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Maharishi's wisdom and meditation were a blessing for a seeking student, who continues to cherish the daily experience of Transcendental Meditation decades later.
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by Global Good News staff writer
14 June 2011
In an article in Enlightenment magazine (Issue 19), Dr Randolph Carter, founding director of Eastern Educational Resource Collaborative, a non-profit organization serving schools, colleges, community agencies and families on issues of equity and justice, expresses how blessed he feels to have learnt the Transcendental Meditation Technique, ‘a technique that works.’ ‘And,’ he adds, ’it works every day. And it works every time someone is instructed.’
Dr Carter writes:
‘In the late 1960s, I was a student at the University of Washington. It was a tumultuous time in the life of our country, and college campuses were consumed with political debates on war, race, and new ways to think about the world.
‘I had been looking for some kind of experience that would help to make sense of all the competing demands. I was seeking a sense of inner peace, and to know more about myself.
‘At that time the war in Vietnam was heading toward its peak. African countries were fighting for liberation, and black communities in this country, too, were seeking a kind of self-determination. Unfortunately, there was rioting, and communities were burning.
‘Seeking a clearer sense of self-identity, I joined the Black Panthers, attended meetings with the Nation of Islam, and was a member of the NAACP Youth League. Yet none of these experiences attended to the inner sense of self I knew I needed.
‘In 1969 I heard of a small community of folks in Seattle who gathered to talk about meditation and read from the works of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Every Friday evening at a house in the university area, we would have dinner and then read from Maharishi’s Science of Being and Art of Living and his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita. It was very inspirational. We would discuss his views on life, society, the mind and transcending. Many of us hadn’t even learned the Transcendental Meditation technique.
‘At that time there were no resident TM teachers in Seattle, so the group organized for teachers to visit. We felt a sense of pride when over 200 people came for our first big lecture. I’m not sure that I understood much of what the teachers said that night. The only thing I can tell you is: whatever they were saying, I wanted to have it. The teachers returned to give a second lecture, and I was instructed in the autumn of 1969.
‘Our weekly meetings continued, and our small group kept growing. We’d invite our friends over and share our enthusiasm. There was a real sense of community, a sense that we all needed to be together. As an African-American, when I sat and meditated with white and Asian colleagues, we really did get a feeling of unity that wasn’t being experienced in the larger community.
‘In December, I attended my first Residence Course at Asilomar, California with hundreds of Meditators from across the country. The air was electric, and I knew then I wanted to become a teacher. In the summer of 1970, I joined 2000 participants when Maharishi came to Humboldt State College. In early 1971 I became a teacher in Mallorca, Spain.
‘Returning to Seattle, I taught hundreds of people in the African-American community. In 1975 I went to Sacramento, where for three years I taught at Folsom Prison and at Deule Vocational Institute, a prison for 15- to 18-year-olds. I also taught the TM technique to patients in a mental health center. We really tested the power of TM to help people in the harshest of circumstances.
‘It’s hard to imagine life without meditation. I feel so fortunate to have learned a technique that works. And it works every day. And it works every time someone is instructed. And it has transformed lives, and created community.
‘When I’m with folks who don’t meditate, they may say something like, “You’re very peaceful.” We’ll be sitting in a room and they’ll start to experience the silence. I know it’s because millions have tapped into the Transcendent so many times that it’s actually being localized right there in the room, and even non-meditators begin to experience the effects of transcending.
‘I think that’s what long-term practice means, that we have localized that experience. We’re still probing the depths of TM, and continue to be thrilled by this experience.
‘My life has been blessed by having encountered Maharishi, his wisdom, and his meditation. For me, the inner peace and community continue to grow.’
© Copyright 2011 Global Good News®
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