Genesis 3
The word is out. TM is "in." Ask any number of celebrities or government leaders or public school officials...or thousands of college kids who endorse it. All are oohing and aahing over a Hindu monk with a name that looks like a misprint. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Transcendental Meditation is his bag.
Devotees around this gullible globe have developed a vast network of International Meditation Society centres, declaring them to be the cure for physical and emotional ills and a splendid way to elevate the individual.
Testimonies accompany the propaganda: A professional basketball player claims it helps him make his foul shots. Mothers announce it gives them patience with small children. Merchants experience prosperity by practicing it. Politicians enjoy increased public approval. Teens get dates. Writers get ideas. Salesmen get orders. Habits are conquered. Marriages are saved.
Hold it! Beneath TM's surface rests a philosophy that is worse than dangerous. It's demonic. Behind the guru's smile is a set of teeth whose fangs spread the venom of the Vedas, ancient Indian writings linked directly with hard-core Hinduism. Vedic literature includes sacrificial incantations, formulas used by magicians who practice the black arts. TM is witchcraft wrapped in a clean, white bedsheet.
How does TM work? A client at a TM centre pays the fee and receives instructions. This includes the giving of a "mantra" with simple directions. A mantra is a secret, individualized word that is to be used repeatedly during "meditation sessions." Vedism and Hinduism both refer to the mantra. The repeating of the mantra is a signal, asking assistance from the spirit world. Through rigid, disciplined practice, the TM disciple develops the ability to make contact with spirits and thereby gain the so-called assistance he or she desires.
Will you get results if you practice TM? Yes, indeed. Will things happen if you consistently apply the mystical formula? Like you won't believe! Chances are, you'll get more than you bargained for. You'll get much more than assistance. You'll get a glimpse of the guru's guru.
But he won't be smiling...and before long, neither will you.
Satan doesn't come to us with horns and pitchfork. He often comes wrapped in attractive and innocent guise.
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Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.