mumbull, a critical look at the Maharishi University of Management and other enterprises of the Transcendental Meditation movement, is published by Bob Brigante, a satisfied TM customer and fan of Maharishi since 1968
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Last update 28Nov2008

Maharishi left India in the 50s seeking advice from competent people in technologically advanced countries -- too bad he didn't find any. Typical of the wildly inept and loopy management of the TM movement are the "fantasy island" productions from Bevan and his buddies, this time on the island of Rota -- attempts to gain sovereignty over a 100-acre plot of land are unlikely to be successful -- to say the least, a fact that TM managers could have found out without putting on a dog and pony show on Rota if they had just spent 10 minutes with a constitutional law lawyer who could have told them that sovereignty was an impossibility (unless Rota withdrew from its Commonwealth status vis-a-vis the United States, a near impossibility since the whole CNMI and the U.S. Congress would have to agree with this withdrawal, since the CNMI is part of the United States), even if the people on Rota were all for it (and they certainly were not) -- didn't these Global Country guys learn how futile it is to seek sovereignty in the Suriname debacle? Even if sovereignty were feasible (and it's not, even if the Global Country resorts to Waterworld), it's ridiculous for Bevan to think that world leaders who are now ignoring the TM movement will do anything but laugh when crackpot ambassadors from some stamp-size country show up to pitch the Global Country.

It's clear that TM administrators are clueless and grandiose, island-hopping goofs, but maybe it's a good thing they retard the growth of the TM movement... Why would retards be good for the TM movement? As Maharishi notes in a pamphlet from the 60s titled "The Divine Plan" (reprinted in Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi), only a gradual approach to enlightening the world can be successful when people live at such a low level of life:
"When the objectivity [man's material life] overtakes subjectivity [the divine intelligence in man] completely then the only way left for the subjectivity is that it should gradually rise up in such a way that its regeneration does not in any way tend to overthrow the validity of material life. On the other hand, the manner of spiritual regeneration should be such that instead of creating fear and havoc to material life, the growing spiritual values should supplement and reinforce the values of material existence. This is the working policy of the Divine Plan. The Spiritual Regeneration Movement is carrying this out.". At Seelisberg, Switzerland, in 1979 Maharishi said: "Only a ridiculous movement can survive. Otherwise our adversaries would destroy us to the last extent. The time will come, where I will show my real face. Go ahead and do your work !"

During the mou.org press conference of 24Aug2005, Maharishi talks again about the difficulty of quickly overcoming a negative atmosphere in the world: ...the destiny of the people doesn`t allow us to light the big lamp so quickly so that immediately the deep darkness simply disappears. It is the fate of the people.

In 2005, Maharishi puts TMO activities in England on hold, saying that feeding nectar to a snake would only increase its destructive tendencies. But this is no new policy -- MMY long ago made it clear that the TMO could only proceed by fits and starts in an ignorant and dark world, whether by open announcements like this one about the suspension of TM activities in England, or by simply employing the notoriously fatuous managers of the TMO who guarantee slow or no growth.
Really, naming England is only symbolic, as little or no TMO activity is taking place anywhere in the West, because only India can support the transition to Vedic civilization. After the pundits have purified the atmosphere sufficiently in India, the people will embrace TM and other aspects of Vedic culture and serve as a lighthouse to the world.

I regard the comatose state of the TM movement in the West as OK, because the focus of the TM movement is going, and should go, to India, the natural home of Vedic culture that only needs the water of higher consciousness to cause Vedic civilization to bloom again, despite the bad character of the Kaliyuga. MMY says that it is possible for SatYuga to intrude in the lifespan of the Kaliyuga, because the wrongdoing of this age makes it weak, and possible to end its life early, just as a human whose life is full of wrongdoing can come to an early end of life.
In his press conference of 13Apr2005 at mou.org, Maharishi said that "As Indian national consciousness rises in coherence -- which is the basis of invincibility for the nation then world consciousness will rise in coherence which is the basis of permanent world peace...One sun rises, but its innumerable rays spread light everywhere...So it's natural for the influence of coherence to spread from India to the whole world." In the mou.org Press Conference 26 June 2002, Maharishi said: "India is the only country which can assume a parental role for every country of the world with this knowledge of the Veda, with this total knowledge of Natural Law, the Will of God. And everything is possible under the protective nature of the Will of God, invincible God."

I am realizing that it really does not matter that the TMO is flunking out in the West. In fact, this was the strategy all along (carried out both deliberately and otherwise), inspired not by any ordinary human analysis of what would work for the TMO in the West or not, but a strategy guided by Divine intelligence. The real reason that MMY came to the West was to delay the onset of enlightenment so that a Vedic India would not be too much of a shock for the world. If MMY had stayed in India without lighting a few candles around the world, the onset of a Vedic India would have created "fear and havoc" in material life around the world. The TMO will be wildly successful in a few years in India -- the people of India have always responded to a genuine revival of Vedic culture -- MMY says in the preface to his commentary on the Gita that "India is a country where Truth matters most and Indians are a people to whom God matters most. Indian soil has witnessed many times the revival of life's true philosophy. The people of India have never hesitated to return once more to the right path whenever it was convincingly pointed out to them that their way of life had taken a wrong course."; everything that is happening now in the West, the crowns and titles and all that, is just designed to hold a shell of an organization in place until TM is successful in India, where there have been no exclusionary price increases for TM instruction as there have been in the West. After Deepak Chopra's arrogance swept him out of the TM movement, MMY was determined not to let this sort of defection happen again if possible, so he loads up the inadequate personalities who manage the TM movement with fancy clothes and titles so that they, like a child at his birthday party, will feel the glow of attention of being needed and adored and stick around in the movement until Vedic India is restored, and the TMO's success in India can become a worldwide success.

Somebody didn't get the memo: In the 11 Dec 2002 issue of the MUM Review the dean of the MUM College of Arts and Sciences says about an MUM Study Abroad program: "Greece is a very beautiful place to go," Dr. Grant said. "It is the cradle of western civilization and the values we hold dear such as individualism and democracy." -- although MMY has condemned democracy (Dr. Grant and MUM parted ways soon after this). Finally, in answer to a question from the press, Maharishi condemns "wild" monarchs and dictators, too (about minute 45 into the conference), saying the key element in governance is operating from the value of supreme awareness. Since, as Maharishi says, the government is an "innocent mirror" of the national consciousness, this means that a higher national consciousness will produce better leaders in any system of government, although democracy would not be chosen by the people if good leaders were available.

One of the many absurdities engendered by democracy is reported by Business Week (March 19, 2007, p.51) in its article "The trouble with India":
"If you have to build a road in China, just a handful of people need to make a decision," says Daniel Vasella, chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Novartis. "If you want to build a road in India, it'll take ten years of discussion before you get a decision." Blame it partly on India's revolving-door democracy. Political parties typically hold power for just one five-year term before disgruntled voters, swayed by populist promises from the opposition, kick them out of office. In elections last year in Tamil Nadu, for instance, a new government was voted in after it pledged to give free color TVs to poor families. "In a sanely organized society you can get a lot done. Not here," says Jayaprakash Narayan, head of Lok Satta, or People Power, a national reform party.

Democracy developed because people were tired of being exploited by despots -- only a higher level of national consciousness will bring about conditions that will allow inefficient democracy to fade away. 42 years ago, in his Science of Being and Art of Living, MMY said: "It is the governments of the democratic countries that hold the faith and goodwill of their people." ("Generation after Generation," ~p. 300), and that is still the case -- MMY is just speaking out of frustration with the slow progress of his mission to enlighten the world. Or, given the likelihood of his death within a few years, Maharishi is just making it clear that democracy is not a desirable system of governance, but just something unfortunate that came about because people were tired of being abused by wild kings and despots. The coming Sat Yuga (Golden Age) will produce leaders who will have the confidence of the people, so democracy, with its many problems and inefficiencies, will simply melt away in the light of higher consciousness in the Sat Yuga, when leaders who can operate from the supreme level of awareness are available. Every government is really a de facto democracy, because the average value of consiousness in a country is what determines the quality of governance:'National consciousness is the motivator for every action of a government,' Maharishi said. 'A government cannot do anything other than what is dictated by national consciousness. So, if we want government to be free from problems, then we have to improve the quality of national consciousness.'

Maharishi blasts Israel and the U.S.:
"Israel is a child of America. I have forgotten about Israel because when people are murderers, who can bother about them? All that is happening in Israel is the doing of America. Wherever there is destruction, it's the doing of America. For the sake of politeness, one may not say that, but those are my thoughts." If the Pope were to say this, there would certainly be a furor and possibly a change in policy, but, really, outside of a few people in the TM movement, who cares what Maharishi says? There are many disputes over territory throughout the world -- if you are not regarded by at least of some of the principals in the dispute as an authority, there is simply no point in discussing one of them (even one that, in an absurd re-make of the Crusades by proxy, ties the fortunes of the world's only superpower to the homicidal Israeli state which appears headed for a future as a radioactive parking lot). The TM movement needs to get back to its core business, and raise consciousness, not issues...

The TM movement in India is asking English-speaking TM teachers to come to India to help instruct the increasing numbers of people who want to learn TM. However, response to this call is likely to be limited, since teachers have to bear their own expenses entirely, which amounts to about $2500/month plus travel costs. Clearly, if the stated goal of 10 million Indians learning TM soon is to be reached, some other means of imparting instruction is going to be necessary -- if one is thinking of achieving that goal of one crore people learning TM within ten years, it requires initiation of 20,000 a week, well beyond what current TM-teaching infrastructure could accommodate, even if there was a strong response to the call for teachers from around the world.

What I think TM leaders will soon recognize is that Indian TMers who want to help can be quickly trained to be TM teachers, without the need to call for Westerners to come to India. People who want to attend current TM teacher-training courses pay large fees for courses that last many months, but this is not really necessary. When Maharishi started training teachers in the 60s, the courses were much shorter, and they could readily be shortened again to meet the need of the times.

Learning how to impart TM instruction is very simple, and the process for checking the progress of the student does not require much more memorization of procedure. As far as lecturing, there is no need for teachers to be good speakers about TM -- they can just pop a DVD in a player and present a canned lecture better than 99% of TM teachers could deliver. My guess is that about a part-time two-week course would be enough to train Indians to be TM teachers, who could continue in their current line of work without needing to be supported by the TMO. Maharishi said that the job of a TM teacher is to teach knowledge of the infinite, not infinite knowledge. As long as a teacher can impart that effortless acquisition of the infinite available through the TM technique, then the TM teacher's job is done -- the huge body of Vedic knowledge left in recordings and print media by Maharishi can then fill in the details of creation.

Promotion of TM should probably also be done on a city-by-city basis, with those TM teachers who can travel moving on to the next target city to augment local TM-teaching staff, after teaching those who have responded to TM promotion activities. Instead of using satellite, which broadcasts to all of India, brief (15-30 second) ads should be run on cable TV in target cities, when TM teacher infrastructure is in place for that city. It would be a mistake to create an unfulfillable demand for TM nationally, since there are no shortage of people in India who (incorrectly) think that they know how to teach proper meditation, and they would be glad to eat the TM movement's lunch if people turn to other providers out of frustration that TM instruction is not available due to lack of teachers.

The hotel attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 make it even more unlikely that Western TM teachers will be able to respond to the call to come to India, and underscore the need to bring India up to Vedic status quickly with indigenous resources. Maharishi has noted that �We cannot underestimate the urgency; action cannot be overestimated. Misery anywhere breeds trouble for us all.� (p. 47, David Verrill's book).

But the readiness of so many young men to embark on suicide missions also shows the importance of not making the TM movement a target of the aggrieved. In the April 2009 issue of Atlantic Monthly, an Indian historian notes that "The Hindu-Muslim divide here is worse than at any time since the partition."

Muslims around the world feel under siege, watching their brethren suffer from the foolhardy and criminal Zionist occupation of Israel backed by the world's current holders of power, who have foolishly chosen a remake by proxy of the Crusades. India is Israel's biggest customer for arms, allowing India to tap into Israel's acquisition of top military technology through its relationship with the U.S. -- this transfer of technology even goes for weapons-savvy Russia.

Another sore point for Muslims is the unending war over Muslim-majority Kashmir, a dispute which should have been resolved long ago by India.

The Indian TM leadership's goal of instructing ten million Indians into TM is a figure which can only be reached in a reasonable amount of time with the reach of TV advertising, which would create a high profile for the TM movement. And those ads and that resulting high profile should be pitched to Hindus only, in order to avoid inflaming the already volatile, dangerous sectarian strife in India which will continue to see more Mumbai-type attacks and worse for some time in that sickening tit-for-tat cycle of violence that is old news (several Indian states have found it necessary to create anti-proselytizing laws in an attempt to help minimize anxiety over religious identity).

Only a tiny percentage of India's 800+ million Hindus need to learn TM to tip the balance in favor of restoration of Vedic civilization among Hindus in India; not one Muslim in India needs to learn TM to accomplish this change. When Yogic Fliers actually fly, then any and all can hop on this magic carpet ride of fulfillment in life, but until that unequivocal demonstration of the power of expanded awareness, no attempt should be made to pitch TM to non-Hindus in India, where the atmosphere is simply too rife with sectarian anxiety.

Maharishi noted back in the 60s that the Divine plan was to unfold enlightenment for the earth gradually, to avoid causing "fear and havoc" among the benighted. It's not that a lot of people are going to survive the transition to the Satyuga whether that transition is sooner or later (Maharishi said only "a few will survive" because you cannot stop people who are hellbent), but gradualness and caution have to be the keynote of the TM movement in order to keep ignorant people from trying to stomp out the light à la the Jesus story. Of course the light of God cannot be extinguished, but God only comes to earth to protect the righteous, and when righteousness is at low levels, there's nothing to protect and so the Kaliyuga continues on its usual course of increasing disorder until its allotted 432,000 years is up (MMY says that it is possible for SatYuga to intrude in the lifespan of the Kaliyuga, because the wrongdoing of this age makes it weak, and possible to end its life early, just as a human whose life is full of wrongdoing can come to an early end of life). Of course, regardless of the Yuga cycle, Nature is always prodding humans to seek wisdom by visiting disaster on the unhappy, in order to create receptivity to wisdom. And when prodding does not work, the natural order of creation repeatedly recycles the unhappy to reduce the burden on earth ("...when the people become predominately sinful, Yama the god of death sometimes engages himself in meditation for some years, during which the population increases and explodes. The gods, frightened by this population explosion, resort to various devices to reduce it. All this has happened again and again countless times." Vasistha's Yoga, p. 397).

The TM movement, in order to survive and enable the Sat Yuga transition, needs to create a base of righteous people without annoying those comfortable with living in the darkness of low consciousness. I am, of course, not implying that the level of righteousness or consciousness in India's Muslim community is lower than it is in the Hindu community, but merely noting that the TM movement should avoid becoming a target of those whose feel oppressed by the unfortunate tangle of religion and politics in India. The TM movement is a friend to everybody, and it will be seen that way when yogic fliers who can really fly are on the TV screens of the world to provide a clear demonstration of the power of expanded awareness to improve the quality of human life without harming or infringing on anyone's culture, including religion.
28Nov2008

In December 1957, Maharishi began the TM movement in Madras after a five-minute ovation showed the enthusiasm of the people for spiritual regeneration. Echoing that historic moment, the people of India have again shown their enthusiasm for that message of fullness of life at the 2008 Guru Purnima celebrations in Jabalpur:

Describing the event, Raja Harris said, 'Yesterday there was a very large celebration that captured the entire country of India. Dr Girish Varma, National Director of the Global Country of World Peace in India, had a beautiful plan to create another wing of the Global Country of World Peace that would inspire the imagination of all of India.

'Yesterday he had 1,500 people come to an enormous pandal in Jabalpur, and it was there that the Chief Minister of the state and all the leading educators of the state, leading politicians from the towns and cities, all came with the Chief Justices. 1,500 people gathered to celebrate the great fortune that Maharishi had come from that area of Madhya Pradesh very near Jabalpur.

'There was a wildly enthusiastic response, described by Dr Girish Varma as a 'fire of a response'. Nine television stations were there, including two national television stations. One television station broadcast the entire nine hours of the celebrations. They broadcast the beautiful address and blessings from Maharaja Adhiraj Raja Raam, First Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace, as well as a beautiful talk by Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace. Dr Morris gave a global perspective of India and Maharishi's Vedic Pandits in the context of his total plan for enlightenment for every individual and invincibility for every nation.

'It was thrilling to hear that every major newspaper of India has a story today with beautiful large pictures and the wave that came out of that is absolutely wonderful,' Raja Harris said.

Praising the leaders of the Global Country of World Peace in India, Raja Harris said, 'I thought of the greatness of all the dear Indian leaders.' Raja Harris quoted Maharishi, writing in Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1-6 :

''Whether surroundings and circumstances are favourable or unfavourable, men of honour and grace always act in a way that leads them to glory here on earth and in heaven.''

'�and these are all the leaders of our dear Indian movement,' Raja Harris said.

Raja Harris then summarized the main theme of the announcement which Dr Girish Varma had given to those gathered in Jabalpur on Guru Purnima day. These highly laudable plans for India include instruction in Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Programme for one krore (10 million) people, and instruction in Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying, for 100,000 people. Raja Harris said that Dr Girish Varma had already laid out very precise measures to implement these plans in each state so that day by day and month by month the numbers enjoying Maharishi's programmes will be increasing.
21Jul2008

There has been some concern expressed in the TM community about the persistent economic downturn currently topping the U.S. news and also the uptick in natural disasters, particularly the Iowa floods, despite the increased number of Yogic Fliers and Pundits in Vedic City.

I'd like to propose two ways of looking at this issue. It may be that the fact that Maharishi is no longer walking on planet earth may have had a profound effect on the world's well-being. With the departure of this great saint, maybe we just need to create much larger groups of Yogic Fliers and Pundits meditating together in order to compensate for this. I should note that I personally have never been a fan of the magic number proposed by TM managers (the claim is that if the number of Yogic Fliers meditating together in one place exceeds the square root of 1% of a nation's population, then national invincibility is assured, and we should see a reduction in all negative trends, natural and man-made). I just don't think that this threshold value can be quantified, although there is certainly some point at which Nature yields the earth to the happy.

A alternate way of looking at the rise in disaster and dislocation is to consider what needs to happen in order for the Sat Yuga to begin. As Maharishi says: "There has not been and there will not be a place for the unfit. The fit will lead, and if the unfit are not coming along, there is no place for them. In the place where light dominates there is no place for darkness. In the age of Enlightenment there is no place for ignorant people. The ignorant will be made enlightened by a few orderly, enlightened people moving around. Nature will not allow ignorance to prevail. It just can�t. Nonexistence of the unfit has been the law of nature." (Maharishi, 1975, Inauguration of the Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment, MIU Press, p. 47)
The transition from the Kali Yuga to the Sat Yuga always involves the removal of disorderly people. Maharishi has noted that happiness and unhappiness are incompatible -- you can't have an orderly society with unhappy people always throwing a wrench into the works, and an increase in disaster can be seen as the ill omens prefiguring the removal of the disorderly. It doesn't matter whether the onset of the Sat Yuga is imminent or far in the future -- the reaction of Nature to the unhappiness created by disorderly people is a constant part of creation, so there's nothing new under the sun here.

The current apparent disconnect between increased numbers of Yogic Fliers and Pundits together in Vedic City and the increase in negative trends in the U.S. may be seen as analogous to the situation created when cold air masses run into warm air masses. The cold air and warm air do not mix, but begin to revolve around one another, creating a vortex that, under certain conditions, will form tornadoes, which are stronger when the contrast in temperature between air masses is greater. In a like fashion, we might consider the increased bliss generated by Yogic Fliers in Vedic City as not mixing in with the atmosphere generated by the ignorant and unhappy, but challenging the dominance of ignorance -- as MMY notes above, "Nature will not allow ignorance to prevail. It just can't." If the bliss generated by people meditating together met no resistance, then it would be like masses of air meeting like-temperatured masses, but there is a huge gap between the way the world is and the world in the Sat Yuga, and that difference can only be resolved when unhappy people are gone. As Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Maharishi: "Nonexistence of the unfit has been the law of nature." So if this second way of looking at the situation is correct, then we should not be surprised to see an increase in disaster and dislocation along with the strongly contrasting rise of bliss-enabling forces in the world.

Nature is always declaring war on people. In the 20th Century, about 100 million people died in armed conflict, but just one disease accounted for three times as many deaths during that same period of time -- actually less than a century, since smallpox has only existed in labs for about the last 30 years. From the ignorant point of view, this sort of natural selection is inexplicable, something that heroic scientists in lab coats will eventually abolish (good luck with that...). But from a consideration of the real potential of human life, it's an act of kindness by Nature to act against people living ignorant lives. Since every person is capable of knowing his own nature, sat chit ananda ("concentrated happiness of absolute status and permanent nature"), it's the worst possible loss and suffering not to live that unbounded happiness in life, and it would be cruel for Nature not to use a stick to encourage people to unfold their own nature, which is the Nature of the entire existence:
Maharishi -- "Just as a mountain of snow is nothing but water, so also the whole of the universe is nothing but ananda (bliss)."

One day Jesus, hungry, went up to a fig tree, but not finding any fruit, cursed the tree, and the tree withered away. When people live in suffering, not producing the expansion of happiness that is the purpose of creation, it's only natural that they will get negative feedback from the environment:
Jesus -- "For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Yogavasistha:"They are ignorant and therefore a burden on earth. Such ignorant people suffer here and hereafter; suffering is the only mission in their life! Death, unto them, is a welcome release from such suffering and it is possible that after death they will awake and seek their salvation."

There are no two things here in this universe: the one infinite consciousness alone shines in all names and forms. It naturally seems to the narrow awareness of an ignorant mind that the universe is chaotic and antagonistic, a point of view that embraces the idiot slogan "Every man for himself, and God against all." But it is all really the play of one consciousness, and when that consciousness is tired of allowing too much ignorant play on earth, then that desire to make order predominant will be fulfilled, as it has countless times in the recurring cycle of creation. If duality is only imaginary, then nothing is lost when vision is restored to wholeness and unity.
16Jul2008

Brahmachari Satyanand speaking c1967 about Guru Dev's mahasamadhi:

When in 1953 Guru Dev left this mortal frame and attained nirvana*, I was at Benares, another place of pilgrimage for Hindus, and at that moment I was staying in the ashram of Guru Dev. Everybody knew that I am very attached to Guru Dev and devoted to Guru Dev, and then news came to Benares that Guru Dev has attained nirvana. I was sitting somewhere with a group of my friends and the news was relayed there. When my friends heard that Guru Dev was no more they were very anxious about me and when they conveyed that news, they were rather alert to appraise whatever reaction is and what happened, I simply, when I heard that news I became very sad, very sorry and I just kept my head on the table before me. And all of them were very anxious what will become of me. But soon after, while I was very morose, sorrow, sad, entire world was empty for me and I did not understand what to do without Guru Dev, just a half a minute or two seconds after, a flash came and it appeared to me that Guru Dev was scolding me;

'What a fool you are! You have been with me for all these many months and years, and you heard my discourses too. Is it a moment of feeling sorry? Why should you be sorry today? And you think that I am gone, where am I gone? Till now whenever you wanted to meet me, you had, you had to come to the place where I was, and today when I have attained nirvana, I am everywhere, I am omnipresent. Where have I gone? Very foolish for you to mourn on this occasion. I am with you, here, there, everywhere. Why should you be sorry?'

And the moment this flash came, my face became very brilliant, I became very cheerful. And when I raised my head, my friends who were standing there, very anxious and held in suspense, they were upset to see my brilliant and cheerful face. And then they said, 'What has happened to you?' I said, 'No you can't understand, nothing has happened to me, I am alright, now let me go back to the ashram and make the necessary arrangements.'

*[nirvana means "freedom from craving," freedom from the cycle of birth and death caused by unfulfilled desires -- when one gains the total awareness of Cosmic Consciousness, bliss consciousness, then all desires are in a constant state of fulfillment in that unconditioned bliss, and death, a mere dropping of the body, does not bring re-birth -- MMY explains "death" of an enlightened person]
7Feb2008

Although MUM-Fairfield is enjoying success with its computer professional program (in which students, mainly from 3rd-world countries, get an advanced degree in Computer Science while working for American infotech companies at market wages), there is a huge market available in India for Maharishi schools, because education infrastructure is completely inadequate in that country, forcing even the Prime Minister to lament that fact (see video presentation on the construction program for M-schools in India). Since you get more bang for the buck in India, TMO resources should be allocated there preferentially to get a maximum effect on world consciousness. The Maharishi schools in India are the largest private-school chain there, with 80K students in 143 schools, but this is only a very small part of the market there. It's not just a matter of numbers, of course, since Maharishi has noted that "India is the only country which can assume a parental role for every country of the world with this knowledge of the Veda." It's good to promote M-schools in every country, but it's essential for world peace and happiness that M-schools in India get the most attention.

The M-schools in India are financially successful and not at all a burden on the TM movement, but given that there are more than 800 million Hindus in India, it would only be necessary to get 1% to give $100/year in order to fund a larger school and pundit program and other TM initiatives in India, something that could readily be accomplished with heightened public awareness in India of Maharishi's revival of Vedic culture. The TMO broadcasts on a satellite channel in India, but this is just preaching to the choir, to people who have already learned TM. In order to inform the hundreds of millions of Indians who are not aware of MMY's work, it's necessary to go to where the people are watching and let them know. 61 million households in India have cable TV, reaching about a quarter of the population. Although most people in India are poor, earning less than $100/mo, there is enough of a middle-and-upper class to contribute significantly to the TMO and help change poor and violent India into Vedic India, a lighthouse for the world.

How to reach the Indian public? Well, definitely not the jittery TM ads made by David Lynch (you might want to cut back on those 20 cups of coffee a day, David; hopefully his planned feature-length film on Maharishi will have a more calm and dignified air), but artistic presentations of the Vedic wisdom on brief TV ads in primetime should quickly bring Maharishi's work to the attention of the Indian public and then the "5000 Club" (donors of 5000 rupees/year) would enable an revenue stream of $800+ million/year.
6Feb2008

The TMO has announced that 10,000 students will be attending a new TM school, Central University in Smith Center KS in the Fall of 2007, an impossible task that once again brings into question the competence of TM managers. Maharishi could, of course, always go outside the movement to hire competent help, but it turns out, paradoxically, that this is not indicated because of the dense ignorance in which the planet is cloaked. Back in the 60s, Maharishi wrote that enlightenment values could only be unfolded gradually to avoid causing 'fear and havoc" among the benighted denizens of this brutal epoch. The old gibe, "if they had any brains, they would be dangerous," is quite literally true for TM administrators, since a too-effective promotion of TM would cause a populace used to darkness to panic at the onset of the light of awareness.

At a more abstract level, Maharishi's tolerance of fantastic thinking is based upon an understanding of the true nature of human capacity when it opens to cosmic life, expressed throughout the ages in sayings by many prophets and seers: "...you will say to this mountain,'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Although the announcement that Central University will have 10K students this Fall is only stupid, because administrators of the TMO do not operate from the level of life that would enable something like that to be accomplished, MMY's work is all about reminding people of a practical way (TM and other Vedic technologies) to accomplish anything in life, by operating from a level of life that is cosmic, so tolerance for TMO knuckleheads proposing impossible ideas has a symbolic value in challenging the long-held notion that life can only be a struggle.

Maharishi:
'The world is administered by infinite creativity, enormous self-referral affluence, which is the Unified Field in the world of science, and which is Veda�the expression of Total Knowledge. In the Vedic terms, there is only affluence.

'Poverty is imaginary. Real is affluence. So if someone is leading an unnatural life in poverty, suffering is unnatural. Pains are unnatural. Natural is health, infinity. Whether it is infinite magnitude of life or point value of life, they is both on the same level � point is made of infinity.

'It's the point of infinity. And infinity is made of points, so for a point it is natural to bask in the sunshine of infinity. If a point begins to be poor, then it is understandable how he can be poor. If he's only himself, he knows that he is a point of infinity.

'The individual � we have been talking from house-tops loudly for all these years � the individual is cosmic. Cosmic is the potential of the individual. For many years it was found we seemed to be only idealistic in principle, but practically the situation is different.

'People are suffering, so today's topic is how to eliminate suffering. The word how makes it difficult. Suffering is in essence not a reality. Dr Hagelin, it is such a beautiful point of knowledge, that suffering is imaginary. Only imaginary. It is imposed on oneself.

'The real is total, infinite, and on that reality of infinite, [there is] only affluence, invincibility, harmony, totality, all possibility. These are natural to life. Poverty is imaginary. But if someone has fallen into a dream of poverty, we shake him up and say 'You are not poor, but if you are feeling poverty, fine, here is the treasury of the Global Country of World Peace.'

'The Global administration beats [the drum] � the principle that only affluence is real; only cosmic status is real. But in case someone has fallen into that kind of situation, then take the principle and understanding from here, and realize that you are not poor.'...

'There is a great time now for transformation. We are sponsoring their education so that no one will be unhappy or sick or anything; all these are wrong things. Every religion has always held that the man was made in the image of God. In different words people have said it, but the fact was 'Man was made in the image of God', and the son of God is the son of God � the son of a king is a prince, he is a ruler.

'So tell everyone that tomorrow it is possible that all the poor countries can ring the bell of eureka that there are no more poor [people]; they can shake hands with all the rich people. It's a practical thing we are talking."
27Mar2007

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