Asian Times, London, 2 October 2001
Maharishi's call for world peace
Spiritual leader suggests another way

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation programme, part of a larger group teaching traditional Vedic pracitises, has called for a $1 billion dollar endowment fund aimed at creating what he calls a permanent world peace.

In recent US newspaper coverage, His Holiness has outlined a "proven" plan to eradicate terrorism without the need for conflict and bloodshed. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's appeal comes shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York struck, in which over 7,000 people are believed dead or missing. It is one of the more unconventional responses to events that have enraged much of the west into supporting prospective military action against Afghanistan, the country accused of harbouring prime suspect Osama bin Laden.

As the world braces itself for a possible wider conflict, Maharishi's organisation, which stretches across the Atlantic, has stated its firm opposition to strategies currently being employed by the US and its allies, in response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon atrocities.

The spiritual leader insists on a different approach. The endowment fund sought should be used to support a group of 40,000 experts in his group's Vedic methods, he suggests. Related technologies can create "a consciousness" leading to the establishment of world peace.

The proposed "experts" are believed to be already training in the leader's Vedic schools throughout India, and are on standby for performing ancient Vedic practises revived by Maharishi over the past 50 years. In a statement, the Maharishi Foundation's London headquarters have said that extensive research shows Vedic technologies have proved successful in creating "peace and harmony in world consciousness".

Head of the British section, Dr Geoffrey Clements, said he and his colleagues are approaching wealthy people in the UK to support the fund. Clements, a physicist, has also offered to brief the prime minister and his cabinet on the Vedic approach.

"We need to caution our government to avoid falling again into the vicious circle of attack and retribution," he said. "We want our prime minister to know that there is a practical and proven means to protect national security and eliminate the threat of global terrorism without having to take recourse to violence and destruction."

The article was published with a large colour picture of Maharishi, with the caption: Unconventional: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is opposed to the US response to terrorism
Reprinted with kind permission from the Asian Times, London.