Press release summarising Maharishi's message during his global press conference on 31 July 2002
1 August 2002
GLOBAL COUNTRY OF WORLD PEACE
Station 24, 6063 NP Meru, The Netherlands
European press office, tel: +31-475-539-569
Email: PressOffice@Maharishi.Net
UK press office, tel: 01622 815380
- Report on Maharishi's global press conference, 31 July 2002 -
MAHARISHI CALLS FOR 3,000 PEACE PALACES
to diffuse destructive forces,
promote harmony and affluence in the world
Offers royal road to enlightenment
Offering a "beautiful panorama of possibilities" where individuals are
enlightened and where peace and prosperity reign in the family of nations,
His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi proclaimed that "time is taking a turn
from suffering to peace, from poverty to affluence."
But, Maharishi cautioned, how quickly that day dawns depends upon how soon
3,000 Peace Palaces can be built where 100-200 people will practise his
peace-promoting Vedic technologies of consciousness to diffuse the
destructive forces growing in the world. As it is, he said, "ignorant and
childish" government leaders have left the security of the world on a "sword
's edge".
Maharishi's words of hope and reproach came during an extraordinary
two-and-a-half hour global news conference from Meru, Holland, that was
broadcast live via satellite, Internet webcast, and teleconference call on
31 July. Maharishi was also connected to a network of local news conferences
held in 35 cities worldwide, including 20 in the UK.
This was Maharishi's seventh consecutive weekly news conference - a global
forum he has been using to announce his decision to create world peace and
to unveil details of his plan to do so. Maharishi's programme to create
world peace calls for establishing a group of people collectively practising
his Transcendental Meditation, its advanced techniques, and Yogic Flying, in
every country and major city in the world. Extensive scientific research has
shown that such group practice eliminates acute social stress-which fuels
conflict and war-and promotes coherence and harmony in the whole population.
Individual and nation
From the outset of the news conference, Maharishi said that his message of
Transcendental Meditation is directed to the same people today as it has
been for nearly 50 years: "Two words: individual and nation," Maharishi
said. "I am speaking to those people who will do things for themselves and
their families but do not bother with what is happening in their nation. And
I am also speaking to those who sacrifice their lives to do good to the
people."
Maharishi said both types of people can fulfil their life's ambitions
through the practice of Transcendental Meditation, which he described as "a
simple, natural technique that increases the power of thought so whatever
you think will be fully supported by the infinite evolutionary power of
Natural Law. It is good to follow the path of Transcendental Meditation,
which is leading to the creation of world peace."
"As you sow, so shall you reap"
As he has done in previous news conferences, Maharishi had strong words for
US President George W. Bush, who is threatening war against Iraq, and warned
the President of the future that awaits him.
"Here is the mightiest president in the world saying, 'I'll destroy you if
you don't follow me.' I say to these destroyers: 'As you sow, so shall you
reap.' Killing is a sin. You can destroy the world, but you cannot save
yourself," Maharishi said. "If Bush is a religious man, then he knows that
if you commit a sin, you go to hell - and if you do good things, if you help
thy neighbour, you go on the path of righteousness."
No military can save the nation
Maharishi also said those who rely on the military for protection are living
in the past. "No military can say it can save the nation. There is no
face-to-face fighting, the enemy is not even seen. Missiles come, and
everything is put to ashes. The world is walking on a sword's edge. The only
thing that will save the world is enlightenment. Let every individual
blossom fully in his own right, and then everything will be positive,
coherent, life-supporting, and thriving in the world."
Peace Palaces
Maharishi said the negative influence of Bush and other destroyers would be
neutralised by the establishment of a Peace Palace in each of the 3,000
largest cities of the world [this includes 52 in the UK]. These will be
"lighthouses of coherence", each with at least 100-200 people practising the
coherence-creating programme of Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying.
"Each Peace Palace will generate indomitable coherence - and with this light
of coherence in 3,000 cities, the whole world will be lit with coherence,
and negative tendencies will not arise. It's a very quiet, peaceful way to
dissolve the negative trends that have grown in the world consciousness."
Maharishi issued an appeal to the mayors of these 3,000 cities - "the trusted
well-wishers of the people" - to voice their support for the building of the
Peace Palaces. "I hope good sense in the world will prevail and the Peace
Palaces will be quickly built so that the disasters and the destruction of
the world will be avoided."
The individual is the unit of world peace
"The individual is the unit of world peace," Maharishi said. "That means
world peace rests in individual peace - it does not rest on treaties and
talks, which history shows to be fraudulent approaches," Maharishi said.
"Conversation and discussion are a childish effort to create world peace A
bigger childishness - and a bigger danger - is to try and create peace through
waging wars, through punishing the culprit. Only by developing total brain
functioning in the individual through proper education, and by creating
coherence in world consciousness through groups of Yogic Flyers, can peace
be perpetual."
Influence of national consciousness
Maharishi acknowledged that, in truth, he cannot blame or credit Bush or any
head of state for how well or poorly they administer their nations. Rather,
the actions of a president are the product of national consciousness.
"Whatever the national consciousness deserves, that's the policy that will
come from the government. And that is why our effort now is to cater to the
individual and ignore governments. We will create these Peace Palaces
everywhere to radiate the light of coherence, and then the world will be a
better world."
The press can save the world
Maharishi made frequent reference during the news conference to the role of
the media in society, saying that the press can save the world through the
power of their reporting, or they can hasten its demise. He cautioned
reporters to consider carefully the impact of their words on their readers.
"Every writer should think," Maharishi advised, "'What will be the
psychology of a man who reads my writing? Will he be excited and agitated,
or will he find peace through my writing?' The choice is yours. No writer
should think that by promoting destructive values he is opening his door to
heaven."
Removal of poverty
To a reporter who asked about how Maharishi would address poverty, Maharishi
said that the problem can be solved through his Poverty Removal Program
available from the Global Country of World Peace. The programme utilises
unused agricultural lands in poor countries to grow organic foods, which are
then exported to wealthy nations. These wealthy nations would then pay
enough money for the healthy food to lift the poor countries out of poverty.
Maharishi denounced the policy of markets in the United States and Europe to
set extremely low prices for food grown in developing nations, thus ensuring
that farmers always remain impoverished.
"The responsibility for the poor is on the wealthy," Maharishi said.
"Vegetables are grown by the poor in Brazil, and their cost is determined by
the wealthy in Chicago, London, or Paris. This is an injustice, and the
curse will go to the wealthy. You're not paying enough to the farmers, who
have a parental role for the nation, and who are providing your food. This
wrong will be responded to by God, and the response will be that suddenly so
much of your wealth will be gone. Everything is well connected in Nature.
Unlike capitalism or communism, in Nature, justice is not arbitrary-it is
built on cosmic law, on the cosmic reality of life."
Royal road to enlightenment
Maharishi concluded by offering a vision of a better time dawning in the
world. "Even in the darkness of night, a hope for the dawn comes. I'm
alerting the press to take notice that time is taking a turn from problems
to solutions, from suffering to peace, from poverty to affluence. All the
good that every religion has ever taught is going to be exemplified in the
life of the people - and all those religions that are a mockery to the light
of God are going to be extinguished.
"Religions fighting in the name of God is such a shame. Coherence and peace
will prevail, and man will be in light. Man is made in the image of God. We
say to the people: 'This is the royal road to enlightenment that we are
establishing for you for all times. This will be available to you, whether
you take it today or tomorrow.'"
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Maharishi's next global news conference
Wednesday, 7 August 2002
4.00 p.m. BST (British Summer Time)
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