TM and Bahá’í. Bahá’í and TM. You rarely hear these two words in the same sentence. And yet, the TM program and the Bahá’í Faith have influenced many people. How might they relate to each other?
The Bahá’í Faith is an independent world religion whose teachings include the Oneness of God, the fundamental unity of the Founders of all the world’s religions, and the unity of the human race. Bahá’ís believe that Bahá’u’lláh is the Manifestation of God for this age, and that His Revelation will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for the whole human race. Find out more…
TM, or Transcendental Meditation®, is a simple, natural, effortless technique to release stress, provide deep rest for body and mind, cultivate higher states of consciousness, and develop human potential. Based on ancient Vedic tradition and propagated systematically by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, TM is currently being made available through the Global Country of World Peace. Find out more…
I tell my story of discovering TM and the Bahá’í Faith in a recently published book, Connecting – Return, Revelation, and Revival. Briefly, I grew up as a preacher’s kid and missionary in the 60’s, and was plunged into confusion as a teenager in the 70’s. Learning TM opened whole new worlds that I never imagined could exist. Subsequently discovering the Bahá’í Faith seemed like a natural consequence, and embracing it was simply embracing Christ upon His return.
In my 40+ years as a Bahá’í practicing TM, pondering the possible connections between these two vast realities, I have met others with similar experiences and questions. I have also encountered many more who have little or no experience in either or both of these areas, but still with lots of questions. For the first eight years of that time, I was blessed to live in a Bahá’í community established in Fairfield Iowa, most of whose members were students, faculty, or staff of Maharishi International University (MIU).
There the dialog about the Bahá’í Faith and TM was lively indeed—so much so that I was inspired to write a book on the topic. But for various reasons I was persuaded not to, and since leaving MIU, such conversations have been far fewer.
Perhaps now is the time to restart the discussion, here on the Internet.
Please feel free to leave a comment. These are manually moderated, so it may take a little time before yours appears. I welcome all sincere contributions, and reserve the right to withhold any remark that I feel to be inappropriate for the discussion.
– Robert Mackay
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