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[ Opening Disclaimer:
  I am not now nor have I ever been a practioner of TM.  What follows
  is personal opinion based on my own meditation practice (not TM). ]

TM is not a philisophy or a religion, but a pracitce.  It is a simple
mantra meditation, based on any mantra-style meditation that is 
practiced by thousands if not millions of people in the Indian
Subcontinent, Tibet, and the Orient.  (Mantra-style meditation does
not seem to be quite so popular in Southeast Asia.)

However, all meditation taught in the East is derivative of religious
practices, especially Hindu and Buddhist practice.  Both of these
religions espouse a particular world view and life-goal that lend
themselves particularly well to using meditation as an expedient
device in one's religious practice.  I would think that if one follows
any meditation practice one would eventually be exposed to the world-
view with which it's associated.

I have practiced both mantra and other meditation, and I definitely
find personal benefit from this practice.  The benefits include
greater awareness, feeling of well-being, sensitivity to others,
mental clarity, increased capacity for feeling joy, increased 
concentration and relaxation.  It can also increase one's sensitivity
to and appreciation of spiritual matters.  These, I believe, are some
of the same benefits advertised for TM.

If you don't want to shell out the money for the TM training, then
I suggest you look in the yellow pages under "meditation instruction"
for alternatives.  By going to a Hindu or Buddhist center, I'm sure
that you would be exposed to more religious talk, which you may or may
not be interested in.  TM seems, at least at first, to have a more
secular approach.  

I just don't believe that there's anything special about the practice
of TM, as mantra practice is a very simple to teach and simple to practice
technique.  For this reason, it is often given as a begninning practice 
to many meditation students.  In particular, it can help build one's
powers of concentration.  This is not meant to imply that mantra is not
also practiced by experienced meditators.
-- 
David Longerbeam			||  Any opinions expressed are
Pixar					||  those of the author and not
San Rafael, CA				||  necessarily of Pixar.
ucbvax!pixar!davel