Abstract

The new religious movements (NRM’s) represent a phenomenon, which the polish mass media, public opinion and church have been in the last few years increasingly concerned about. The problem o fN RM ’s took its place in agendas o f some government institutions and the parliament itself. The mass media are the most important source o f information about the NRM’s. Accordingly to their specific way o f functioning, they pay attention to groups involved in pernicious activities for society or for physical and psychical integrity o f their members, and not on the pacific activity o f the most part o f the NRM’s. So a general negative stereotype of a dangerous „cult” in the mind o f people is formed and extended successively on all minority religious groups.The present paper is dedicated to one o f the pacific majority o fN RM ’s - Transcendental Meditation (TM). After a brief overview o f the origin and world development o f the TM, an outline o f doctrine and praxis o f the movement is presented: the view o f the universe and anthropology, technique o f transcendental meditation, results o f empirical research proved the positive influence o f meditating on organism psychophysiological state, preached by the TM prophetic visions o f advantages the spread o f the meditation can yield to the humankind, and the elements o f the Hindu spirituality present in the TM praxis. On the basis o f this exposition some problematic issues regarding the doctrine and praxis o f the TM are critically discussed, such as the claim for religious neutrality of the movement and scientific character o f its doctrine, the lack o f rational basis o f TM „prophesies”, the oversimplification o f the Hindu spirituality peipetrated in the movement, and some problems regarding recruitment o f new adherents and indoctrination.