Global Good News: Excellence in Action

My university had an abundance of courses, anything and everything you could possibly want. Well, I should say almost anything because, despite all the catalogues with enticing course descriptions and all the wonderful courses I was taking, I hadn’t found what I was really looking for. I wasn’t fulfilled. It turned out that what I wanted most was an off-campus offering.

To put things in perspective, I, like many college students (past, present, and future, I suspect) was wondering, ‘What’s it all about?’ I was going to a ‘good school,’ following the path set before me, but something was missing. Even with all the purported ‘good things’ in my life, I wasn’t happy. A friend I bumped into on campus confirmed, I had a ‘case’. A case of what? A case of disillusionment and questioning my very purpose in life.

But then I found myself learning meditation, Maharishi’s
Transcendental Meditation Technique to be specific. I’m
not quite sure how it happened. When people ask me how I came to learn the Transcendental Meditation Programme, I don’t have a clear answer. I know that a doctor told me that I had a lot of energy and needed to find a way to direct it. And I love telling people that I was inspired because members of my favourite sports team had learnt. (I really do think that had a lot to do with it.)

But whatever the how or why I came to learn the
Transcendental Meditation Programme, it was the greatest blessing imaginable for me not only while I was a student, but for life.

Joie de vivre

As a student, I soon found that when I sat myself down in the library for an evening of studying, my usual racing mind was calm. Instead of it taking an hour for me to settle down to the point where I could really focus, I was settled to start. Studying and even taking exams became fun! I was enjoying all of life so much more!

A little story from the day I learnt the Transcendental
Meditation Technique speaks for itself: After our
instruction at the downtown Transcendental Meditation
Centre, my friend and I walked into a bakery. There were some tables in back where two friends were sitting. One ot them, Ellen, knew I had learnt Transcendental Meditation that day while the other, Terry, did not.

I found out later that Terry had turned to Ellen and
commented: ‘Hannah looks great! Does she have a new
boyfriend?’ It makes one chuckle but her question makes sense. The inner happiness that comes from the
Transcendental Meditation Programme radiates all around. Being with meditators is like being in a room saturated with love. One feels so good inside that—well, ‘it’s almost like being in love.’

The benefits continue to grow in leaps and bounds. As time has gone by, my inner happiness has blossomed into soaring waves of bliss and fullness. My happiness is independent of anything on the outside. Though years have passed on the calendar, I feel young and strong. My mind gets clearer and sharper all the time. I can’t even relate to the age my birth certificate would suggest. As my practice of Transcendental Meditation and the advanced TM-Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying, continues, so does wonderful growth in all areas of my world.

My good fortune can be yours

Two last thoughts to share: First, before I was
instructed in the Transcendental Meditation Technique, I
called someone who practised some other form of meditation to ask her about what she did. It turned out that she didn’t return my call until after I had learnt Transcendental Meditation, which, I consider in retrospect, to be my very good fortune.

I say this was fortunate because, as verified by over 600
studies at 250 independent universities and medical schools in 33 countries over the last 40 years, the Transcendental Meditation Technique works! It brings benefits to all areas of life—mind, body, social behaviour, and the environment.

It is easy to learn, and is a natural and effortless
practice. So many people who learn other techniques
eventually make their way to a Transcendental Meditation Centre and finally find what they were looking for all along. I was lucky enough to find it first thing, without a long search and a lot of ‘trial and error’.

The second point I’d like to leave you with is, very
simply, don’t wait! I learnt Transcendental Meditation at
the beginning of my last semester of college. If I have any regret, it’s only that I didn’t learn sooner.

"The potential of every student is infinite. The time of student life should serve to unfold that infinite potential so that every individual becomes a vibrant centre of Total Knowledge."—Maharishi