(March 15, 2004) His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi called on education leaders attending a national educators’ conference in New York City to utilise his Transcendental Meditation program in their schools, colleges, and universities to develop the full brain physiology and enormous creativity of every child—and create a better, more peaceful world.

"Children become what their parents, teachers, and professors teach them," Maharishi said. "Now, fortunately, the knowledge is available to awaken the unlimited creative potential within every child. So be kind to your children, particularly now when there is so much negativity in the world, and offer them the knowledge and programs to develop higher states of consciousness. Now you can decide if you want your children to be fully enlightened."

Maharishi’s message to educators came during his global news conference, which was broadcast live via satellite and Internet webcast on March 10 from the Capital of the Global Country of World Peace in Meru, Holland. Maharishi’s next news conferences will be held on March 17 and 18.

The national education conference highlighted nearly 50 years of classroom experience in thousands of schools, colleges, and universities worldwide—and hundreds of scientific studies documenting the benefits of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation in education. The conference attracted widespread national and international media coverage, including reports by Barron’s, Business Week, The New Yorker, People, CNN Medical News, CNN Headline News, CNN Radio, Voice of America, Black Entertainment Television, and NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox television affiliates in cities nationwide.

Maharishi told the educators that wakefulness is the basic requirement of education. "When the mind is dull and drowsy, then the brain physiology is not alert and the senses do not function properly. And then the child can only see and hear things poorly—and act wrongly," Maharishi said. "The responsibility lies with the current approach to education, which fails to train the student to use his full brain physiology. That is why the behaviour of the people is so topsy-turvy—and why the whole world is so topsy-turvy as well."

The solution, Maharishi said, is to develop a child’s full brain physiology through Transcendental Meditation—a simple, natural technique practised by millions of people of all ages, religions, and walks of life. "Transcendental Meditation allows the activity of the mind to gradually settle down to the unbounded transcendental field of consciousness—the Unified Field of Natural Law, which administers the universe with perfect order," Maharishi said. "Only when the mind transcends all boundaries does the total brain come into play. Otherwise, isolated experiences gained through the senses—what the eyes see or the ears hear—enliven only part of the brain. Transcendental Meditation is a natural way to fathom the Unified Field; develop the whole brain to function in every thought, speech, and action; and promote excellence in one’s personal and professional life."

Maharishi also emphasised that experience of the Unified Field should come before the intellectual knowledge. "First give a child an apple and let him taste it, and then you can tell him all about the apple. In the same way, first give a child the experience of the Unified Field—the Atma or Self—and then tell him all about how the human body and the ever-expanding universe are expressions of Atma. Then he will be able to understand the knowledge—and be able to utilise it as well," Maharishi said.

Maharishi acknowledged that his message may sound too good to be true. "We are living in a world of chaos and destruction—yet we are talking about saving life on earth. It is like talking about water to a thirsty man. Talk will never satisfy the man—only the taste of water will satisfy him. In the same way, only experience of the Unified Field—Atma—will satisfy a man’s desire for total knowledge," Maharishi said.

Maharishi announced that his Peace Governments in every nation are establishing Peace Palaces and Vedic universities, colleges, and schools to provide the direct experience of Atma—along with its intellectual understanding—to raise the whole population to enlightenment.

Maharishi concluded with strong words for the educators: "You are guides for your children; you are their teachers. You have a choice. You can keep them away from the experience of the totality of life—but then you will reap the consequences by creating more destroyers in the world. Or you can educate the children so they support life and peace—so they enjoy in their own lives the cosmic dignity of life. The choice is yours," Maharishi said.