(22 April, 2003) His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi proclaimed that with a pinch it is possible to establish a permanent group of 16,000 peace-creating experts in India. Their collective practice of Vedic technologies of consciousness will create coherent world consciousness and lay the foundation for harmony in the family of nations.

"Now is the time to ring the bell of ‘Eureka’ for a bright new future for mankind," Maharishi said.

Maharishi’s dramatic proclamation came on Wednesday, 16 April, during his weekly global news conference, broadcast live via satellite, Internet webcast, and teleconference call. Maharishi’s next news conferences will be held on 23 and 24 April (see page 3 for details).

At the same time, Maharishi had strong words of condemnation for US government leaders and their military offensive in Iraq. "You ignore the United Nations and world opinion. You kill whom you want to kill because you have weapons. This is not a democracy – this is a bloody dictatorship. I say plainly: ‘Damn the democracy.’

Remember what happened to Hitler and all the other invaders. This is going to happen to you and your country. America today is a wild, beastly civilisation."

However, Maharishi assured the press, "Whatever it is, it is our world, and we are going to improve it. We just need a few peace-creating groups here and there and we will have a better world. We light a few lamps and light will be everywhere."

Support from a few generous donors funds the 16,000 group Maharishi’s announcement of funding for the 16,000 group comes after appealing to the wealthy to create a $1 billion world peace endowment fund for a permanent group of 40,000 experts in India. "Now, with a pinch, there is enough money for about 16,000 experts. This is a modest start for creating world peace," Maharishi said. He added that a philanthropist could step forward at any time with more money to employ more experts to make the group bigger and intensify the coherent influence in world consciousness.

Maharishi’s programme to create permanent world peace calls for a group of 40,000 peace-creating experts practising Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying in India and additional groups of 8,000 experts in every other continent. Maharishi’s plan also calls for the establishment of 3,000 Peace Palaces in the world’s largest 3,000 cities, each of which will be home to groups of 100 to 200 peace-creating experts. This includes 51 Peace Palaces in the major cities of the UK. "Through their daily performances, these groups will enliven total Natural Law in collective consciousness – and support the administration of every country with the administration of Natural Law, which governs the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order."

Extensive research, published in the world’s leading scientific journals, has shown that groups of these peace-creating experts can promote harmony and peace in the world consciousness.

Maharishi said, "Every government has schools, colleges, and universities to educate the growing generation. By adding one period a day in the study of consciousness and the practice of Transcendental Meditation to develop a student’s full brain physiology, the whole country will rise to coherent national consciousness."

Maharishi said that coherent collective consciousness is the key to creating prevention-oriented, problem-free administration and lasting world peace. "With coherent national consciousness, people won’t quarrel with each other and create problems for themselves or for others. With coherent national consciousness, all the good religious values, such as ‘help thy neighbour’, will spontaneously blossom in the behaviour of everyone. This is ‘administration through education’. This is the basis of a bright new future for our dear world," Maharishi said