22 February 2006 Press Conference Highlights

Maharishi: ‘Jai Guru Dev. Before we invite the questions, I have one answer to the press: I would advise the press not to waste their time on the person, but value the eternal truth that he represents. In reality, it's not the person but the principle that works.

‘About the principle: “For men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.” Maharishi has been this Maharishi, this generation. Every generation has been blessed with good people. But what they have been saying was of value. The body is here—one body is here: another, tomorrow; third, next day; fourth, next day; fifth, next day. So, these fleeting waves are not so important. It is the base of all the waves, the ocean—the silent, unfathomable reality—that is the source of all this.

‘In Vedic Civilization, always and always, it's not the individual but the cosmic, self-referral, invincible reality of the Constitution of the Universe that is important. When we give importance to any individual here, there—now he is sleeping, now he is drowsy, now he is this, now he is that—he is a football of situations and circumstances as an individual. The waves depend upon the winds. A wind from the north, and there in the north goes the wave; a wind from the south, and the wave goes to the south. So, the dependence on situations and circumstances is a trifling thing.

‘Permanent is all moves—eternal. And in the Vedic expressions, these two words are very important, and the words are “Nitya” and “Apaurusheya”. “Nitya” means eternal, non-changing reality of all times. And “Apaurusheya” means uncreated. Total Natural Law is not created by anyone. It is self-sustained, self-generated, self-created.

‘The example is: what is there inside the banyan seed. It's hollowness. And who creates the concrete, big, huge banyan tree? Hollowness, nothingness, emptiness, unmanifest. So, this unmanifest hollowness, nothingness—a big zero—is not created by anyone. And this is the source of all the expressions of the huge banyan tree.

‘Like that, the source of all multiple creation is the unmanifest, Apaurusheya, not created by anyone, the completely self-referral state of eternal Being. Eternal Being—that has come up on its own script. That is the script called Veda. The definition of Veda, the Constitution of the Universe, eternal and uncreated—the definition of that is “Mantra-Brahmanayor Veda-Namadheyam”. Mantra and Brahmana—the two compose Veda.

‘Mantra is a word, a sound, Shruti, which is heard. But where is it heard? It is heard where the means of hearing—the ears, the sense of hearing—is no more lively. The sense of hearing requires the physical instrument of the ears. Beyond that, transcending that, is the sound of the Veda, that sound which is not created by anyone. It is created by its own nature.

‘Veda is Nitya and Apaurusheya; it is eternal and uncreated, eternal and uncreated, eternal and uncreated. That is why Vedic authenticity is the ultimate authenticity. The Vedic Tradition is: always, Veda is quoted, Veda is quoted, Veda is quoted. Sometimes it may appear that this person is speaking. But it's not the person [that] is speaking. The speaker of the Veda is Veda itself. The reality of Veda is Veda itself, not someone who says, “That is the Veda”—no, no, no.

‘That is why, in the Vedic Tradition, the importance is not given to one person. One person, in his drowsiness, may say something, may see something else. In the drowsy state, one may see a tree to be an elephant or a tiger and run away from there. All this is a state of dream. So, it's not the individual who is important—absolutely not the individual who is important. It is the principle, it's not the person—it is the principle that is important.

‘When they give [importance] to the individual, "Today he is this, tomorrow he is this. Today he is a minister, he rules. And tomorrow, he is tried and put to jail." What is this? So, never [give] the importance to the person; give importance to the principle.

‘So, it is not the Maharishi who is doing it. It is the Maha; it is the Great. And “Great” means eternal, uncreated, self-referral. “Divine” is the word [for] who does it. “Divinity” is the word [for] who does it. Humanity is tossed about by change. So, it is not the change.

‘Always, when accomplished speakers speak, always they say, “My Guru Dev did it; My Guru Dev did it; My Guru Dev did it.” There is a tradition—an eternal tradition of the Vedic Masters. All is attributed to them. And therefore, it's not Maharishi. It is the eternal authenticity of the transcendental field, which is the main source of life, which is the main guiding principle of life.

‘In Vedic terminology, action is attributed to bring four results: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. Every action produces four results at every moment of action. Action is adorned by four results of it. One is the Dharma. “Dharma” is allotted duty. And from where one knows duty? One knows one’s duty from the time of birth on the basis of Jyotish Vidya.

‘ "Jyotish Vidya" is all-knowing knowledge. This is an aspect of the Veda. Jyotish is one of the six parts of the Veda—one of the six parts of the Veda that determines for what this individual is born, with what, generally we say, with what heritage he comes. He comes with this heritage or that heritage. All that is inscribed, in that language of the transcendent where it does not change.

‘The value of mathematics is that it can be verified to be correct: this is this, and this subtract this, and this divide this, and this multiply this and this. These calculations of mathematics—these calculations of Vedic Mathematics—come out with those calculations which are transcendental, because Vedic Mathematics is the mathematics of the transcendental.

‘I want to use a word for everyone to see how amusing this whole field of knowledge is. All mathematics is the mathematics of zero. Zero is the reality. The hollowness of the banyan seed, the emptiness of the banyan seed, the nothingness of the banyan seed, the zero point of the banyan seed, is what creates a banyan tree. This is Vedic Mathematics.

‘Vedic Mathematics is the mathematics of the Veda—the mathematics of Total Knowledge. The mathematics of Total Knowledge, only, is capable of calculating the unfathomable effect of any action. The Vedic term is “Gahana Karmano Gatih”—“Deep is the passage of action.” Deep is the passage of action because Vedic action is only in nothingness. So, there is no basis of nothingness. Nothingness is its own basis. This nothingness works out the unfathomable field of action. So this whole thing is unfathomable—unfathomable action, this action, this action, this action, this action.

‘Only the field of Jyotish, which is the sixth Anga, the sixth part of the body of the Veda, laid open the steps of calculation. What are the steps of calculation? Zero within zero, zero within zero, zero within zero, zero within zero. The whole thing is beyond anything and anyone.

‘That which is beyond anything and anyone is present everywhere. It's present everywhere—present everywhere silently, and present everywhere in its dynamic character. This is life. Life is changing and non-changing—changing, non-changing.

‘An iota of this knowledge is the unbounded wholeness of this knowledge. A point of this knowledge is infinity of this knowledge. That is why, while praising the Grace of the Master, one says, “Tat Padam Darshitam Yena, Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah”—“By whose grace I get a glimpse of the feet.” An iota of it and then, an iota of it is the infinity of it.

‘It is a marvelous field, and this is the playfield of the wise. This is the playfield of the wise. Throughout the ages, it's the joy of the wise to say something that cannot be completely said at any time by anyone.

‘Regarding adopting the countries, the logic is very simple. The logic is that any man can only do what he is doing. A man can only do what he is doing, because he may be at any stage of sleep state of consciousness, dreaming consciousness, waking consciousness. A man of one consciousness can only hear his value. He cannot hear any other value. Just like a man with some glasses—maybe green glasses—he can only see green. Other one with red glasses—he can only see red. If you tell a man, who has red glasses, all the glory of the white, he says, “Yes, yes, I see what you mean.” But he is seeing red, and he is hearing the glory of the white and seeing red. He is nodding his head.

‘That is why there is nothing in the relative that can stand as a guide or as an example—nothing like that. What is exemplary is what is independent, what is invincible, infinite, eternal freedom, fullness—there is no lack of anything—transcendental, self-referral Being. And the language of that: Veda, the word and the gap. The gap is the unmanifest, the value of the zero, gap.

‘All our Vedic Education that is being established here and there—this is to really give to the calculating world, which is aspiring for something reliable, the base of it in the zero-point motion, zero, the value of zero. Absolute zero is all that matters. The unmanifest hollowness of the seed is all that matters for the well-being of the innumerable leaves, innumerable flowers, innumerable fruits. Different values of the structure of a tree have their source in the big zero. You water the root; you water the seed; you water down there, and then you supply nourishment to all aspects of the tree. This is wisdom.

‘When the tree's branches are becoming weak, and leaves are withering away, and flowers and everything in the tree is sick, the wisdom is: water the root, water the root, water the root. This practice of Samadhi in the field of Yoga, the practice of Samadhi, the practice of the settled state of the intellect is Samadhi. “Dhi” means the intellect. Settled-down intellect, the zero awareness, is the awareness of the Self. There is the Totality lively in our attention. This is fully awake consciousness, fully awake intelligence. This is the basis of all knowledge. This is the field of all knowledge. That is why for every child: this Samadhi, this Yoga, this extreme value of devotion, where the devotee is lost in the awareness of his devotion.

‘Therefore, my advice to the press: don't worry about Maharishi, but take what he has been saying fifty years—Transcendental Meditation, advanced techniques of Transcendental Meditation. Yogic Flying is the proof that one is able to function from that zero, from that nothingness, from that awareness where wholeness is fully awake—Total Knowledge, total organizing power, transcendental field of consciousness.

‘Individuals everywhere, governments everywhere, and everything everywhere is influencing everything. Everything is influencing everything. That is why, remaining within the field of relative existence, no one can be ideal. Who will be ideal? Transcendental, self-referral consciousness alone can be the authority, can be the ideal, can be something that should be followed.

‘Give importance to the message, as long as the messenger is in tune with the infinity, eternity, wholeness.

‘Dr Hagelin, tell the world press that life is the same old life which was innumerable years ago—ten thousand, twenty thousand, this thousand, this thousand. Life is the same. The banana tree is the same banana tree which was there, we do not know since when. Mango was the same mango tree, same mango tree, absolutely the same mango tree. All the time it was the same mango tree, the same mango tree, even today, the same mango tree.

‘So, the world is going on—the patterns which have been carrying the world. Individuals come and go and come and go. How many? Ten years, twenty years, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, one could come and go, and come and go, and come and go. But it doesn't matter, come and go and come and go. Doesn't matter, the waves—southern wave or northern wave and western wave—all are dependent on the winds. Whatever wind comes, the waves come and go. Important is that which never comes and goes—the ocean. The silent ocean is Being, self-referral, eternal. That is of value. The unmanifest value of the seed—hollowness, emptiness, zero—is all that is important.

‘Education has to give importance to something permanent—permanent—something permanent, on the basis of which everything is like a wave, everything on the basis of theJiva What happens generally is that the individual thinks, “Oh, what [is] this whole world? What can I do as an individual?” For them, I have an example. In the rainy season, what comes? Drop by drop. Rain comes in drops—one drop, one drop, one drop. Now this drop, this one drop says, “Oh, what can I do? I am a single drop. What can I do?” But that single drop makes the rivers flood, makes the ground completely full of water. It is drop by drop, drop by drop. So, it is the individual by individual; it's the individual by individual.

‘The value of the individual is like a drop. But it is the drop by drop that floods the ocean, that floods the rivers. It is the individual and always the individual who has his value based on where he stands in his personality. His personality is basically completely personal.

‘I was very proud of Raja Raam-ji when he told me that, “It seems this physiology has its basis in consciousness.” I said, “Yes, this is it.” The physiology has its basis in consciousness. Therefore, education should be Consciousness-Based Education—period.

‘In the present, there is no entry into the field of consciousness. Too superficial [are] books: somebody wrote this, somebody wrote this, somebody wrote this. They are human expressions. What is necessary is the permanent, eternal, unbounded infinity expressed in sound, in language, in waves—Veda.

‘Veda, the field of Total Knowledge, should be delivered to the boy in the first word, “A”; in the second word, “I” ; in the third word, “U’’. “A”, “I”, and “U” —this language. The vowels of the Vedic Language, the vowels and consonants of the Sanskrit language—it's almost the same thing, very similar to the Vedic Language. That is the language worthy of learning, worthy of making use of.

‘So, a new world has to be created. Organizations are influenced by the environment; governments are influenced by the environment. Every government can do only what it is doing, because government is governed by the collective consciousness of the nation. The president of any country looks to be an individual, but he is governed by the quality of the collective consciousness of the nation. He is an instrument of the collective consciousness of the nation.

‘I realized this after many years, when I was sending information to the governments and talking to ministers, talking to presidents. But I found, when I talked to them, they hear and they nod their heads. But when I am gone away, they have their own level of action. I concluded that these are the really, really intelligent people of their country, the really fortunate people of their country, but they cannot understand, because they are ruled by the collective consciousness of the nation. Then, when I realized this a few years ago—just a year, two years ago now—I stopped talking to them. It's a waste of time talking to them; it's a waste of time talking to them.

‘But I wanted the world to be better. And it is for that that I came out of India and went here and went there and went there. I never minded where I was, in what hotel, or who was my host and this and this. Just I wanted Transcendental Meditation, Transcendental Meditation, Transcendental Meditation. I did not talk about anything else. I talked about only one thing: Transcendental Meditation, Transcendental Meditation.

‘The result was, in these fifty years, when they celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Movement, this celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Movement alerted me suddenly. What came to me? It is not necessary for me to publicize and gather mass opinion. I realized that what is necessary is to produce the effect. And only I could produce the effect.

‘And fortunately in fifty years, there are so many thousands, so many hundreds of thousands, so many million, two million people [meditating] here, there, everywhere like the stars in the empty sky—some here, some here, some here. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. They are all there. What it proved to me? That it is possible.

‘And scientists told me that this is what happens when so many people are meditating collectively. I was listening to the news and feeling very happy. But that did not solve the problem of transforming the world as a whole to its real value of bliss and fullness.

‘Then I thought, “Now try this out: instead of talking about it, create exemplary groups somewhere and see the effect.” So I decided, “Now, this country, what is the population of this country? Approximately what will be the number of Yogic Flyers which will create integrated national consciousness? Somewhere two hundred, somewhere five hundred, somewhere a thousand, two thousand.”

‘I have selected some twenty-four countries—some big countries, some small countries, some rich countries, some poor countries. I wanted to try in all kinds of qualities of different countries. So I have selected twenty-four countries. Gradually, what I am doing is: I have divided the operation into two factors—one locally in the country and one collectively in India, the land of the Veda.

‘The tradition in the land of the Veda is that they can create an effect by a resolution. Resolution is an essential part of the Yagya. Yagya is a performance of the Vedic Language—one Mantra with the other Mantra. It is a system of operation and Vedic Pandits know it by their tradition. From father to son, it is an oral tradition. The Pandits are being gathered now in each country. So many Pandits are put up according to the population in India.

‘There are two, three values: one value of the Vedic word; the other is Vedic gap. The Vedic gap is also a part of the Veda, but that is elaborated in the Sutras, in short expressions of the Yoga, knowledge of Yoga, the aspect of Yoga. Yoga can be practised by anyone. This Samadhi, this Transcendental Consciousness, and this Yogic Flying: it's a part of the Yoga.

‘So, this I am establishing this according to the population of the country. But they must live properly according to Vastu. There is one within the other, one within the other. Nothing will be accomplished if these people do not live in proper architecture. Therefore, architecture is very, very important.

‘I have started a programme of reconstruction of the world. The reconstruction of the world will very soon begin to show its results, because builders are everywhere. Day and night, builders are working everywhere. They are getting their profit and commission. So, they are working for their business. Now, they will be told now build according to Sthapatya Veda, build according to the architecture of the Veda, Vedic Architecture. They will begin to build according to Vedic Architecture, because, according to Vedic Architecture, they will be providing fortune-creating houses, fortune-creating buildings.

‘Without Vedic Architecture—I am very hesitant to say, but I must say it—without Vedic Architecture builders have been building misfortune-creating buildings, misfortune-creating buildings. There are so many minute points in this architecture. A very gross point is that the entrance of the house in the north is very fortunate; in every way, it is a fortune-creating building. Entrance on the east is most fortunate, most auspicious. Entrance on the north is second best. Entrance on the west is third best, and it begins to bring in negative, negative, negative [influences]. Entrance on the south is fourth best, and it is the worst. It is very unfortunate for health, wealth and family and children and relationships—for everything. The southern-entrance house is a misfortune-creating house. A house with the eastern entrance is a very fortunate house in every way—health, wealth, wisdom, success, and all that.

‘These are the very fine points which the world has missed. That is why the world is in a pool of suffering. Suffering has saturated so much due to the lack of importance of the zero-point opening to the mind and intellect and ego, and [due to] the living conditions of the houses. The buildings themselves are misfortune-creating buildings.

‘Man has to be transformed by education for enlightenment, Transcendental Consciousness. And man has to be enlightened by living in proper Vastu, according to the Vedic Architecture. So, mind has to be Vedic, intellect has to be Vedic, ego has to be Vedic. That means the total individual has to be lively in its total potential—total potential of knowledge and total potential of the organizing power of knowledge.

‘And, on the surface, just as body should be pure for mind to be awake in the zero-point motion, similarly the physiology has to be protected from influences from outside. Cosmic should be the value of the potential of the house also. A house according to Sthapatya Veda is the house that connects the individuals more freely with their cosmic potential.

‘There are wheels within wheels; there are wheels within wheels. These are the wheels of knowledge, knowledge, knowledge—education and all that. So, what we are doing is: we are doing what we know will purify the collective consciousness of every society, every city, every province, every nation, and the world.

‘We have started this programme completely innocently, like the programme of lighting a lamp here, a lamp there, a lamp here and a lamp there, a lamp here and a lamp there. The whole field will get lighted by coherence, by integration of national consciousness. And an integrated national consciousness will influence the people and the governments on that level of integrated wholeness.

‘The governments have a shadow of it these days. What is the shadow of this? Each government is a sovereign government, a very sovereign government—fine. One man comes tomorrow; he's throws out the government. That is the sovereignty of the government.

‘So, sovereignty is not enough. It is a superficial, hollow, misguiding principle, on which all these presidents and these ministers that form the government all live in a very precarious kind of imaginary value, because they cannot do even what they know. They are influenced by the atmospheric conditions, by the environmental values.

‘Therefore, I have to quietly pick up some people and put them to fly, put them to fly and put them to fly [practice Yogic Flying]. Gradually, they will purify the atmosphere, purify the atmosphere. The purified atmosphere will spread and make the national consciousness integrated. That is the hope for the world I am set on doing.

‘That is why, a week ago sometime, I said, “The arrow has left the bow, and is going to produce the effect.” It's going to produce the effect. It's no more the time for me to talk about it. Dr Hagelin’s words are so piercing. He talks with such insight into the Vedic reality. And, Dr Morris is now the fortunate Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace and Education Minister.

‘The Finance Minister has opened his purse to inexhaustible wealth. He is informing the governments, but no government is listening to that. They are not. All the poor governments: we hear their replies. Very amusing replies come from the letters. I said, “Don't waste time with the governments. Create the atmosphere where the quality of government will be more capable of doing their parental role for their subjects.” No government is able to fulfil its parental role.

‘Now, in these countries—small, small groups of these countries—we will see how much time it takes to purify a country’s national consciousness. We are taking some small countries, but mostly big countries. We are trying this out. See when the parental role of the government will begin to be seen fulfilled in practice. It will come along. It'll come along, because even a small candle light in the dark room is good enough to have some kind of dim light. At least the darkness is not there as it was before.

‘So, country by country, I am taking up. And I am hopeful that the groups of Yogic Flyers that I am establishing, if we create proper Vastu villages for them of two hundred, five hundred, one thousand, two thousand, that it will be enough for the whole national consciousness to become integrated. Once it starts in one country, we will know that this many are really sufficient to produce the effect, from darkness to light, from darkness to light.

‘By saying this, I am expressing my great delight that the Movement started fifty years ago. It has taken fifty years, but it doesn't matter. The lotus has started to come up from the dirty pond. Thank the good fortune that is dawning for the world.

‘The world press is always a clarion call for the people to this and this and this and this. Now, a good time is coming for the world press also. A good time is coming for the people everywhere—a very good time, very fortunate time. A very, very fortunate time is coming for every government. They will be able to play their parental role, and all the people will enjoy Heaven on Earth. All glory to Guru Dev; all glory to Guru Dev. Brahmananda Saraswati Vijayante Taram.

‘Dr Hagelin, extend all the possible future of mankind to be in the fullness of dignity and divine glory and divine presence. Jai Guru Dev.

‘Week after week, see the intensity [of coherence] in these twelve, twenty-four countries, like that, like that. Gradually, gradually, it will begin to show up.’