Blog Details

TM - what works for me

Our world today is quite different than a few years ago. Later part of previous century onwards saw expansion of world economy, globalisation and IT ingress into all walks of life. This opened flood gates to unlimited avenues, increase in start-ups and unimaginable possibilities and opportunities. New leaders and business tycoons occupied the world centre stage. However, the Corona pandemic of 2019 has shaken leaders and common men alike. Social isolation, job losses, family fatalities; all led to insecurity resulting in people falling victim to anxiety, stress, fears, negativity and other such disorders. Because of ignorance, lack of guidance and confused mental state many suffered and are still suffering. The world also realised that Transcendental Meditation is a sure shot solution in these uncertain times. Simple as it is, yet, I held on to what I learnt and for best results, I think some finer points need to be kept in mind so that its full potential is exploited. As a practitioner for some time now and enjoying many benefits, I make a few suggestions based out of my own experience, which work for me and enrich my experience - • I prefer having a fixed timing for daily practice. This way one is mentally prepared and starts with meditation no sooner they sit down. Full twenty minutes are then available to me which result in rich dividends. • One should be comfortably dressed and comfortably seated. I feel there should be least amount of ambient light and noise. • Invariably any person starting the practice of Transcendental Meditation would have been practicing some form of religious activity or rituals before they began doing TM. And in all probabilities the practitioner would want to continue with those rituals. Do the latter by all means but do not combine these with Transcendental Meditation. This is because by the time one finishes with first activity he would be left with very little energy to complete the second in the same sitting. So I like to keep a gap between my prayers and my TM. • All five layers (koshas) of Self need sustenance. Stability and novelty must be ensured to address different koshas using good diet, pranayama, yoga, appreciating nature’s splendour and attaching oneself with greater cause. As I started addressing the koshas concurrently, Transcendental Meditation gave exponential effects. • Don’t over analyse. One doesn’t need to know in detail as to how a Dispirine tablet or any other medicine works – for a patient it simply works. Same goes for Transcendental Meditation. During my Transcendental Meditation lessons my two distinguished teachers – Ankit Thaplial and Kamana Gaur subtly explained a very important law of nature; the Gravity. “Gravity works, whether you believe in it or not”, they said. So while doing Transcendental Meditation do not be over analytic but continue with practice without doubting oneself or the technique. The article is written by Col. Kul Bhushan (Retd.) and all the views presented here are his personal views.