Independent Research Project

The Meditation Meter

Disclaimer: This is an independent research project and is not officially or unofficially sponsored or authorized by the TM organization or any of its affiliates.

The Maharishi (or 1%) Effect, predicted by Maharishi in 1957, was finally proved by a scientific study in 1973, when 11 cities in the U.S. had reached the 0.97% ratio of inhabitants initiated in TM to the total population. As predicted, reaching that point had a statistically significant effect on the crime rate and other quality of life indexes in these locations.

On 1977/11/7, twenty days after buying my first pocket calculator, the Casio Biolator that could find your biorhythms and make date calculations, while "playing" with it I wondered whether this 0.97% might also apply to a different set, that of the total days of one's life. Did anything unusual happen when I had been meditating 0.97% of the days of my life?

I set right away to make the calculations. I used the date I began regular practice in place of the date of initiation, and I found that the day I had been meditating regularly 0.97% of the days of my life was 1975/12/10. Did anything unusual happen on that particular day?

If I hadn't been keeping a diary it would have been very difficult to be sure two years after the event. But my diary was right there. I turned the pages and read the entry for that day.

If you are interested you can read my testimonial. The unexpected visit and the good news I received early that morning, as well as the coincidence that happened later that day, was an encouraging indication, but certainly not conclusive proof that my practice of TM had somehow brought about those events. But over the next few years I was able to gather additional collaborative evidence. Besides I was able, step by step, to decipher and follow for a while a peculiar rhythm, of which the 0.97% was an early step. So I am personally convinced that what I call the Individual 0.97% Effect is a fact. Proving it scientifically is, of course, a different story.

Years later, I made another, much more significant, discovery. While the 0.97% is an important early landmark in one's path, the most important turning point down the meditator's road seems to be around 22.474%. In my case this was related to establishing myself in my adopted country. Since then, I have found out that this applies also to the Advanced Techniques, so don't forget to check your AT initiations with the M-Meter too.

The Meditation (or M-) Meter is is a JavaScript program that is intended as a tool to help in collecting additional anecdotal evidence that hopefully will lead to further, controlled, research. It provides two choices, one for beginners (0.97%) and one for advanced meditators (22.474%). On these day (plus or minus maybe a couple of day) you may be able to identify some unusual event.

If a long time has passed since then, you may not recall anything. If, on the other hand, you have been meditating for a short time (less then 3 months if you are 25, 6 months if you are 50 years old) it might be a good idea to request a friend to check the date for you, note it down, and let you know three-four days after, so as to avoid interference by your expectations.

At this point I have no idea how taking the sidhis or participating in Residence Courses or, on the opposite side, being irregular in your practice may influence these effects. Gathering additional data should clarify these issues.

I want to emphasize that the investigation of these phenomena is still in its initial stages, and hence no scientific or other claims can be made as to their universal applicability. Your contribution will help further our knowledge and formulate the future research directions.

If by any chance you had been keeping a diary during your early meditating years, I would be very interested to exchange notes with you. It would help enhance my current understanding of these phenomena, while I am confident that it will be an exciting voyage of self-discovery for you, that should complement nicely your experience.

Your comments are most welcome! You may send me an email at emfril [at] gmail [dot] com. It goes without saying that your response will be strictly confidential, and will not be disclosed to anybody, either in full or in part, without your explicit consent.

Jai Guru Dev,      

Eustace M. Frilingos
New York City


For the M-Meter to work you should have JavaScript enabled. Try entering your date of starting regular practice if different from your date of initiation, or even the date of an advanced technique initiation.


The M-Meter

Please choose percent, date of
birth, date of initiation, and
click the "Calculate" button.
TM percent:
 yyyy mm dd
Birth Date:
Initiation Date:
TM Percent:
Target Date:

If you want to "play" with percentages and dates, you may also want to try the Advanced Meditation Meter that calculates also the percent of a given date, or the Date Calculator, that subtracts date from date or adds days to date.