experience was the same as that gained
from his earlier devotional practices.
This inner experience of identity was
a pivotal experience for Ramakrishna
and reinforced his conviction that all
forms of religious practice led the seeker
to the same place. After Ramakrishna’s
experience of enlightenment, Tota
Puri disappeared.
Transcendental Meditation
Religious organization founded by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose teach-
ings on meditation comprise its major
thrust. As its name would indicate,
Transcendental Meditation (TM) stresses
the multiple benefits of meditation: For
the individual, it promotes physical,
mental, and spiritual health, whereas for
the larger environment, it is claimed to
have pacific effects, resulting in reduced
crime and hatred. All of these results can
be obtained only by diligent practice,
but the initiation itself is easy to
obtain—all one has to do is to attend a
seminar sponsored by a TMinstructor
and pay the required fee to obtain one’s
mantra, or sacred utterance. In more
recent years, TMhas offered programs
leading to the acquisition of super-
human powers (siddhis) at its head-
quarters at Maharishi International
University in Fairfield, Iowa. The claims
of these programs have been toned
down since a disgruntled buyer—who
had been unable to learn to levitate—
won a lawsuit for damages.
Although meditation and the use of
mantras are well-established Hindu
practices, many traditional Hindus are
uncomfortable with other elements of
TM’s marketing. One controversial point
is the practice of buying (or selling) a
mantra, which was traditionally trans-
mitted from teacher (guru) to disciple
only after significant association. A
similar problem comes from the notion
that one can buy and sell superhuman
powers. These powers are seen as highly
seductive because they can be used for
both good and evil and as having
the potential to destroy a spiritually
immature person. Traditional wisdom is
unanimous that a person should not
consciously seek such powers, because
the very act of seeking is seen as being
rooted in selfish desires. In contrast,
when one has gained such powers as a
byproduct of spiritual attainment, one is
believed to be able to keep them in
proper perspective.Treta Yuga
A particular age of the world in cosmic
time. According to traditional belief,
time has neither a beginning nor an end,
but alternates between cycles of cre-
ation and activity, followed by cessation
and quietude. Each of these cycles lasts
for 4.32 billion years, with the active
phase known as the Day of Brahma, and
the quiet phase as the Night of Brahma.
In cosmic time, the Day of Brahma is
divided into one thousand mahayugas
(“great cosmic ages”), each of which
lasts for 4.32 million years. Each
mahayuga is composed of four con-
stituent yugas(cosmic ages), named the
Krta Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga,
and Kali Yuga. Each of these four yugas
is shorter than its predecessor and ush-
ers in an era more degenerate and
depraved. By the end of the Kali Yuga,
things have gotten so bad that the only
solution is the destruction and recre-
ation of the earth, at which time the
next Krta era begins.
The Treta Yuga is the second of the
four yugas, lasting for 1,296,000 years.
Although the Treta Age is still relatively
auspicious, it is less so than the Krta
Age, symbolized by its identification
with the metal silver—not as valuable as
the gold associated with the preceding
Krta Yuga, but more valuable than the
bronze and iron associated with the two
following yugas. In popular belief the
Treta Yuga is believed to be the time
when the god Ramareigned on earth.Tribhanga
(“three breaks”) Name denoting one of
the best-known poses in Indian danceTribhanga