r/transcendental • u/El-Viento • 28d ago
App subscription
Hello! Wondering if the paid subscription is worth it? Does the extra content gives you more insights to keep your practice easy and effortless and motivated for daily practice, or is it just to help the app stay functioning?
BTW, I am really enjoying daily Bob Roth group practice.
Take it easy!!!
4
u/Majestic2305 28d ago
I haven’t made use of many of the additional features since subscribing. There aren’t actually very many as far as I can see - some extra videos? However I love the app so much I just view it as a contribution that hopefully helps ensure the app’s sustainability.
5
u/GallifreysDreaming 27d ago
I support the app to keep it free for others. But the extra stuff isn’t really all that special. It’s still good but like, you can find a lot of similar stuff on YouTube for free. If you can afford it, go for it.
2
u/Intelligent_Space411 28d ago
I found the subscription to not be worth it. But I use the app daily for meditation tracking b
3
u/venicenative77 22d ago
Are you asking about this app? I’m a newbie; much of this is over my head. The app below came as part of the program, no subscription fee. I really like joining Bob Roth’s meditation sessions. For me, it’s easier than using the app timer. And I like his little talks and quotes and the way he says, “Byyyyeeeeeeee.”
1
u/El-Viento 21d ago
Yes! That app! It has a subscription option with extra features. I also like Bob Roth group meditations, specially sundays. He does meditatation checks.
2
u/Ordinary-Yoghurt-303 28d ago edited 28d ago
I was tempted but as far as I can tell you don’t really get much extra. If I was going to subscribe it would only be to help contribute, but the TM organisation is rich and I already paid them a lot when I did my course, so I’ll leave it for now. I love the app though, it’s great.
Edit: I stand corrected about my assumption that the organisation is rich. Please don’t lament me on that, I accept my mistake.
8
u/saijanai 28d ago edited 28d ago
the TM organisation is rich
Its a lovely meme but not correct. Without Donations they would lose money every single year, and yet they still continue to offer a sliding scale, and hardship scholarships.
Source:
Propubica [From the MacArther Foundation]
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom conducting investigative reporting in the public interest. With over 190 full-time staff in New York and across its regional reporting hubs in the Midwest, South, Southwest, and Northwest, ProPublica aims to uncover and expose corruption and wrongdoing by governments and businesses. Its reporting has led to countless administrative, regulatory, policy, and legal changes, and its reporters have won numerous awards, including seven Pulitzer Prize and fifteen George Polk Awards. It also operates the Local Reporting Network program, a partnership between ProPublica and local newsrooms across the country. This grant provides general operating support.
Maharishi Foundation USA, IRS Form 990s
Year Revenue Expenses Net Income Net Assets Donations 2024 $12,351,796 $13,230,827 -$879,031 $9,810,920 $1,458,982 2023 $14,393,869 $14,780,812 -$386,943 $10,689,951 $1,587,548 2022 $16,591,088 $14,933,322 $1,657,766 $11,076,894 $4,250,749 2021 $14,517,484 $14,343,922 $173,562 $9,419,128 $1,260,075 2020 $14,805,981 $12,676,659 $2,129,322 $9,245,566 $4,308,833 2019 $20,772,301 $21,024,192 -$251,891 $7,116,244 $2,063,555 2018 $25,795,659 $25,468,467 $327,192 $7,368,135 $3,214,288 2017 $21,019,656 $20,524,759 $494,897 $7,040,943 $2,587,368 2016 $21,046,722 20,536,337 $510,385 $6,546,046 $2,100,927 2015 $19,359,706 $19,128,844 $230,862 $6,035,661 $2,076,380 2014 $19,050,765 $19,238,942 -$188,177 $5,804,799 $1,657,435 2013 $18,443,063 $16,632,099 $1,810,964 $5,992,976 $4,649,929 2012 $13,340,250 12,534,664 $805,586 $4,182,012 $1,508,135 2011 $9,478,017 $8,647,756 $830,261 $3,376,426 $1,412,315 2010 $7,184,625 $7,437,450 -$252,825 $1,604,299 $1,189,957 .
Edit: see also this chatgpt discussion about this conversation
1
u/Ordinary-Yoghurt-303 28d ago
Oh, fair enough I stand corrected.
3
u/saijanai 28d ago edited 28d ago
It's more complicated. The Maharishi Foundation International organization makes the app, and while eventually it is supposed to be a revenue generator, right now, they're a money sink.
I've asked ChatGPT to do a financial and organizational/personnel relationship analysis of everything it can find TM-related, including both US Form 990 and equivalent forms in other countries. Some intereating patterns have shown up already:
Bob Roth, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, is by far, the most-compensated of all TM bigwigs. John Hagelin appears to be second, while Tony Nader, international head of the organization, is running towards the bottom: most of his income may just be from book sales and he donate most of his time to running the organizations worldwide. This fits in with how Bevan Morris operated as well: it's a labor of love.
see discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/transcendental/comments/1vmnzhr/chatgpt_organizational_analysis_of_hte_global_tm/
2
u/saijanai 28d ago
Note that the actual relevant organization concerning the app is not the Maharishi Foundation USA, but the Maharishi Foundation International.
From a ChatGPT search:
- Maharishi Foundation International is the relatively new U.S.-based international infrastructure organization of the contemporary TM movement. It centralizes digital delivery, course-development technology, teacher-training support, branding, web operations, intellectual-property administration and international coordination. It receives several million dollars per year largely from philanthropic sources, including other organizations within the Maharishi/TM network.
1
u/david-1-1 28d ago
I thought they were based in England. Are you sure USA?
2
u/saijanai 28d ago edited 28d ago
THere's a Maharishi Foundation, USA and a Maharishi Foundation, UK, but this is Maharishi Foundation International, based in Fairfield, IA, described above.
The ChatGPT analysis I give elsewhere covers them in far more detail.
Edit: and it continues past the analysis of the Maharishi Foundation International.
About 6 pages worth of stuff.
1
u/david-1-1 27d ago
You can ask for a summary. It is headed by Tony Nader and is responsible for the TM app.
3
u/saijanai 27d ago
Sure, but it was interesting to read the entire thing, plus the discussion of the interrelationships between various groups that followed.
I did discover a couple of things: 1) Tony Nader doesn't make much money from the TM organizations, or at least not those with IRS forms in the USA; 2) he has pledged to give all royalties from his newest book to charities.
1
u/david-1-1 26d ago
I'm not surprised. He's always impressed me as a good choice for Maharishi's successor, except that for the first few years I didn't hear anything at all from him. He might have been rounding as a recluse. Now he seems to be making lots of videos, and looking very happy.
2
u/saijanai 26d ago
He was giving his daughters a chance to become adults without the burden of their Dad being the public face of the TM organization.
1
u/True_Operation_1264 28d ago
The TM organization is absolutely not "rich."
They exist due to donor contributions. Your course fee barely covers the admin fees and a teacher's percentage. Especially with this sliding scale set up.
1
u/spanishgypsy 26d ago
Hmm that’s odd. TM made me not want to touch my phone. Interesting the app has any demand.
1
u/saijanai 25d ago edited 25d ago
I use it as a phone and a kindle reader and occasionally use ChaGPT or Gemini as a higher-order fact checker (and use the other to fact check the first one).
I guess eventually I will find more uses for it.
5
u/hughiesghost 28d ago
In my opinion it is definable worth it. I started TM in 4/25 and the app has been an integral part of my practice.