17 August 2005 Press Conference Highlights

Opening Remarks

Maharishi: ‘Jai Guru Dev. We are continuing our programme with great love for our family, for our world family, for the people of every country peacefully and full of total knowledge of Natural Law, which we have found administering all values in the universe—all activity in the ever-expanding universe. We have the knowledge of total Natural Law. We have seen it in the ancient record of Vedic wisdom, in the modern record that is being built up in terms of Unified Field of Natural Law from the modern physical sciences, and in the ancient records of the path to God-realization of which all religions speaks. We have found it in all these different ways to achieve the supreme goal of life.  

‘Our open invitation is with great love and compassion and great respect for our family spread throughout the world. We want every nation to be free from problems. We are very warmly inviting the governments of the nations.
 
‘People vote and bring out the best people, who they think will be able to cater for all that is needed for every individual and every family to be free from problems, free from diseases. Do not be surprised when I say that it is possible for every government to make such rules in the field of education, health, and administration that there will not be problems for any individual or family. Whatever they want, they will have it. It is possible to do so, because the body of every individual is made of the same laws of nature with which the body of the universe is made.  

‘All the ever-expanding, galactic universe is made of laws that are almighty, that are everywhere, that are always progressive to everything. The same Natural Law is the maker and the administrator of everyone’s body and everyone’s brain. Therefore, by following the procedures of those laws, we can make our body function by those laws in the same orderly manner as everything in the universe.
 
‘We have been proclaiming it, and we continue to proclaim it week after week. We are sincere in our proclamation. We have the knowledge, and we can successfully impart the knowledge to our youngsters in the coming generation or to our fellow men in the present generation. That explains it.  

‘We are simple people. We are not for doing business; we are not business people. We are fond of distributing our knowledge because it gives us happiness to give the technique of peace and happiness and fulfilment. It is our joy to give the turnkey operation for total Natural Law to everyone. It is our joy to do it. We are not doing it for commercialization. We are not businessmen. We are men of knowledge.
 
‘It is like a lighted lamp, which by nature radiates light around it. That is our situation. We are on it, and we can say we are on it. Those, who can see the light spreading from whatever little we are able to do on our own, see it is like a powerhouse. An engineer has made a powerhouse. Now the engineer wants everyone in the hundred-kilometer vicinity to remain always in light. The desire of the engineer can only be fulfilled by those who draw the line from the powerhouse to their home. If they do not draw the line from the powerhouse to their home, whatever the goodwill of the engineer, their home remain dark. 

‘In the same way, our offering to them will not have any meaning until they accept it and begin to enjoy it. Here is a chance for everyone. Dr Hagelin is such a brilliant mind in the field of science, such a successful quantum physicist in the world today. When he talks to someone, he is talking to them on the basis of the mathematically reliable knowledge that he has. He does not have time to just ramble on from the mountaintop. He is a practical man in the world, a man of supreme scientific understanding, with a supreme scientific approach for the realization of the target that one may have.  

‘We will continue to speak to the people who would like to hear. Those who do not hear today will hear tomorrow or the next day or the next day. This tradition of offering will continue, and those who understand the language will take it. Those who do not take it now will take it tomorrow or the next day or in the next generation.
 
‘Hope will never be lost for anyone. Everyone has to enjoy. We know we are sincere, we are simple, we are flexible. We are only for the good of the people. Therefore, we hope that our efforts will not go in vain. Little by little, candle after candle, we have been lighting the light here, there, and everywhere for the last fifty years. And we will continue the same thing, same thing. It is our joy to do so. We are doing it for our own satisfaction; we are doing it because we enjoy what we are doing. 

‘If there are any questions this week, it will be our joy to answer them. If there are no questions, we can understand that the people are following the message, and whenever convenient for them, they will adopt it and get out of all difficulties, all problems.’

Question: Global Reconstruction and World Peace

Dr Hagelin: ‘There are, of course, always many questions. There is great fascination with the theme of Global Reconstruction, the major undertaking to reconstruct the world. The first question pertaining to Maharishi’s Global Reconstruction Programme is: Why is it such a priority? When most people think of creating world peace, they think of stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or ending poverty in the world or improving education to create a new generation of peaceful children. But to be honest, most people don’t automatically think about rebuilding every home in the world. Why has Maharishi given his programme to reconstruct all the buildings of the world such a top priority today in his efforts to create world peace?’ 

Maharishi: ‘The layout of a house, in which people live, and the layout of the office buildings or factory buildings, in which they work, has a great influence. The layout of the building has a great influence on the success or failure of their effort in that building. It is horrible to see.

‘Our expert in this Sthapatya Veda, Dr Eike Hartmann, has laid this out in a chart that he has developed. If the entrance of the house is in the south, those who are living in it will be meeting with horrible situations in the house. All the sicknesses and fighting among the members who are living there are a kind of a hell. Again more or less the same things will be experienced, if the entrance of the house is on the west.
 
‘Those who are living in the house should see how much their house is in the southern direction, or how much their entrance to the house is in the western direction. Then they will find so many fights going on. They will never know that it is caused by the layout of the house. It is the direction in which they enter into the house—the entrance of the house—that has an influence of either harmony, happiness, and cordiality among those who are living in the house or terrible feelings among them. 

‘Now, Dr Hagelin, let the world press record whether in their own countries the parliament buildings are facing east or they are facing west. If they are facing west, the parliament will always be fighting together, with great reasons on both sides, but fighting will continue. If the parliament house entrance is facing south, the government will never be successful at anything. There will be troubles everywhere. They should see where the military chief is living and with what entrance, where the president is living, where the prime minister is living, where the employees of the government and the ministers are living. Ask the government people to find out the unseen cause, which I am saying is just the unseen cause of difficulties, controversies, problems, and unrest in the governmental activity—no matter the government.
 
‘I am giving the world press an example of the Indian government. The parliaments of the Indian government and all the offices of the government are all topsy-turvy. They are not built according to the ancient Vedic system of construction. They are all topsy-turvy. I have been telling the government for the last twenty, thirty years, “You are fighting all together, but the basic cause is that you are discussing the problems of the nation in a wrongly laid out building.” Great, wise people are quarreling like dogs in the parliament. Why? Not because they are dogs and not because they are unmindful of the requirement of the nation, but because they are mesmerized by the wrongly laid out buildings.  

‘This I know from my own Indian government. Everywhere, I invite the press to see where the president of the country is living and where the parliament is living. It is not a matter of who has made it. I am just indicating to find out the cause that they have not yet looked into. If they have not looked into it, then they should tell their governments, “You should think that your capital has been bombed today, and that you have to rebuild it.” ’ . . .

‘If you want to look at this statement scientifically, look to those scientists who will tell you that the brain fires differently when you are facing differently. Dr Hagelin, if you have looked into this, tell the world press what happens when a man is looking to the south. His brain fires differently. When he looks to the east, his brain fires differently. This is an aspect of Natural Law—the Constitution of the Universe. Who adjusts his brain firing? It will fire according to the laws. If you look to the north, you look to the south, you look to this, you look to that, the brain will fire differently. Depending on how the brain fires, the speech will fire, the emotions will fire.
 
‘Let the people of the world come to the rescue, or let the president, one man, look to the houses of the poor. Why are they poor from generation to generation? You will find that the houses of the poor are not properly laid out. Why does a rich man of this generation do business and lose so much? Ask someone on the streets of Paris and London and Rome and particularly New York. You will find streets where people are losing all the time. And you will find that on the streets where the entrance is on the north, and the houses are laid out according to this ancient Vedic system of architecture, they are making lots of money. On the other streets in New York, in Tokyo, in London, in Paris—anywhere—all along the street, you will find out that there will be streets where people will be losing money. You should find out about any government buildings too.
 
‘I am speaking of cosmic law; I am not speaking of one thing or the other. It is a universally applicable study of Natural Law. You decide whether you want to continue to be on a street where you lose all your life or you want to go to some other street and rebuild your building.  

‘My Reconstruction of the World programme is to save the people from the ignorance which allows them to design unfortunate buildings. Builders do not know Natural Law. What they know is very beautiful drawing rooms and very beautiful dining rooms and marble here and marble there, but the layout, they do not know. Not knowing, they build whatever they build, but ignorance of law is no excuse. If the house is badly laid out—whether it is made for a poor man or a president—the effect on the life of those who are living there will be on the basis of how it is laid out.
 
‘Studying this situation and verifying it in many, many ways, I have started this programme with great earnest to reconstruct the world as soon as possible. I thought, “How can it be done soon?” Then the decision was made, “Give it to those who are builders.”  

‘Builders will build for money. Now they will build to create fortune for the people. They will earn the same money as before—they will earn more money—but they will be building fortune-creating homes, fortune-creating offices, fortune-creating factories with a fortune-creating construction.
 
‘As long as quite a majority of the rich or poor—anyone—is living in the world with ignorance about this science of construction, the science of building, the world will never be in peace. When I thought of how I had found a mental approach to world peace and an intellectual approach to world peace in the programmes of Transcendental Meditation and higher states of consciousness, then I was searching for what had been left out which could be added to these programmes. Then it was found that the layout of the house is one thing that is very, very important. A man can do anything, but if he is living in a bad Vastu building, then he is destined to be surrounded by problems, failures, dissatisfaction, and lack of success. As long as some people like this are existing in the world, world peace is always going to be a big question mark.
 
‘This is my satisfaction: I keep on finding what more can be added to my programme of world peace. This came out to be a very, very essential feature—equally important. If you do not handle the body properly, it will be difficult for the programme of Transcendental Meditation to maintain the body so that the body is driven by higher states of consciousness. This is just as necessary. Just as good, nourishing food is necessary, a good, nourishing home is necessary.
 
‘In the same way, a good, nourishing mother is necessary. Now motherhood is a becoming a fashion. Mothers also go to work. What is the slogan? “Equal rights to women.” Put mothers at home. If we let them come home tired, then the children have no relaxed mother at home. Every generation of children will be weaker and the nation weaker.

‘Look to America. The American civilization is an example of this. Every generation of children is weaker and weaker, and cry a lot. But fortunately, I see mothers of America waking up. They have woken up—some of them, even if it is countable, some of them—to the fact that their children are not properly fed. When the mother comes home tired from activity, and the father also comes home tired from activity, then to whom do the children look? Empty sky. Every generation will always be weaker and weaker and weaker.  

‘Our programmes to create Heaven on Earth, to create a fulfilled society, are well thought and well considered. They are proven from the experience of generation after generation. In this age, even though science does not mean anything to many people, we are satisfied to say, “Yes, yes, it is scientifically proven.” But it does not mean anything in the market. Science is a gossip. We take pride that our programmes are very scientific. But who knows science? How many of our listeners have any mind for science or any relationship to science? 

‘The World Reconstruction Programme is as vital for the life on earth as is the organic agriculture movement and all the techniques which make the mind function spontaneously according to Natural Law. They are all necessary.  

‘Whatever the present education is, we are not satisfied with it. The present systems of government are also not acceptable because, basically, they have humanly conceived constitutions. We stand for the Cosmic Constitution, whose authority is unimpeachable, absolute. Those who do not understand it, they do not have to understand it. We are not for them. We are for those who at least understand what we mean—simplicity, simple, simple, simple. 

‘We can only say, “Follow, and you will be better off; don’t follow, then suffer as long as you want to suffer. Some time, you will come back to this path.”  
 
‘World press, listen to our latest programmes for creating world peace on earth, particularly through the World Reconstruction Programme. We are giving great importance to it. We understand it is far beyond the understanding of the majority of the people in the world. But it does not matter. Nobody understood when I started to say, “Transcendental Meditation” [laughter]. It took fifty years, but whatever time it takes, we still rejoice.’

Question: The Source of the Knowledge of Sthapatya Veda

Dr Hagelin: ‘Maharishi, this question concerns the Global Reconstruction web site at www.GlobalReconstruction.org. On the web site is a brochure that presents in some detail the good and bad influences of proper and improper orientation—slope of the land, nearness to water, and so forth—on the occupant of those buildings. How can the knowledge of Vedic Architecture be so specific about the influence that will be produced by the location of the entrance, the slope of the land, and the location of a body of water in relation to a building—such as increased wealth, poor health, sorrow, even poverty? How does Vedic Architecture know this? How did the original Vedic Architects arrive at these conclusions?’ 

Maharishi: ‘This is a very good question. The answer is available in the cognition of the Veda.
 
‘Veda has been cognized by different Rishis. Rishi means the awareness of the seer. The awareness of the seer is able to see the holistic value of a sound and then see what is within the holistic value and then what is within that holistic value. There are eight layers of vision. They are called the eight aspects of Natural Law which are responsible for differentiation in the field of the unified state.

‘You look at the unity and if the mind is very balanced and clear, that unity will be seen as unbounded, infinite. In that unbounded infinity, what will be seen simultaneously is the points of unbounded infinity. Unboundedness, infinity, is made of points, points, points. Within the point and infinity, the first division is made into eight divisions. In infinity and point, there are eight divisions. They are called the eight aspects of one’s own nature—one-eighth of the nature, two-eighths of the nature, three-eighths of the nature, four-eighths of the nature, five-eighths of the nature, etc. In each one-eighth, all the eight are available, one below the other, one below the other, one below the other.
 
‘This is the nature of a complete vision. The Rishi, the first seer of the Veda, saw “A”—“Agnimile Purohitam”. Like that, he saw the words flowing. The words flowing mean “Aaaaah”—the first sound flowing. When he saw the first sound, he saw in it, in the unmanifest state, the second sound, the third sound, the fourth sound. Like that, in sequence, he saw the eighth sound. That was the sound of the point value.
 
‘From infinity to point are eight sequential Kshara. “Kshara” means collapse—the collapse of infinity into its point. It is just the nature of awareness that it is aware of its infinity, it is aware of its point value, and it is aware of eight different values sequentially becoming less and less and less, coming eventually to the point value. This is the vision of Rishi Madhuchhandas. This is how sequentially—we would say sequentially—the awareness opens to the finer and finer values of Natural Law in this eight. Then there are eight within eight, and then sixty-four levels—eight into[times] eight, sixty-four levels. And there is a level of the seer.
 
‘Now how does the seer, who sees, see? There is dynamism in the process of seeing. One is non-dynamic seeing, just witnessing quietly. When the quiet witnessing value is divided into these eight and eight and eight, this is called the seer. Now look to the finer and finer cognition of the whole process. The finer and finer cognition of the whole process reveals to the seer that dynamic process which constructs the process of seeing. The seeing process is different from the seer, even though it’s an aspect of the seer. This is cognition of the Veda.

‘Cognition of the Veda means actually seeing—seeing the slices of the seeing process. The seeing process has been named Devata. That is really the dynamic aspect of the process of seeing. There is one silent aspect of seeing, which is witnessing. The witnessing value belongs to Purusha—in Sanskrit—and the seeing value belongs to Prakriti. Prakriti has two values in it.
 
‘It is very interesting. Let me open the petals of how one—unity—becomes two, and when it becomes two, simultaneously it becomes three. That happens when “A” is being cognized. When “A” is being cognized, then within “A”, “I” is being cognized. When “I” is being cognized, “A” begins to disappear. In the appearing of “I”, “A” disappears.
 
‘There are two forces functioning—two agencies functioning. One is unfolding “I”; one is covering “A”. “A” is being covered; “I” is coming up. That agency which is covering “A” has “U” as its sound. So as “I” is appearing, “A” is disappearing. That force which makes the “A” disappear has its sound in “U”. So “A” is one cognition; within it, “I” and “U” are two more cognitions. So there is “A”, and “I” and “U” are two more cognitions. As “I” and “U” appear, “A” disappears. The collective sound of “I” and “U” is “R”. So the fourth sound comes. In this way, the seer of the Veda saw the unified wholeness of the total value of sound, which is the total value of speech, dividing itself into different sounds: “I”, “U”, “R”, “E”, “Ai”, “O”, “Au”, “Am”, “Aha”. This is the alphabet of the Vedic language, and when the alphabet is finished, then the consonants begin, like that, like that.
 
‘It is a very sequential cognition of the sound, which is the sound of unity and the sound of diversity that is at one time, in the beginning, hidden within the sound of unity. When one focuses on that, then those which were hidden from view come to view. They come to view. They open to one’s awareness. This is how the knowledge of unity contains within its own nature all the different levels of knowledge of diversity. The total result is that unity contains within itself all the levels of diversity. The whole unfoldment of the Vedic text is from “A”.
 
‘How is this total field of the Veda related to the body? Beautifully! They have measured that when “A” is pronounced, its seat is in the throat—“A” is in the throat. “I” is in the upper part of the mouth. So the throat is there, the upper part of the mouth is there, lips are there, the teeth are involved, and the tongue is involved. These different physiological structures are involved in producing different syllables of the Vedic Literature. That is why we say it is not a humanly conceived language. The Vedic language is natural, because what human being makes a tongue? What human being makes a throat? It is all made by Nature.
 
‘How it is made and all that is told by a section of Vedic knowledge, Jyotish. It calculates at what time a person was born, what was his Nashua—different symbols of counting's are there. They calculate what is predominant in his throat, in his tongue, in his lips, in his palate, in his heart, in his here, here, here. All his brain functioning and everything is mapped out by all the number systems. That is one way of this. The other way is from the language point of view. Language has its own sequence; the number system has its own sequence. Both have their origin in the physiology of the human body.
 
‘This has been the research of Maharaja Nader Raam. When I found that he had found this, he was weighed in gold, because he actualized the reality of the Vedic divisions of knowledge—of Yoga, Vedanta, Karma Mimamsa, and Sankhya. All these are different aspects of the physiology of language and all these different systems of counting numbers—mathematics. Mathematics does not have meaning except number, number, number. These systems of language have their sequential flow, which is countable. That means it is exposed to the counting system—both ways.  

‘It is a very, very superhumanly investigatable feature of knowledge. This is why we have Transcendental Meditation; the awareness has to be transcendental. There, in that transcendental, self-referral field of consciousness, all these values—infinity and point—are expressed completely independently in the Vedic number system and Vedic system of language. This is the language which is said to be Nitya and Apaurusheya, and that means eternal and uncreated. That is why it has absolute authenticity.
 
‘This is our pride in the world. What we are saying has absolute authenticity, and that means it is true for all times and for everyone and in every place. What we are saying is authentic at all times, in every place, for everyone. That is why we say we have a supreme, completely impartial, parental role in the world, and we are proud of it. We are proud of our parental role in a very natural way. Very naturally, we have a parental role, because it is authentic. What we are saying, what we are doing, and what we are producing has an absolute measure. We have an absolute balance—completely in the open—a balance. You can measure it for yourself, if you know how to measure it; otherwise, at least you can take advantage of it. 

‘It is very beautiful. It is such a joy to express this through answers. It is such a joy to open these petals of knowledge. It is very beautiful. The world press conferences are very successful because they are capable of bringing out all these most hidden aspects of Natural Law. Then with that, the unfoldment of human potential comes out—unfoldment of human potential. With this, we can verify that we are really, really right for everyone. That enhances our joy all the time. It is such a beautiful thing.’

Question: The Unique Approach of Maharishi’s Vedic Health Care

Dr Hagelin: ‘Thank you very much, Maharishi, for that extremely beautiful exposition on Total Knowledge and the cognition of Rishi Madhuchhandas, who saw the totality of knowledge and the totality of Veda in the first word of the Veda. Total Knowledge is the blueprint for the total development of the human brain through the applied technologies of consciousness of Maharishi’s Vedic Science.
 
‘There is a beautiful question, Maharishi, on Maharishi’s Vedic approach to health. A recent article in Forbes magazine reported that the biggest threat to the pharmaceutical industry is the growing trend towards healthy living and prevention in the United States—the rejection of modern medicine by a growing number of people, and the increasing reliance on exercise, good diet, meditation, and natural medicines to prevent disease. I have two questions: How does the Vedic approach of prevention of disease differ from other programmes of prevention? And does Vedic Medicine also provide modalities to treat and cure existing diseases, as well as to prevent them in the first place?’ 

Maharishi: ‘Yes. “Vedic” means pertaining to knowledge. Disease is due to the lack of knowledge that one has done something which is punishable. A man is punished through these sicknesses and all that. A “Vedic approach” means pertaining to knowledge; a knowledge approach means that, in the first place, he will not make a mistake. But if he has done some mistake in the past, then it is through knowledge that it can be best remedied. If the disease is due to lack of knowledge—doing something wrong against Natural Law, which means due to lack of knowledge—then supplying knowledge will naturally cure it. It will prevent it; it will cure it.
 
‘That is why Vedic knowledge is a health service. Our scientists are busy setting up a beautiful curriculum for the Vedic Universities, where prevention and cure will be given on the basis of total knowledge of Natural Law—total knowledge of the Veda. It is called Ayurveda. Total knowledge of the Veda is Ayurveda. Without Ayurveda, the Ayu will not be reverberating in the field of knowledge. “Ayu” means this life span. When life is not reverberating in the field of knowledge, then it is reverberating in the field of ignorance. Ignorance must cause imbalances and disorders and pain and all that is unwanted.
 
‘The Vedic approach is going to be prevention oriented in the first place. If by some cosmic accident one falls into disorder, it will cure it. If I say it just now, it may be premature, but I have to say it maybe in a few months, so I could say it even now: there will be a particular Vedic name that will do a miracle for cure—Vedic whisper. Within a few weeks, we will announce these things to the general public. We will open medical colleges to create thousands and tens of thousands of doctors of this Vedic whisper, where the influence of medicine will move with the particular sound of the Veda.
 
‘ “Vedic Sound Therapy”, you can call it, if you want to call it therapy; but whatever you call it, the influence will be through the showers of knowledge, through the sounds of knowledge. The sounds of knowledge means Vedic sounds. The whole physiology is divided into all the physical values of water and fire and all those elements. This is so complete. We are even going to give the knowledge of the physiology to any students that study. In the ten, twenty years of their study time, they will know all about health. Not only the doctors will know, but everyone would know all about health. It is going to be a Vedic age.
 
‘Raja Wynne, the mayor of Vedic City in Vedic America, has made maps for Vedic America. He wants to make America a Vedic America—an America full of knowledge. He showed me the map he prepared. It is so heartening to see that the mayor of the city, full of his parental role for his people of the city, is now expanding his parental role to so many cities. He is going to create a Vedic America.

‘During the past weeks, he has inspired other countries and leaders of our Movement to make this country Vedic, that country Vedic. “Vedic” means knowledge—full of knowledge, full of knowledge, full of knowledge—as the reality is. Life is full of knowledge of Natural Law. Whether one knows it or not, that is the reality. So the word “Vedic” is the reality. It was forgotten, so a bad time came for the world. Now, a good time is here. Open the door—“open sesame”. It is beautiful now.’