Text: Philippians 4:6-9<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. Many people have heard of transcendental meditation even though they may not know\n what it is exactly. \n
A. It is actually a trademarked name by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1958.<\/p>\n B. He made it into a large business with a Maharishi University of Management in\n Fairfield, Iowa, in the southeastern part of the state.\n 1. That has spawned Maharishi Vedic City, just two miles north where the\n architecture is supposedly based on Maharishi\u2019s design plans \u201cto promote\n happiness and energy, and include having a gold-colored kalash on the roof\n of each building and having all structures face to the east.\u201d [Wikipedia]\n C. We don\u2019t hear of transcendental mediation as much these days, though it is a\n cornerstone of the New Age movement. But its ideas have filtered into our culture\n and it would be wise to understand the source of those ideas.\n
II. Transcendental Meditation is simply a vehicle for teaching Hinduism<\/p>\n
A. Proponents of Transcendental Meditation claim it isn\u2019t based in religion<\/p>\n
1. But Maharishi, himself, calls Transcendental Meditation a pathway to God.<\/p>\n
2. He also refers to himself as a spiritual leader<\/p>\n
3. His writings make frequent references to God or the creator<\/p>\n
B. Who is God?<\/p>\n 1. Hinduism says God is an impersonal power or force, called Brahman,\n which manifests itself in the form of physical, personal gods.\n
a. Brahman is present in everything, including people<\/p>\n b. The inner being of a man is a part of God, and thus the conclusion\n that man is divine.\n
2. Transcendental Meditation teaches<\/p>\n
a. God is an impersonal, eternal force<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThe impersonal aspect of God is formless, supreme; it is\n the eternal and absolute Being. It is without attributes,\n qualities, or features … It is absolute, impersonal and\n attributeless … Everything in creation is the manifestation of\n the unmanifested absolute impersonal Being, the\n omnipresent God.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 265]\n
b. God is in everyone; hence, man is divine<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThe impersonal God is that Being which dwells in the heart\n of everyone. Every individual in his true nature is the\n Impersonal God. That is why the Vedic philosophy of the\n Upanishads declares: \u2018I am That, Thou art That, and all this\n is That.\u2019\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 269]\n (a) Vedas are the oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism,\n written in Sanskrit. They are claimed to be inspired\n writings.\n (b) The Upanishads are the sections of the Verdas\n dealing with philosophy, meditation, and the nature\n of God.\n (2) \u201cThe Vedas express the Being as the ultimate reality and\n find It within man as his own inseparable self. They reveal\n the truth in the expression \u2018I am That, Thou art That, and all\n this is That.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 33]\n (3) \u201cThe Divine Plan of today is … for everyone to begin to\n enjoy his own inner Divine nature … You are Divine …\n [Man] himself is the Absolute Bliss, the Great Power, the\n great reservoir of all energy, peace, and happiness. He is\n That.\u201d [Meditations<\/i>, page 157]\n
(4) \u201cWe are all 100% divine\u201d [Meditations<\/i>, page 177]<\/p>\n c. Without a doubt, transcendental meditation is teaching Hinduism\n and quotes from Hindu scriptures.\n
3. What the Bible teaches about God<\/p>\n a. The desire to be like God is how Satan tempted Eve to break God\u2019s\n law – Genesis 3:5\n
b. God is not a man – Numbers 23:19<\/p>\n
c. God\u2019s ways and man\u2019s ways are different – Isaiah 55:8-9<\/p>\n d. Herod lost his life for accepting accolades of deity from the people\n – Acts 12:22-23\n e. At the root of transcendental meditation is the blasphemous idea\n that men are divine\n
C. Human Destiny<\/p>\n
1. Reincarnation<\/p>\n a. Hindus teach that when a person dies he is reborn as another part of\n creation in a continual cycle of death and rebirth\n
b. What transcendental meditation teaches<\/p>\n (1) \u201cIn order to understand the cycle of birth and death … it\n should first be understood that the cause of rebirth is the\n unfulfilled desires of past life. If a man wants to accomplish\n this or that and fails to do so before the body ceases to\n function, he dies unfulfilled. Because of this unfulfillment\n the inner man (mind) goes to create another body through\n which that unfulfilled desire of the past life may be fulfilled.\n Thus it is one\u2019s own desire that is the cause of rebirth … this\n cycle … takes the man from birth to birth, and the cycle of\n birth and death continues.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>,\n page 110]\n
c. What the Bible teaches<\/p>\n
(1) Man\u2019s life is limited and cannot be repeated – Job 14:5-12<\/p>\n
(2) Man dies only once – Hebrews 9:27<\/p>\n
2. Karma<\/p>\n a. Hindus believe that everything that happens to a person, good or\n bad, is the consequence of his conduct in this life and in his\n previous lives. It is called a person\u2019s karma.\n
b. Transcendental meditation teaches<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThis philosophy of karma explains that whatever a man is,\n it is the result of his own past. If he is happy, it is the result\n of good doings in the past … If a man is suffering in the\n present, it is a result of his own actions which had at one\n time spread an influence of misery, ill-health, and suffering\n in the atmosphere.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 128]\n (2) \u201cNone other than himself is responsible for a man\u2019s\n happiness or suffering. If a man enjoys, he enjoys out of his\n own doings; if a man suffers, he suffers out of his own\n doings.\u201d [Transcendental Meditations<\/i>, page 130]\n (3) \u201cThe basic premise of every religion should be that man\n need not suffer in life.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page\n 253]\n
c. The Bible teaches<\/p>\n
(1) Everything is not based on the person – Ecclesiastes 9:11<\/p>\n (2) Righteousness is likely to bring about hardship and\n persecution – Matthew 5:10-12\n (3) It is only after life is over that we face the consequences of\n our deeds – II Corinthians 5:10\n
3. Liberation<\/p>\n a. The ultimate destiny of man, according to Hindus, is to escape the\n cycle of reincarnation, to cease physical existence, and thus be\n absorbed into the impersonal God (Brahman).\n (1) For one who is aware of His Divinity, \u201cdeath is just a silent\n declaration of no return – no return to the cycle of birth and\n death\u201d [Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita<\/i>, page 234]\n
b. What transcendental meditation teaches:<\/p>\n (1) \u201cAs long as the soul is not liberated, as long as the\n individual soul has not merged itself into the cosmic\n existence, so long will the individuality be held by the soul\n in whatever world or body it may be … When a man is\n liberated … the individuality has merged into cosmic\n existence\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 129]\n (2) The purpose of transcendental meditation is to bring about\n liberation.\n
c. What the Bible teaches<\/p>\n
(1) Man\u2019s purpose is to serve God – Ecclesiastes 12:13-14<\/p>\n (2) We are not seeking non-existence but existence with God – I\n Thessalonians 4:17-18; 5:9-10\n
D. Achieving Destiny<\/p>\n 1. Hindus teach that one way to achieve liberation is by meditation, which is\n called yoga.\n
2. What transcendental meditation teaches<\/p>\n
a. To help people realize they are divine<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThis thesis will enable all men to … find their God within\n themselves.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page xv]\n (2) \u201cThe full potential of man is the unlimited potential of the\n universal Being … The potential of human life should mean\n the potential of the almighty divine on earth … a God-realized life, in divine consciousness … the practice of\n transcendental meditation … unfolds all the divine in man\n and brings human consciousness to the high pedestal of God\n consciousness\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 80]\n (3) \u201cTranscendental deep meditation is the practice … through\n [which] man readily rises to the level of divine Being\u201d\n [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 255]\n (4) \u201cTranscendental Meditation is a path to God\u201d [Meditations<\/i>,\n page 59]\n
b. To improve a person\u2019s karma<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThe practice of transcendental deep meditation … enables\n the individual to rise to a state of cosmic consciousness …\n The will of man, then, is the will of God; the activity of\n man, then, is the desire of God; and man, thus, fulfills the\n purpose of God.\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 248]\n (2) \u201cThis is a way to be able to do all good by being all good …\n by the practice of transcendental deep meditation .. The\n karma becomes a karma of absolute righteousness. Here is a\n direct and practical way … to do all good for all times\u201d\n [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 134]\n (3) \u201cat the level the mind, by its very nature, knows only the\n right action. Therefore, the state of cosmic consciousness\n affords an absolute criterion of right and wrong\u201d\n [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 165]\n (4) \u201ccosmic consciousness offers an absolute basis for right\n action … Only cosmic consciousness can inspire right action\n at all times\u201d [Science of Being and the Art of Living<\/i>, page\n 118]\n (5) \u201conly after realization of God can one become good … Only\n nearness to God, or with a good amount of God\n consciousness alone, could one be free from wrong … that\n means good life is the effect, God realization is the cause\u201d\n [Meditations<\/i>, page 58-59]\n
c. The result of transcendental meditation is liberation<\/p>\n (1) \u201cThe art of Being and breathing is the art of raising the\n status of the individual to the state of eternal cosmic Being.\n And the fulfillment of this are is found in the regular\n practice of transcendental deep meditation\u201d\n [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 108-109]\n (2) Transcendental meditation \u201cbrings the life to a state of\n eternal freedom\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 81]\n (3) \u201cThus we find that … in the regular and sustained practice\n of transcendental meditation … the mind is freed from the\n binding influence of action and attains a state of liberation in\n the eternal Being\u201d [Transcendental Meditation<\/i>, page 143]\n
d. Accomplished by a continual repetition of a mantra<\/p>\n (1) \u201cMantra … an invocation used by Hindus in worship in the\n form either of a brief petition or of the repetition of a sacred\n word\u201d [Webster\u2019s New Twentieth Century Dictionary<\/i>]\n (2) \u201cThe entire knowledge of the mantras or hymns of the\n Vedas is devoted to … man\u2019s communication with higher\n beings\u201d [Meditations<\/i>, page 18]\n (3) The Bible teaches that useless repetition in prayer is wrong –\n Matthew 6:7\n
III. What transcendental meditation says about Jesus<\/p>\n A. \u201cI don\u2019t think Christ ever suffered or Christ could suffer … It\u2019s a pity that Christ is\n talked of in terms of suffering … Those who count upon the suffering, it is a wrong\n interpretation of the life of Christ and the message of Christ. It is wrong\u201d\n [Meditations<\/i>, page 123]\n
B. The Bible teaches<\/p>\n
1. Christ suffered for our sins – I Peter 3:18<\/p>\n 2. When Peter objected to Christ\u2019s talk about suffering, he was called Satan –\n Matthew 16:21-23\n
3. Christ\u2019s suffering was prophesied as necessary – Luke 24:44-48<\/p>\n
4. The way to salvation is not within man – Jeremiah 10:23<\/p>\n 5. Our meditation should be on God\u2019s word, not some vain repetition – Psalm\n 1:1-2\n
\n
[Quotations from \u201cTranscendental Meditation\u201d by David Pratte]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Philippians 4:6-9 I. Many people have heard of transcendental meditation even though they may not know what it is exactly. A. It is actually a trademarked name by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1958. B. He made it into a large business with a Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, in the southeastern part of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[34,505],"class_list":["post-12179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-false-teaching","tag-hinduism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25461,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-book-bhagavad-gita-inspired-and-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":12179,"position":0},"title":"Is the book Bhagavad-Gita inspired and true?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the book Bhagavad-Gita inspired and true? Also, how can I answer a Hare Krishna monk regarding the same? Answer: Bhagavad-Gita, or Song of God, is one of several books considered scripture to the Hindus. Since the Hindu religion is an old idolatrous religion, the books supporting the religion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-prove-that-jesus-exists-and-the-bible-is-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":12179,"position":1},"title":"How do I prove that Jesus exists and the Bible is true?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I prove to an atheist that Jesus exists and that every word in the Bible is true? He believes in \"om\" and the energy runs the world. That life is made of energy. Answer: This person is not an atheist. 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