SUBJECT: Maharishi announces plan in 108 countries to end global conflict and war; this week's press conference details

(5 November 2003) Responding to the urgent global need for new knowledge to create peace, His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi offered his practical, proven plan to promote permanent world peace and thereby end the centuries-old legacy of conflict and war. Maharishi’s plan includes establishing in 108 countries:

• A Peace Government and a group of several thousand peace-creating experts to promote integrated national consciousness – the basis of invincibility for the nation;

• A University of World Peace to promote mistake-free individual life through Consciousness-based education to develop the total brain potential and bring life into accord with Natural Law;

• A Peace Palace and a group of 100-200 peace-creating experts in every major city to promote harmonious, stress-free city life.

Maharishi said that 108 Peace Governments have already been founded, and efforts are under way to establish the Universities and Peace Palaces. "The world needs new knowledge to create peace," Maharishi said. "Fortunately, we have that knowledge – and it will be our joy to provide it to the world."

Maharishi’s announcements came during his global news conference on 29 October, which was broadcast live via satellite and Internet webcast from the Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in Meru, Holland. Maharishi’s next news conferences will be held on 5 and 6 November.

Maharishi said that at the basis of his programme to create world peace is the knowledge of the Constitution of the Universe – the Unified Field of Natural Law – which administers the universe with perfect order. "The Constitution of the Universe is the almighty cosmic administrator which promotes the evolution of everything in the ever expanding universe from point to infinity. It is from this unmanifest field of total Natural Law that the universe is repeatedly created, maintained, evolved, and dissolved," Maharishi said.

Maharishi explained the importance of this knowledge for the individual and society. "The Constitution of the Universe is the eternal, unbounded field of peace within everyone," Maharishi said. "Everyone can enjoy peace by bringing this field to their memory through Transcendental Meditation. And when groups practise Transcendental Meditation, the field of peace can be enlivened to create peace for the world."

Maharishi praised the efforts of Dr John Hagelin, President of the US Peace Government, to establish a $1 billion endowment fund to establish a Maharishi University of World Peace and employ a group of 8,000 peace-creating experts in the United States – a "shortcut" to creating world peace. Only the investment income of the $1 billion endowment will be used for peace projects; the principal will always remain as a permanent financial basis for world peace. "Eight thousand people enlivening the Constitution of the Universe within their own self-referral Transcendental Consciousness is good enough to maintain coherence in world consciousness, in the same way that one sun is good enough to provide light for the whole solar system," Maharishi said.

Dr Hagelin is a world-renowned quantum physicist and Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace. To contribute to the endowment fund, please visit www.USPeaceGovernment.org or www.GlobalCountry.org.

Maharishi’s peace plan also calls for the establishment in 108 countries of a University of World Peace to train a new generation of leadership for his Peace Governments on every level of administration – national, state, and city. The Universities will also provide the whole population with the prevention-oriented knowledge and technologies of total Natural Law – the Constitution of the Universe. Faculty in eight departments will offer comprehensive courses in:

• EDUCATION – Consciousness-Based Education to develop the total brain potential of every student so that every student enjoys a mistake-free life supported by the evolutionary power of Natural Law

• HEALTH – Consciousness-Based, Prevention-Oriented Health Care, free from harmful side effects, to prevent and cure disease

• ECONOMICS – The Poverty Removal Programme, which includes the Global Development Currency – the Raam – to develop unused fertile agricultural land for profitable export of organic food

• POLITICAL SCIENCE – Supreme Political Science for every level of government – national, state, and city – to create prevention-oriented, problem-free administration through the Constitution of the Universe

• ADMINISTRATION – Administration through Natural Law to bring the support of the managing intelligence of Nature to create unrestricted prosperity and progress for every government, business, and organisation

• DEFENCE – Invincible Defence Strategy to prevent the birth of an enemy through large groups of peace-creating experts

• AGRICULTURE – Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture to enliven the inner intelligence of plants through Vedic sounds for healthy, nutritious food

• ARCHITECTURE AND CITY PLANNING – Vedic Architecture and City Planning in accord with Natural Law to maximise the good fortune, health, and happiness of everyone

Maharishi concluded by reassuring the press that the darkness of the past will soon be forgotten because a new dawn of enlightenment is rising in the world – aided by modern technology. "We live in an age of instant communication where, from one place on earth, we can reach the whole world with the knowledge of the Constitution of the Universe. This is how we will ensure that every individual born on earth quickly enjoys his birthright – a life of peace, prosperity, and happiness – now and in the future," Maharishi said.