Herbert Benson

Herbert Benson (April 24, 1935 – February 3, 2022) was an American medical doctor, cardiologist, and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.

Quotes about Benson

• The central focus of his medical research was to validate, and explain, the effects of ancient Indian systems repackaged as his proprietary Relaxation Response in scientific and technical language. For instance, the deep rest provided by the TM technique is renamed ‘a hypometabolic state of parasympathetic activation’. Given his clout, funding sources, and sponsorship from Christian institutions, such as the John Templeton Foundation (brought in as a board member), he succeeded in rebranding Maharishi’s distinctly Indian ideas as his own Benson Method. He became a significant bridge to bring the bounties of Indian mind sciences into Western frameworks and ownership.
  • Malhotra, R. & Viswanathan V. (2022). Snakes in the Ganga : Breaking India 2.0.

• Benson traveled to India with the intent of adding Tibetan Buddhism ideas on to his own meditation system to make it seem different than TM. In 1980, when Benson and Wallace met in India, Benson pretended he had done no wrong, to the contrary claiming he had contributed to Indian spirituality by popularizing Maharishi’s ideas. Maharishi was asked several times about Benson’s plagiarism; he was aware of it but wanted Wallace and others to ignore it and not pursue the matter officially.
  • Malhotra, R. & Viswanathan V. (2022). Snakes in the Ganga : Breaking India 2.0.

• The academic world as well as mainstream American media gave Benson complete credit for the discovery of the science of meditation. Seldom mentioned was its debt to Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation. In fact, Benson was credited for having ‘demystified meditation’ by removing the mantra that seemed threatening to many Judeo-Christian Americans. He made a fortune and a great career at Harvard selling these techniques acknowledging neither the Indian origin of the practices nor the Sanskrit-based theories and epistemologies that interpreted and explained the higher states of consciousness.
  • Malhotra, R. & Viswanathan V. (2022). Snakes in the Ganga : Breaking India 2.0.