Jerry Freeman has been practicing Transcendental Meditation, the advanced techniques of TM, and the TM Sidhis program beginning shortly before turning nineteen, over 40 years ago. He was trained by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation the following year, lived for some years in the semi-monastic program Maharishi founded, and has continued to study Maharishi’s teachings to this day. He writes about Maharishi’s insights into the development of higher major states of consciousness, as they relate to today’s discussions of Advaita, Vedanta, awakening, Self-realization and enlightenment.

He is presently working on a book on this subject, tentatively titled: The Enlightenment Puzzle: what everyone should know about awakening. In the book’s introduction, he states, “What I have to say here is not my own invention. … What I will say here is not an official presentation of Maharishi’s teaching, as it includes numerous observations and conclusions that are my own. However, the great insights about awakening, human consciousness, enlightenment, etc. are not mine. They are Maharishi’s

Jerry supports a family of adopted children, working as a musical instrument maker. His penny whistles are recommended by many Irish music instructors for their students, as they are affordable and very high quality, and they are played in performance and recordings by many of the most renowned performers of Irish music.

Jerry's Facebook page

www.tm.org

www.davidlynchfoundation.org

what Jerry’s whistles sound like

Jerry's essay, "Why There are no Perfect Teachers"

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 10/19/2013.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction and Childhood days

00:02:59 - Searching for Deeper Meaning

00:06:36 - Influenced by Ramana Maharshi

00:10:28 - Laziness and Resistance to Meditation

00:14:00 - Starting Transcendental Meditation and Meeting Maharishi

00:18:17 - Taming the Monkey Mind

00:22:09 - The Quicksand of the Mind

00:25:43 - The Benefits of TM and Open-mindedness to other Teachings

00:29:15 - Building the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge

00:33:04 - The Unified Field and Universal Consciousness

00:36:46 - The Significance of Maharishi's Teachings

00:40:15 - Finding Identity Beyond Purusha

00:43:54 - The Complexity of States of Consciousness

00:47:53 - Gradual Unfolding of States of Consciousness

00:51:42 - Unfoldment of Human Consciousness

00:55:32 - The Three Common States of Consciousness

00:58:58 - Awakening the Inner Silence

01:04:00 - The First Permanent Awakening

01:08:30 - Witnessing Sleep and Awakening

01:12:31 - Awakening and the Progression to Subtle Perception

01:16:45 - The Development of Devotion and Unity Consciousness

01:21:25 - Unity Consciousness in Brahman Consciousness

01:25:52 - The Nature of Brahman Consciousness

01:30:16 - The Faint Remains of Ignorance

01:34:10 - The Faint Remains of Ignorance

01:37:59 - The Mind and Ego

01:41:35 - The Power of Atma-vichara to Destroy the Mind

01:45:17 - Awakening to the Subtle Ego

01:47:56 - Description of God Consciousness

01:50:36 - Wrapping it up and links to further information

01:53:20 - End Credits