But TM is so simple — can it take a person to higher states of consciousness?

Can something simple and easy to practice produce the most immediate, holistic and profound effects?

Almost everyone who learns how to practice the Transcendental Meditation technique is surprised just how simple it is. And yet, the TM technique is designed for full awakening of human potential.

Before Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced the Transcendental Meditation technique to the world in the 1950s, the common thinking was that it is very difficult to directly experience the Transcendent, the most deeply settled and expansive state of human consciousness — unbounded awareness — and even more difficult to attain the highest states of consciousness. There was, and still is, much misunderstanding about meditation and the process of transcending. Most people still believe that the practice of meditation is about stilling the mind, ridding the mind of thoughts and making the mind be quiet. For almost everyone, controlling the mind and forcing it to be still is more than difficult.

To transcend means to go beyond the active level of thinking, to experience the silent field of pure awareness at the source of thought. While relaxation techniques of various kinds and different practices of meditation that keep the mind active have their range of benefits, in the Vedic tradition transcending is known to be the key to unfolding the highest stages of human development.

Simplicity: It’s been said that anyone can get complicated, but it takes a true genius to be simple. The TM technique’s simplicity is what renders it so effective. Maharishi once remarked, “It is my joy to make the difficult simple.”

Full awakening of human consciousness, the state of enlightenment, is everyone’s birthright. The world just needed an effective practice that makes the process simple, natural and effortless—and a systematic, scientific knowledge of consciousness to render higher states comprehensible.

The world needed a scientific age for humanity to have a clear vision of possibilities for life on earth through unfolding higher stages of development. This is what the TM program is ultimately all about.

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Watch this excerpt from the 1968 Canadian national television (CBC) documentary where Maharishi speaks about the goal of meditation, the development of higher consciousness in daily life.