This journal provides a forum for research on the forefront of mankind's
expanding knowledge of the universe. It is devoted to exploration of the
unified field of all the laws of nature through the combined approaches of
modern science and ancient Vedic science, as brought to light by Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi. The identification of the unified field by modern physics is only the
first glimpse of a new area of investigation that underlies all disciplines of
knowledge, and which can be explored not only through objective science but
through a new technology of consciousness developed by Maharishi.
The unified field is now beginning to be understood through modern physics as
the unified source of the entire universe, as a unified state of all laws of nature from
which all force and matter fields sequentially emerge according to exact dynamical
principles. As each science and each academic discipline progresses to uncover its
own most basic laws and foundational principles, each is beginning to discover that
the roots of these laws and principles can be traced to the unified field.
This journal recognizes a new method of gaining knowledge of the unified field that
combines the approach of the modern sciences with that of the most ancient of sciences,
the ancient tradition of Vedic science. Many thousands of years ago, the seers of the
Himalayas discovered, through exploration of the silent levels of awareness, a unified
field where all the laws of nature are found together in a state of wholeness. This unity
of nature was directly experienced to be a self-referral state of consciousness which is
unbounded, all-pervading, unchanging, and the self-sufficient source of all existing
things. They experienced and gave expression to the self-interacting dynamics through
which this unified field sequentially gives rise to the diversity of all laws of nature. That
experience is expressed in the ancient Vedic literature.
In our own time, Maharishi has brought to light the knowledge of this ancient science
and integrated it with the modern sciences in such a way that Vedic science and
modern science are now seen as complementary methods of gaining knowledge of the
same reality-the unified field of all the laws of nature. The knowledge of this ancient
science that Maharishi has brought to light is known as Maharishi's Vedic Science.
Maharishi's Vedic Science is to be understood, first of all, as a reliable method
of gaining knowledge, as a science in the most complete sense of the term. It relies
upon experience as the sole basis of knowledge, not experience gained through the
senses only, but experience gained when the mind, becoming completely quiet, is
identified with the unified field. This method, examined in relation to the modern
sciences, proves to be an effective means of exploring the unified field of all laws of
nature. On the basis of this method, complete knowledge of the unified field
becomes possible. It is possible to know the unified field both subjectively on the
level of direct experience through exploration of consciousness and objectively
through the investigative methods of modern science. Vedic Science gives complete
knowledge of consciousness, or the knower, complete knowledge of the object
5
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
known, and complete knowledge of the process of knowing. In knowing the
unified field, all three-knower, known, and process of knowing-are united in a
single unified state of knowledge in which the three are one and the same.
Maharishi has developed and made available a technology for the systematic exploration
of the unified field. This technology is a means by which anyone can gain
access to the unified field and explore it through experience of the simplest and
most unified state of consciousness. As this domain of experience becomes universally
accessible, the unified field becomes available as a direct experience that is a
basis for universal knowledge. The technology for gaining access to the unified
field is called the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, and the science based
on this experience, which links modern science and Vedic Science in a single unified
body of knowledge, is called the Science of Creative Intelligence.
Maharishi is deeply committed to applying the knowledge and technology of the
unified field for the practical benefit of life. He has developed programs to apply this
knowledge to every major area of human concern, including the fields of health,
education, rehabilitation, and world peace. These applications of the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field have laid it open to empirical verification and
demonstrated its practical benefit to mankind. Hundreds of scientific studies have
already established its usefulness. From these results it is clear that the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field is far more beneficial than technologies based on
present day empirical science; it promises to reduce and even eliminate war, terrorism,
crime, ill health, and all forms of human suffering.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, the applied value of Vedic Science,
represents a great advance in methods of gaining knowledge. Past science
was based on a limited range of knowledge gained through the senses. This new
technology opens to mankind a domain of experience of a deeper and more far
reaching import. It places within our grasp a new source of discovery of laws of
nature that far exceeds the methods of modern science yet remains complementary
to these methods.
Modern science and Vedic Science, explored together, constitute a radically new
frontier of knowledge in the contemporary world, opening out vistas of what it is
possible for mankind to know and to achieve, which extend far beyond present
conceptions, and which demand a revaluation of current paradigms of reality and
a reassessment of old conceptions of the sources and limits of human knowledge.
This introductory essay will provide a preliminary understanding of what the
unified field is, what Vedic Science is, and how Vedic Science and modern science
are related. It also defines fundamental concepts and terminology that will be frequently
used in this journal and surveys the practical applications of this new
technology. We begin with a description of the unified field as understood in
modern science.
The Unified Field of Modern Science
Within the last few years, modern theoretical physics has identified and mathematically
described a unified field at the basis of all observable states of physical
nature. Einstein's hope of finding a unified field theory to unite the electromagnetic,
gravitational, and other known force fields has now been virtually
realized in the form of unified quantum field theories. Instead of having several ir-
6
INTRODUCTION
reducible and distinct force fields, physics can now mathematically derive all four
known force fields from a single supersymmetric field located at the Planck scale
(10-33cm or 10-43 sec.), the most fundamental time-distance scale in nature. This field
constitutes an unbounded continuum of non-changing unity pervading the entire
universe. All matter and energy in the universe are now understood to be just excitations
of this one, all-pervading field.
Physics now has the capacity to accurately describe the sequence by which the
unified field of natural law systematically gives rise, through its own self-interacting
dynamics, to the diverse force and matter fields that constitute the universe.
With a precision almost undreamed of a few years ago, the modern science of cosmology
can now account for the exact sequence of dynamical symmetry breaking
by which the unified field, the singularity at the moment of cosmogenesis, sequentially
gave rise to the diverse force fields and matter fields. It is now possible to
determine the time and sequence in which each force and matter field decoupled
from the unified field, often to within a precision of minute fractions of a second.
This gives us a clear understanding of how all aspects of the physical universe
emerge from the unified field of natural law.
Mathematics, physiology, and other sciences have also located a unified source
and basis of all the laws of nature in their respective disciplines. In mathematics,
the foundational area of set theory provides an account of the sequential
emergence of all of mathematics out of the single concept of a set and the relationship
of set membership. The iterative mechanics of set formation at the foundation
of set theory directly present the mechanics of an underlying unified field of intelligence
that is self-sufficient, self-referral, and infinitely dynamic in its nature.
Investigations into the foundations of set theory are ultimately investigations of
this unified field of intelligence from which all diversity of the discipline emerges in
a rigorous and sequential fashion. In physiology, it is the DNA molecule that contains,
either explicitly or implicitly, the information specifying all structures and
functions of the individual physiology. In this sense, therefore, it is DNA that
unifies the discipline by serving as a unified source to which the diversity of
physiological functioning can be traced.
Each of the modern sciences may indeed be said to have glimpsed a unified state
of complete knowledge in which all laws of nature are contained in seed form.
Each has gained some knowledge of how the unified field of natural law sequentially
unfolds into the diverse expressions of natural law constituting its field of
study. Modern science is now discovering and exploring the fundamental unity of
all laws of nature.
Vedic Science
Maharishi's Vedic Science is based upon the ancient Vedic tradition of gaining
knowledge through exploration of consciousness, developed by the great masters
in the Himalayas who first expressed this knowledge and passed it on over many
thousands of years in what is now the oldest continuous tradition of knowledge in
existence. Maharishi's work in founding Vedic Science is very much steeped in that
ancient tradition, but his work is also very much imbued with the spirit of modern
science and shares its commitment to direct experience and empirical testing as the
foundation and criteria of all knowledge. For this reason, and other reasons to be
7
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
considered below, it is also appropriately called a science. The name "Vedic
Science" thus indicates both the ancient traditional origins of this body of
knowledge and the modern commitment to experience, system, testability, and the
demand that knowledge be useful in improving the quality of human life.
The founders of the ancient Vedic tradition discovered the capability of the human
mind to settle into a state of deep silence while remaining awake, and therein to experience
a completely unified, simple, and unbounded state of awareness, called
pure consciousness, which is quite distinct from our ordinary waking, sleeping, or
dreaming states of consciousness. In that deep silence, they discovered the capability
of the mind to become identified with a boundless, all-pervading, unified field that is
experienced as an eternal continuum underlying all existence. They gave expression
to the self-sufficient, infinitely dynamic, self-interacting qualities of this unified state
of awareness; and they articulated the dynamics by which it sequentially gives rise,
through its own self-interacting dynamics, to the field of space-time geometry, and
subsequently to all the distinct forms and phenomena that constitute the universe.
They perceived the fine fabric of activity, as Maharishi explains it, through which
this unity of pure consciousness, in the process of knowing itself, gives rise sequentially
to the diversity of natural law and ultimately to the whole of nature.
This experience was not, Maharishi asserts, on the level of thinking, or theoretical
conjecture, or imagination, but on the level of direct experience, which is more vivid,
distinct, clear, and orderly than sensory experience-perhaps much in the same way
that Newton or Einstein, when they discovered the laws of universal gravitation or
special relativity, enjoyed a vivid experience of sudden understanding or a kind of
direct "insight" into these laws. The experience of the unified field of all the laws of
nature appears to be a direct experience of this sort, except that it includes all laws of
nature at one time as a unified totality at the basis of all existence-an experience obviously
far outside the range of average waking state experience.
The ancient Vedic literature, as Maharishi interprets it, expresses in the sequence of
its flow and the structure of its organization, the sequence of the unfoldment of the
diversity of all laws of nature out of the unified field of natural law. The Veda is thus
to be understood as the sequential flow of this process of the oneness of pure consciousness
giving rise to diversity; and Vedic Science is to be understood as a body of
knowledge based on the direct experience of the sequential unfoldment of the unified
field into the diversity of nature. It is an account, according to Maharishi, of the
origin of the universe from the unified field of natural law, an account that is open to
verification through direct experience, and is thus to be understood as a systematic
science.
These ancient seers of the Vedic tradition developed techniques to refine the human
physiology so that it can produce this level of experience, techniques that were passed
on over many generations, but were eventually lost. Maharishi's revival and reinterpretation
of ancient Vedic science is based on his revival of these techniques which
have now been made widely accessible through the training of thousands of teachers
of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. He has thus provided a reliable
method of access to this field of direct experience where the oneness of pure consciousness
gives rise to the diversity of the laws of nature; and he has also developed
applications of this technology that render it open to experimental testing. These applications
will be considered below.
8
INTRODUCTION
Maharishi describes the experience of this unified field of consciousness as an experience
of a completely unchanging, unbounded unity of consciousness, silently
awake within itself. Gaining intimate familiarity with the silence of pure consciousness,
Maharishi holds, one gains the ability to experience within that silence an eternal
"fabric" or "blueprint" of all laws of nature that govern the universe, existing at
the unmanifest basis of all existence. This unmanifest basis of life, where all laws of
nature eternally reside in a collected unity, is experienced as the fabric of the silent
field of consciousness itself, which is not in space and time, but lies at the unmanifest
basis of all manifest activity in space and time. Through Maharishi's work, this experience
comes to be understood (as we see below) as a normal state of consciousness
that arises in the natural coun;e of human development.
Glimpses of this universal domain of experience where all possibilities reside together
in an eternally unified state have been reported in almost every culture and historical
epoch, from Plato to Plotinus and Augustine, and from Leibniz to Hegel and
Whitehead. Scientists like Kepler, Descartes, Cantor, and Einstein also appear to have
written of it and seemingly drew their insights into the laws of nature from this experience.
Descartes writes, for example, of an experience that he had as a young man of
''penetrating to the very heart of the kingdom of knowledge'' and there comprehending
all the sciences, not in sequence, but "all at once." Scientists and writers from many
traditions have described this experience of unity, which confirms that it is completely
universal, and not a product of a particular cultural tradition. Just as the Vedic tradition
has been misunderstood, however, so have those descriptions of consciousness
found in these different cultural traditions; for without a technique that makes the experience
systematically accessible to everyone, the understanding that this is a universal
experience of the most fundamental level of nature's activity has been obscured, and
has not before now emerged into the light of universal science.
According to Maharishi's Vedic Science, it is not only possible to gain direct experience
of the unity of natural law at the basis of the manifest universe, but one
can also directly experience the unity of nature sequentially giving rise to the diversity
of natural law through its own self-interacting dynamics. Maharishi's most recent
research has centered on delving deeply into the analysis of these selfinteracting
dynamics of consciousness.
The Self-Interacting Dynamics of Consciousness
When one gains the capability, through the practice of the Maharishi Technology
of the Unified Field, of remaining awake while becoming perfectly settled
and still, one gains the ability to experience a completely simple, unified, undifferentiated,
self-referral state of pure consciousness, which is called samhita in the
Vedic literature, in which knower, known, and process of knowing are one and the
same. Consciousness is simply awake to itself, knowing its own nature as simple,
unified pure consciousness. Yet in knowing itself, the state of pure consciousness
creates an intellectually conceived distinction between itself as knower, itself as
known, and itself as process of knowing. In Vedic literature, this is reflected in the
distinction between rishi (knower), devata (process of knowing), and chhandas
(object of knowledge). According to Maharishi, from the various interactions and
transformations of these three intellectually conceived values in the unified state of
pure consciousness, all diverse forms of knowledge, all diverse laws of nature, and
9
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
ultimately all diversity in material nature itself sequentially emerge.
The conscious mind, awake at this totally settled and still level of awareness, can
witness the mechanics by which this diversification of the many out of the unity of
pure consciousness takes place. The mechanics of rishi, devata, and chhandas
transforming themselves into samhita, samhita transforming itself into rishi,
devata, and chhandas, and rishi, devata and chhandas transforming themselves into
each other are the mechanics by which the unity of pure consciousness gives rise
to the diversity of natural law. These mechanics are expressed in the sequential unfoldment
of Vedic literature. These are the self-interacting dynamics of consciousness
knowing itself, which, Maharishi asserts, sequentially give rise to all
diversity in nature.
Maharishi (1986) describes this self-referral state of consciousness as the basis of
all creative processes in nature:
This self-referral state of consciousness is that one element in nature on the ground of
which the infinite variety of creation is continuously emerging, growing, and dissolving.
The whole field of change emerges from this field of non-change, from this selfreferral,
immortal state of consciousness. The interaction of the different intellectually
conceived components of this unified self-referral state of consciousness is that allpowerful
activity at the most elementary level of nature. That activity is responsible
for the innumerable varieties of life in the world, the innumerable streams of intelligence
in creation. (pp.25-26)
The Structure of Maharishi's Vedic Science
One of Maharishi's most important contributions to Vedic scholarship has been
his discovery of the Apaurusheya Bhashya, the "uncreated commentary" of the
Rig Veda, which brings to light the dynamics by which the Veda emerges sequentially
from the self-interacting dynamics of consciousness. According to
Maharishi's analysis, the Veda unfolds through its own commentary on itself,
through the sequential unfoldment, in different sized packets of knowledge, of its
own knowledge of itself. All knowledge of the Veda is contained implicitly even in
the first syllable "Ak" of the Rig Veda, and each subsequent expression of
knowledge elaborates the meaning inherent in that packet of knowledge through
an expanded commentary. The phonology of that syllable, as analyzed by
Maharishi, expresses the self-interacting dynamics of consciousness knowing itself.
As pure consciousness interacts with itself, at every stage of creation a new level of
wholeness emerges to express the same self-interacting dynamics of rishi, devata,
and chhandas.
Thus the body of Vedic literature reflects, in its very organization and structure,
the sequential emergence of all structures of natural law from the unity of pure
consciousness. Each unit of Vedic literature-Rig Veda, Sarna Veda, Yajur Veda,
Atharva Veda, Upanishads, Aranyakas, Brahmanas, Vedangas, Upangas, ltihasa,
Puranas, Smritis, and Upaveda-expresses one aspect or level of the process. As
Maharishi (1986) describes it:
10
The whole of Vedic literature is beautifully organized in its sequential development to
present complete knowledge of the reality at the unmanifest basis of creation and complete
knowledge of all of its manifest values. (p.28)
INTRODUCTION
Veda, Maharishi asserts, is the self-interaction of consciousness that ultimately
gives rise to the diversity of nature. The diversity of creation sequentially unfolding
from the unity of consciousness is the result of distinctions being created within the
wholeness of consciousness, as consciousness knows itself. Thus from the perspective
of Vedic Science, the entire universe is just an expression of consciousness
moving within itself: all activity in nature is just activity within the unchanging
continuum of the wholeness of consciousness.
Through the texts of ancient Vedic science, as interpreted by Maharishi, we
possess a rich account of the emergence of diversity out of the unity of natural law.
On the basis of this account, it becomes feasible to compare the Vedic description
of the origin of the universe with that of the modern sciences.
Modern Science and Vedic Science
When Maharishi heard from major scientists of the recent advances of unified
field theory in physics, he asserted that modern science had glimpsed the unified
field described in ancient Vedic science. ''The knowledge of the unified field,'' he
said (1986, p.29), "has been discovered by modern science during just the last few
years, but the complete knowledge of the unified field has always been available in
the Vedic literature.'' Modern science, he proposed, had now arrived at the edge of
comprehending, through unified quantum field theories, what Vedic science had
described on the basis of exploration of the least excited state of consciousness
since ancient times: that all diversity in nature sequentially emerges from a unified
source through a precise self-interacting dynamics. Modern experimental science
and Maharishi's Vedic Science could now be seen as two diverse yet mutually complementary
approaches to knowing the same underlying reality-one through the
empirical method, the other through the exploration of the least excited state of
consciousness. Through Maharishi's inspiration, this has become a major research
program that has engaged the attention of many scientists and that has yielded very
rich results.
Over the past decade, Maharishi has participated in numerous symposia with
major scientists on the theme of exploring modern science and Vedic Science to
discover detailed structural similarities in their descriptions of the unified field.
These symposia have attracted eminent unified field theorists, mathematicians,
and physiologists, including a number of Nobel laureates, as well as many of the
most highly recognized pundits of the Vedic tradition. Out of these interactions has
come a meeting of two traditions, East and West, on the ground of their common
theme: the investigation of the unified field.
Those who have followed these symposia have recognized a deep and impressive
structure of knowledge common to both traditions. Both identify a boundless, allpervading
field underlying all states of matter and energy in the universe; both
locate it on the most fundamental time-distance scale of nature; both assign to it
the same properties of self-sufficiency, self-interaction, infinite dynamism, unboundedness,
and unity, among many other common attributes; both identify a
threefold structure at the basis of all nature; and both describe a dynamics by
which the diversity of nature sequentially emerges from this unified field according
to precise laws. The result of these symposia has been that many scientists, following
Maharishi's lead, now feel confident to assert that the unified field described
11
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
by physics and the unified field of consciousness described by Vedic Science are
one and the same.
In this issue of Modern Science and Vedic Science, the lead article by John
Hagelin explores many of the deep connections between contemporary unified
field theory in physics and Maharishi's Vedic Science from the standpoint of an active
field theorist. Dr. Hagelin has worked at the leading research centers for the
study of particle physics and has published extensively in the area of unified quantum
field theories. His area of expertise includes both the most recent developments
in unified quantum theories as well as Maharishi's Vedic Science. His work
brings these two diverse methods of inquiry into close relation, drawing upon both
the latest developments of unified field theories and the direct experience of the
unified field.
Dr. Hagelin presents evidence for Maharishi's assertion that the unified field of
consciousness and the unified field of physics are the same. He cites deep parallels
between the descriptions of this unified field found in physics and Vedic Science,
but his main evidence for this new paradigm is drawn from experimental research
in the social sciences on the "Maharishi Effect"-the measurable effects on society
resulting from the practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified 'Field.
The New Paradigm of the Unity of Nature
It is a common belief that the unified field of physics is an objective reality of nature
and that consciousness is a subjective experience, and that the two belong therefore
to different categories of existence. According to this understanding, one is purely
material, the other is purely mental, and the two cannot, therefore, be equated.
Through the experience of pure consciousness described in Vedic Science, that
unified level of intelligence is experienced, not as a mere subjective and localized
phenomenon of thought or sensation, but as a non-changing, unbounded field of
being, pervading all forms and phenomena in the universe on a non-active, or silent,
and unmanifest level. Objective and subjective aspects of nature are seen as but two
manifest modes of this unified field at the unmanifest basis of existence. A thorough
examination of the nature of the unified field in physics and the descriptions
of unbounded consciousness brought to light by Maharishi supports the thesis that
they are but two complementary modes of apprehending a single underlying reality.
The view of nature as consisting of billiard-ball-type objects, each separate,
discrete, and isolated from the other, belongs to the old classical Newtonian view of
the world. Quantum field theory in modern physics no longer views nature in this
way, but provides a new understanding in which the primary reality is that of quantum
fields. All forms of matter and energy are understood to be excitations of these
underlying fields. In the last year and a half, the apparently different fields of gravity,
electromagnetism, and the weak and strong interactions have been theoretically
unified as different levels of expression of one single underlying field. All forms and
phenomena in the universe are just modes of vibratory excitation of this one, allpervading
unified field.
Today, the success of modern physics in unifying our understanding of physical
nature is mirrored in the success of Maharishi's Vedic Science in unifying our
understanding of consciousness. When the unbounded level of pure consciousness
is gained as a direct experience, all activity in nature is experienced as an excited
12
INTRODUCTION
state of that one, all-pervading field. Since quantum field theory also describes all
activity in the universe as excitations of one underlying field, the simplest interpretation
is that there is a single unified field which can be known both through
direct experience and through the objective sciences. In this new understanding of
the unity of nature, mind and matter cease to be viewed as ultimately different and
come to be seen as expressions of a deeper unity of unbounded consciousness.
The unity of nature is not a mere hypothetical unity, nor a unity of intellectual
understanding or interpretation. It is a unity of direct experience that has been
described in almost every tradition and every historical epoch. Maharishi's Vedic
Science only brings to light what has been the experience of many of the greatest
minds throughout history. What is radically new is that Maharishi has provided a
systematic and reliable method by which anyone can gain access to this level of experience.
This method of access is the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field has been introduced by Maharishi
as an effective means for opening the unified field to all as a direct experience. In this
way, the unified field becomes universally accessible to systematic exploration.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field includes the Transcendental
Meditation (TM) program and the TM-Sidhi program (discussed separately below)
as its key components. The TM program provides a systematic procedure by which
the mind is allowed to settle naturally into a state of restful alertness, the selfreferral
state of pure consciousness in which the mind is completely silent and yet
awake. In this way, the state of pure consciousness, which has been the subject of
philosophical speculation throughout the centuries, can now be investigated on the
basis of direct experience. Maharishi's immensely important contribution to the
clarification and elucidation of this experience of pure consciousness will be a
theme for analysis in future issues of this journal.
This quiet, still level of consciousness has rarely been experienced in the past
because no systematic and effective technique has been available for providing that
experience. The TM technique is a simple, natural, and effortless procedure for
allowing the awareness to settle into a state of deep silence while remaining awake.
It has proved to be uniquely effective in making this level of experience widely accessible.
Through the deep rest gained during the practice of the technique, balance
is systematically created on all levels of physiological functioning, and the nervous
system is habituated to a more settled, coherent, and alert style of functioning. In
time, a state of completely integrated functioning is gained, in which pure consciousness
is spontaneously and permanently maintained. Once this state is
established, the silent, self-referral field of awareness is always present as a stable,
non-changing ground underlying all changing states of awareness. This integrated
state of consciousness, Maharishi holds, is the basis of all excellence in life and
provides the foundation for the further development of higher states of consciousness
through the practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi program.
Maharishi's Programs for the Development of Higher
States of Consciousness
The ultimate purpose of the TM and TM-Sidhi program-and all aspects of the
Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field and Vedic Science-is the development
13
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
of consciousness, the unfoldment of the full human potential to live life in
enlightenment. Enlightenment is that fully developed state of life in which one enjoys
complete knowledge and lives in total fulfillment. In this state, one lives in
harmony with all laws of nature, enjoying the full support of natural law to achieve
any desire without making mistakes.
Maharishi has identified a specific sequence of higher states of consciousness,
each distinct from waking, dreaming, and sleeping, which, he asserts, arise in the
normal full course of human development. Each state of consciousness unfolds on
the basis of a concrete shift in the mode of the individual's neurophysiological
functioning. These states can be distinguished from waking, dreaming, and sleeping
on the basis of their distinct physiological correlates. The higher states of consciousness
that arise in this developmental sequence are, Maharishi asserts, a
source of greater joy, knowledge, and fulfillment than ordinary waking state life.
The attainment of these higher states of consciousness is the basis for fully
understanding and applying the theoretical assertions of Maharishi's Vedic
Science. Vedic Science is just the exposition of the full range of direct experience
that unfolds during the course of the natural development of human consciousness.
These states of consciousness are universal stages of human development
accessible to everyone through the practice of the Maharishi Technology of
the Unified Field. What before was shrouded in the veil of mysticism is now scientifically
understood as a normal, natural stage of human life available to anyone.
The second article of this issue by Dr. Charles Alexander et al. examines the empirical
evidence, drawn from behavioral and neurophysiological research, for the
existence of these higher stages of human development. This article unfolds the
scientific basis for understanding and verifying higher states of consciousness from
the standpoint of a developmental psychologist, and lays the basis for a new
paradigm of human development.
Research on the Relation of Modern
Science and Vedic Science
Each individual nervous system, when refined through the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field, is an instrument through which the silent field of
pure unbounded consciousness becomes accessible as a field of inquiry. Since the
unified field is all-pervading and everywhere the same, a nervous system finely
enough attuned in its functioning can gain the ability, according to Maharishi, to
experience and identify itself with that unbounded, undifferentiated and unified
field underlying all activity in nature. By taking one's awareness from the gross
level of sensory objects to perception of finer levels of activity, one gains the ability
to experience that level of nature's functioning at which the unity of pure consciousness
gives rise to diversity. Gaining this unified state of consciousness is the
means by which anyone can experience and confirm the structure of knowledge
and reality described in Vedic Science. This is partly what makes Vedic Science a
precise, verifiable science: all theoretical structures of the science can be verified
through a reliable, systematic, effective technology. Other foundational aspects of
this science will be considered below.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field becomes, in the modern world, a
method for the investigation of the unified field and the most refined level of
14
INTRODUCTION
nature's activity through direct experience. Modern physics, through its objective
method of inquiry, has glimpsed a unified field underlying all of nature; but
physics has reached a fundamental impasse in its ability to experimentally investigate
the unified field, because the energies required to probe these finer scales
exceed those attainable by any conceivable particle accelerator technology. Where
physics can go no further, the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field
facilitates inquiry beyond the limitations of the objective aproach by providing an
effective means of exploring the unified field on the level of direct experience.
This exploration of the unified field through the subjective experience of consciousness
is a well structured program of research. It is guided by the knowledge
of Vedic Science set forth by Maharishi in conjunction with the modern sciences.
When descriptions of the unified field from the standpoint of modern science,
Vedic Science, and direct experience coalesce, the three together provide a basis of
complete knowledge. This program of research is based on Maharishi's exposition
of the Vedic literature as a complete and detailed expression of the unified field.
According to Maharishi's exposition of the Veda, the sequential emergence of
the diverse laws of nature from the unified field can be directly experienced in the
field of consciousness as a sequence of sounds; these are presented in the sequential
emergence of phonological structures of the Vedic texts. Veda is just the structure
of the self-interacting dynamics through which the unified field gives rise to the
diverse expressions of natural law. Fundamental theoretical concepts in physics
and other disciplines, insofar as they are valid descriptions of nature, should
therefore correspond to different aspects of Vedic literature that describe these
realities from the standpoint of direct experience.
The basic program of research of modern science and Vedic Science, as conceived by
Maharishi, thus has three major goals: (1) to develop an integrated structure of knowledge
by fathoming the depth of correspondence betweeen the principles of modern
science and Vedic Science; (2) to provide, from Vedic Science, a foundation in direct experience
for the most profound theoretical concepts of modern science; and (3) to
resolve the impasse faced by the objective approach of modern science through the addition
of the subjective approach of Vedic Science, which provides complete knowledge
of nature on the basis of the complete development of the knower.
In the next issue of this journal, Dr. M. H. Weinless will explore set theory and
other foundational areas of modern mathematics in relation to Vedic Science. Drs.
R.K. Wallace, D.S. Pasco, and J.B. Fagan will explore the fundamental relationship
between Vedic Science and the foundational areas of modern physiology such
as molecular biology. Their paper will also discuss the extent to which fundamental
principles of Vedic Science can be used to further investigation of DNA structure
and function.
The discovery of deep structures of knowledge common to Vedic Science and
modern science represents such a profound contribution to our understanding of
nature that this journal was founded to foster continued scholarly investigation of
the interrelations between these complementary methods of gaining knowledge.
Knowledge gained by direct experience of the fine fabrics of nature's activity, and
knowledge gained by the experimental methods of modern science coalesce in a new
integrated method of inquiry that offers both the fundamental principles of
modern science and the expressions of direct experience in Vedic Science as two
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MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
facets of one reality of nature's functioning.
Maharishi (1986) sums up the relation between Vedic Science, modern science,
and the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field:
Vedic Science is applied through the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. We
speak of the unified field in connection with Vedic Science because of the similarity of
what has been discovered by physics and what exists in the self-referral state of human
consciousness. The Technology of the Unified Field is a purely scientific procedure for
the total development of the human psyche, the total development of the race. This is a
time when objective, science-based progress in the world is being enriched by the
possibility of total development of human life on earth, and this is the reason why we
anticipate the creation of a unified field based civilization. (p.35)
On the basis of the universal availability of this domain of experience, an empirical
science of consciousness becomes possible for the first time.
The Science of Creative Intelligence:
Foundations of a New Science of Consciousness
The unified science that links the objective method of modern science and the
subjective method of Vedic Science, while preserving the integrity of each, is called
the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI). Maharishi himself has laid the foundations
of this new science by showing, first, how a precise subjective science of consciousness
is established on the basis of the direct experience of consciousness in its
pure form; and second, how the experimental method can be used to test empirically
the assertions of the subjective -science. Through Maharishi's work, for the first
time in history, the full potential of human consciousness can be investigated both
through direct experience and through the objective methods of modern science.
The foundations of this new science linking the subjective and objective method
will now be considered.
Experiential Foundations
Prior to Maharishi's work, the term 'consciousness' was considered too vague
and indefinite to be allowed into scientific discussion. It was excluded from science
as a metaphysical term because consciousness was not objectively observable, and
therefore apparently not amenable to scientific investigation. Through Maharishi's
work, the concept of consciousness has been given a precise, well-defined meaning
on the basis of direct experience, and its relation to the objective framework of
science has been precisely specified.
The experience of pure consciousness, available to anyone through the regular
practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, is a basis for precise experiential
knowledge of consciousness in its simplest, most fundamental, and most
unified state. Even though consciousness can never be an object of experience,
when the conscious mind becomes completely settled in a wakeful state, it experiences
its own nature as pure wakefulness, pure consciousness, without any activity
or objective content. Through the repeatable, systematic experience of this
silent but wakeful state of mind, the concept of pure consciousness, which has been
subject to conjecture and debate throughout the centuries, is now available to direct
experience.
Having laid the basis for introducing consciousness into science as a precise concept,
it remained for Maharishi to develop a program of applied research to test
16
INTRODUCTION
theoretical predictions of Vedic Science. Identifying consciousness with the unified
field provides a precise understanding of where consciousness is located in the
framework of the sciences. To create an empirical science of consciousness,
however, it was also necessary to account for how consciousness could be investigated
through experimental research.
Empirical Foundations
Maharishi's work has also laid the basis for an experimental investigation of
consciousness. He has led the way in drawing out predictions of Vedic Science that
are open to testing, translating discussions of consciousness, derived from experience
of higher states of consciousness, into predictions of experimentally
observable phenomena. Three examples will illustrate this principle.
Pure consciousness, as was noted above, is experienced during the practice of the
TM technique as a state of pure restful alertness. This purely subjective experience
does not, however, establish objectively whether it is in fact a state of deep rest and
alertness, or only seems to be. If a person is in a deep state of rest and alertness,
Maharishi has asserted, then physiological evidence of deep rest and alertness
should be observable. Reduced levels of oxygen consumption, reduced breath rate,
and other measures of more refined physiological activity would be predicted. Patterns
of EEG coherence in the alpha range, indicative of restful alertness, should
also be observed. Early pioneering research by Dr. R. K. Wallace found that these
changes do indeed occur. In this way, statements about the subjective experience of
consciousness were translated into empirically verifiable assertions. The basis of
this correlation between consciousness and physiology is a principle, fundamental
to Maharishi's thinking, that for every state of consciousness there is a corresponding
state of physiological functioning. The range of physiological correlates of the
experience of pure consciousness is a subject of continuing research.
Consider a second example. Pure consciousness is understood in Vedic Science
as a clear and settled state of awareness. Anyone who gains this state is said to have
a mind like a placid lake, unrippled by waves and thus able to reflect the world in a
precise, non-agitated manner. Maharishi drew from this several predictions. One is
that a person growing in the ability to experience pure consciousness would experience
a more stable and orderly state of physiological functioning. This can be
translated into the testable prediction that subjects regularly practicing the TM
program display increased stability of the autonomic nervous system. Another
prediction is that the practice of the TM program will produce greater perceptual
clarity and greater orderliness of thinking. Translated into specific terms, this leads
to the prediction that practicing the TM program will measurably increase
measurements on such scales as auditory discrimination, brain wave coherence,
and problem solving ability. Research has been designed, carried out, and reported
in the literature which measures the growth of these parameters in groups practicing
the TM program by comparison to control groups, thus providing objective
verification of the predicted correlates of the subjective experience of pure consciousness.
A third example of how assertions of Vedic Science can be translated into
testable form is found in the sociological experiments on the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field. The hypothesis is that a group of persons practic-
17
MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
ing this technology in one place, by bringing their awareness to the level of perfect
orderliness in the unified field, will enliven qualities of harmony and orderliness in
collective consciousness, thus producing measurable positive changes in the quality
of societal life. Many experiments have been designed and carried out by
Maharishi demonstrating the power of this technology to produce significant
changes in the level of coherence, positivity, balance, and stability in society, even
on a global scale. The results of these experiments strongly support Maharishi's
assertion that consciousness is identical with the unified field.
Experimental Research
Over three hundred experimental studies in the areas of physiology, psychology,
and sociology provide substantial confirmation of many basic assertions of Vedic
Science in the arena of empirical science. Many of these studies, now published in
major scientific journals throughout the world, have been collected in the volumes
called Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Programme: Collected
Papers (1976). This research provides experimental validation of the efficacy
of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Because this research is too extensive
to summarize here, the reader is referred to the Collected Papers for articles
cited in this and other professional journals. For a recent comprehensive
bibliography of these studies, see Wallace (1986). Overall, this research probably
represents the most concerted, well-designed research program on a potential
means to benefit mankind ever conceived. Its present standing is that, taken
together as a body of research, it is one of the most impressive confirmations of a
theory of human potential ever executed.
Although it is beyond the scope of this introduction to go into the details of this
research, it is worthwhile to mention some of the broad categories of scientific investigation
that have evolved to guide the research program of the Science of
Creative Intelligence. The main areas of research include studies on the individual
and society. Research on benefits to the individual may be further subdivided into
studies of physiological changes (both during and after the practice); cognitive,
psychological, and behavioral changes; benefits to health and social behavior; and
benefits to athletic performance, performance in business, and academic performance.
Research on social benefits through collective practice may be further
grouped into research on families, city populations, national populations, and
global population. These research studies fall into the categories of crime prevention,
accident prevention, benefits to economy, health, violence reduction, and
world peace.
On the basis of this research, basic assertions of Vedic Science become verifiable
through empirical science. There is, moreover, a unity of theory underlying these
diverse predictions and tests. These studies, taken as a whole, constitute a coherent
research program that tests the prediction that repeated experience of the unified field
results in greater orderliness, coherence, and positivity, in both individual and social
life. Research on these changes not only tests fundamental theory, but demonstrates
the practical benefits of this new technology. The Maharishi Technology of the
Unified Field becomes open to experimental testing precisely because it has significant
practical applications in improving every area of human life.
18
INTRODUCTION
Practical Applications of the Maharishi Technology of
the Unified Field
Maharishi has frequently asserted that the purpose of Vedic Science is to benefit
life, not merely to give knowledge for its own sake. Knowledge, he holds, is for action,
action for achievement, and achievement for fulfillment. The ultimate purpose
of Vedic Science and its applied technology is, therefore, to bring human life
to fulfillment.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field brings fulfillment to individual
life by unfolding the full potential of consciousness. When higher states of consciousness
are realized, Maharishi has recently emphasized, life is lived in ''twentyfour-hour
bliss." Gaining contact with the unified field, one enjoys spontaneous
right action, lives life in total accord with all laws of nature, and can accomplish
any life-supporting desire. Violations of natural law cease, and all suffering, which
is caused by violation of natural law, comes to an end. Life is lived free from
mistakes in inner and outer fulfillment. Such is the fundamental purpose of the
technology Maharishi has created.
Perfect Health
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field has important practical applications
in the area of health. According to Maharishi, sickness arises from imbalance.
Perfect health means wholeness, balance on all levels of life. When individual
life is established in the unified field of all the laws of nature, all actions
are spontaneously in accord with natural law. In terms of physiological functioning,
this means perfect integration and balance, from the biochemical and
molecular levels to the macroscopic, organismic levels.
Maharishi Ayurveda is an integral part of Maharishi's Vedic Science. Maharishi
Ayurveda is a revitalized form of the ancient ayurvedic science of life and health,
which has been restored to its original purity and effectiveness by Maharishi. According
to Maharishi, the cornerstone of Ayurveda is the development of consciousness.
Perfect health in mind, body, and behavior is the result of perfect
balance in consciousness and physiology. This develops through the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field, when the mind identifies itself with the unified
field, the field of perfect balance and wholeness.
Maharishi Ayurveda combines the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field
with specific procedures to treat and prevent illness and promote longevity.
Maharishi Ayurveda Medical Centers have been established in many countries to
eliminate the basis of sickness, create perfect health, and reverse the aging process.
Over the last fifteen years, research into the effects of the Maharishi Technology of
the Unified Field on health have been carried out at research institutions all over
the world, and Maharishi's recent emphasis on Ayurveda provides many new
research opportunities for investigating the applications of Vedic Science in the
area of health.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field also includes technologies to accomplish
specific goals of individual and social life. The TM-Sidhi program has
been founded by Maharishi to utilize the knowledge and the organizing power of
the unified field for improving achievements in every area of human endeavor.
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MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
Unfolding Full Human Potential Through the TM and
TM-Sidhi Program
When one gains the level of experience of the self-interacting dynamics of consciousness,
Maharishi holds, one gains command over all the laws of nature. Stationed
at the source of all laws of nature, at the "central switchboard" of nature's
activity, human consciousness can command all the laws of nature to create any
desirable effect in the material world. Maharishi has brought forth a program for
gaining mastery over all laws of nature, based on the formulations found in the ancient
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one of the principal books of Vedic literature.
Through this program, the TM-Sidhi program, the mind gains the ability to function
from the level of the self-interacting dynamics of the unified field. Once
established in pure self-referral awareness through the practice of the TM program,
an individual gains the ability to draw upon the organizing power of the
unified field to accomplish anything. Since the unified field is the source of all existence,
its organizing power is infinite, and one who functions from this level has
unlimited organizing ability. Established in that unified field of all possibilities on
the unmanifest level of existence before consciousness assumes the form of matter,
all possibilities open to one's awareness and one can govern the expressions of the
unified field as it transforms itself into matter. As Maharishi (1986) expresses it:
In this program, human awareness identifies itself with that most powerful level of
nature's functioning and starts to function from there. The purpose of the TM-Sidhi program
is to consciously create activity from that level from where nature performs. (p. 74)
Through the practice of the TM-Sidhi program, Maharishi predicts, it will
become possible to achieve levels of body-mind coordination hitherto deemed impossible.
It will be possible, he asserts, to realize the ancient dream of flying
through the air, and to develop highly enhanced powers of hearing, seeing, and intuition
that extend the senses far beyond the limits currently conceived to be possible.
By activating laws of nature that are now hidden to ordinary methods of
scientific investigation, the TM-Sidhi program provides a research methodology to
explore what is possible for mankind to achieve on the basis of functioning from
that level where the conscious mind has become identified with the unified field.
This is the basis of a technological revolution more powerful and beneficial to life
than any conceived through empirical science.
The Maharishi Effect
The TM-Sidhi program, when practiced in groups, is even more powerful than,
the TM-Sidhi program practiced alone. The collective practice of the TM-Sidhi program
can produce an influence that affects the entire world in measurable ways.
This global influence of coherence generated through the group practice of the
Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field has been called the "Maharishi Effect."
As early as 1960, Maharishi predicted that when individuals practice the TM and
TM-Sidhi program in sufficiently large groups, a measurable increase in
orderliness, coherence, and positive trends would be observed in society. By
enlivening the life-supporting and evolutionary qualities of the unified field, such
as perfect orderliness, infinite dynamism, and self-sufficiency, Maharishi held,
these qualities would be enlivened in collective consciousness and this would have
positive measurable effects on a wide social scale.
20
INTRODUCTION
Over the years, social scientists developed formulas for predicting the size of the
group necessary to create a "phase transition" in society to a measurably higher
quality of life. These formulas, calculated on the basis of analogous phase transitions
from disorder to orderliness studied in physics, came out to be approximately
one percent of a population practicing the TM program, and a much smaller
percentage, on the order of the square root of one percent practicing the TM-Sidhi
program.
Since 1978, many experimental studies have been performed to measure the effect
of large groups practicing the TM-Sidhi program. Experimental confirmation
of the principle has been the consistent result. The Maharishi Effect is now as well
documented as any principle of modern social science. In creating this technology,
Maharishi has provided an effective method of social change that operates from the
silent, harmonizing level of the unified field to produce a transformation in the
quality of collective consciousness, thereby effortlessly creating coherence on a
global scale. Maharishi (1986) describes how this effect is produced:
The transcendental level of nature's functioning is the level of infinite correlation.
When the group awareness is brought in attunement with that level, then a very intensified
influence of coherence radiates, and a great richness is created. Infinite correlation
is a quality of the transcendental level of nature's functioning from where
orderliness governs the universe. (p. 75)
In a forthcoming issue of this journal, an article by David Orme-Johnson will
summarize the empirical research on the Maharishi Effect. This article surveys the
many experimental studies documenting the sociological improvements resulting
from the group practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Based
on these results Maharishi asserts that the collective practice of the TM-Sidhi program
in groups of 7000 (the square root of one percent of the world's population)
produces coherence in the collective consciousness of the entire world. Statistically
significant reductions in crime, accidents, fatalities, and disease, and other positive
benefits on a global scale observed during experimental periods have established
this as an effective means of changing collective consciousness and thereby changing
the quality of life in the world-simply by enlivening the source of order and
coherence at the basis of nature, from the level of the unified field.
Maharishi's Program to Create World Peace
The most dramatic application of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field
is Maharishi's program to create world peace through the creation of a permanent
group of 7000 collectively practicing the TM-Sidhi program. Maharishi's technology
is a basis for eliminating negativity and destructive tendencies throughout
the world. Large groups of experts in the Maharishi Technology of the Unified
Field creating coherence during experimental periods have provided ample opportunity
for scientific research. During these experimental periods, conflict and
violence have been reduced in war-torn areas and negative trends have been reversed.
Over thirty studies have established the efficacy of this technology to
eliminate conflict and promote life supporting, positive trends throughout the
world.
Maharishi clearly lays out the basis of his program to create world peace. Stress,
he holds, is the basic cause of all negativity, violence, terrorism, and national and
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MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
international conflicts. Stress generated by the violation of natural law causes
strained trends and tendencies in the environment. Through the Maharishi
Technology of the Unified Field, human intelligence can be identified with the
unified field, and violations of natural law will cease. "Reinforcement of evolutionary
power in world consciousness is the only effective way,'' Maharishi holds
(1986), "to neutralize all kinds of negative trends in the world and maintain world
consciousness on a high level of purity" (p. 7).
These global applications of this new science and technology are almost beyond
present levels of imagination. Yet scientific research has found measurable reductions
in levels of violence, crime, and other indications of negativity during the
practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field in sufficiently large
groups during experimental trial periods. Here for the first time in history is a
scientific basis for creating world peace, ending terrorism, and reducing the
negative trends of society.
On the basis of these studies, Maharishi holds that world peace can be guaranteed
now, within a few years, through the establishment of groups of 7000; he
holds that perfect health and unlimited longevity can be achieved for individual
life, and that balance, coherence and health in society can be established in our
generation. War, crime, poverty, and all problems that bring unhappiness to the
family of man can be entirely eliminated. Life, he holds, can be lived in absolute
abundance and fulfillment. Maharishi has called upon every significant individual
in the world to act now to adopt this program for world peace by creating groups
of 7000 collectively practicing the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field to
establish world peace and guarantee its perpetuation.
The practical benefits which Maharishi foresees through this new technology are
far greater than those achieved by the technology based on present science. As
science has investigated deeper levels of nature, from microbes to molecules to
atoms, new technologies have emerged which apply the knowledge in areas such as
medicine and nuclear power. In drawing upon the deepest and most powerful level
of natural law, the level of the unified field, Vedic Science lays the basis for much
more powerful technologies still. Where modern medicine has been able to
eliminate some diseases by drawing upon microscopic levels, Vedic Science lays the
basis for the elimination of all disease, and more importantly, for creation of
perfect health and reversal of aging. While modern science has produced nuclear
technology but no technology for peaceful resolution of conflict, Vedic Science
draws upon the infinite organizing power of the unified field at the basis of nature
to create social harmony and world peace while preserving cultural integrity and
stimulating prosperity and progress.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field as a
New Method of Gaining Knowledge
The bold assertions about what is practically possible through the application of
the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field must be understood in the context
of the new method of gaining knowledge that Maharishi has founded. The history
of science testifies that as new methods of gaining knowledge of deeper and more
unified levels of natural law become available, more powerful and useful
technologies become available. The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field is
22
INTRODUCTION
based on the deepest and most unified level of knowledge of nature. It should not
be surprising, therefore, that this technology provides a radically new source of
organizing power to fulfill the highest goals of mankind.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field offers a fundamentally new approach
to knowledge that has not been available before. In asserting that it is possible
for one individual to know all the laws of nature and the entirety of the universe
within his or her own consciousness, Maharishi is well aware that he is introducing
an account of human potential that goes well beyond the concept of the limits of
knowledge that has dominated in the scientific era. This new paradigm of knowledge
must be examined in a new light.
It is a widespread belief in the 20th century that the only valid method of gaining
knowledge is by moving outward through the senses, that is, through the methods
of the empirical sciences. It is, however, only the historical failure of subjective approaches
that has led to this belief. It cannot be known that the senses are the only
way of gaining knowledge, and those who cling to the belief that it is, only allow
old habits to stand in the way of exploring new possible sources of knowledge.
Subjective approaches to knowledge in the past failed to bear fruit because they
failed to provide an effective and reliable method of access to an invariant and
universal domain of direct experience. They thus failed to establish independent
standards of knowledge, they failed to produce methods of distinguishing truth
from error, they failed to produce consensus even among those practicing the same
method, and they failed to produce practical technological benefits through the
practice of the method.
The Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field is different from subjective approaches
in the past, and must therefore be considered on separate grounds. It provides
an effective, reliable method of opening the mind to an invariant and universal
level of nature which is everywhere, and yet not ordinarily open to experience
because the mind functions on more active levels. By providing a technology to
make this non-active level of nature available as a direct experience, Maharishi has
made this domain available to all as a new field of inquiry; and where there is a new
source of experience of something universal, unchanging, and objectively
verifiable, a new source of knowledge is available.
The Science of Creative Intelligence gives a new account of how complete knowledge
is possible. When the mind becomes completely settled and still, according to
this account, it gains the ability to perceive on the most refined levels of nature's
functioning the all-pervading unified field where all laws reside in a collective
totality. It not only experiences this unified field, it becomes identified with it; it is
the unified field and thus knows the unified field as its own universal Self. On this
level of knowledge, there is no separation of knower from the known. Nothing lies
outside the range of the knower. All laws of nature and everything in the universe
can be known as intimately as one's own Self. Mind and body cease to be seen as
separate realities. Maharishi (1986) says:
In reality our self-referral state of consciousness is the unified field-not an object of
knowledge as a rose is when we say, "I see that rose." The unified field is not an object
in this way; it is the subject itself. The unified field is a self-referral state of
awareness that knows itself, and in knowing itself is the knower and the known, both
together. {p. 96)
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MODERN SCIENCE AND VEDIC SCIENCE
On this account, there is no distinction between the knower and the reality that it
knows. Since it is the Self that knows itself, there is nothing ultimately outside the
consciousness of the knower, and there are therefore no limits on what can be
known. If true, this account of knowledge provides a fundamentally new source of
discovery of the laws of nature, like the empirical sciences in that it relies on experience
as a source of knowledge, but distinct from these sciences in that it draws
upon a wider range of experience. As a new source of discovery, it extends the
power of scientific investigation; yet it remains within the scope of empirical
science by being subject to procedures of objective verification.
Maharishi International University
Maharishi International University (MIU) was founded by Maharishi in 1971
based on the principles of the Science of Creative Intelligence. One of the major
functions of this University is to show how each discipline and each level of natural
law arises from the unified field. The specialty of MIU is the knowledge of the
unified field from the standpoint of each academic discipline. At MIU, each
modern discipline traces the diversity of laws back to a unified source in the unified
field and shows how the diversity of laws emerge from the unified field through the
self-interacting dynamics of consciousness. Just as physics and mathematics have
discovered increasingly unified levels of natural law at the basis of their discipline,
thus tracing the diversity of its laws to their source in the unified field, so every
academic discipline can ultimately show how its laws derive sequentially from the
unified field. This project of unification of knowledge, a long sought goal
throughout Western intellectual history, is now being systematically pursued and
completed at MIU.
This enterprise has most recently taken the form of developing charts to show
how each modern discipline arises from the unified field. For each discipline, a
Unified Field Chart has been constructed to show how the discipline sequentially
emerges from the unified field through the self-interacting dynamics of knower,
known, and process of knowing. These Unified Field Charts constitute a major
unification of knowledge, showing at a glance how all the diversity of knowledge
emerges from a unified source.
Since the unified field is understood as a field of consciousness, and consciousness
is the most fundamental level of each student's own Self, the study of
the unified field at MIU constitutes a method of systematically relating all
knowledge to the student's Self. The success of MIU's method of education is due
in part to this program of relating all knowledge to the unified field and the unified
field to the Self. Because all students and faculty at MIU collectively practice the
TM and TM-Sidhi program, regularly gaining the direct experience of the unified
field, the unified field increasingly becomes a living reality. The unified field ceases
to be an abstract concept and becomes as intimate as the Self. The experience of
faculty and students has been that learning and inquiry is joyful and most fulfilling
in this environment of unified field based education.
Maharishi's Work in Historical Perspective:
An Appreciation
Maharishi has created a major watershed in world intellectual history. He has
laid the foundation for a fundamental change both in intellectual history and in the
24
INTRODUCTION
history of technology and civilization itself. His work has created a new paradigm
of the unity of human knowledge, and, we may expect, will unify the sciences and
humanities in a more integrated way than ever before. He is, moreover, bringing to
an end the old notion that man is born to suffer and that life is a struggle. The
practical programs he has founded provide a scientifically validated basis for
reducing and even eliminating crime, war, terrorism, poverty, and other problems
that beset mankind; more importantly, his discoveries make it possible to live life
in the fulfillment of pure knowledge and permanent bliss consciousness and to
achieve the highest goals of human endeavor. He has laid the basis for a new
civilization, founded on new principles of complete, reliable, useful, fulfilling
knowledge-the knowledge of the unified field as the perfectly orderly, unified
source of nature.
Maharishi is unique in the world today. He does not offer conjectures and
hypotheses about reality and human potential, nor does he set himself up as a final
authority on matters of knowledge; he speaks rather of experience as the ultimate
basis of knowledge. The experience of which he speaks is derived from a new
source, from the level of fully developed human life gained when one's awareness
is open to the unified field. Maharishi's life is an example of that which he teaches.
Unlike those whose teaching is based solely on the personal authority of the individual,
Maharishi has founded universities, sciences, technologies, and other
institutions based on universal principles through which any individual can gain
the direct experience of the fully unfolded nature of life and validate the truth of
what is described in the science. Because of this, Maharishi is held in highest esteem
by millions of people around the world.
Maharishi has provided means of unfolding the dormant creative genius within
everyone, and he has established institutions through which the knowledge of how
to unfold this potential will be perpetuated generation after generation. He has,
moreover, used this knowledge to found programs to create perfect health, progress,
prosperity, and permanent peace for the world-programs to end suffering
and allow life to be lived in spontaneous accord with natural law. These institutions
are not just ideals, but functioning institutions whose practical achievements
are now well documented and available for all to examine.
Everyone now has the ability, with the availability of the Maharishi Technology of
the Unified Field, to engage in this great experiment of identifying one's awareness
with the total potential of natural law and to spontaneously live in accord with all the
laws of nature while established in the awareness of the unified field. The experience
of approximately three million people who have learned the TM technique testifies to
its practicality and its effortlessness and ease of practice. Experimental studies have
shown that its benefits are real and concrete. On this basis, Maharishi foresees the
creation of a new era of civilization-an Age of Enlightenment-in which life will be
lived in fullness and abundance without suffering. Maharishi's work eliminates the
very basis of stress and suffering and lays the ground for a new civilization, a unified
field based, ideal civilization that draws on the infinite organizing power of the
unified field to bring human life to fulfillment.
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