From the Fall 1991 issue of ScienceWriters:
The Newsletter of the National Association of Science Writers

http://www.aaskolnick.com/naswmav.htm

The Maharishi Caper: Or How to Hoodwink Top Medical Journals

by Andrew A. Skolnick,
associate editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association's Medical News & Perspectives Department
-----------------------------------------------
Science and Medical Journalist
MA, Medical News & Perspectives, Oct. 2, 1991
AUTHOR(s):Skolnick, Andrew A.
TITLE(s):
http://www.aaskolnick.com

http://www.aaskolnick.com/mav.htm

Maharishi Ayur-Veda: guru's marketing scheme
promises the world eternal 'perfect health'

(Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's pseudo-scientific stunts to promote his health program & products)
DESCRIPTORS:Mahesh, Maharishi YogiMarketing Chopra, Deepak Moral and ethical aspects Sharma, Hari M.Moral and ethical aspects Triguna, Brihaskpati Dev Moral and ethical aspects Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International Inc. Marketing American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine Management JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association (Periodical) Publishing Medicine, Ayurvedic Marketing JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association 0098-7484Oct 2 1991, v266, n13, p1741(6)
© American Medical Association 1991
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You can also read the following informative articles and webpages, simply by clicking onto each of the following links:

http://jama.highwire.org/content/vol266/issue13/index.dtl (to also access the journal's archives for this article: Vol. 266 No. 13, pp. 1739-1867, October 2, 1991)

and "TM's deceptions": http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm2.html

here is a Dr. Charles Elder on the Maharishi Ayurveda site's webpage peddling their products: http://www.amrit.info/doctors/article-edgefreeradicals-3.html

[incidentally, the 'doctors' endorsing the Maharishi cult products and all the bogus 'studies' cited on the Ayurveda page links are Maharishi cult devotees, not independent unbiased physicians]

and here's Charley Elder again pimping for the amrita voodoo juice and magical "nectar paste" [butter with herbs] on another page:
http://www.mapi.com/en/newsletters/newsletter02junamrit.html

Wow, how 'bout those arteries now, cardiovascular patients, huh?!! That's Real BUTTER!

Wonder what Elder's cut of the ayurveda profits is, huh?! And isn't that patently unethical? Well, according to the JAMA, it is...

and on the Maharishi Channel: Here's Elder claiming 'yogic flying' through the air is scientifically valid in a number of studies:
http://www.mou.org/media/articles/2003_03_26_oregon.html
"Dr. Charles Elder, a Portland internist who practices meditation, said he commonly runs into skeptics who don’t believe in the benefits of collective meditation, much less yogic flying." [THE OREGONIAN
March 26, 2003]

Maybe Elder's the same guy who came up with the 'tooth fairy,' too! Except there's no multi-billion dollar profit in that scam...

Elder teaching Maharishi-style medicine at the Maharishi cult's classes: http://www.mcvmnm.org/MCVM%20Home/mcvmnm%20contin-ed.htm
the Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine: http://www.mcvmnm.org/

Here's the Maharishi cult member cookbook these doctors push on patients (as [Heaven's Banquet, by Miriam Hospodar]):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0525943838/102-1194863-5777763
NOTE: "Ayurveda-- a $2 billion market"

same book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0452282780/qid=1111134710/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-5567718-4594518?v=glance&s=books

look, there's cult figure Chopra along with other cult members cited on the same page!

Here's the Maharishi cult member medical reference book (along with the cookbook, and "Maharishi Ayurveda" brand medicine, pushed on Kaiser Permanente 'alternative medicine' patients[Contemporary Ayurveda: Medicine and Research in Maharishi Ayur-Veda, by Hari Sharma and Chris Clark]:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0443055947/qid=1111141931/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5567718-4594518?v=glance&s=books

NOTE: Reviews

Here's an insider's account -- a former TM teacher -- of the deliberately deceitful and sinister practices of the Maharishi cult, and Maharishi's instructions on how to mislead and indoctrinate newcomers into their brainwashing mind-control religious cult - by LYING:
http://www.myownmind.com/extmteacher.cfm
Note the former TM instructor's accounts of psychological disorders, tics, and suicidal impulses manifested among many of those subjected to the Maharishi cult's TM teacher trainings [TTC] -- and due to the conditioning and indoctrination by trainers upon trainees while experiencing trance-induction during the prolonged sessions.

Lying seems to be the stock in trade of the Maharishi cult's numerous get-rich-quick guru-doctor-quacks. For instance, Maharishi cult member John Gray - Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, was caught flat-out lying about his phony degrees on national television ("Inside Edition"): his alleged 'PhD' in Psychology was a 'matchbook' college degree from diploma-mill Columbia Pacific University - which was just a P.O. Box that was finally shut down by the State of California, as exposed on NBC television. He is supposed to be a 'clinical psychologist.' BS! Fact: when pinned down by MSNBC and national journalists, he could not produce even a high school diploma! And he never attended a single class in psychology to get his phony degree. Yet, some uninformed mental health and family counselors cite the phony 'Dr.' Gray's book, etc.
For the record: Maharishi cult member "Dr. John Gray" has NO accredited degrees, nada, zip, 0, and he couldn't even produce a h.s. diploma:JOHN GRAY FIRES BACK AT CRITIC WHO QUESTIONED HIS CREDENTIALS…TELLS INSIDE EDITION “I’M NOT A FRAUD”

:http://www.insideedition.com/investigative/johngray.htm

And the phony 'Dr' John Gray stormed off the set, after ranting and screaming angrily on national television: I don't need a PhD. "I'm the most famous author in the world!"
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_03/003504.php
and at
http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000699.html

If so, then, why did he put the PhD in big letters on all his books, lectures, etc.? To help sell himself, as an authority figure, of course.

See what I mean about the Maharishi cult, how they've indoctrinated their members to habitually lie and deceive?

There's more:
here are all the "secret" Maharishi TM techniques -- mantras -- religious words and worship to ancient Hindu devas/devis [gods/goddesses] repeated over and over in one's head - for 'enlightenment':
http://minet.org/mantras.html

Note: Ayurveda Techniques
Primordial Sound - "AMRITA," used as a mantra

Three recent studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique find it ineffectual at best, and damaging for some, in a variety of applications: http://trancenet.org/

and: http://www.trancenet.org/secrets/mantras.shtml
When Is a "Meaningless Sound" Not Meaningless? When It's a Tantric Name of a Hindu God!

and proof that TM IS A RELIGION: the TM Initiator's Oath:
http://www. trancenet.org/secrets/puja/oath.shtml

November 18, 2003 ::
Maharishi may be the richest "cult" leader in the world.
Click: http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000696.html
According to the Hartford Advocate newspaper: Maharishi controls combined real estate and business holdings of at least $3.6 billion dollars reports the Hartford Advocate. Though some estimate his vast financial empire is really worth closer to $5 billion.

TM-EX NEWSLETTER
TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION EX-MEMBERS SUPPORT GROUP:
click: http://www.minet.org/TM-EX/Fall-90

Washington D.C.

APPEASING THE GODS FOR BETTER HEALTH?
Recently many meditators in the Washington D.C. community have
received pleas for help. A member of the movement has a debilitating
illness, endometriosis. A group of meditators are requesting money to
have ceremonies conducted in India called yagyas.

It seems that TM-affiliated Maharishi Ayurvedic doctors feel a $11,500 offering to the Hindu gods will do the necessary work. If that amount cannot be raised, a $8,500 yagya would be ``less than recommended''.
If all else fails, a $3,300 yagya will suffice. According to the
letter being circulated, ``Dr. Lonsdorf's primary recommendation is
that the patient receive a Yagya as soon as possible''.

Mahesh Yogi in his translation of the Bhagavad Gita (1) says ``the
gross aspect [of yagya] deals with ritualistic performances to please
different Vedic gods and win their blessings, while the subtle aspect
[of yagya] deals with training the mind to contact higher powers and
receive their blessings.'' ~

1. Mahesh Yogi, Bhagavad Gita, New Translation and Commentary
Chapters 1-6 Livingston Manor, NY: M.I.U. Press 1976 pg. 142.

Fairfield, Iowa
THE REAL STORY: SIDHA SUICIDE

I'd known Mark Totten for years. He had no medical problems. Likeable
and unassuming, my friend had cut his roots to his New England home
and heritage some years ago. He had reached for the Maharishi's exotic
offering; gave his money, mind and speech for Yogi's game of
enlightenment.

``He must have found something here,'' Norman Totten said, bewildered
in the M.I.U. chapel, afterhaving to ask for the time to speak at
his son's memorial service on Friday, November 30. He knew of nothing
that was wrong with his son. Mark's sister added she didn't know why her brother killed himself.

Article: from The Independent on Sunday, August 19, 1990. ~ England, UK

CULT DOCTORS INVESTIGATED OVER HERBAL ANTI-AIDS PILLS

Two Harley Street doctors have been accused of offering patients a
3000 pound-a-year treatment for AIDS, which offeres ``no substantive
benefit''. Dr. Roger Chalmers and Dr. Leslie Davis belong to front
organizations for the controversial Indian-based cult of
Transcendental Meditation, or TM, and the pills are provided by the
cult.

The General Medical Council has started preliminary investigations
after complaints by the partner of a dead patient and by Britain's
leading AIDS charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Independent scientific tests...suggest that Maharishi pills are in
fact worthless as a potential treatment for AIDS. The tests, conducted
by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control at
Potters Bar, found that Maharishi pills had at best a negligible
effect on the HIV virus, which cause AIDS.

The Institute arranged two sets of test-tube experiments. Weight for
weight, relative to any effect against HIV, Maharishi pills were found
to be at least 100,000 times more toxic that the established AIDS
drug, AZT.

Dr. Chalmers describes himself to patients as the ``Dean of Medicine
of the Maharishi University of Natural Law, Mentmore''. Dr. Davis
says he is the ``Dean of Physiology''. But the ``Maharishi University,
Mentmore'' is officially unrecognized, has no medical students and no
power to confer degrees.

The Maharishi Ayurveda health system, which was put on the market by
the Maharishi in about 1985, has helped boost sales of the
once-fashionable and very costly TM courses.

Sales are not limited to the AIDS market. Dr. Davis admits that ``the
main aspect of Maharishi Ayurveda is Transcendental Meditation''.

Warnings have been given about the side-effects of both TM and the
Maharishi Ayurveda diets. The British Dietetic Association has
recently advised AIDS patients about potential dangers from the
Maharishi Ayurveda diet.

U.S.A. MAHARISHI'S MEDICINE MAN
Most of the findings [on Maharishi Ayurveda] are still unpublished,
and so haven't been reviewed by other scientists. And some argue that
the research carries a bias because it was either done primarily by
scientists who are avowed meditators or affiliated with a Maharishi
International University or it was funded by a Maharishi linked foundation.

``We realize the importance of scientific research by people who aren't
`insiders','' says Chopra in response to such criticism. ``But what
are we to do if a scientist becomes so convinced of their value that
he begins meditating and following all the practices himself? That
happens all the time.''

One such scientist, pathologist Hari Sharma of Ohio State University,
has for two years studied Maharishi Amrit Kalash. ``I didn't expect
to see positive results,'' he says. ``I had to be shown, and now I'm
a convert.'' In Health, May/June, 1990, Debra Franklin
Note: Documents obtained from the Iowa Consumer Protection Division (July 1977) list

Hari M. Sharma, M.D. as one of the "people currently on Citizen's
Advanced Courses Phase 1." It seems Dr. Sharma was a "convert" long
before doing research on Maharishi Ayurveda. ~

That's the very same HARI SHARMA who wrote the 'medical' reference book pushed on member patients at Kaiser Permanente clinics (and who was mentioned in the JAMA article).
-------------------------------
from: http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/fall02/integrateKPNW.html

Elder: "The KPNW Regional Pharmacy Committee has appointed a natural products subcommittee charged with educating members and clinicians about herbal supplements and with evaluating supplements for potential inclusion in the over-the-counter shelves of KP pharmacies. The committee conducts evidence reviews of popular herbal extracts and is responsible for identifying appropriate suppliers with good manufacturing practices."

and: http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/winter03/camcare.html

and: The Permanente Journal/Winter 2003/ Volume 7 No. 1
health systems
Application of the Cooperative Health Care Clinic
Model for Delivery of Complementary/Alternative
Medicine (CAM) Care
By Charles Elder MD, MPH, FACP
Abstract

Clinic Content
The group clinic had an interactive didactic format
designed to provide patients with a cognitive frame-
work for evaluating and integrating CAM modalities.
The clinic was designed also to offer patients practical
ideas for diet, daily routine, and behavior modification
that could be implemented immediately.
The content of the didactic segment was based sub-
stantially on the Vedic Medicine
9-12

"The procedure in our clinic is to direct
most patients who wish to purchase herbal prod-
ucts to a single, well-established, ISO-9001-certi-
fied supplier "
------------------------------------------------------------------------
fReferences
1. Kessler RC, Davis RB, Foster DF, et al. Long-term trends in
the use of complementary and alternative medical
therapies in the United States. Ann Intern Med 2001 Aug
21;135(4):262-8.
2. Gordon NP, Sobel DS. Use of and interest in complemen-
tary and alternative therapies among clinicians and adult
members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Region: results of a 1996 survey. Perm J 1999 Sum-
mer;3(2):44-55.
3. Noffsinger EB. Increasing quality of care and access while
reducing costs through drop-in group medical appoint-
ments. Group Practice Journal 1999 Jan;48(1):12-8.
4. Noffsinger EB. Answering physician concerns about drop-in
group medical appointments. Group Practice Journal 1999
Feb;48(2):14-21.
5. Noffsinger EB. Benefits of drop-in group medical
appointments to physicians and patients. Group Practice
Journal 1999 Mar;48(3):21-8.
6. Noffsinger EB. Establishing successful primary care and
subspecialty drop-in group medical appointments in your
group practice. Group Practice Journal 1999 Apr;48(4):20-8.
7. Noffsinger EB. Physicians evaluate the impact of drop-in
group medical appointments on their practices. Group
Practice Journal 1999 Jun;48(6):22-33.
8. Beck A, Scott J, Williams P, et al. A randomized trial of
group outpatient visits for chronically ill older HMO
members: the Cooperative Health Care Clinic. J Am Geriatr
Soc 1997 May;45(5):543-9.
9. Sharma HM, Clark C. Contemporary Ayurveda: medicine
and research in Maharishi Ayur-Veda. New York: Churchill
Livingstone; 1998.
10. Sharma HM, Alexander CN. Maharishi Ayurveda: research
review. Part One: Maharishi Ayurveda and TM. Comple-
mentary Medicine International 1996 Jan-Feb;3(1):21-28.
11. Sharma HM, Alexander CN. Maharishi Ayurveda: research
review. Part Two: Maharishi Ayurveda herbal food
supplements and additional strategies. Complementary
Medicine International 1996 Mar-Apr;3(2):17-28.
12. Nadkarni KM. Indian materia medica with Ayurvedic,
Unani-Tiobbi, Siddha, allopathic, homeopathic, naturo-
pathic & home remedies, appendices and indexes. 3rd ed,
revised and enlarged by AK Nadkarni. Bombay: Popular
Book Depot; 1954.
13. Landmark Healthcare. The Landmark report I on public
perceptions of alternative care: selected findings [Web site].
Available from: www.landmarkhealthcare.com/98tlrI.htm
(acces

Look at the references: Sharma, Sobel, and Nadkami are all Maharishi cult freaks.

see this revealing piece about Sobel and his bogus Canadian govt-funded research [with No control groups or independent medicial scrutiny]: http://www.healthy.net/scr/column.asp?PageType=column&ID=193

These are Maharishi cult doctors getting prohibited govt. funding for their bogus self-serving studies in support of their RELIGION (and with no comparison control groups, no independent objective oversight; they compile and report the data themselves without verification:

Elder's US govt funding: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00065650

TM is a religion

Federal courts ruled years ago that Maharishi's TM is a religion (Malnak v. Yogi, 440 F.Supp. 1284 (1977), affirmed, 592 F.2d 197 (3rd Cir. 1979).  Government funding to propagate TM is therefore unconstitutional.
This decision was also reaffirmed by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Diane Hendel vs. WPEC,MIU 01, 1996.

During the Carter Administration the Department of Health, Education & Welfare (HEW) and the New Jersey Department of Education funded an "experiment" to teach TM and its "Science of Creative Intelligence" (TM/SCI) as an elective in five public high schools.  Teachers specially trained by TM taught students four or five days a week.  If it "worked" the course would be taught statewide.

Several parents, the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, Inc. (a Christian group based in Berkeley, California) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked the U.S. District Court for New Jersey to enjoin this experiment.  These plaintiffs argued that TM was a religion and that the teaching of TM in public schools and the government funding were both an "Establishment of Religion" in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.  TM representatives argued that TM is a secular science, not a religion.

Federal Judge J. Curtis Meanor ruled that TM is a religion.  He enjoined HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr., N.J. Commissioner Fred G. Burke, school officials and TM's umbrella organization itself from using public funds to propagate TM.  The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia unanimously affirmed.  Judge Meanor's injunction is still in effect today.

These judges looked to the religious nature of Maharishi's SCI textbook, which was being taught, and the religious nature of his puja initiation ceremony, which TMers must go through individually to receive their secret meditation mantra.  Without that mantra it is impossible to practice TM.

At the compulsory "puja" [worship] ceremony, held outside the school building, each student brought some fruit, flowers and a clean white handkerchief that were taken and laid on a table in a closed room.  The student's teacher would bow and make offerings many times to an 8" by 12" color photograph of Guru Dev, said to be Maharishi's teacher, who had died in the 1950s.  Each student's teacher also sang a chant in Sanksrit and the student received "his own personal mantra which is never to be revealed to any other person." (592 F.2d at 198.)

TM witnesses swore that the chant was a purely secular expression of gratitude to teachers.  However, Judge Meanor read an English translation prepared by TM and found not one word of thanks in it.  Rather, the chant describes a deified Guru Dev as "the Lord" and "Him" (with a capital “H”), among a slew of divine epithets quoted by Judge Meanor.  For example:   
The Unbounded, like the endless canopy of the sky, the omnipresent in all creation to Him, to Shri Guru Dev, I bow down, the Eternal, the Pure, the Immovable ... to Shri Guru Dev, I bow down. 

Rabbi Seymour Siegel, Professor of Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, swore that in  "the cultural setting of the United States and in the tradition of both Hebrew and Christian theology" such terms are "descriptive exclusively of a Supreme Being or God."

Researchers will find that the District Court opinion in Malnak v. Yogi extensively excerpts Maharishi's "scientific" SCI textbook and reprints the full text of his puja ceremony chant.

------------------------

The Natural Law Party, headquartered at Maharishi University, Fairfield, Iowa [Maharishi cult's plan to take over the world]
USA: http://www.politics1.com/nlp2k.htm
UK: http//www.natural-law-party.org.uk/conference2000/Healthcarefor21century.htm

also:

http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/t/tm/dissenter.htm

http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/t/tm/mdd.htm

http://skepdic.com/ayurvedic.html [r.e. Deepak Chopra]

http://www.suggestibility.org/

Best wishes,