Yeah, the teaching has been set up in a very, very standard form. What we do is... Actual, actual practice involves thinking of a word. A word devoid of meaning. We don't know the meaning. We don't try to know the meaning. And the principle is that if we know the meaning, that meaning is a static thing. And we say "pencil, pencil." Someone who doesn't know what pencil means in English, he just hears the sound "pencil." And someone who knows what the pencil, the meaning is static. The sound changes in its pitch. It could be loud sound, it could be low sound, low sound. So, and, the meaning is the same at every pitch, high or low. So, if the mind is on the meaning, there is no chance of refining the meaning. If the mind is not on the meaning, then there's a chance of refining the sound. Then there's a chance of experiencing the sound in its finest values, until the finest would be transcendent, and the awareness would reach that inner wakefulness, devoid of any perception. This will be Transcendental Consciousness. So we take a thought and experience it, and in experiencing the thought the simple formula is that the thought functions as an impulse, as a motivation for impulse, like that, like that. Then the mind is pulsating. If we don't try to manipulate the thought in any sense, concentrate or hold it on or anything, then the thought will start to, to be refined, refined, refined. It will sink out. And if the activity starts to die out, die out, die out, die out. So this is what we say - naturally, greater activity of the mind reaches it's least value, in a very very natural way. Any activity has a tendency to settle down and be quiet. So this natural tendency of the mind to be quiet is all that we use in meditation, and nothing else. So in a very innocent manner we think of the thought and every time we think it becomes finer and finer and finer. We experience its finest state, and then it dies out. The mind is left wide awake, by itself, without any sound to experience. That inner wakefulness is that unbounded awareness, no boundaries. It's like the wave settling down, and it settles down, and it's flat surface of the water throughout the whole range of the lake. This unbounded awareness where the perception is no longer within boundaries, it is unbounded. This is a silent state of the mind, and it is so fulfilling that the physiology, having tasted this kind of quietness of activity, it cherishes that. And because it's cherishing to the whole physiology, to the whole experience, the physiology tends to maintain that state naturally, even when there are activities, like that like that like that... So by nature, that ** experience, by nature, through practice, it becomes stabilized in the field of activity. And once that is stabilized in the field of activity we have life on all levels, all possibilities, the level of all possibilities, perfect orderliness. And all that we know from quantum mechanics to be the characteristic of waking state is experience, becomes ones own personal experience throughout life. That kind of life we want to generate. What one has to have a teacher, one cannot digest by reading. No, by reading, that's right. Because, to have that effortless thinking one needs a little verification from the teacher, a few times times, two, three, four times, and then one knows what it means to have a thought without effort. This is experience. And then, in the process of teaching, the procedure of teaching, we have laid out three days of "checking." That one experiences, and then the next day the teacher tells him certain things which, by experience of years of teaching, we have established that these are the points which the beginner must know the first day. Now, second day experiences, these are the points which the beginning must know as an explanation of his two days experience. Experiences are very subtle. In this case the experiences are fading of the experiences. With something we experience we think the thought, it's a direct experience of the thought, and then it begins to fade, and fade, and fade, and fade, and fade. So the disappearing of the experiences - first day, second day, third day - every day it becomes a little clearer what this means, a little bit clearer. In three days the experiences become fairly clear to be able to understand the entire process, and on that basis, all the future possibilities. So three days of the checking is a vital aspect of the, of the beginning of the process. The whole thing is very simple, there is nothing, nothing of any complication, not anything. Absolute natural process. That is the reason why everyone succeeds in it. Only those three days checking, and one has understood those points, no problem. I have one last question. Is there is no relationship between the thought and teacher? In other words, there's no relationship of a type of a guru and chela (disciple) relationship. Just like the history professor. *Laughing* Here comes the sequence of the years. This happened that year, this happened. Purely on an instructional basis. Otherwise, the whole complication is not very scientific. *Laughing*
Mantra and Transcendental Meditation Explained by Maharishi
Yeah, the teaching has been set up in a very, very standard form. What we do is... Actual, actual practice involves thinking of a word. A word devoid of meaning. We don't know the meaning. We don't try to know the meaning. And the principle is that if we know the meaning, that meaning is a static thing. And we say "pencil, pencil." Someone who doesn't know what pencil means in English, he just hears the sound "pencil." And someone who knows what the pencil, the meaning is static. The sound changes in its pitch. It could be loud sound, it could be low sound, low sound. So, and, the meaning is the same at every pitch, high or low. So, if the mind is on the meaning, there is no chance of refining the meaning. If the mind is not on the meaning, then there's a chance of refining the sound. Then there's a chance of experiencing the sound in its finest values, until the finest would be transcendent, and the awareness would reach that inner wakefulness, devoid of any perception. This will be Transcendental Consciousness. So we take a thought and experience it, and in experiencing the thought the simple formula is that the thought functions as an impulse, as a motivation for impulse, like that, like that. Then the mind is pulsating. If we don't try to manipulate the thought in any sense, concentrate or hold it on or anything, then the thought will start to, to be refined, refined, refined. It will sink out. And if the activity starts to die out, die out, die out, die out. So this is what we say - naturally, greater activity of the mind reaches it's least value, in a very very natural way. Any activity has a tendency to settle down and be quiet. So this natural tendency of the mind to be quiet is all that we use in meditation, and nothing else. So in a very innocent manner we think of the thought and every time we think it becomes finer and finer and finer. We experience its finest state, and then it dies out. The mind is left wide awake, by itself, without any sound to experience. That inner wakefulness is that unbounded awareness, no boundaries. It's like the wave settling down, and it settles down, and it's flat surface of the water throughout the whole range of the lake. This unbounded awareness where the perception is no longer within boundaries, it is unbounded. This is a silent state of the mind, and it is so fulfilling that the physiology, having tasted this kind of quietness of activity, it cherishes that. And because it's cherishing to the whole physiology, to the whole experience, the physiology tends to maintain that state naturally, even when there are activities, like that like that like that... So by nature, that ** experience, by nature, through practice, it becomes stabilized in the field of activity. And once that is stabilized in the field of activity we have life on all levels, all possibilities, the level of all possibilities, perfect orderliness. And all that we know from quantum mechanics to be the characteristic of waking state is experience, becomes ones own personal experience throughout life. That kind of life we want to generate. What one has to have a teacher, one cannot digest by reading. No, by reading, that's right. Because, to have that effortless thinking one needs a little verification from the teacher, a few times times, two, three, four times, and then one knows what it means to have a thought without effort. This is experience. And then, in the process of teaching, the procedure of teaching, we have laid out three days of "checking." That one experiences, and then the next day the teacher tells him certain things which, by experience of years of teaching, we have established that these are the points which the beginner must know the first day. Now, second day experiences, these are the points which the beginning must know as an explanation of his two days experience. Experiences are very subtle. In this case the experiences are fading of the experiences. With something we experience we think the thought, it's a direct experience of the thought, and then it begins to fade, and fade, and fade, and fade, and fade. So the disappearing of the experiences - first day, second day, third day - every day it becomes a little clearer what this means, a little bit clearer. In three days the experiences become fairly clear to be able to understand the entire process, and on that basis, all the future possibilities. So three days of the checking is a vital aspect of the, of the beginning of the process. The whole thing is very simple, there is nothing, nothing of any complication, not anything. Absolute natural process. That is the reason why everyone succeeds in it. Only those three days checking, and one has understood those points, no problem. I have one last question. Is there is no relationship between the thought and teacher? In other words, there's no relationship of a type of a guru and chela (disciple) relationship. Just like the history professor. *Laughing* Here comes the sequence of the years. This happened that year, this happened. Purely on an instructional basis. Otherwise, the whole complication is not very scientific. *Laughing*