session. The main feature of transcendental meditation is that mantras need to be spoken to themselves, it is believed that their mental reproduction has no less (and sometimes even more) impact on the human nervous system.
Learning transcendental meditation
This technique of meditation became especially popular due to the fact that for its development it is not necessary to spend years of training. All those wishing to know how to learn transcendental meditation, you just need to turn to the Teacher, who will tell you about the correct course of the lesson and pick up suitable mantras. After this practice can be produced independently, no control of the Teacher is required. And spend on training you need only 20 minutes twice a day, sitting in a comfortable pose.
But to become a teacher of transcendental meditation you will have to undergo long training. It is from the Teacher that the choice of mantra depends, and therefore its effectiveness. An improperly selected mantra will not have a beneficial effect, and all works will be useless.
Transcendental meditation is the reception of a new sect?
Opponents of this technique in every possible way condemn its adherents, calling them sectarians. In part, they are right, because in a broad sense, a sect can be called any association, which differs in its direction from officially accepted views. That is, a group of Christians in a Muslim country can also be called sectarians. But such dissent is not criminal, and therefore on this basis it is impossible to condemn the method of transcendental meditation. But still this method can be dangerous, and that's why. If we assert in the thought that sound (mental) vibrations influence the psychoemotional state of a person, then the selection of mantras must be done very carefully, since wrong choice can significantly harm a person.
Another argument against the use of transcendental meditation is that people who practice it do not understand the meaning of their actions. And in the meditative state, any effect is amplified many times, so the careless use of any techniques can end very badly. You can say that here you should rely on the Teacher (as well as we trust the doctor, coming to him with his "sores"), but this is not true. Most Teachers do not have sufficient training so that they can be compared with doctors, many of these gurus can not say anything that goes beyond this practice, that is, they do not know anything about the principle of the operation of mantras, and therefore can not be sure of their safety and efficiency.