Press release summarising Maharishi's news conference on Wed 16 October, 2002
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -
Students will comprehend the mechanics of creating world peace - and practise Transcendental Meditation to produce the peaceful effect
"Current education is the cause of violence"
(22 October 2002) Students will use more of their brain potential, excel academically, and enjoy a less stressful, more satisfying personal life. But more than that, crime and violence will fall in the surrounding communities, and the nation and the world will be more harmonious.
This is the vision of possibilities offered by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation programme and the Global Country of World Peace. Maharishi is calling on university and college heads to create a Faculty of World Peace and provide their students with the knowledge and technologies to create peace in their own lives and throughout the world.
Maharishi's offer is based on his success teaching Transcendental Meditation for nearly 50 years in schools, colleges, and universities around the world, and on hundreds of published scientific studies documenting the benefits of the practice.
Maharishi is proposing that students take one lesson a week in the mechanics of creating world peace, and, as part of their academic routine, practice his Vedic technologies of peace, including Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying.
Maharishi will answer questions on his proposal of a Faculty of World Peace during global news conferences on Wednesday, 23 October, and Thursday, 24 October 2002, which will be broadcast live via satellite, Internet webcast, and telephone conference call (see page 3).
Providing students with the experience of peace
"Transcendental Meditation provides students with the experience of the fourth major state of consciousness, Transcendental Consciousness, which is a field of infinite silence and the most profound state of peace within," said His Excellency Dr Bevan Morris, Minister of Enlightenment of the Global Country of World Peace and president of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA (www.mum.edu).
Total brain functioning
"Extensive research shows that this experience of Transcendental Consciousness develops total brain functioning, improves creativity and intelligence, and creates a peaceful, coherent influence in the surrounding society," Dr Morris said.
The beneficial effects of Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying for the individual and society have been validated through more than 600 scientific studies conducted at 216 independent universities and research institutes and published in over 100 peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Maharishi's offer is practical, not philosophical
"Maharishi's offer is practical, not philosophical," Dr Morris emphasised. "It is based upon the most profound scientific discovery of our time - the discovery of the quantum unified field, which is at the basis of the entire universe. And now, through Maharishi's Vedic technologies of consciousness, every student can enliven the unified basis of the diversified universe to generate coherence and harmony in world consciousness."
This positive impact on society is well confirmed. More than 40 published studies have found that group practice of Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying reduces the acute social stress that fuels terrorism and war, and promotes coherence and harmony in society.
"Research shows that wherever students practise these technologies together in a school, crime, sickness, and accident rates are reduced in the vicinity of the school, and, with enough meditating students, even international conflict and warfare subside," Dr Morris said.
Fragmented education is the cause of violence
Dr Morris identified the cause of widespread violence in the world in the fragmented approach of education prevailing in every country. "Students only study specific areas of knowledge - physics, mathematics, computer science, business management, etc. - and therefore they enliven only specific areas of their brain. But they never develop their total brain-hence the brain's incredible potential is never realised. As a result, students behave in ways that violate Natural Law, which then causes stress and tension and illness in their lives-and can even lead to criminal and violent behaviour. It is the accumulated stress and tension of individuals all over the world which breaks out as conflict and war," Dr Morris said.
Awakening every student's cosmic potential
In contrast, Dr Morris said, students who are educated to develop their total brain "enliven the field of peace within - the Unified Field of Natural Law - and awaken to their own cosmic potential. They spontaneously live in harmony with the Laws of Nature, and radiate a powerful, peaceful influence throughout society.
Lighthouse of peace
Any university or college can become a lighthouse of peace for the community, the nation, and the world by creating a Faculty of Peace, Dr Morris said. "Then the terrible problems of our world, which are caused by accumulated stress, will disappear as darkness disappears with the onset of light."
Large peace-creating groups of students
Maharishi is currently establishing on all continents large peace-creating groups of students who are expert in his Vedic technologies of consciousness, including a group of 8,000 in the United States in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, and a larger group of 40,000 in India. In addition, 3,000 Peace Palaces are planned for the world's 3,000 largest cities, including 51 in the UK. Each Peace Palace will be a home for 100 to 200 experts in Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying.