Guru Critical of TM Meditation [Shree Shankaracharya Swaraoop-anand Saraswati, a disciple of Swami Braahmananda Saraswati]

Vol. 10, No. 3, 1993

From an interview in TM-EX (Fall 1992, 7-8) by Robert Kropinski with Shree Shankaracharya Swaraoopanand Saraswati, a preeminent disciple of Swami Braahmananda Saraswati (Guru Dev), who is considered TM leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's spiritual master.

The meditative process that Mahesh teaches is not good and effective because it is not preceded by pre-meditation training enabling the mind to become indifferent to outside objects and material desires. "Clearing the mind" by repeating a mantra is not enough. Without this, TM can only help people temporarily forget the world.

"People here in Asia are concerned. He [Mahesh] cheated people of millions of rupees from people like [Kropinski, a former follower]." The result is that "people might lose faith in Indian spirituality. It makes me sad that some people from here [India], like Rajneesh and Mahesh, went there [to America] and they destroyed those good feelings. Mahesh has caused a severe blow to Indian culture.. . We want that people like you should tell others that he does not know anything about yoga. He is serving neither American nor Indian people.