tran.scen.den.tal
1.
of or
relating to a spiritual or nonphysical realm: the
transcendental importance of each person's soul
2.
surpassing all
others; superior
3. beyond
common thought or experience; mystical or supernatural
Transcendental
Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
The process of bringing the
attention to the level of transcendental Being is known as the system of
Transcendental Meditation.
In the practice of Transcendental
Meditation, a proper thought is selected and the technique of experiencing that
thought in its infant states of development enables the conscious mind to
arrive systematically at the source of thought, the field of Being.
Thus, the way to experience
transcendental Being lies in selecting a proper thought and experiencing its
subtle states until its subtlest state is experienced and transcended.
We shall now deal with the main
principle of the system of Transcendental Meditation.
The Main Principle
of Transcendental Meditation
We have seen that Being is the state
of eternal and absolute existence and that the way to experience Being is to
experience from the gross to the subtle states of creation until the mind
arrives at the Transcendent.
We have seen that we could proceed
through any sense of experience. For example, through the sense of sight we
could experience gradually subtler and subtler forms and eventually our eyes
would reach a point where they were unable to perceive a form beyond a certain
degree of subtlety. If we could close our eyes and train the inner eye - the eye
of the mind - to perceive the object at the point at which we failed to perceive
it through our open eyes, we would have a mental image of the object. If there
were a way to experience the finer and finer fields of that mental image,
experience its finest state and transcend it, we would then reach the state of
Being. Likewise, through any sense of experience we could start experiencing
the object and eventually arrive at the transcendental state of Being.
Through the experience of a thought
we could experience the subtle states of thinking and, transcending the
subtlest state of thinking, we would be sure to arrive at the transcendental
state of Being.
Thinking, in itself, is the subtle
state of speech. When we speak, our words are audible to the ears, but if we do
not speak, the words do not become perceptible to the organ of hearing. Thus we
find that thought is a subtle form of sound.
Experience shows that the process of
thinking starts from the deepest, most refined level of consciousness and
becomes grosser as it develops. Eventually it becomes gross enough to be
perceived on the surface level of the ocean of consciousness, on the common
level of thinking. An analogy will clarify the principle.
A thought starts from the deepest level
of consciousness, from the deepest level of the ocean of mind, as a bubble
starts at the bottom of the sea. As the bubble rises, it gradually becomes
bigger. When it comes to the surface of the water it is perceived as a bubble.
Mind is like an ocean, and, as in an
ocean, the surface layers are active in waves and the deeper levels are silent.
The surface layers of the mind are actively functioning while the deeper levels
are silent. The surface functioning level of the ocean of mind is said to be the
conscious mind. Any thought on the surface level is conscious mind. Any thought
on the surface level is consciously cognized. The level of the ocean of mind at
which the thoughts are appreciated as thoughts is the conscious level of the
mind.
A thought starts from the deepest
level of consciousness, travels through the whole depth of the ocean of mind,
and finally appears as a conscious thought on the surface. Thus we find that
every thought stirs the whole range of the depth of consciousness, but it is consciously
appreciated only when it has come to the conscious level; the rest of
its many stages of development are not appreciated. That is why, for all
practical purposes, we say that the deeper levels of the ocean of consciousness
are as though silent. If there were a way to consciously appreciate all the
states of the bubble of thought prior to its reaching the surface level, that
would be the way to transcend thought and experience transcendental Being.
The bubble of thought rising from
the level Z becomes bigger (see illustration). By the time it reaches the
surface level A, it has developed enough to be appreciated as a thought. This
is the level of the conscious mind.
The subtle states of the bubble of
thought below the level of the conscious state are not consciously appreciated.
If there were a way to appreciate consciously the bubble of thought at all
levels of its development, and at the source Z, and if it were possible to
transcend this experience, then the mind would gain the state of Transcendental
Consciousness.
If the bubble of thought could be
consciously appreciated at the level below A and at all levels of subtlety from
A to Z, it would then be possible to bring the level Z within the range of the
conscious mind. In this way the depth of the conscious mind (represented by W1)
would become greater (as represented by W2), and the power of the conscious
mind would be increased many fold. This expansion of the conscious capacity of
the mind will again be, on the mental level, on the way to experiencing Being.
The Technique
Bubbles of thought are produced in a
stream, one after the other, and the mind is trained to experience the oncoming
bubble at an earlier and earlier stage of its development (see illustration).
When the attention has reached level Z, it has traversed the whole depth of the
mind, and has reached the source of creative intelligence in man.
This source of thought thus comes
within the scope of the conscious mind. When it transcends the subtlest state
of thought, the conscious mind transcends the subtlest state of relative
experience and arrives at the state of transcendental Being, the state of pure
consciousness or Self-awareness.
This is how, in a systematic manner,
the conscious mind is led on, step by step, to the direct experience of
transcendental absolute Being.
Increasing Charm on
the Path of Transcending
To go to a field of greater
happiness is the natural tendency of the mind. Because in this practice of
Transcendental Meditation the conscious mind is set on its way to transcending
and experiencing transcendental absolute Being, whose nature is bliss
consciousness, the mind finds that the way is increasingly attractive as it
advances in the direction of bliss. A light becomes faint and dim as we go away
from its source, and the intensity increases as we proceed toward the source.
Similarly, when the mind goes in the direction of the absolute bliss of
transcendental Being, it finds increasing charm at every step of its march. The
mind is charmed and is led to experience transcendental Being.
Thus we find the practice of
Transcendental Meditation is a pleasant practice for every mind. Whatever the
state of evolution of the aspirant, whether or not he is emotionally developed
or intellectually advanced, his mind, by its very tendency to go to a field of
greater happiness, finds its way to transcend the subtlest state of thinking
and arrive at the bliss of absolute Being. That is why the practice of
Transcendental Meditation is not only simple, but also automatic.
Increased Conscious
Capacity of the Mind
We will analyze in detail what has
happened to the conscious mind during Transcendental Meditation when it fathoms
the subtle states of thought. This, of course, is not a part of our
consideration of how to experience Being, but it is interesting to note what
happens to the mind on its way to directly experiencing the transcendental. In
the diagram, the area of the conscious mind represented by W1 has become the
much larger area represented by W2. It is as if the waves on the surface of the
ocean have communicated themselves with the deeper levels of water with the
result that each wave is mightier than the wave before.
On the path to experiencing Being,
the conscious capacity of the mind is enlarged and the whole ocean of mind
becomes capable of being conscious. The full mental potential is thus unfolded,
and the conscious capacity of the mind is increased to the maximum limit. How
it is technically achieved is a matter of personal instruction from those who
have been trained to impart this technique of experiencing Being.
Importance of a
Proper Thought
A proper thought means a thought
whose nature is harmonious and useful to the thinker and the surroundings.
Every thought, as has every spoken word, has some influence on the thinker and
on his surroundings. Just as a stone thrown into a pond produces waves that
reach all the extremities of the pond, any thought, word or action produces
waves in the atmosphere, and these waves travel in all directions and strike
against everything in the atmosphere. They produce some influence in every
level of creation. The whole universe is influenced by every thought, word, and
action of every individual.
When such is the wide range of the
influence of a thought, one has to be very particular about the quality of
thought one creates in his mind. There may be a thought whose influence is
detrimental to the thinker and to the rest of the universe. Likewise, there may
be a thought whose influence is favorable and useful to the thinker and to the
world at large. Because each personality has its own quality, it is extremely
necessary that each man should have selected for him a special quality of
thought whose physical influence will be conducive and useful to himself and
the world at large.
The influence of a spoken word that
is carried by the waves of vibrations in the atmosphere does not depend upon
the meaning of the word. It lies in the quality of the vibrations that are set
forth. Therefore, where it is necessary to produce vibrations of good quality
that produce an influence of harmony and happiness, it also is necessary that
the quality of vibration should correspond to that of the individual.
Individuals differ in the quality of
their vibrations which constitute their individual personalities.
That is why the selection of a
proper thought for a particular individual is a vital factor in the practice of
Transcendental Meditation.
Since the quality of each man is
different from that of every other man, it is all the more difficult to be able
to select the right type of vibration or the proper quality of thought for the
practice of Transcendental Meditation. This problem of selecting a proper
thought whose physical quality corresponds to the physical quality of the
thinker becomes increasingly important when we consider that the power of thought
increases when the thought is appreciated in its infant states of development.
We know that power is greater in the
subtle strata of creation than in the gross. If we throw a stone at someone it
will hurt him, but if we could enter into its subtle strata and excite an atom
of the stone, tremendous energy would be released and the effect would be far
greater. Similarly, when we enter into the subtler states of a thought, we
appreciate its finer levels and the power is much greater than it would be on
the common conscious level of the mind. With this in view, it is essential
that, before starting the practice of Transcendental Meditation, a proper
quality of sound should be selected.
The question of selecting a proper
thought for a particular individual presents an enormous problem when we
consider the far-reaching influence of an action in the entire universe.
An action performed by a particular
individual in a particular place at a particular time may produce favorable
results for the doer and the surroundings. The same action, however, may
produce a different influence under different circumstances.
The consideration of action and its
influence is highly complicated. It virtually goes beyond the capacity of the
human mind to fathom the influence of an action at any level of creation.
Therefore, the problem of selecting a proper thought for the daily practice of
Transcendental Meditation is something which cannot be successfully decided by
any and every individual.
For the sake of facilitating the
finding of a proper word for every individual, certain individuals have been
trained in the art of selecting a proper sound or word to correspond to the
special quality of the individual. These trained teachers of Transcendental
Meditation are found in almost every country of the world in the centers of the
Spiritual Regeneration Movement.12
Necessity of
Personal Guidance
By necessity, the practice of
Transcendental Meditation is verbal; it is imparted by personal instruction. It
cannot be imparted through a book because it not only involves telling an
aspirant how to experience the subtle states of thinking, but an even greater
responsibility lies in finding out what the aspirant experiences when he
proceeds on that path.
A thought itself is a very abstract
experience to a common man, and if he is asked to experience the subtle states
of thought, he is being asked to experience the finer states of that abstract
experience. To be able to do this seems to be an impossibility to the ordinary
mind, which has always been used to the experience of gross, concrete objects.
The experiences on the path of
Transcendental Meditation are very subtle, and the experiencer himself often is
not certain that he is experiencing anything, because the moment he begins to
experience the subtle state of thought, he finds himself drifting away to
nothingness. It takes a while for the beginner to be able to pinpoint his
experiences of the subtle state of thought. That is why it is not possible to
put into writing how the mind passes through the experiences of the subtle
states of thought. The practice of Transcendental Meditation must always
be given by the expert teachers of Transcendental Meditation who have been
properly trained to give it and who have been trained to check the experiences.
The checking of experiences is a
vital point in the practice of Transcendental Meditation. Again, it cannot be
done through books. The practice must result in all good in life, but by its
nature it is delicate and therefore highly technical. Under personal
instruction and guidance the way is smooth and easy.