Gita Dharma

That statement is true. It is also true that there is only one President of the United States. People believing that his name is other than Barack Obama would be mistaken about his name. People who may have his name right but who think that he is short, fat and caucasian would be mistaken about his qualities.

This point would seem to beg for the desirability of a more experienced person to serve as a mentor while the aspirant goes through the meditative process. Otherwise a person, when faced with the disconcerting perceptions that you've described might simply run to a mental health professional who would happily oblige them with a diagnosis. I am not arguing that this is true for everyone as there are always some hearty souls who can 'walk the razors edge' alone; but most might benefit from some kind of advisory.

Have you travelled to Haridwar in your search?

A couple of questions come to mind 1. Who paid for the study and what kinds of controls were used? 2. Were people recruited for the study at random in order to try Transcendental Meditation? If the participants were just people who self-refer then they are likely people who believe that TM is desirable to learn - but TM is marketed to people being willing to pay thousands of dollars to learn 'special' techniques which the proponents of TM claim may give them 'special' powers (like the ability to fly). Please copy and paste this into a browser --> youtube.com/watch?v=NHwhGUo90jw Such people should not be considered a random sample of typical people and so their results would not represent what one would expect from the average person who just wants to learn 'standard' meditation and hatha yoga at a local studio (perhaps for some of the scientifically demonstrated benefits referenced in Smiley's post). Therefore 1. They must recruit disinterested parties and pay them for their time. 2. The study should be peer-reviewed by social scientists, a preponderance of whom should agree that the stated conclusions of the study can be reasonably inferred from the data gathered during the study. If both of the above hurdles are cleared then we must accept the results of this one study and then ask ourselves if said results should outweigh the "large body of research" gathered "over a period of 25 years" which is referenced by the United States Government's Office of Alternative Medicine (nccam.nih.gov) especially since TM and the claims made by its proponents are atypical. After all, would yoga and meditation have become as popular as they are in the West if they wrecked such havoc upon the vast majority of people who practiced them?

Also I recommend that you go for the 10 year India Tourist Visa. Of course they will only give you one if you have a U.S. Passport that is valid for ten years or longer. This is what I did and it avoids a lot of hassle over the years. Let me know if you need any details on that.

I would definitely plan to stay for a month. If at all possible travel there with someone who has already been to India before - that avoids a lot of mistakes.

Welcome! I would first recommend that you watch these short videos: youtube.com/GitaDharma After that you can get a very good grasp of things here: hinduwisdom.info

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