15 December 2004 Press Conference Highlights

Opening Remarks

Maharishi: ‘Jai Guru Dev. Glory is to knowledge—pure, Total Knowledge—pure knowledge. Any mistake, any suffering, any problem belongs to lack of knowledge.

‘We have been taught through the Vedic Tradition of Masters that Total Knowledge is the nature of everyone’s Atma—everyone’s self-referral consciousness. And we have been teaching the experience of Transcendental Consciousness which is the home of all knowledge. The awareness of Transcendental Consciousness is the awareness of Total Knowledge in our single thought. So, Vedic Education is to have access to the reservoir of all aspects of knowledge—reservoir, the eternal source of all dynamism. That is in the nature of the Transcendental Consciousness of everyone.

‘I was hearing a great expression of Dr Hagelin. In such simple words, the greatest scientist of the world has laid open to everyone that something has been lacking in administration, something has been lacking in governments. That is why in every nation, neither the people are satisfied nor the rulers are satisfied.

‘But now, Dr Hagelin, the torch of the light of Total Knowledge brings home to everyone—everyone singly within himself—the Unified Field, the field of all possibilities, in theory and in its application. That is why science and technology today is competent to develop the total man in all his potential divinity. And therefore, all the mistakes of the past ages—this is the time to correct and create a world of bliss, a world of total Natural Law.

‘Total Natural Law is that thing from the level of the modern physical sciences. Dr Hagelin informs us [there are] billions of suns, galaxies, and the whole ever-expanding universe, and in what a perfect order it is administered. That brilliance: that's why we have been saying throughout the ages—every man has been saying throughout ages—the light of almighty God.

‘The light of almighty God, the knowledge of total Natural Law, is discovered today within everyone. And within everyone, the thing is everyone’s natural existence, natural intelligence, natural heritage. Therefore, this is the time for a very grand rise of humanity, rising to the level of divinity. It is no exaggeration; it’s no exaggeration. It is a simple statement of fact.

‘And therefore, when there was dark in the room, it was no surprise that the room could be fully lighted. If suffering has existed, it existed because of this lack of bringing our conscious attention to that brilliance which is one’s own self-referral consciousness, the Unified Field, the Light of God.

‘Sometimes, when we are subject to worldly emotions, we begin to feel excited, "He is doing wrong, and he is doing wrong." But when we come to our Self, we realize that the children are not properly educated. When you have given a car to your child and you have not trained him as a good driver, you can expect accidents from him. When he has accidents, then you have to amend it. You are responsible, because you have not educated the driver to be a proper driver.

‘If the children are making mistakes, if the children are having accidents, if the children are suffering, it is the parents that have to be more alert to educate the children. That is why, to eliminate all suffering, all problems, all the difficulties of everyone everywhere in the world regardless of anything, we have come out with an educational programme which is so simple.

‘I have been saying repeatedly, and today also I would say, that it is easier—take notice of what comes at this moment—it is easier to train the children in Total Knowledge. It is more difficult to train the children in a part of knowledge. A part of knowledge will never be totally nourishing. The whole of knowledge will never entertain any weakness or problem.

‘The thing is, one sees a gardener: he just takes a bucketful of water and puts it on the root. He waters the root. From the root, he supplies nourishment to all expressions of the tree—leaves, branches, and everything. The root of a tree has to be watered. The tree of life has to be watered from its roots. The root is the Unified Field of total Natural Law, the self-referral consciousness, Transcendental Consciousness.

‘One dives into Transcendental Consciousness: people who start to meditate, practise Transcendental Meditation, take their awareness to that field of the transcendence which is total Natural Law. Immediately the conscious mind becomes relieved of pressures. All the pressures build up in the mind as long as the mind is hovering around the boundaries. But when the boundaries are transcended through the Transcendental Meditation Technique, then the awareness is on that level which is free from boundaries—unbounded.

‘The experience of that cultures the brain. The experience of that—experience of Transcendental Consciousness—experience of that enlivens the total brain. There is nothing else that can enliven the total brain. It is very easy to transcend, and very easy to experience that unbounded, self-referral, Transcendental Consciousness. What does this experience of Transcendental Consciousness do to the physiology? It makes every aspect of the brain physiology function.

‘When the total brain functions, then the intelligence is totally functioning. Total intelligence functioning means it is unbounded, infinite; it is divine intelligence. It is the divinity in man that is functioning. That is why all our forefathers, ancestors, have written, “Man is made in the image of God.”

‘This is the information for every generation of man, “Man is made in the image of God.” Let that God, in whose image the world is made, become lively, become fully awake, fully awake consciousness.

‘It is true that when people do not know it, how they can act on it? So we sympathize with them. We have no right to criticize them; we have no right to be angry with them; we have no right to discard them. No. We have not yet given them the light. If they make mistakes in the darkness, we have not given them the torch of light. So when they tumble down and break their knees and heads on the dark road, we can only sympathize with them.

‘With all sympathy, with all love for life in the world, we are doing everything possible to introduce this field of knowledge, which is total Natural Law, total intelligence, from point to infinity. Veda is just that move of infinity to its point. Veda is defined in terms of the flow of infinity. And where does infinity flow? Infinity flows to its point. It is difficult to grasp infinity, but you can certainly grasp the point of infinity, and the point of infinity is as good as infinity.

‘Our programme is very beautiful. We are very fond of using it for our children. Now we want to establish centres of knowledge, because centres of education are everywhere. But the education is a very limited sort of thing. It is not producing enough knowledge in four, eight, ten, sixteen, twenty years; the children are not able to make use of their full brains. That is the reason their thoughts are not totally effective. They can go so far, and then tumble down, problems come, and suffering comes—all those things.

‘It is very good. Our profession puts us in a position where we have no right to criticize; we have only the right to sympathize—not criticize, only sympathize and produce the effect.

‘We are repeatedly talking all over the world; wherever our voice is heard by the people, they take to it and they begin to enjoy. This is how, in all these fifty years, so much global appreciation has come to this knowledge. We are now out for global expansion of our activity. That is why we are now sponsoring a University of World Peace, which is a Vedic University, where every aspect of knowledge will be given in the context of Total Knowledge. Just like this, we water the root and supply nourishment to all the expressions of the root.

‘Transcendental Consciousness is the unmanifest field. When that opens to our awareness, our awareness becomes lively in all directions. When you drop a stone in water, immediately waves come up in all directions—circles of waves, circles of waves. Like this, self-referral consciousness is wavy in its own nature. And waves are not only restricted in any one direction; they are in circular motion, wave after wave, wave after wave.

‘Great glory to the Transcendental Meditation Technique. And the proof of it is in Yogic Flying, when the body lifts up. We have been teaching the whole thing, and there are thousands of teachers all over. Now we are building Peace Palaces everywhere. It is a very good thing.

‘People have only to listen to a scientist who is the scientist of Total Knowledge. It is a cosmic intelligence, a global intelligence. Dr Hagelin, you should receive the quiet appreciation and glorification of your intelligence and your knowledge. With simplicity you give out the knowledge and keep on doing it.

‘The world is going to be better and better, because what we are speaking is the truth that is all over. The Unified Field is all over. The Self of everyone, the divinity in man, is all over. Therefore, so everyone can participate in it, we are now raising the voice of invincibility to every nation.

‘Can the destructive military forces—ask any military in the world—save the country? They will say, “No.” No country can claim that they can really save the country. The maximum they can do is sacrifice themselves in the name of the country. They can die in the name of the country, but they cannot save the country. Every military, every president, all the people can die in the name of the nation, but they cannot save the nation.

‘All the laws of the country do not train the people to be happy—they leave the people unhappy and unsatisfied. The people make mistakes and are put in jail. This government is a wrong government. It is not a parental role. Put the people in the jail—why? Why be cruel to your own children?

‘For example, when you have not trained your boy to be a good driver, you can expect him to have an accident anytime. Therefore, all these governments are worthy of being sympathized with by us who have the knowledge and can prevent problems. These days, it is very good that the world press can be reached from any one point, and the message can go ahead.

‘Invincibility is a dream word; the same with sovereignty. Sovereignty, no one is sovereign; no government is sovereign. Every government is under the thrills of fear—there is no sense of sovereignty. Sovereignty means invincibility. Who can say any country is invincible? No one can say any country is invincible. There is lack of intelligence. But there are some spots in the world that are powerhouses here, there, and everywhere. So people have a choice to not be in darkness, even in the night. Everywhere could be dark, but one could still be in one’s own home, full of light.

‘It is very good. The chance is there; the opportunity is there. We are there with great love and with great appreciation. We invite the people to take to bliss consciousness. And if they think bliss is not possible, then they should think that in this scientific age, everything is possible. So bliss is also possible; invincibility is also possible; Heaven on Earth is also possible. Let us make it.

‘We are here every week to answer questions. We are not in a position to criticize anyone, because we have not given the knowledge to them, and they have not gotten the knowledge in their traditional universities or whatever. So let’s act from our level of knowledge and give the lighted lamp to everyone, and let no one be continuing in the darkness with leaders like Dr Hagelin existing in the field of science and technology. Now all the religious books are singing the glory of God. They have been singing all along, and they will sing today. They will sing today and continuously, because they are in the direction of all knowledge, all possible action. Everything is a possibility.’

Question: Education for the Fulfilment of Desires

Dr Hagelin: ‘This question is a follow-up of Maharishi’s remark last week about desire: Maharishi has said that the ability to fulfil one’s desires is the key to living an invincible life. Maharishi explained that when a desire is consciously created at the source of thought, the ocean of consciousness, then that desire will be fulfilled because it has the support of all the Laws of Nature. Maharishi, what kind of desire will be created from the source of thought? Will it be an individual’s desire or God’s desire?’ 

Maharishi: ‘Every desire is for fulfilment. The source of desire is the ocean—an ocean rising up in a wave. A wave may be rising but not knowing that the point of rising itself is the source, is the goal of it. When the wave settles down, then it is the ocean. When it rises into something, then it becomes isolated, and comes in space and time. When it sinks, it goes beyond boundaries, beyond space and time, and always because the essential nature of life is unbounded, infinity, all possibilities, the Unified Field. If this silence at the source of thought is open to our awareness, then our awareness is the field of all possibilities.

‘Just this is education. You train the mind to think anything, but consciously at the source of thought. Now, to distinguish it, we should say: the thoughts arise as the winds of the environment. With something happening here, something happening there, one senses, the eyes see this, and speech speaks this, and one touches this, something on the surface. The thoughts float from one area of the surface to the other area of the surface. This is the life of sensory perception. When one transcends, then one gets to the source of all thoughts. The source of all seeing is in that field which is the basis of all, the source of thought, the source of hearing, the source of touch, the source of all the five senses. And that is within everyone.

‘This is education. For whatever we want in the field of vision, one must go to the source of thought from where the vision begins, and then you will be able to see anything within your Self. If you want to speak something, then you go to the transcendental field, your source of thought. Your source of thought will consciously give you a springboard, which will be supported by all the Laws of Nature. This is education. This is Vedic Education, where you can have what you want within your Self. That means you can have everything at the source of everything in your own Transcendental Consciousness, the field of all knowledge, all possibilities, all intelligence, the field of sovereignty, the field of invincibility.

‘That is our achievement in all these thirty, forty, fifty years in the world. We have tried here and there, and now we have come to a level where it is very, very easy and natural and definite that the conscious mind could be thinking consciously at the source of thought, the transcendental field of life.

‘The transcendental field of life is the field of the Veda. What is Veda? Veda in this regard we can define to be the Constitution of the Universe, the Laws of Nature that conduct Nature. “That conduct Nature” means all the galactic universe here, there, everywhere, all these specimens of days and nights, the moving and non-moving, and all that is there in an unmanifest manner.

‘Yoga, Samadhi, and Transcendental Consciousness are all synonymous words; they mean the same thing. In our Vedic Universities—Universities of Peace—that we are floating, the whole thing is in opening the source of thought, Transcendental Consciousness, the field of Atma, the field of the Unified Field, to our single awareness. Open it to awareness, and then we have the master key to all knowledge. We will be able to do anything.

‘The Vedic ordainment for doing is “Yogasthah Kuru Karmani”. That means, established in the state of Unity, established in the Unified Field, you perform action. When you are established in the Unified Field, then your action is the performance of the Unified Field. The performance of the Unified Field is the expression of the whole creation—the infinite number of suns and galaxies, and the huge, enormous, ever-expanding universe. You are there as the initiator, as the silent doer of the whole universal administration. “Silent doer” means you do not do, but what happens is the administration of the universe.

‘This is education. We want everyone in the world, and every nation in the world, to be fortunate to have the custody of the tremendously powerful, invincible field of Total Knowledge, which is silently administering the universe. It is silently administering life everywhere—silently, automatically, simply, naturally achieving all that one could ever want to achieve. This is education. This is Vedic Education.

‘ “Vedic Education” means education of Total Knowledge. It is very good to declare to the world that here is a chance for every nation to rise to invincibility. It is a chance for every nation and every government to be fully fulfilling their parental role for their people. All these prisons and jails, and punishment should not be there. No parents like to punish their children. When they make a mistake, then the parents know, “Oh, the mother has not told him not to put the finger in the fire.” Then the children put the finger in the fire and burn and cry.

‘Very beautiful education. Don’t worry about what we call that education to be. That education has been sung throughout the ages; prayers have been sung throughout the ages; worship has been sung throughout the ages. All kinds of gross and subtle practices—devotional practices, songs, melodies—all these beautiful expressions of man rising to divinity, humanity rising to divinity, have been there all the time. Now it is so simply available. Make hay when the sun shines.

‘Dr Hagelin, put up your speeches and your introductions from any week. Put them up to be heard by everyone day and night in all your channels. Your expressions from any one week are so grand. People have to listen. Then sometime they will feel better.

‘In every religion there are mass prayers, big meetings which meet on Fridays in the mosques, or on Sundays in the churches. Like that we have collective flying. Flying is something which will produce its effects.

‘Collective prayer, collective asking, collective devotional practices, collective things are there. The people and preachers are there. In every religion they teach their people whatever is their understanding about their holy text. People are teaching, everyone is teaching, everyone. We have the same thing, but what is special in our message is the practical experience of that and the transformation of the quality of the atmosphere through these collective meditations.

‘It is very parental for every government to have this Total Knowledge in their schools, colleges, universities, and in their departments of defence, economy, and politics, etc. The main thing is conscious awareness of the totality of the Constitution of the Universe, the totality of Natural Law, which is so simple through this programme of Dr Hagelin’s Peace Government.

‘We have the Peace Government to bring fulfilment to the millions of desires of the people, or billions of desires of the millions of people, through education. Education should primarily be the experience of the Self. Once the experience of the Self is there, the child will succeed in anything he would want to do—whatever—because Natural Law will do all that he can do. Everything will be done by thought.

‘This is the brilliance of Vedic Education: simply spoken, the education of Total Natural Law, the education of how to use silence to command infinite dynamism. This is the technology. The technology of commanding the infinite field of dynamism is from the level of silence. Because silence is transcendental, it is not limited by space and time limitations.

‘Education: how soon we would want our children everywhere in every country to get into this Total Knowledge. Parents will be fortunate to give children Total Knowledge. Do not deprive them of Total Knowledge which is their birthright.’  

Question: The Fountain of Youth

Dr Hagelin: ‘There is an interesting question on the subject of health, Maharishi. Throughout the ages, mankind has sought a fountain of youth—a magical elixir, a rare plant, a potent spring water—that will ward off the ravages of the ageing process and promote immortality. Unfortunately, no such fountain of youth has ever been found. Is the fountain of youth a myth or does one exist? And where can it be found?’

Maharishi: ‘Within. It is found in the Unified Field. The Unified Field is eternal existence—immortal, eternal, totality, infinity, invincibility. All that is there within the Self. One dive into the transcendent, and there is the home of all that one could ever desire; all that one could ever desire, in one dive within oneself. Transcendental Consciousness is the field of the whole Veda.

‘In the Veda, the Constitution of the Universe, are all the Laws of Nature. There are very beautiful expressions about where the Veda is, what the Veda is. The Veda is “Richo Akshare”, in one little collapse of infinity to its own point. “A”, infinity; “Ka”, the point; in between “A” and “Ka” is infinity to its own point. In this relationship of infinity and its own point is the seat of all Natural Law, total Natural Law. This is the Veda, in between “A” and “Ka”.

‘Vedic Education teaches one word, if it has a proper teacher. In one single syllable “A”, the total field of knowledge will be delivered, and the total possibility for fulfilling any desire will be materialized. No one at any time can have a better education than Total Knowledge in one syllable “A”. That is our pride, and it is our pride to give gifts to our children everywhere.’

Question: On Prayer

Dr Hagelin: ‘Maharishi, people pray to God in all languages and for all purposes. Some prayers are answered; others are not. There are two questions. Does God hear all prayers? And why does God answer one particular prayer of a man and not his other prayers?’

Maharishi: ‘Where is God? Omnipresent. What is God? Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. Omnipresence is that level of existence and intelligence which has no boundaries. Depending on how much free from boundaries, one’s prayer is proposed. When one prays to God, from where is the prayer projected, where does the prayer move? If it moves on the omnipresent level—”omnipresent level” means without any boundary—it is transcendental. If the prayer is on the transcendental level, then it is all fulfilled there.

‘The mechanics of it are so precise. It is just the example of watering the root. If the roots are watered, then the nourishment will travel through all the fine fibres of the leaves and branches and flowers and fruits. But it must be nourished at the root.

‘It is a very good picture that comes. “Watering the root” means to water where the totality of the tree in its unmanifest state is eternally existing. The tree—leaves and branches and all that—eternally exists in the unmanifest hollowness of the seed.

‘The scientific word for the seed is “vacuum fluctuations”. It is the vacuum state. It is the state of Samadhi, it is Yoga, but it is vacuum and the vacuum fluctuations. The Veda: all aspects of knowledge function within themselves. All different values of knowledge coming together constitute Total Knowledge. That Total Knowledge is the field of vacuum—the vacuum state, quantum field, quantum vacuum field.

‘Dr Hagelin, speak in your language and explain that area which is free from any inhibitions. Conscious awareness of that area puts the quality of that area in our conscious mind. Then, whatever the conscious mind is conscious about will be that field of all possibilities.

‘Such a beautiful insight into all possibilities, and to have that in one single awareness is education. That is vacuum fluctuations—quantum fluctuations. That means that eternal silence, where there is no activity, is not inertia. Because there is nothing, we hold that there is nothing, nothing concrete, nothing physical, but there is memory of everything. And memory is an abstract kind of thing.

‘That level of the vacuum state is in the memory of everything. It is the ocean of memory, which is nothing as far as these concrete realities are concerned because “concrete” means space and time. “Space and time” mean boundaries, and this is not the transcendental field. The transcendental is the unmanifest, so the unmanifest field is the field of all memory.

‘In every creation, the whole universe is on that level within the vacuum state. The whole creation is within the vacuum state. And when the vacuum state is open to our awareness, then our awareness is a fertile field of everything. You want, and that will be delivered. That is why we want to create as many people in the world as are necessary for the whole mankind to have this influence of the transcendental field of consciousness—the vacuum state. The vacuum state is open to everyone.

‘Everyone naturally goes into deep sleep. The physiology stops functioning because it is tired. It takes rest, and through rest, it revives. But in Unity Consciousness, when one is sleeping, one is awake inside; there is silence but wakefulness, contrasting with the silence in deep sleep. Silence in deep sleep naturally comes when the physiology becomes tired. And when the mind is fully awake, then the physiology, also correspondingly, becomes fully awake. That is why freshness is felt.

‘The whole science and technology of consciousness is the science and technology of pure knowledge, the pure self-referral Unified Field. It is just a matter of knowing it intellectually through all these verifications and then experiencing it. The main object is to experience that.

‘In all the schools and colleges in our Vedic University, there will be a period of meditation and a period of knowledge—supposing forty minutes of knowledge, and twenty minutes of quietly diving within oneself and freshening the whole brain physiology, and again studying the whole thing intellectually, and then coming back to the Unified Field.

‘So theory and practice, theory and practice: that is the field of science and practical science. But science’s “practical”, whatever it is, remains only on the objective level. The basis of all objectivity is the pure subjectivity of the Unified Field.

‘The experience of the Unified Field and understanding about the Unified Field both go on many times a day in the schools and colleges. This will be creating a perfect man, developing a perfect man. A perfect man means that naturally, whatever he thinks, he will achieve; whatever he does, he will achieve. Naturally he will be harmonious within himself, and from such a conscious man, harmony will radiate naturally. When this harmony radiates from the group performance, it is very intense radiation of harmony and invincibility.

‘It is so beautiful. It is very good. In this scientific age, one could talk very clearly on the surface. The students will be brilliant in every field because every field depends on how the mind works, how much intelligence is lively in the mind, and how much creativity is lively in the mind. In Transcendental Consciousness there is the infinite level of creativity. In Unity Consciousness, all possibilities are lively in the mind, and the physiology corresponds to that. It is a very good thing.’