Features of religious identity of citizens of Russia who practise Transcendental meditation

An analysis of Russians who practice transcendental meditation and form a multireligious community finds that most participants exhibit an immature religious identity, termed 'premature' by J. Bell and corresponding to 'civil-religious' and 'spiritually-oriented' types in T. Pronina's classification. The sample divides into seven groups: Orthodox Christians who are regular church-goers, those calling themselves Orthodox, supporters of religious and occult syncretism, believers with no religion, those regarding themselves as Muslims, Judaists, or Buddhists, adherents of Sanathan Dharma, and defenders of the purity of Maharishi's doctrine. Many meditators deepen their Orthodox faith and leave the movement, while those following Maharishi's organizational hierarchy are most often 'believers with no religion'.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article presents results of an analysis of the religious identifi cation of Russians practising transcendental meditation and united on this basis in a broad community that can serve as an example of a new type of multireligious movement, since the religiosity of its participants is diverse. The article discusses the grouping of the sample of representatives of the movement into seven groups, namely “Orthodox Christians who are regular church-goers”, “those calling themselves Orthodox”, “supporters of religious and occult syncretism”, “believers with no religion”, “those regading themselves as Muslims, Judaists, Buddhists”, “adherents of Sanathan Dharma”, “defenders of the purity of Maharishi’s doctrine”. The self-identifi cation of the respondents is studied in the perspective of the models of religious identity proposed by I. Sokolovskaya, J. Bell, T. Pronina. The study has identifi ed the predominance of immature religious identity in the majority of interviewees (“premature”, as formulated by J. Bell), which in T. Pronina’s classifi cation is corresponded by the “civil-religious” and “spiritually-oriented” types. These indicators can change in each individual in course of time. Many of those meditating go deeper into the Orthodox faith and leave the movement. Those who follow the steps of hierarchy in Maharishi’s organisation are most often “believers with no religion”.