As an advocate of modern medicine, I’ve always been skeptic about the efficacy of practices like yoga and meditation and have never bothered to delve much into those areas. But I was always curious about techniques that will improve our ability to perform in our day to day lives and help us to realize our full potential. That is how I became interested in “Transcendental Meditation” as advocated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and learnt some basics of TM. My Acharya (teacher) was Mr. Sasidharan of Maharishi Ved Vigyan Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram. The TM basically consists of 7 steps as was advised to me by my Acharya. 1) Sit comfortably 2) Close your eyes 3) Wait for about 30 seconds 4) Meditation proper 5) Stop meditation 6) Wait for 2 minutes or more with eyes closed 7) Open your eyes slowly
Meditation proper: Repeatedly chant the sacred mantra (in my opinion, it can be as simple as “Aum” or Om) inside your mind in a progressively decreasing tone and amplitude. The mantra should be chanted in the mind for sometime after which it becomes feeble and gradually disappears. The chanting should be revoked only when the external thoughts start disturbing your mind. The sacred mantra is just a tool to get into the state of meditation.
The theory: The human mind is compared to a large body of water where the waves on the surface represent the conscious mind and the thoughts. As you go deeper into the water, the ripples of water decrease in its amplitude and are very calm and still as it approaches the bottom. There are still higher states of mind beyond the TM stage which are attainable by people who practice regularly and have attained “Siddhi”. TM is only the fourth out of the 7 states of mind attainable according to ancient Indian scriptures. Transcendental consciousness is like a bridge between the materialistic and the spiritual states of mind. The state of TM attained is explained as a state of Restful Alertness where the body is completely relaxed; mind is very calm and relaxed but potentially active.
In my opinion, TM is a great tool to eliminate the stress experienced in day to day life and can work wonders with patients suffering from Hypertension and other stress related illnesses and can increase productivity in daily life.
Dear Dr. Raman,
ReplyDeleteI read the blog its good, the method of meditation is so simple and anybody can easy to practice. Keep in posting. Al the Best
What is Siddhi and wat r d benefits on the same
ReplyDeleteSiddhi (Sanskrit:सिद्धिः; siddhiḥ) is a Sanskrit word that literally means "perfection", "accomplishment", "attainment", or "success".[1] It is also used as a term for spiritual power (or psychic ability). These spiritual powers supposedly vary from relatively simple forms of clairvoyance to being able to levitate, to be present at various places at once, to become as small as an atom, to materialize objects, to have access to memories from past lives, and more. There are different types of Siddhis and each has its own benefits. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhi for more info.
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