Creating coherent national consciousness
will prevent the birth of an enemy

(18 June 2003) His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dismissed as a false hope and a total failure the capability of today’s military to safeguard a nation from deadly attack or to promote lasting peace anywhere in the world. The only solution, Maharishi said, is a prevention-oriented approach to defence ─ Vedic defence ─ which has been proven repeatedly to create coherent national consciousness and to prevent negativity from arising anywhere in the world.

"The military has the power to kill and die ─ but not to save the nation," Maharishi said. "Only Vedic defence can save a nation because only Vedic defence can prevent the birth of an enemy."

Maharishi’s declaration came during his weekly global news conference held on Wednesday, 11 June 2003, at the Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in Meru, Holland. Maharishi’s next news conferences will be 18 and 19 June and broadcast live via satellite, Internet webcast, and teleconference call.

Maharishi explained the logic of prevention. "When an enemy invades a country, the military tries to stop the attack at the border. A more intelligent military can prevent the enemy from attacking 50 kilometres ─ or even 500 kilometres ─ before they reach the border," Maharishi said. "But the most intelligent military can destroy the enmity within the enemy before it even thinks of invading the country. This is Vedic defence, which will not allow an enemy to be born."

Maharishi said that the key to such effective defence is coherent national consciousness. And he cited the "Meissner Effect" in modern physics, which reveals that internally coherent systems are able to repel external influences while incoherent systems are easily penetrated by disorder from outside. "Coherent national consciousness alone can prevent outside negative influences from disturbing the internal harmony of a country," Maharishi said.

For that, Maharishi has called on governments and philanthropic well-wishers of peace to establish groups of peace-creating experts in every country. "Through their daily performance of Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying, these groups will enliven total Natural Law ─ which administers the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order ─ to create an intensely integrated, harmonious national and world consciousness. Then no nation will ever have to face an enemy."

Maharishi also denounced as a sin the military strategy of killing the enemy. "Every religious text says that killing is always a sin. But an even bigger sin is for a government to maintain a military that is dedicated to killing and dying for the nation," Maharishi said. "The government gives a man money and food today because tomorrow he will be asked to give his life for the nation. You feed a goat today because you plan to destroy it tomorrow. It’s hideous, inhuman, and barbaric. Even though great poems have been sung in praise of the brave, the whole approach is false and ignorant and has to be amended."

Maharishi said that it is time for better governments to administer nations ─ and for that, better education is needed. "Governments are problem-ridden because of incomplete, fragmented, and pitiable education," Maharishi said. "Better education ─ consciousness-based education ─ will create a better government. It will train students to use their full brain and to enliven the cosmic intelligence of total Natural Law in their every thought, speech, and action. They will think cosmically, behave cosmically, and spontaneously ‘Help thy neighbour.’ They will promote coherent national consciousness, which will prevent negativity from arising anywhere in the country."

Maharishi’s Vedic approach to defence calls for: (1) one classroom period a day for consciousness-based education in the schools, colleges, and universities of every nation; (2) 3,000 Peace Palaces in the world’s largest 3,000 cities, including 51 in the UK ─ each Peace Palace to be home to a group of 100 to 200 peace-creating experts; and (3) one group of 8,000 peace-creating experts on every continent, including a larger group of 40,000 experts in India.

Maharishi said that the peace-creating influence of Vedic defence will be global and immediate. "Just as one sunrise eliminates the darkness of everything in the night, the Vedic approach to defence will eliminate all negativity and conflict ─ and create a new world of harmony and peace," Maharishi said. "The knowledge is practical and proven ─ and it is available for every individual and every government. Now it is just a matter of putting it to use."