Like many people I have heard a lot about Transcendental Meditation. I had always assumed it was an ancient Hindu tradition. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it is a trademarked product sold by an organization.
As far as I can tell, Transcendental Meditation is traditional Hindu meditation- only the Maharishi, the famous one who John Lennon wrote the protest song 'sexie sadie' about, has trademarked his own personal form of traditional Hindu meditation to sell through his organization. While I have no doubt that his technique is a good one, I am wary of such commercialization- and there IS a difference. In the Hindu tradition, people are not allowed to profit off of teaching meditation and if they need to make a living are expected to rely on willing donations from the rich. I just want you to know what it is that is out there- traditional Hindu meditation is taught by many people and has no organization. There is no 'Hindu church' with a 'Hindu pope', and no organization. Any organization that claims to be the only official organization with regard to something is going against Hindu tradition, where any temple that teaches Hindu tradition is just as legitamate as any other. So I (August 4, 2018) am going to learn traditional Hindu meditation.