19 January 2005 Press Conference Highlights

Opening Remarks

Maharishi: ‘Jai Guru Dev. We have the knowledge, we have been proclaiming it, and some intelligent people in the world have been following it and enjoying the effect of it. But that is not very effective when we think of the six billion population of the world. Our definite conclusion is that for world peace, access to the invincible power of total Natural Law has to be harnessed by every nation, by every government. Then every government will be invincible, and the assemblage of all governments will be an invincible international family. . . . 

‘We have an invitation for a few responsible people in the world. Whether they belong to some government or they belong to their own dignity, they can all engage a few groups of 8,000 Yogic Flyers, and we will train them. The effect will be harmony in world consciousness and indomitable strength of coherence. Then all these destructive measures will not have to be practised by those who are capable of destroying others. It is only the lack of knowledge of Natural Law.

‘Now, modern physical sciences and the ancient science of consciousness have all proved—there is no doubt about it—that it is possible to harness the potential of cosmic order, or cosmic intelligence, which maintains order in the universe. The universe is a galactic universe, and a galactic universe is always expanding, expanding, expanding.
 
‘We have enormous power of organization already functioning in nature, only it is functioning from everywhere—in every point of creation and in the holistic wholeness of creation. It is very necessary to have a few groups, and these few groups will maintain eternal order—the same order that is maintained in the infinite diversity of the galactic universe.  

‘Our planet, with under 200 countries and with all the differences of culture, has not much diversity. The diversity of the universe is so enormous, and that enormous diversity is beautifully, absolutely peacefully functioning to maintain continuous order in creation. It is just a matter of knowledge about it, and now the knowledge is there. . . .
 
‘We are raising our knowledge, with all its authentic effectiveness, for every nation to come to it. . . . What is the use of a defence army and defence force in a country, when no military power can save the country? All the military power in every country is only at the mercy of the enemy. . . . Let the world press inform their readers that there is no military in the world that can save the nation. Military has only the power to die—maybe die for the nation—but dying for the nation is no security for the nation; it is only a loss to the nation. The whole administration of society and security is a misnomer.
 
‘We are in the scientific age, and the offer of the scientific age is the Unified Field—in every case, the Unified Field. But those old people in every government who are talking of peace, have very nice stories to tell the poor people, and hold them on the basis of these statements. The whole thing is basically fraudulent.  

‘What these people in charge of a country need is new knowledge, whereby government will have the ability to prevent disasters. Government should have the ability to prevent disasters. We are offering this to every government today. 

‘Ask the world press if they have any other solution for a peaceful world, and proclaim our formula to the people. This is a scientific formula. We are not talking gossip and not talking philosophical, well-sounding principles. We are talking of a hard and fast technology of a physical nature in order for every nation to become invincible.
 
‘Here is an invitation—a very straight invitation today. We are repeating this, but we see that our patience is coming to an end. Today, we are appealing to the governments of the country; tomorrow, we will give this knowledge to the opposition in the governments.
 
‘Those who have the knowledge to prevent problems, to prevent fear in the country, to prevent sickness in the country, to prevent ignorance in the country, will be the rulers. . . . Government has a parental role. . . .

‘Invite the governments to be with the time. We want to create global peace, global harmony, and global coherence in the world. . . .
 
‘Lack of knowledge is pervading the field of administration. . . . Give the office to those who have knowledge of unity, and do not waste the time of the people just for the sake of some monetary or economic gain here and there.

‘The Global Country of World Peace offers that knowledge which will inherit the order, the cosmic order, with much greater diversity and with much greater intensity of unity. And that comes from the knowledge of the ultimate reality. We have the knowledge, we have the programme, and we are announcing it. Today we are announcing it; tomorrow will show what steps we will take. But we are inviting the governments of today to rise to knowledge from ignorance and darkness.

‘Otherwise, when those who are in the government for two years or five years are gone, their successors will not be such ignorant people. We may worship the old people who are sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety years old and who have been in world politics, but they have been in world politics run by ignorance. Now world politics will be run by knowledgeable people, regardless of age.’

Question: Actualizing the Constitution of the Universe

Dr Hagelin: ‘There are questions that have come in on some of the very powerful and beautiful points you made last year about leadership and on the principle of actualizing the Constitution of the Universe. Maharishi said last week that his new Vedic Universities will provide “the knowledge and practical programmes to actualize the Constitution of the Universe in the daily life of the people.” Would Maharishi please elaborate? Exactly what does it mean for the Constitution of the Universe to be actualized in the life of a person? What will it mean for his inner spiritual life, and what will it mean for his outer material life?’ 

Maharishi: ‘Everyone already knows that the present constitution of a nation, which governs the administration of the nation, is a man-made constitution. Whether fifty years ago or two hundred years ago or ten years ago, it is human beings, it is men, who sat together and decided, “It should be this way, this way, this way.” All this we put in a basket of humanly conceived ideas—man-made constitutions. Everyone knows that a man’s ideas depend upon how alert he is, or how drowsy he is, how much he is sleepy, how much he is tired, or how much he is awake. Only how much he is awake, on that basis depends his intelligence.

‘So man-made constitutions are not really an authority. Authority means at every level it will hold good. But a drowsy man’s opinion, in his own intellect, will not hold good when he is more awake. This is just to explain the difference between man-made constitutions and non man-made constitutions. The Constitution of the Universe is not a man-made constitution. The universe is run with infinite diversity in a very coherent and orderly manner. This is not a man-made constitution; it is, we say, a cosmic constitution. Then we enjoy saying, “the will of God.”  

‘It is the will of God that has no weakness in it. The will of man has all kinds of weaknesses, depending upon how drowsy or how awake he is. The present constitutions of every country are very well-meaning compositions, but these well-meaning compositions do not compare with that authority which is the authority of total Natural Law—the non-made Constitution of the Universe.
 
‘We are in possession of that knowledge which we call the Constitution of the Universe. That Constitution of the Universe is always functioning in the same way. There is no if and but; there is no alternation here and there. It is always evolutionary to everyone. This is the difference between the cosmic constitution, which maintains enormous order in the universe in enormous diversity, and man-made constitutions.
 
‘What are man-made constitutions? Everywhere, the whole thing is a big bundle of confusion. For example, in justice everywhere in a man-made constitution: one level of justice has a kind of judgment; the other level has a different judgment; the third level has a different judgment; the fourth level has a different judgment. So the justice is absurd. Justice is given from the same government, but different kinds of justice are available from different courts. This is one example of the big uselessness of the human constitutions. It is like that in every field. . . . This is only due to the lack of proper knowledge, lack of Unified Field.  

‘The lack of the Unified Field has motivated the administration to be around pence and shillings, and pounds and dollars—around money. Life is more important than money. . . .

‘Now we come with the knowledge—complete knowledge. And we come with the authenticity of that knowledge from all times. The authenticity of the Vedic wisdom as the Constitution of the Universe is an all-time reality. It does not depend on so many people saying “yes", or so many people saying “no". It does not depend on votes. It has its own strength. It has its own laws—undisturbable laws. The sun rises, moon rises, stars are there, rivers are there, mountains are there, planets moving around are there; everything is non-humanly conceived laws. This is difference between the humanly conceived laws running society and cosmic laws running the infinite diversity of the universe. 

‘Now we have the technology to connect the two. Humanly conceived laws run through the mind, through intellect, through behaviour, through environmental influence. It is very important to know that the field of knowledge is available in its completeness today from the field of modern physical sciences, from the field of the science of consciousness, and from the field of faith, the platform of religions. They are all completely in tune with all possibilities, all good to everyone, and all good from everyone to every other one.
 
‘This is the knowledge that we are promoting. Take it or leave it—it depends upon your decision. You can take it and enjoy invincibility.’  

Question: Knowledge Needed to Make Religion Complete

Dr Hagelin: ‘May I raise a question about the curriculum of Maharishi Vedic University, based on a comment from last week? Maharishi said that the study of health at his Vedic Universities will make the knowledge of health complete, and the study of economics will make economics complete, and so forth. So how will the study of religion at Maharishi Vedic University make religion complete? I ask because last week Maharishi described religion as a royal road to perfection. If religion is already a royal road, what does it need to make it more complete?’

Maharishi: ‘The preachers of religion have to practise their religion. Their religious books contain the value of the transcendental reality, the unmanifest reality, which is the source, course, and goal of all that the world is. Religion is a very direct way for raising life to perfection. Science is also a proven way to enter into that region where unity prevails. The science of consciousness, Vedic wisdom, is also a way of unfolding the knowledge of that reality which is transcendental, which is the light of God, which is at the basis of all creation, which is the Creator himself.

‘All this knowledge will be given, or has been designed, as the curriculum of the coming Vedic University. The Vedic University curriculum will make a man competent to be a perfect human being who can entertain, in a very natural way, the cosmic intelligence of Natural Law, the will of God, the Unified Field, the Atma—self-referral consciousness—in the field of thought, speech, behaviour, action, everywhere.
 
‘This will complete the purpose of knowledge, and it will be much easier. Total Knowledge—listen to this—Total Knowledge is much easier to gain than fragmented knowledge.  

‘I will give you an example. The gardener knows that it is much easier to water all the thousands of leaves and thousands of branches and flowers in one operation at the base—from the root. To maintain the health of the tree is very easy from its base. To maintain the health of the leaves, branches, and flowers separately, and this separately, that separately—thousands of things separately—is very difficult.
 
‘Today’s education is so fragmented. It does not satisfy either the teacher or the student. It is a strain to the teacher; it is a strain to the students. They never become capable of handling all aspects of life in their daily activities. . . .
 
‘The children could have the effectiveness of total Natural Law in their mind, intellect, and behaviour very naturally, and handle anything that comes in life most successfully, most easily, without strain. This should be education, and this is the education we are forwarding through Vedic Education. Total Knowledge is one word which describes the blessings of the Vedic University curriculum.’

Question: Value of the Details of Knowledge

Dr Hagelin: ‘Next is a follow-up question on Maharishi’s Vedic University curriculum, based on what Maharishi has just said. Maharishi has said that Total Knowledge of the universe is available in the nothingness of the Unified Field, which is the Constitution of the Universe, in the same way as Total Knowledge of a tree is available in the hollowness of the seed. Yet, last week, Maharishi said his Vedic Universities will provide detailed knowledge of health, education, management, engineering, etc., all in the light of total Natural Law. What is the value of learning the details of knowledge over time when you can know the whole in one moment?’

Maharishi: ‘The proof of knowing everything in the hollowness of the seed is that when you operate on that level of the seed, on that nothingness, then you see freshening of the leaves, the strengthening of the twigs, of the branches, and all that. You see the effect on the surface and that proves that you are handling things rightly.
 
‘These surface expressions are a proof of our watering the roots, or attending to the basic value of the unmanifest. The experience of our whole university education is experience in the transcendental field, and then understanding of the transcendental field on the basis of experience. Otherwise, understanding alone will not be satisfying. All the great talks about water and all the glory of water will not satisfy thirst. Only by drinking the water, and then, with that experience, you can describe the water in so many different ways.
 
‘The ultimate reality of consciousness, Being, God Almighty, is present in every grain of creation—omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent—on the level of the unmanifest. That alone is the operational value. The rest is the effect of it. Both are necessary, but the effect does not have to be studied so much that there is not much time for a global study.
 
‘The present system of education is a waste; we just call it a waste in comparison to what is possible. Otherwise, there is something, a few pennies, you can count and say, “I have one thousand pennies or ten thousand pennies", but compared to a heap of billions, trillions of dollars, this is just nothing. When we compare modern education to that, we feel it is a waste of human power, a waste of human ability. Now is the time to launch upon the wholeness of education. The wholeness is so natural, so beautiful, so rewarding, so relaxing. It is bliss.’

Question: Prevention of Natural Disasters

Dr Hagelin: ‘Thank you very much, Maharishi. This question is on the minds of many reporters throughout the world: For the past four weeks or so, there have been a large number of natural disasters striking the world, including a major tsunami in Southeast Asia, and on a much smaller scale, storms and floods in Southern California and so forth. Maharishi has said that the positive power of Natural Law can be used to overcome the destructive powers of mankind that produce violence and war. But can the positive power of Natural Law also be used to overcome the destructive powers of Natural Law that produce natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis? And if so, is it possible to understand how?’

Maharishi: ‘To understand how is very easy. There is no darkness near the lighted lamp. We have heard so many, many instances where the tornados are coming, and they come to a village where many people are meditating, but they do not hit the meditators’ homes; they just get diverted from there. The tornados find their way out of the direction of the meditating homes.
 
‘This is evidence of what we have been shouting aloud for fifty years. Those who have taken our advice are better off. It is on that basis of the effect that we have gained confidence. Now we have the courage to say, “Global coherence—global, indomitable invincibility.”  

‘These words come from the experience of the fifty years. They do not come from the imaginary gossips of a philosophical nature. They come from the practical experience of what group meditations produce in their environment. It is just like the lighted candle—good enough to keep the darkness away. . . .
 
‘If Americans want to save their children, this is the way: 8,000 flyers, whether they are students or they are engaged by rich people, whatever—8,000 flyers, here, there—two, three groups of 8,000. . . .

‘The government should be able to prevent disasters. If disasters take place, the government is no good. It is a very simple thing.’

Question: The Power of Collective Consciousness

Dr Hagelin: ‘Thank you, Maharishi. My questions are: What exactly is collective consciousness, and what makes it so powerful? Can coherent consciousness break the grip that bad leaders have over good people?’

Maharishi: ‘People have experienced that when they go to a house, they feel so good. What is the reason for it is all the people are good people: they speak truth, they love each other, and they have no friction among them. And they go to another house, and they don’t want to stay there more than two, three minutes; they want to run out of the house because the people who live in the house are quarreling all the time with them, and they are sick of each other, and they are envious of each other, and they are anti each other. So depending upon what kind of behaviour is in that atmosphere, that is the quality that develops in that atmosphere. . . .
 
‘Depending on the atmosphere of the people, the atmosphere either invites the people if it is good, or it repels the people if it is negative and bad—one feels bad about it. It is a choice between nectar and poison, and the degree of poison.’

Question: Coherence and Invincibility

Dr Hagelin: ‘A question has come in on the subject of defence that says: How will knowledge of the Constitution of the Universe in the life of the people make the knowledge of defence complete and make the nation invincible?’

Maharishi: ‘You have that example of the Meissner Effect: if the coherence is strong inside, then negative things do not enter into it. It is a proven reality. If the light is there, darkness has no way to enter the area. If the coherence is there, if the positivity is there, then negativity cannot enter it. It is the Meissner Effect.

‘That is why we want to have a very strong, coherent invincibility feature in our international world. Then negative things will not germinate from within the world and will not come from outside the world. Otherwise, inner poison sprouts and from outside all kinds of poison come in. The whole thing is very obvious.’

Question: Enlivenment of the Transcendent

Dr Hagelin: ‘This next question is on the power of human awareness. Maharishi has said that when the nothingness of the Unified Field, or vacuum state, is exposed to human awareness, then the nothingness becomes dynamic potential. What is so distinctive about human awareness that it can enliven the infinite, eternal, unmoving, unbounded field of nothingness?’

Maharishi: ‘You have the Measurement Theory: wherever the attention goes, it does something to that area. This is just the Measurement Theory. If the attention does not go, then it does not do anything. In ordinary words, it is the knowledge. If you have the knowledge of your treasury in your house, then you can use it. If you do not have the knowledge, then it may remain there as the treasury, but it is no use to you.
 
‘The unmanifest value is the basis of all manifestations. So in order to have the grip of all the creativity of the universe, you have to open your awareness to the unmanifest field which is the basic value of the whole diverse universe. Attending to the base means attending to the root of the universe—bringing the creativity of the universe to your awareness. That means having in your awareness the lively, infinite creative potential—infinite evolutionary power. If you do not have your attention there, you remain without it, that is all. It is a simple matter of attention.
 
‘A matter of attention, in this case, is by the mind fathoming that area, getting to the transcendent. It is not only on the level of intellectual understanding, but on the level of Being. Being is the word which makes it dawn in its reality to the field of the intellect, from there to the mind, from there to the senses, from there to behaviour, and from there to the environment. It is a very sequentially ordered situation.
 
‘We go to water the root to enjoy the fruit. If you want everything good in life, go to the basis of life—the transcendent. The Vedic University is going to give the experience of this value, which is the value of the Constitution of the Universe—the experience of it, experience. Know it by experience, and then understand the experience from the Vedic texts or from the formulas of the sciences—physical sciences, chemical sciences, all those sciences.
 
‘The whole knowledge is there. It is for the fortunate education leaders of the world to quickly do it. And do not resist it. Do not resist it, because you are resisting your own future, your own achievement, your own success. You can resist it, but you are going to be out in ten years, twenty years, a hundred years, and then the knowledge will prevail for the next generation. So why not use it now?’