14 March 2007 Press Conference Highlights

Dr John Hagelin, Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace and President of Maharishi Central University, Kansas, USA, began the press conference by summarizing the benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Programme and the TM-Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying. According to a large body of scientific research, as well as personal testimonials, these techniques produce a wide range of benefits for both mind and body, by enlivening the experience of the Unified Field, total Natural Law.

The experience of the Unified Field enlivens Natural Law in human awareness so every thought and action become suffused with the character of total Natural Law, and every thought and action are in harmony with Natural Law, aligned with universal intelligence. Dr Hagelin explained that the principal application of this is life spontaneously in accord with Natural Law for a problem-free life and the fulfilment of any desire. He pointed out that this clearly offfers a whole new paradigm for education, and one that happily is spreading like wildfire.

Maharishi Central University

Dr Hagelin described the new educational institution, Maharishi Central University, which is at the forefront of education in the entire world. It was founded to train a new generation of leadership through a revolutionary, state-of-the-art curriculum known to produce vastly superior educational results. 'It is this institution', said Dr Hagelin, 'the ultimate institution of education on earth, which is increasingly being called a new capital of education for the world, a super-knowledge university, a university of Total Knowledge, the importance of which is not just for the United States, but for the whole world.'

Dr Hagelin then read the University's new advertisement for teaching faculty and leadership training. It is seeking highly motivated, talented professors, associate professors, and assistant professors in twelve different disciplines. For more information about the faculty positions available and specialized faculty training course, visit http://www.maharishicentraluniversity.org/faculty.html.

The Peace Palaces in California

In this Global Press Conference, Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace, gave an inspiring report on his current visit to California to review the newly purchased land and current building projects of the Global Country of World Peace. These projects include land purchased to build a branch of Maharishi Central University and various Peace Palaces.

Dr Morris said he and Rajas and Ministers of the Global Country of World Peace will visit the Peace Palace in Ramona, Southern California, and also a Peace Palace that has started to be constructed in Encinitas, near San Diego. There is also a rising Peace Palace in Beverly Hills. The Peace Palaces will offer all of Maharishi's very powerful, scientifically proven programmes of Total Knowledge for enlightenment, perfect health, and the prevention of all problems for the individual and society.

Sixty acres of land have been purchased beside Lake Arrowhead, about 5,000 feet above sea level, and will be a wonderful location for Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine. Dr Morris said that the curriculum for this College is currently being prepared by a powerful team of medical specialists under Maharishi's direction at MERU in Holland. This curriculum is based upon the discovery of Maharaja Nader Raam, the first sovereign ruler of the Global Country of World Peace, that the human body is the expression of the Constitution of the Universe, the field of Total Natural Law, the Veda.

While reporting on his current visit to California, USA, Dr Morris noted that Lake Arrowhead is the very special location where Maharishi Mahesh Yogi wrote his first book, Science of Being and Art of Living, in 1963.

Dr Morris also gave an inspiring report on the beautiful experiences of those participating in the Invincible America Course in Fairfield, Iowa. This Assembly in the USA was launched on July 23, 2006, by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to create coherent national consciousness—the basis of a peaceful, prosperous, invincible country.

Dr John Hagelin then presented questions for Dr Morris and himself to answer.

Question: The Power of Thinking in Tune with Natural Law

Dr Hagelin: 'There are two questions, Dr Morris, one is addressed to me, and the second to you. I think they are both very topical, and I will begin with the one on positive thinking, which is quite interesting.

‘There is a new trend in America and throughout the world that is gaining mainstream acceptance and interest, and that trend is that people are relying more and more on the power of positive thinking, rather than hard work, to accomplish a goal. The idea is that thoughts alone, without physical exertion, have the power to organize events in favour of the thinker—that positive thoughts somehow attract positive results. I am interested in Dr Hagelin's take on this. How powerful are thoughts? Can they in fact, organize events?’

‘We all know thoughts have power, and Maharishi explains this beautifully. I will come to Maharishi's explanation in a minute. We all know that thought drives the whole physiology. If we have a thought to lift the hand, then the hand lifts. So certainly the human body is a masterful design, where the body responds to every impulse of thought spontaneously. We already know we have the capability of achieving our desires, at least through the response of our own physiology, through the field of our own thought. One very powerful avenue for the successful accomplishment of our desires is through the agency of the human physiology. Therefore, I guess the question then becomes, “To what extent can we consider the entire world, our physical environment, to be an extension of our body?” That is, “To what extent is the environment around us responsive to our thoughts?”

‘Well, we have seen from Maharishi's wisdom that human thought at its deepest level, at its transcendental level, at its Para level, beyond articulated linguistic thought and finer and finer levels of thought, is the Unified Field at the basis of mind and matter. That level of thought, the level of Being, the Para level of consciousness, the transcendental level of thought, is the Unified Field and the whole universe is its expression. Modern science delineates very rigorously the stage-by-stage mechanics through which this field of consciousness precipitates as our human physiology, and precipitates as the material environment in the form of atoms, molecules, and macroscopic objects, even galaxies. Everything, ultimately, is an expression of the Unified Field. Everything, ultimately, is an expression of consciousness. Everything, ultimately, is the physiology of consciousness.

‘So, the whole universe is our extended physiology. So, to the extent that we are thinking at that Para level of the Unified Field—if we gain the precious skill of entertaining thought or desire at that Para level of consciousness, transcendental consciousness, the Unified Field—that thought will get picked up and manifested anywhere and everywhere throughout creation, because the whole creation is the physiology of the Unified Field. Just as this is the physiology of my consciousness and responds to my consciousness, the universe is also, ultimately, the physiology of consciousness, and responds to an impulse of consciousness, if that impulse is at that universal level—the non-strictly-individual level of mind, the universal level of Being, from which the whole universe is the expression.

‘Yes, thoughts are powerful. Maharishi describes and emphasizes the importance of spontaneous fulfilment of desire, and also, more importantly, teaches the skill of desiring—how to entertain an impulse of desire at that absolute level. The mechanics of that really are the TM-Sidhi Programme, the advanced techniques of Transcendental Meditation, including Yogic Flying, whereby the body lifts up in the air, through mere impulse of thought. The response of the environment to a mere impulse of thought is demonstrated very dramatically and directly in the Yogic Flying phenomenon itself.

‘Maharishi is the master of the science of Yoga, the science of Being, the science of thinking from the level of Being, where the whole universe is our extended physiology, and where support of Nature is not just within our physiology, but throughout the environment as it responds to our impulse of thought. So thought can be incredibly powerful. At that deepest level, when developed properly through practice, the ability to entertain desire within the absolute, omnipresent field stirs the totality of the laws of nature. When that is established, it is literally possible to fulfil desires instantly, to know anything indeed, and to achieve anything by a mere impulse of thought. And the speed of the fulfilment of thought really just has to do with how proficient we are with entertaining that thought on the absolute level, where total Natural Law and all possibilities are a reality.

‘On the other hand, the equally important point that everybody seems to miss is that human thoughts can be incredibly weak. If thought is at a very superficial level of mind, with the whole brain physiology scattered and chaotic, where there is no profound orderliness of thinking—agitated waking consciousness—thoughts are often not fulfilled. Even the response of the body, the physiology, to thoughts becomes helter-skelter and ineffective, if the mind is scattered. So, clear orderly thinking is at the basis of clear orderly action and behaviour of our physiology. We know how important orderly action is. On a very weak level of thought, even the human physiology does not respond perfectly, and certainly the laws of nature in the environment also do not respond to such superficial thought, which is so far removed from that field of Para, transcendental thought that stirs the universe.

‘So, thought can be quite weak, and it can be very powerful. This is exactly what we would expect from looking at quantum physics, if we could see the Unified Field Chart for physics. Maharishi explains and science confirms that the universe is structured in layers from superficial to profound, from macroscopic to microscopic, and that in every deeper level of Natural Law from to molecular to atomic, from nuclear to sub nuclear, Nature becomes more powerful. The quantum principle guarantees increasing power at more fundamental scales. Like that, the human mind, while fathoming deeper levels of reality at finer levels of thought, becomes similarly more and more powerful and most powerful on the level of Being, abstract transcendental thought.

‘It is on that level by the way, that a small group of Yogic Flyers stirring the field of transcendental Unity, the Unified Field, can transform the destiny of an entire country. That is an illustration of the power of thought, which has been abundantly scientifically documented, demonstrated, and confirmed. So thoughts can be weak, thoughts can be powerful. The most important thing in life, in education, is to develop the power of thought, the orderliness and power of the mind, and capture that field of consciousness within, own that Para level of thinking. Capture the field of Being, which is our own unbounded Self, after all. Capture the Self. Know Thyself, Thy unbounded universal Self, whose nature is immortality and bliss. Know That by which anything can be achieved, know That by which, according to the Upanishads, anything can be known.

‘So, the power of positive thinking is either powerful or not, frankly, depending upon the level on which one is using the mind. Rather than hope for more powerful, productive, successful thoughts, develop it directly. Dive within. Utilize Maharishi's proven, age-old, time-tested meditation approaches, Transcendental Meditation, with beautiful advanced techniques, the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying . These are the techniques to ensure that thought is positively powerful and powerfully positive, where you can achieve anything with no exertion, no effort. That is the ultimate development of thought—doing less, doing least, doing essentially nothing but Being, and accomplishing everything that needs to be accomplished for oneself, for the entire country. The beautiful practical application of this is the Invincible America Assembly, the Invincible Holland Assembly, and the Invincible Every Country Assembly, as more and more countries rise to invincibility today under Maharishi's inspiration.’

Question: Student Pressures and National Security Eased by Consciousness-Based Education

Dr John Hagelin: ‘The last question, Dr Morris, is for you on the subject of your great expertise, the subject of education. I am going to read the question as it is and then add a line to it, which I think which may make the question even more profoundly worthy of your answer.

‘The question from a parent is: Children from a very early age are under increasing pressure in the classroom to get the best grades to get into the best schools in order to get into the best colleges, the best universities. The problem many teachers say is not so much with students as with the parents, because they want them to get the best possible opportunities later in life. Does Dr Morris have a particular message for parents, who are pressuring their students because they want them to succeed so much? And how will your consciousness-based approach to education, which is at Maharishi School and Maharishi University of Management, ease these parental concerns?

‘And if I can throw in one more dimension to the question, I think all parents today should be rightly concerned also about the stability and security of their nation and its vulnerability to terrorism and to attack—the fact that nations are far from invincible and are extremely vulnerable, and more so all the time, as weapons of mass destruction and so forth continue to proliferate and abound. So, I will extend the question to ask Dr Morris: How would Maharishi's consciousness-based approach to education ease a parent's natural concern about the security of their nation and their children's nation?’

Dr Morris: ‘It is very natural for parents to want the best for their children. What Maharishi has revealed to us at this time is that the best that children can have is to use the total brain potential with which they are born. And the kind of education to which parents are pushing their children with ever greater intensity does not have the effect of totally developing the brain. In fact, it has the effect of leaving functional holes in the brain and thereby creating a lack of any real foundation for the success of the children in their lives. So while seeking to create more success for their child, they are actually reducing the child's chances.

‘By contrast, consciousness-based education has as its principle feature, the technique of transcending to experience the holistic and unified state of consciousness, Transcendental Consciousness, which is the child's own Self. "Know Thyself" is fulfilled by this system of education. And this experience of the unified, holistic state of consciousness is the only experience that has been found to maximize the use of the total brain. It creates highly coherent, orderly, holistic brain functioning—the whole brain begins to function together.

‘The basis of all creativity, of all rising intelligence, and of the ability to make the laws of nature move to support one's desires to achieve anything is based on the use of the total brain. So, in consciousness-based education, every child has this joyful, sweet, soft experience first thing in the morning before class, and then again after class, and sometimes in the midst of the day, too. This is combined with an academic routine that is not stressful, that is not pressured.

‘When the students study with this more awakened brain, they are able to absorb the knowledge in a much more effortless way. The container of knowledge has been expanded. They are able to enjoy gaining knowledge and are enthusiastic to learn because of this awakening of their total brain, which is the awakening of their creativity, their receptivity, their intelligence, and their simple joy of living. The children become delighted to go to school and gain knowledge, and the teachers do not put them under the extreme pressure of exhausting homework, the horror of examinations, and all kinds of stresses and strains. It is a restful and delightful academic routine.

‘The child learns every field of knowledge in terms of its origin in the unified field of Natural Law and that all knowledge is one grand wholeness of knowledge, Total Knowledge, and that Total Knowledge is in my own Transcendental Consciousness, in my own Self. So the children feel at home with everything. They feel connected with everything they study. They feel that everything is an expression of their own consciousness in its unbounded state. Then, as the students grow up, they become Yogic Flyers with the advanced technique of Transcendental Meditation, which intensifies all the effects of Transcendental Meditation and gives them the subjective experience of bubbling bliss and big smiles of joy.

‘If anyone wants success for his or her children, this is what they should do. This is what they should have, either in an existing school that gets all the children to meditate or in the school your child already goes to. That is happening all over America now under Dr Hagelin's leadership. Have a new consciousness-based school in your area, and let the children grow up joyfully, peacefully, with the basis for unlimited success. They gain success not through exhaustion and stress and strain, which take away the very joy of living itself, but through soft thought, powerful thought, thought motivated by the basic intelligence that administers the universe and supports their thought to effortlessly gain fulfilment. They engage the managing intelligence of the universe to support them to achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve effortlessly, not through struggle and stress and strain.

‘Having the children of the nation grow up like this is the best security against any kind of attack or any kind of crime from within the nation. You know, there are 30,000 people murdered in the United States every year, so its not just attack from outside that is the problem. We do not need to recite all the other negative things that still exist. It is not only negativity from outside the country that one has to protect against, but negativity down the street or across the town.

‘However, when the children grow up with Consciousness-Based Education, there will be two effects. The first effect is that the children, who grow up this way, grow up in the spirit of ideal citizenship. When they live their life with a totally developed brain and on the basis of all thought and behaviour from the level of the Unified Field, their actions are spontaneously in harmony with the laws of nature and with national law. They grow up without any tendency towards violent or criminal activity. So when the whole society is based upon a schooling system like that, then the children will grow up not performing either minor or major crimes of any kind and leaving aside any behaviour which brings suffering to others. This is a future when Consciousness-Based Education is universal.

‘In the short term also, in the schools that have Consciousness-Based Education, when the children begin to practise Yogic Flying at school in a group twice a day, the power of those children experiencing the Unified Field radiates intense coherence and harmony into the atmosphere around them. This is sufficient to create a phase transition in the whole quality of the collective consciousness of the neighbourhood, town or city in which they live. And with such schools shining everywhere around the country, combined with the Invincibility Group in Iowa, in Maharishi Central University, and in other institutions that will come up, like here in California—all these school children radiating peace and harmony—will neutralize the daily build up of stress and strain in the atmosphere.

‘The result will be that those who used to think in a criminal way, will wake up feeling differently. In that atmosphere they will think of something positive to do instead of the damage that they were going to do. Likewise, when there is this rising harmony from the children in the schools, the whole national consciousness—as well as the people outside the United States, who right now hate the United States and want to destroy it in any why they can—will become highly harmonious and full of peace and positivity. This is what Maharishi calls an invincible state of national consciousness. Those who hated the country will, for some reason, lose their animosity although they cannot quite imagine why. They will start to feel good and loving towards the country, and all their violent tendencies towards America and Americans will evaporate.

‘This is what has happened already on many occasions through the application of these technologies and has been shown to happen by scientific research, as Dr Hagelin has explained. It is the school children of the world now who can create this kind of invincibility in America, in any other country, and in all countries of the world, just through their own joyful routine of awakening their own total brain functioning and awakening their life to be lived on the level of higher states of consciousness, on the level of the highest and supreme level of living, as the Unified Field itself. They know, "I am that field, which is the field that is expressing itself as the whole universe, and that is the level of my dignity and my power as a human being." So this I think, Dr Hagelin, is the answer to this question, and to your corollary to this question. Jai Guru Dev.’

Dr Hagelin: ‘Thank you very much, that was beautiful. And it just leads me to say that if you are a parent, your children should be at a school that has been conceived and founded by Maharishi, an Invincibility School with a Unified Field Based Education, Vedic Education, education for the development of consciousness, education for Enlightenment. If you are in America, your children should be at the Maharishi School. Dr Bevan Morris has overseen the development of that great school for decades and is the overseer of the Board of Trustees there. The Maharishi School is a school which has won absolutely every conceivable award, year after year, at the local level, state level, national level, and world level. A school achieving such globally celebrated awards like this is absolutely unprecedented in the whole history of education.

‘If you want the children to have the best, you simply must enroll them in the Maharishi School, in the beautiful town of Fairfield, Iowa. That pristine environment in the US is where the Invincible America Assembly of 2,000 Yogic Flyers is creating purity, positivity, bliss, health, and success on every level. You do not want children to be subject to the failings of education today, which are more acute than ever as stress pervades the classrooms. Problems of ill-health born of stress—even hypertension, and metabolic syndrome and diabetes, and all of these stress related illnesses, stress-related learning disorders, like ADHD, as well as depression—are epidemics among the young. Functional holes in the brain, which result from stress, retard the development of the pre-frontal cortex and shut down the functioning of the higher brain, which then fails to develop and integrate with the total brain. All these failings are due to conventional education, which is completely partial and fragmented in its approach without the knowledge of consciousness, without Total Knowledge.

‘If you care for the children and want them to be maximally happy, healthy and wise. If you are in the US and you want your children to really fully blossom in their God-given potential and emerge as the natural leaders of this forthcoming generation, they simply must go to the Maharishi School, where Dr Bevan Morris is the chairman. And if they are in another country, they must go to the Maharishi Invincibility Schools where there is the same beautiful educational approach. Again, the side effect on the country of all of these institutions is invincibility, peace, and security, which are also vital to the future of the children.

‘If you are in India, the land of the Ved, your children should be at one of the thousands of Maharishi Schools. If you are fortunate to be of the tradition of a Vedic family, a tradition of Vedic Pandits in India, then absolutely the children must be educated by the highest of Vedic experts. They must have the highest level of Vedic training, as a Maharishi Vedic Pandit, skilled in the very powerful technologies of Vedic recitation and Yagya and Graha Shanti. The true scientific significance of this has been obscured for generations. Only now, with the discovery of the Unified Field and the revival of the Vedic Wisdom by Maharishi, is the power and the true significance of these Vedic Technologies of Yoga, Yogic Flying, Transcendental Meditation, Yagya, and Graha Shanti being understood.

‘Now only is this most profound knowledge, its benefit for the whole of mankind and for the safety and security of any country, being understood. Those in India, who are so extremely fortunate to be associated with such a Vedic family, in possession of the Vedic knowledge and the Vedic recitation, should take this training, this heritage—the natural heritage of all mankind and a great gift to the human race—to its highest level and become a Maharishi Vedic Pandit, trained in the skill of Maharishi Yagya and Graha Shanti.

‘Wherever we are in the world, Maharishi's knowledge and his education programmes for perfect health, total brain development, invincibility and peace are available now. So, whoever you are and wherever you are, take immediate advantage of Maharishi's knowledge and programmes. Learn Transcendental Meditation if you have not, learn the TM-Sidhi programme and Yogic Flying . Make sure your children, the precious leaders of the forthcoming generation, have Maharishi's Vedic Education, Unified Field-Based Education. That is the most important gift—I would say the only gift of supreme significance—that we can give to our children and future generation. It is with us.

‘Maharishi has dedicated 50 years to bringing his Vedic Knowledge within arm’s reach of every human being on earth. All we need to do is take feast on the sumptuous dishes of knowledge and practical programmes, which Maharishi has prepared to prevent problems and promote peace and invincibility for every nation, and upon which extensive research has been performed, with an extraordinary track record, throughout the world.

‘Maharishi has done the hard work, and now it is for us to enjoy. It is our responsibility to help ourselves by availing ourselves of the extraordinary gifts of knowledge that Maharishi has compassionately bestowed on the world, gifts received at the feet of his master Shri Guru Dev, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Jagad Guru, the revered Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math. This whole Vedic lineage of enlightened sages, the Vedic Tradition of knowledge, flowing through Guru Dev and now through Maharishi to our generation, is really the pride of the knowledge of our world today. So take advantage of it. If you are a member of the press, report extensively on it, because in this lies the fully developed, fully matured gift of invincibility, peace, and enlightenment for the world.

‘I would like to thank you all for joining us this week. And I would like to very much thank Dr Bevan Morris for tuning in to us from California, USA, where he is on a very rapid tour of that beautiful and grand state. He has taken time out of his travels, in the very early morning in California, to join us for this global press conference. And thanks, as always, to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, truly the world's foremost and most globally revered sage of Total Knowledge, the world's greatest scientist of consciousness, who for over 50 years has compassionately, tirelessly, day and night, revived the Vedic Wisdom in its totality. He has revived the Vedic technologies in their completeness, totality, effectiveness, and purity, and has encouraged scientific research on the effectiveness of these programmes. Maharishi has tirelessly and compassionately implemented and promoted these programmes all over the world, beginning with millions of individuals, and now extending to the invincibility of entire nations for a permanently peaceful world.

‘Thanks to Maharishi for that on behalf of everyone alive today witnessing the transformation of darkness to light. Thanks also on behalf of all the generations to come, who would like to be present today to thank Maharishi for his transformation of the world from war to peace and who will be expressing gratitude to Maharishi for this incredible and historic transformation, generation after generation. Again I am John Hagelin, Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace, inviting you to join us again next week on our Global Press Conference. Jai Guru Dev.’