Transcendental Deception: Behind the TM curtain – bogus science, hidden agendas, and David Lynch’s campaign to push a million public school kids into Transcendental Meditation

by Aryeh Siegel

Author Aryeh Siegel was first introduced to TM in the early 1970s. What started off as a casual interest in meditation to relieve stress, morphed into an all-encompassing way of life for nearly ten years. Siegel became a TM teacher and worked at TM’s U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles. He was involved with some early studies that were supposed to demonstrate the power and efficacy of the TM approach. He also participated in what is called the “siddhi program” which promised that meditators could learn to levitate, become invisible, develop miraculous powers, achieve permanent, perfect health, and even eternal life. Over time, Siegel became disillusioned with both the TM practice and the organization. He saw that the so-called research TM was pushing was biased, poorly designed, and flawed. Much of the science behind TM is but a form of contrived promotion. Although Siegel seriously practiced TM and the siddhi program for years, he experienced no miraculous powers, no flying or levitating, just wishful thinking and hype. It became increasingly evident to him that TM was an adapted form of Hinduism, a religion, but was being falsely promoted to the public as secular and scientific. And lastly, Siegel experienced the TM organization as becoming increasingly authoritarian and cultic.Siegel’s new book, Transcendental Deception, is the first comprehensive look at the TM movement written by a former insider. • Deconstructs the practices and philosophy of the Maharishi and the TM organization, demonstrating just how much it is a religion• Completely analyzes TM’s secret religious ceremony – the Puja – and explains why the TM movement keeps its content hidden so that individuals, students, and teachers don’t realize the true meaning of the Sanskrit ritual• Explores how TM continues to maintain the fantasy that it is not a religion, but instead endlessly repeats the narrative that it is secular and scientific• Analyzes research on the TM practice and demonstrates how most of it is preliminary, inconsequential or bogusFor many people, this book will be a surprise, even shocking. Over the decades, millions have taken TM, seeing the practice as a simple form of meditation or stress-reduction. Some people benefit, but that is true of many types of meditation, not just TM. Most people who practice TM know nothing about the organization and what goes on behind the scenes. This is especially true for the many celebrities from Jerry Seinfeld to Howard Stern. Someone needed to set the record straight and with his experience in TM and his academic background in public health and behavioral science research, he thought he should be the one to do it. “To be clear, I am not against meditation," says author Aryeh Siegel. “In America, anyone is free to practice their religion, but what concerns me is the deception at the heart of TM. No religion has a place in our public school system. TM has falsely promoted itself for decades. It is important that people know the truth. That’s why I wrote this book.”

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2018

Reviews

[Momchil Atanasoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are for the amount of information. They are only two because the book felt ( to me ) like someone’s personal vendetta against the TM movement. It was hard to read because of that feeling, aggression and repetition about Hinduism and lies. Even if true, which I consider somewhat likely at least to an extent, it felt to me like the author is on a witch hunt. If not for that - well written and researched ( I assume, didn’t double check all the claims ). In the end I won’t care if the mantra is the 99 names of the holly giraffe of a religious tradition from Mars, nor do I mind the ceremony in the beginning. Obviously for some people it is a big deal, sounds like a huge overreaction to me, but to each their own. I can still somewhat recommend the book as a source of information, as it could be that the tone of the book is triggering only to me because of my personal mental issues, so don’t take my review too seriously.
Sidenote. I am not a practitioner of TM, I am interested in TM mostly because several artists that I respect deeply practiced it for big chunks of their life and their work was amazing. Namely - Al Schmitt ( Grammy Award winner sound engineer and a total legend ) David Lynch and Sting. After researching for a while I found the NSR technique which is thought by another ex TM teacher and is basically the same thing but without all the religious elements, and additional cost ( it’s 25 euro for a pdf and sound file. I’m slightly annoyed with some stuff in their presentation as well, but that’s a different topic. )

[Elizabeth Sowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit that I bought this book to confirm my own bias. After reading Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood, I became convinced that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was not such a great guy. Yet, professional Beatle fans continuously express bewilderment as to why the Beatles were "angrier" after coming home from Maharishi's ashram. Siegel's book isn't about The Beatles, but after reading Transcendental Deception, I got a better idea of why they came home from India worse off than when they left.

Transcendental Deception paints a portrait of a man who was dishonest and concerned mostly with making money. In this book, I saw shades of Scientology (armies of TM bloggers who attack anyone who says anything negative about TM online) the Troubled Teen Industry (children at the Maharishi school in Iowa in silent single-file lines) and other creepy organizations (young men brought over from India to meditate at the Vedic City in Iowa were stripped of their passports and mysteriously disappeared.)

The book is very detailed regarding the poorly-designed studies and misrepresented facts that TM uses to promote itself as it seeks more followers and government grants. Seigel's case for keeping TM out of public schools is very compelling and well-argued.