Three articles on Maharishi's press conferences and his current initiative to create world peace - from the Irish News and the Belfast News Letter, from Northern Ireland, and the Northern Echo from north-east England.
Irish News, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday, 8 August 2002
TM -- THE ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEMS
by Tony Bailie
THE spiritual leader who once inspired the Beatles, said
yesterday he believes transcendental meditation would help
bring peace to Northern Ireland.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - speaking via a video link - told the
Irish News that his aim was to see the negative energies of
"hatred, mistrust and division" in the north turned into
positive forces.
"That is our effort" he said, as he called for the
establishment of 'peace palaces' in each of the 3,000
largest cities in the world.
Andrea Gribben, Holywood, Co Down - who has been practising
transcendental meditation for the past 15 years - plans to
write to education minister Martin McGuinness to urge him to
introduce meditation in schools.
Ms Gribben, who is a full-time yogic teacher, said
meditation did not require people to abandon their existing
religious beliefs.
"I have taught meditation to ministers and priests. . . in
fact the Maharishi says that people should not abandon their
own religious beliefs, " she said.
"The simple fact is that stress can lead to violence and
since meditation can relieve stress it is an effective means
of elimination conflict."
In the 1960s the Maharishi came to global attention after he
became a spiritual guru to the Beatles and members of the
band travelled to India to study with him.
Yesterday the Maharishi, who is now in his eighties, said
the establishment of peace palaces would serve as
"lighthouses of coherence" where groups could practice
transcendental meditation and yogic flying.
"Through their performances, these groups of yogic flyers
will enliven the deepest level of nature's functioning, the
unified field of natural law, the will of God and radiate
indomitable coherence in world consciousness, " he said.
"This rise of coherence will eliminate acute social stress
which fuels terrorism and war and promote peace in the
family of nations."
Ms Gribben said she planned to rebuild her home, which
overlooks Belfast Lough, to a 'Sthapatya Veda' design, which
gives dimensions, formulas and orientations to provide
"cosmic harmony".
She said a number of influential business men in Belfast had
agreed to partially fund a peace palace close to the city
centre.
"Part of this will be set aside for meditation, but it will
also be a business proposition and we will be letting out
offices in the building, " she said.
GRAPHIC: LIVE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM: Andrea Gribben connecting
via live internet webcast with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
from her Holywood home yesterday
Copyright 2002 The Irish News Limited
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Belfast News Letter, Friday, 9 August 2002,
MEDITATION WAY FORWARD
FOR THE PEACE PROCESS
by Kim Hewitt
IF David Trimble and Gerry Adams were to learn a "simple
mental technique" Northern Ireland would be a less stressful
place.
That's the opinion of Holywood woman Andrea Gribben, a
transcendental meditation teacher, who believes the world
would be a healthier and happier place if the Government was
to learn the technique.
Andrea was speaking yesterday as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the
founder of the worldwide Transcendental Mediation movement,
delivered a global news conference on world peace via
satellite.
The Maharishi recently announced his decision to create
world peace through his Vedic approach to defence.
He is establishing groups of experts in his
coherence-creating TM and Yogic Flying programme in every
country and in every major city of the world.
Said Andrea: "I have been practising TM for 15 years and the
benefits are tremendous. It's a simple mental technique that
I practise two times a day for 20 minutes. It gives the mind
and the body profound rest, much deeper than sleep.
"It's something I really look forward to. I was aware of TM
for many years. I knew there was something more to life and
when I discovered TM it was like coming home."
Andrea and her husband Gerry run a number of furniture shops
and find TM reduces stress levels.
"I have taught people from three years to 81!
"I have taught individuals and families. People come for all
sorts of reasons and after feel rested and invigorated."
Said Gerry: "I have been practising TM for around 12 years
and it makes me very quiet inside.
"Things that used to annoy me before don't anymore. I can
cope much better."
Maharishi has launched a bold plan to bring about world
peace in establishing 3,000 peace palaces globally where
people can practise TM.
Andrea and Gerry are currently in talks with a number of
businessmen who are interested in the venture.
Meanwhile, the couple are planning to knock down their
Holywood home to replace it with their very own peace
palace.
"The Troubles out there are not because of Catholic versus
Protestant. It's stress versus stress. This stress becomes
violence and it spills out onto our streets. TM can get rid
of that stress, thus creating a more peaceful world." she
added.
GRAPHIC: LESS STRESSFUL SOLUTION: Photo of Andrea Gribben,
watching his Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, believes
government would benefit from learning Transcendental
Meditation
Copyright 2002 Century Newspapers Limited
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Northern Echo, Saturday, 10 August 2002
(covering Newcastle and North-East England)
BEATLES' GURU MAKES A FLYING PEACE 'VISIT' TO THE NORTH
The former spiritual guru to the Beatles is behind ambitious
plans to eradicate crime and poverty in the North-East.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who famously introduced the Fab Four
to Eastern Mysticism in 1967, broke his self-imposed 25-year
silence with the world's media this week to launch a global
project to set up "peace palaces" in 3,000 of the world's
largest cities.
This, according to his supporters, would include three such
Palaces being built in Middlesborough, Newcastle and
Sunderland where yogic fliers could eradicate poverty, crime
and conflict.
Yogic fliers - meditators who reach a higher level of consciousness
while bouncing up and down cross-legged on a mattress - would
radiate enough positive energy to solve the North-East's problems,
they claim.
Devotees of Transcendental Meditation congregated in Esh Winning,
County Durham, home of the North-East Maharishi Vedic Centre,
on Wednesday, to listen to the spiritual sage explain how meditation
could save the world.
The Maharishi's followers, who number about 600 in the North-East,
hope to attract at least 100 devotees in each town to help build the
centres of learning and meditation.
Paul Kember, director of the North-East Maharishi Centre, said:
"We are hoping to build these centres in 51 cities across the UK.
"The idea is to have at least 100 people using each one to increase
the positive energy in each town. For somewhere like Middlesborough,
crime would become a thing of the past and everyone's life would
become more orderly.
"The cost of this is being explored but we are contacting community
and business leaders for their support."
PICTURE CAPTION (with image of Paul and Judith Kember beside
a television showing Maharishi speaking during the press conference):
Hearing the message: Paul and Judith Kember, of the North-East
Maharishi Centre, tune in to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Copyright 2002, Northern Echo
END