Quotes2

Maharishi on the path of devotion

Devotion arises spontaneously from the growth of awareness, not from a practice or mood or attitude. Devotional practices derive their success from Yoga, the direct experience of the unlimited bliss consciousness. From Maharishi's commentary on Ch 2 V 45 of the Gita:

"It is this transcendental state of Being which enables a man to become a ... bhakta, one who is successful on the path of devotion.... If a man wants to be a true devotee of God, he has to become his pure Self; he has to free himself from those attributes which do belong to him, and then only can he have one-pointed devotion. If he is enveloped by what he is not, then his devotion will be covered by that foreign element. His devotion will not reach God and the love and blessings of God will not reach him. For his devotion to reach God, it is necessary that he should first become purely himself, covered by nothing. Then the process of devotion will connect him directly with the Lord, thereby bestowing on him the status of a devotee."

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"Bhakti yoga is truly the uninterrupted flow of the mind stuff towards me."

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Maharishi: Don't Speak Ill, Remain Pure, 1964

Everyone has to discharge one's duty towards himself and towards spreading of this meditation in whatever capacity one can. And never undermine any other's attempt or desires in whatever humble way it may be.

One thing of very great importance: that now when you have been meditating for some time, purity has grown in life quite a lot. As the mind gains more and more of the Being, mind becomes more and more pure.

But one thing which you have to be very cautious about is that you don't think evil of anyone, don't speak ill of anyone. Otherwise speaking ill and thinking ill of someone, dwelling on the weaknesses of someone, all their bad qualities come to your heart; [this way] you get your heart and mind spoiled.

So when through meditation, purity is growing in life, we don't invite this mud from outside to make us impure anymore. We have to be cautious against our thoughts that we don't think ill of anyone, and we don't do ill to anyone naturally.

Speaking ill of others is a very bad.... We say it makes the cloth dirty, makes the whole personality very dirty and impure. That we have to guard against in our dealings and feelings with people. Very important; very, very important. It is as important as daily practice of meditation.

In the olden days in India, there was a practice that if some man did some great sin, then the way to repent it was that he would cover his body with a cloth like that and will go to any village. Standing out of the village, he would shout out: my name is such and such, and I come from that village, and I happened to be doing like that and like that and like that. He would just announce it and go ahead, and keep on announcing from village to village.

And the effect was: all the people who heard him, if in their evening meetings with their fellow men, they talk about that, then the contention is that they partake of his sin and after some time he becomes pure. Just by talking about the sinner, the people who talk about him share his sin.

This is very dangerous. Someone has done something wrong and if we dwell on that and talk it over with someone, we have been affected by that sin and we spread that sin; we partake of his sin and take it upon us.

Anyone who has done any mistake there or there or there, we just don't speak of it. Otherwise we will only be shrouding ourselves with the sins of others. Very important, especially now when through this Transcendental Meditation we are making ourselves more and more full with Being, means more and more full with purity, then we have to guard against this thing which is very dangerous.

No one thinks that if I am talking ill of someone, then no one thinks that I am taking over his sin. It is a common practice in the world to simply talk something wrong done by others. It is just very harmful for us.

Question (inaudible, about newspaper writers?)

They do a great service as far as amending of the wrong is concerned, but as far as partaking of his sin is concerned, they do partake. They help the sinner by spreading the news about him and everybody talks about him, and then all of them partake of the sins. As far as partaking of the sin is concerned, that is helpful for the sinner.

In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna said to Arjuna at one point [Gita 9:1, see below] that I am giving you this most secret wisdom because, one condition out of many that He said was, that you never speak ill of others (anasuya). That is you don't speak ill of others, for this quality in you I think you deserve this wisdom, so I give this wisdom to you. Just this quality of not speaking ill of others.

Out of my own experience, I tell you, in the ashram of my Guru Dev, there were 100s of people, all good disciples. And everyone after all is a human being. No aspirant is ever perfect. They come to the feet of the master for that perfection. So everyone has his own failing there and there and there. I had my own failings, I never knew what were they, but must be because no human is ever perfect.

One thing I was famous about is that I will not speak ill of anyone. I would always cherish a hope of his becoming better sooner or later. I would always cherish a hope.

If someone says: that man has done like that and such a bad man. [I would say:] “Now that he is in the ashram he will improve.” Always I cherish a hope against all the wrongs done by all the people.

And the effect that you find today is all this world Movement to bring peace to every man all around the world; it is a very great thing in the long history of the world. This great force of purity and strength for spiritual regeneration of entire mankind, no surprise [that it] is based on the faculty of mind that will not cherish into the wrongs of others.

Bhagavad Gita 9:1

The Blessed Lord said:

Now I shall fully declare to you, who do not cavil, this the greatest secret, the knowledge combined with the experience, having known which you will be freed from evil.

“Anyone who has done any mistake there or there, we just don't speak of it. Otherwise we will only be shrouding ourselves with the sins of others.” -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

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Maharishi: The entirety, wholeness and glory of Mother Divine

"There are only a few levels of expressions of that omnipresent Mother Divine where She can be, or if talking about her unmanifest values, [where] It can be fully invoked, fully comprehended, fully enlivened, fully lived. And that is the level of human consciousness. The human nervous system is that beautiful, profound, marvelous expression of Mother Divine where She can be invoked in her entirety -- the human nervous system, either the human nervous system or the nervous system of the finest relative value of the expression of Mother Divine. The nervous system is her own expression.

The beauty of her completeness, the beauty of her wholeness, fullness is that She has her home everywhere. This is the wholeness of Mother Divine, Creative Intelligence. She has expressed herself in various states of finite values and [yet also] remains infinite in her unexpressed, unmanifest value, the Absolute, eternal, chitti,* para chetana**, transcendental reality. This constitutes the entirety and the wholeness of Mother Divine.

Her home is small, in small, minute particles of existence; her home is big, the whole, when we count the totality of the universe. The entire universe is her big home. 'Big' we say from our standards of big and small; for her, big is her unmanifest, infinite, unbounded, eternal, immortal reality of Being, which fortunately is there present in the deepest state of every expression, small or big, in the whole universe.

For herself, everything is even; for a mother, all the children are alike; for Mother Divine, the existence of straw is her home. Straw is as dear to Mother Divine as the elephant, as man, as Shiva. All the enormously enchanting expressions and even the tiniest, inert particle, they are all her own homes where She dwells in her wholeness. She dwells in her wholeness, and does not mind the small expressions of herself being expressed in those small dwellings -- in the tiny, little molecule; in the tiny, little atom; in the tiny, little finer particle."

She has structured her home and resides deep within it, and does not mind how much of her enormous, eternal, infinite value is expressed by that tiny particle. She doesn't mind. Huge galaxies, enormous speed, almost unbounded variety of expressions, that is her bigger glory from our relative standards of small and big. She does not mind. The galaxies express her glory, the entire clusters of galaxies are her home. And there, she expresses.

​~Humboldt State University, Arcata, USA​ ​ -- August 1970 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: TM strengthens the link between the individual & the force of evolution to ensure progress, maintain dharma & uphold life

"The dharma of man is that which sustains man. What sustains man is the individual and the link, the spontaneous, the natural link with the force of evolution.

With man one thing is automatic, and that automatic principle comes to us from an old, old established proverb: God helps those who help themselves.

As the individual is progressive, the support from nature comes more and more because in progress lies the fulfillment of the design of individual life. The fulfillment of the intention of the force of evolution in designing and creating an individual life is: to push it on and on, to evolve it, to take it on to higher states of evolution. This is the very intention of the force of creation. Therefore, when a man evolves, when he makes an effort to go ahead, to progress, then his every step of progress is a wave of joy to the initial designing force of creation, and therefore, from that comes the support for the individual spontaneously.

As a man increases his potentiality -- through Transcendental Meditation one dives -- we talk in terms of infusion of Being, but this is the same thing as incorporating more and more of that basic force of evolution in our individual breath. And with the force of evolution, the progress of the individual is enhanced more and more.

With the individual as his awareness becomes enlarged, becomes expanded, the link between the individual and the cosmic force is strengthened automatically. This strengthening of the [cosmic] force from moment to moment is the maintenance of dharma -- is the maintenance of that which upholds life."

~Maharishi

~Audiotape -- Location and date unknown

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In GC, realization of God is an automatic phenomenon / We have a system to cognize the Almighty

"Unless the full value of creation is appreciated, the desire for God Realization is not significantly valid even though it is natural. It may be natural, but the validity gains significance only when the ability to appreciate the full value of creation is gained. And that is in GC.

On that level of awareness where His creation is cognized in its most beautiful aspect, then the Creator will come to shake hands. We don't have to go seek Him. He comes. And when He comes, Realization is automatic. When we seek, we seek from our level, but our level is not the level of the Omniscient. When He comes along, He comes along. On that level of GC, realization of God is an automatic phenomenon. Automatic.

What happens is: A sculptor hears from somewhere that the idol he has made or the flower he has made is being so much appreciated, that there in that village is a man who whenever he sees it, ah, he just glows up, all the time. If this news comes to the creator, to the sculptor, to the artist, if he hears over and over again that there is a man in that village who is so full of appreciation, so full of admiration, so full of values for his art, he would say, 'Let us see that admirer of mine. Let us see the admirer of my creation.'

And when he comes along and knocks at the door, [the man says], 'Fine. I had a desire to meet you because I was finding your art, your piece of art giving me such great joy from everywhere. I was looking to your creation and enjoying every fabric of it. From everywhere it was glowing in the celestial, and so beautiful, and so marvelously enchanting and overtaking. I was wanting to see You, and You are God. I bow down to You. You are merciful, You have come to me, and here I am.' The state of surrender, the state of oneness with God is a phenomenon, is a phenomenal phenomenon.[Laughter] It is significant to life, but only on that level of awareness [GC] not in any [level] down below.

We have a systematic procedure, which we say is a scientific procedure in the language of the present age, a scientific procedure, a natural procedure from waking to Transcendent, from Transcendent to CC -- from TC to CC -- and a very regulated and systematized procedure from CC to GC. On the basis of this procedure we say, the scientific age has a knowledge, a system, a scientific procedure whereby the Almighty can be cognized in His or Her individuality. He can be cognized with the world of His, and the Absolute can become a living reality of day-to-day life. This is when God Consciousness has been gained.

In the morning I said, 'Just one more step towards that and then we have UC, we have you see the reality of the whole thing.' I said that with SIMS [Students International Meditation Society] and IMS [International Meditation Society] it's a collective venture to call out to everyone, 'Come on. You see [UC]!' [Laughter][Audience applause]

Everything has become easy with this TM. All glory to Guru Dev. It's a very great gift that has come to this generation. Very fortunate."

~Maharishi

~"Shaking Hands with God" ​ ​ (Audiofile) -- Humboldt State University, Arcata, USA -- August 5, 1970

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Maharishi: Is there one God, or are there many gods?

QUESTION: "Is there one God, or are there many gods?"

MAHARISHI: "If there are many gods, they must be working together as one God in order to keep all ends of the vast, expanding universe functioning in good coordination with each other. So we would not mind if there are many gods; we would not mind if there is one God. Whether many gods or one God, there definitely is the infinite diversity of the ever-expanding universe.

Look to these words: 'infinite diversity of the ever-expanding universe', that is being administered by someone or many functioning in good faith with each other. It does not matter whether one or many. If someone believes there is one, he says, 'You are right; He can be one.' Or if there are many, many also will be functioning as one, unified. It is not that one [god] says, 'Yes, I will do this,' and the others say, 'No, I cannot do this.' It is not a matter of voting. It is a matter of acting in union with each other.

One God or many gods, it does not matter. Whether one or many, it does not matter. Whatever we like, we can choose. There must be many, many gods to take care of many, many galaxies and many, many individuals, yes? There are so many species: tigers are there, monkeys are there, elephants are there, men are there. And men are living in North Pole and South Pole and here and there and there and there. So there must be many, many representations or representatives of God if there is one God, or no harm saying all gods.

But all gods are in a perfect unified state. That means Unity Consciousness is ruling the universe. That is how the universe, with all these varieties and differences, is being run all the time in perfect order — all the time in perfect order. One God is also right; many gods is also right."

~Global Press Conference --MERU, Vlodrop, Holland

~January 25, 2006

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Maharishi: The naturalness of living enlightenment; one lives it without a fuss

"Just as the knowledge of a, b, c, d and all that, nobody thinks that he knows a, b, c, d and all. Who bothers about that? [Laughter] One doesn't think that, 'Oh, I am the knower of a and b and c, and I know this, and I know this.' What is that? It's such a natural thing. Nobody makes a fuss about it.

If we don't make a fuss about a, b, c, how can we make a fuss about the source of a, b, c? Self-realization is nothing other than knowing the source of a, b, c, knowing the source of thought. So it's such an intimate and such a natural knowledge that one has it even without knowing of possessing it.

An engineer, maybe when he gets the diploma, he says, 'Oh, engineer, engineer.' Next moment, he's just an ordinary man. That state of achievement becomes so natural that one lives it without fuss. This state of enlightenment is so intimate and so natural to you. It's so natural that when you hear something from someone, 'Self-realization,' you become alert, 'Ah, Self-realization.' You are so intimately in possession of that state that you even begin to think that, 'Ah. It's good to realize the Self.' Just as when you are wearing a coat, you're not aware all the time you are wearing a red coat. You are wearing it without knowing it, without being aware of it all the time. Just like that, it [enlightenment] is a natural status of life."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- 1969 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: How the force of evolution transforms the celestial vision of GC into Unity

"Even though the Self is not lost, it gets overtaken by that celestial beauty, [that] celestial-glory-par-excellence cognition. Fine. That [God Consciousness] has become established.

Now from that state to Unity: in that celestial cognition which is a time-space bound limited thing, different from others, the difference is not so well-marked as before -- the difference between the faintest green and faintest this is not so well-marked as it is between deep green and deep this. As long as everything in creation was viewed [only] in the gross manifest values, so long the difference between things was sharp.

When the celestial value dawns​ ​, the differences are there, but they are not so well-marked. When the differences are not so well-marked, then this is on the way of increasing Unity on the level of vision. When the differences are very well-marked -- [in] Cosmic Consciousness -- the diversity is dominating in vision. Celestial comes in vision, and [then] differences become minimized. Differences are there, but they are not so well-marked. This means the process is on the way to growth of Unity, the procedure is on the way to growth of Unity, and that is why differences are becoming less and less defined and Unity is becoming more and more defined, more and more defined.

When God Consciousness is established -- now one can't fall from that, it's established -- then the force of evolution starts the flashes of the unboundedness in the limited boundaries of the celestial cognition. The limited boundaries of the celestial forms seem to merge into something that is devoid of differences -- Unity. The flashes of Unity start. Flashes of Unity, and then it's gone and again the celestial is dominating in the vision. And then again. The same perception spreads and expands and the celestial gets transformed into pure awareness. This is on the perception level, cognition level, on the level of vision. It's a celestial form and now the celestial form is becoming more transparent, into the value of the absolute pure awareness -- more transparent, it's more transparent, and it's more transparent. And this thing happens spontaneously without any doing about it. There's nothing one can do about it because cognition of the celestial means [cognition of] the highest value of the relative, and the highest value of relative can only develop into the infinite, absolute, non-relative, unbounded pure consciousness.

So this pure consciousness starts to dominate ​​ . When there is​ ​ the development of the cognition of the sap then: the flower ​ [is]​ in terms of the sap; the stem ​ ​ ​[is]​ in terms of the sap; the green leaf ​[is] ​ in terms of the sap; everything, but in terms of the sap. The flower doesn't become the petal, the flower doesn't become the leaf, pink doesn't become green, but green as colorless sap, pink as colorless sap. So the colorlessness dominates -- pure awareness, abstract, absolute transparency dominates. ​...​ ​​ ​d​ ominates ​, d​ominates.

Dominates means there is something secondary, and that belongs to the relative field. But the primary in vision is the Unity ​, the ​abstract, absolute, unbounded awareness, and that is the value of the Self ​ --​ Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi. That is that experience. Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi:I am ​ ​t hat ​ infinite Absolute. I am that infinite Absolute. It's an expression of the realization of Unity on the level of awareness. On the level of the Self ​i​ t has been gained before ​, b​ ut ​[now] ​ on the level of vision, on the level of awareness, on the level of cognition ​ the same value ​also comes up. And that is the height of evolution."

~Maharishi

~Livigno, Italy -- 1970 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: We teach TM to gain deeper understanding of our experiences & as a safety factor for our maximum evolution

"The profession of teaching is a profession of more thoroughly learning. In order to learn we teach. And when a teacher teaches to learn he is free from innumerable complications of teaching, innumerable complications of teaching. Otherwise, the teacher -- particularly the teacher of the philosophy of life and the path of evolution -- can very easily get onto some very undesirable levels of egotism and all kinds of such things: 'I am the knower of reality. Who else is, nobody seems to be. I can give life to anyone.' It's a big thing. A slight trace of such a thing will not be very helpful. That is the reason why we hold that we are doing good to ourself by teaching, and this is the first benefit of teaching. Second benefit of teaching is that the other man also starts to be better.

This is very, very important: we teach as a student of that subject. Even though we are the masters of the subject, we want that mastery to be enriched by more thorough understanding and more thorough verification of our effectiveness. It's very important. The profession of teaching is such a blessed profession, and it is most useful to the teacher if he teaches as a student of that subject. We are all the students of the subject, particularly teachers of Transcendental Meditation. We are students for the sake of learning."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- March 1970 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: The secret of gaining immortality on the level of the body

QUESTION [Walter Koch]: "If a man attains God Consciousness and supreme knowledge in this life..."

MAHARISHI: "Frame the sentence that: 'When all men will gain God Consciousness, not IF a man gains [God Consciousness], but when all men will gain God Consciousness in a few years then what is going to happen?' " [Laughter]

QUESTION (continuing): "Then after we have gained God Consciousness and the supreme knowledge, the span of our life is limited and the enjoyment which we experience in that state is limited to the lifespan of this machinery of experience. And it is difficult to imagine that when the machinery ceases, the enjoyment [which] is based on the functioning of this machinery would continue because in the Absolute there is no relative."

MAHARISHI: "Right."

QUESTION, (continuing): "Now, it might be even more charming to someone to aim at instead of experiencing the world of man on the celestial level to GO to the celestial level and live there a million years in the company of God." [Audience laughter and applause]

MAHARISHI: "This is the question of a scientist Initiator. This is the value of this age. We are not satisfied by sometime enjoyment of God Consciousness. What we want is, if possible, ALL-TIME enjoyment of God Consciousness. This leads me to clarify one more point, and it's very beautiful. It's very beautiful.

Now what happens is: the transformation from God Consciousness to Unity Consciousness. We have just now discussed that God Consciousness is this experience of the celestial along with the experience of pure consciousness -- celestial and pure. Living God Consciousness for some time, as we have already discussed, the borderline of the two becomes clearer. I said that the mechanics of nature which are responsible for the difference between the Absolute and the celestial become clear. With that clarity of the nature between the two, what dawns in our mind? This long-lived celestial is nothing but this eternal Absolute. This is Unity.

Experiencing these two levels for some time, when these two levels become a living reality in God Consciousness and we have been living them for some time, then it becomes clear that this level and this level are not two different levels. In reality [when one is] open to that fine perception, this is this. What has happened? It has become clear that the longevity of the celestial is nothing but the eternity of the Absolute. That means, what has become clear? How the eternity is found in the state of longevity and how longevity is nothing but eternity. One is nothing but the other.

This reveals to the intellect the mechanics of nature which are responsible to transform longevity into eternity, a long-lived span of life into immortality. There is that secret of gaining immortality even on the physical level. The whole mechanics become clear. [It's] just as in the chemical action one atom gets into the other and the other gets into this and they form a molecule. Now once we have seen how the interaction takes place, in the play of finer particles how one breaks into the other and how the other breaks into the other, once we have known how this is formed from this and this, then we have known the mechanics of transformation.

And this mechanics of transformation is not only known on the theoretical level of understanding, but it becomes a living reality -- the entire mechanics of how the longevity is transformed into eternity, how the eternity is seen as the longevity, how the Absolute is seen as the relative and how the relative is nothing but the Absolute. 'Once the relative is nothing but the Absolute' means the mechanics of transformation of the relative into the Absolute becomes clear. And with this mechanics, it becomes possible to retain.....retain the body as long as we want."

QUESTION: [A course participant asks a question, but since he isn't on the microphone only the word "desire" is audible.]

MAHARISHI: "Desire or no desire is a different phase of consideration. But the ability, but the ability [is there].

When we know how the sap is transformed into the petal, and when this becomes a living reality -- this or that, that or this, this could be transformed into that, that could be transformed into this -- it doesn't matter because then the whole mechanics is a vivid, clear expression on the level of living. And there on that level, immortality could be cherished even with the human body. We don't have go to the angels.

We don't have to go to the angels because whether this earthly body or the angelic body may be a difference of a million years, but after a million years it's going to extinguish. Maybe after a hundred years this [earthly body] is going to die, and then maybe if we take the angelic body it will last for a million years. But then what will happen after a million years?

The story about this is, the truth about this is that this [earthly body] in this form could be maintained forever......could be maintained forever. Who would desire for it?" [Audience laughter]

DR. VERNON KATZ: "It's the other way around. You can't make something which is relative remain relative even though you know the mechanics whereby the Absolute is transformed."

MAHARISHI: " 'Eternal' means until the time of dissolution it could continue.

The objection is: when the state of Unity is not on the level of living then how is this transformation possible? But the answer is that once the mechanics become clear, they could be used. Once the mechanics become clear they could be used.

Even now the body has been changing -- body of the boy, and the youth, and the old, and this and this. Doctors say that in about seven years the whole thing changes -- is it something like that? In about seven years every cell changes, and the whole thing is renewed. That means the eternity could be maintained with all the change. Every seven years the change continues, continues. And it could continue until the time of dissolution comes.

So the change will not stop. Absolute doesn't mean that the change will stop, but that the relative will remain relative and change will continue in the relative. But through continuous change it could continue till eternity. [It's] not that the changing relative body will just freeze into non-changing Absolute, but in its changing character it could continue to keep on change, change, change and in that sense it could continue till eternity. That means on the level of living there will yet be a change, and yet on the level of life the change could continue till eternity. That much a little bit. It could be possible."

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 1968 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: He who is established in Ātmā [the Self] is really healthy

"The word for good health is, in the Sanskrit literature, Swastha -- he who is Swastha. And Swastha means: established in the Swa. 'Swa' means: Ātmā [the Self]. Ātmā is eternal -- the eternal field of total knowledge and the eternal field of infinite organizing power. Ātmā is the field of unbounded silence and dynamism. And he who is established in Ātmā, he is Swastha, he is really healthy. Healthy is a man who has both the values assimilated together in his consciousness: silence and dynamism -- Ātmā."

~Maharishi

~Global Press Conference (Videotape) -- MERU, Vlodrop, Holland -- November 19, 2003

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Maharishi: How TM is more effective for healing the body than bringing the attention to the aching areas

"Now, when we are meditating, what we are doing? We are bringing our attention from the gross levels of experience to the subtle levels of experience to the subtlest level of experience to the transcendental omnipresent field of life. When we are taking our attention from the gross creation to the subtle creation to the transcendent, then we are bringing our awareness to all the subtle regions of our personality. And in doing so, what we are doing? We are allowing all the gross and subtle layers of our nervous system to function very promptly and very effectively. All the gross and subtle regions of our nervous system have to function very promptly and very correctly, very fully in order to give a mental perception corresponding to that level. And because our attention is crossing through all the levels -- the gross and subtle -- we are allowing our nervous system to function most effectively at all the levels of the nervous system, gross and subtle.

This is more than [the process of] coordinating the mind and body in a silent manner by bringing the attention to the aching area. Because here [with TM] we are not only quietly bringing the attention to that -- as a matter of fact we are not bringing the attention to this area of the body -- we are creating a situation that all the gross and subtle regions of the physical structure are functioning in their most efficient way in order to give a corresponding experience to the mind. So we are not only strengthening the [mind-body] coordination by TM but also improving the function of the whole system for every area of it in the most effective way. And therefore, when we are meditating we don't have to bring our attention to the body. It's enough that we bring our attention to the infinite. [Laughter]

When we take a round-the-world ticket then we can stop at every big aerodrome [airport]; when we are taking our awareness to the infinite, then all the time-space-bound individual spheres of life are taken care of spontaneously, naturally. That's why we don't have to bother bringing our attention to the body when we are bringing our attention to the infinite value of our life. We are opening to the Absolute, and we don't have to open to the body because the body gets open to the infinite spontaneously. This is how the process of Transcendental Meditation is much more effective for [creating] normal functioning of the nervous system than the process of bringing the attention to the diseased areas of the body."

~Maharishi

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 1968 -- Audiotape

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Maharishi: The deeper significance of lighting lamps inside & outside the home on Mahalakshmi Day [Dipavali/Diwali]

[Note: The following two quotes were taken from a talk given by Maharishi at Lake Tahoe, USA on Mahalakshmi Day in 1973. At the beginning of the talk Maharishi described how in India on Mahalakshmi Day, everyone first lights ghee lamps inside their home, then puts lamps outside their home, and then exchanges lighted lamps with their neighbors.]

"Traditionally, once-a-year everyone has to light his lamp. And when to light? When there is no light anywhere [new moon night]. In the intense state of ignorance, light the lamp. Intensity of ignorance. It just resembles these times: individual ignorance and profuse spread of ignorance in society, in the nation, in the world. Then is the time to light the lamp and then take the lighted lamps to the friends, to the relatives, to the neighbors -- exchange the light.

This gross expression of lighting the lamps and exchanging the lamps all over, lighting the lamps in and out -- it's not enough to [only] light inside, even outside of the houses, street, everywhere should be all full of light. This takes the whole situation to Unity. It's not enough to [only] light the lamp inside. CC is not enough. The entire outer environment should be glorified in the same light as is lit inside. Nothing less than Unity is the significance of this day, the day of light. Individuals, and from individuals it must spread into society, all societies, the whole world. In and out. It should be all light."

* * * * * * *

"The cognitions of the rishis, Medhatithi and all others, have just sung the glory of that perpetual state of pure Being, of Pure Consciousness, the state of pure light. They have seen the story of light -- inside, outside -- seen this whole significance of raising the level of individual light to universal light -- the inner light must spread outside -- and the significance of this being the night of no moon and even though darkness is spreading everywhere, everyone lights the lamp inside the home and outside the home.

The significance of this tradition is in the reality of the possibility of gaining enlightenment in the midst of utter ignorance; profuse ignorance everywhere and yet everyone will be able to rise to the state of perpetual enlightenment. It's possible. When no one is enlightened, then it's possible for everyone to get enlightenment. This is the significance, the traditional significance. A day in the year is set forth for such a reminder that in spite of all darkness everywhere it is possible to have light inside and outside. The World Plan is establishing this tradition, is going to establish this tradition that no matter it was all darkness, there will be all light."

[Source of both quotes]

~Maharishi~

~Lake Tahoe, USA -- Mahalakshmi Day/Dipavali/Diwali, October 26, 1973 -- Audiotape

•••

Maharishi: How the Vedic richas/hymns seek out one who is awake, who is enlightened

"Brahmarishi [Devarat]* reminded [me] of that one [Vedic] cognition: 'He who is awake, the richas, the hymns [of the Veda], seek him; they seek for someone who is awake.'

When that pure awareness is an all-time reality, when our thoughts and actions spontaneously arise in that state of unbounded awareness, then what is happening? Through every impulse of our activity, through every impulse of our breath, [it's] as if we are creating waves of unboundedness. When unboundedness is a perpetual state of our awareness, then every impulse of thought, desire, action and everything is just a wave in that unbounded awareness. And when we are accustomed to experience that through all our day and night activity -- relative rest of the night and activity of the day -- through our relative impulses of life we are actuating it, then the finest impulses of consciousness ARE those we find in the Rk Veda hymns.

The hymns are just the expressions of the realities on the ultimate level of relative life, pulsations on the level of unbounded consciousness. When we are able to have the impulses of [unbounded] consciousness in our activity, then the hymns come seeking us. It's just a matter of deserving and then having it. We become capable of cognizing the impulses of Being as the ultimate truths of nature, as the laws which structure the whole creation.

We are able to cognize only when all of our thoughts and actions are spontaneously performed in that level of unbounded awareness. Then the cognition of a seer says, 'Richas come to us, seeking us.' We don't have to seek them. We have just to have our life vibrant in the field of Being, unbounded awareness all the time, and then from within those waves of activity arise the faintest relative waves of Absolute consciousness in the form of the formulas or laws which lie at the basis of the whole creation and at the basis of all evolutionary processes.

It's a beautiful aspiration that 'he who is awake is sought for by the richas'. This is the reality of life in the state of light....life of the enlightened....life in enlightenment. Vedas come on seeking him."

~Maharishi

~Lake Tahoe, USA -- October 26, 1973 -- Audiotape

*A great Indian saint and Vedic scholar who along with his son spent a lot of time with Maharishi in the early 70's

•••

Maharishi: The best principle in life is to find something good in others and talk about that good

"Always we take a good attitude about a thing. Any situation we try to mean well. In our heart, in our mind we just take a good aspect of it. Taking like that a few times, we develop a habit of taking the best out of the thing, taking the best out of the situation, making the best out of the situation. Otherwise, it is very easy for us to become so critical: 'That is also not right,' 'This is also bad,' 'No good,' 'No, no, no.' Everywhere 'no' and 'no', and the whole social behavior gets into a muddle. Because if that attitude becomes a habit, then no matter what comes to us -- 'That is no good' -- we will find a negative aspect and condemn it for that instead of locating a beautiful, good, positive point and accepting it for that.

Always we look upon something due to which we can love that thing, that object, that situation. Always. Because if someone is a bad man, at least we should save our heart and our mind by not thinking of the evil doings of his. We will pick up some one good point in him and then admire him for that one good point. We don't mind the other dark side of him. Because if we think of the dark side, we are putting the dark shadow in our heart and mind. If someone is dark, why should we put their dark shadow in our heart and mind by thinking about it? He has done something wrong. Why by thinking of his wrong should we allow that wrong to occupy our heart and mind and muddle our life?

And therefore, the best principle in life is: Find out something good in him and talk of that good, that's all. Otherwise, it's very easy when two people sit and talk about it, 'Look at that, that man, that, that, that.' [Audience laughter] Without any reason we bring the bad shadows in our heart and mind. It's lack of skill in viewing things, in commenting on things.

Always we pick up a good point. We feel good about it. If we speak, we radiate good in the hearts of others. It's very, very necessary that particularly, particularly with those who are dear to you, when you sit together with them alone, always talk of some good things here and some good things there and some good things here. Then the meeting is of a very, very valuable, beneficial nature.

If you sit together and think of that man like that and that man like that, [it's a] waste of life. That meeting is a waste. Never with your friends, with your near ones, with your dear ones do we talk of something negative. Because so many millions of things are there for us to talk [about], why focus on that one [negative] point and unnecessarily make ourself miserable and make that man miserable with whom we are talking?

It's very important that we inculcate a habit of looking at the good points of others. And it's very easy to do so particularly when we are meditating and we have more ability to forgive others."

~Maharishi

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 21, 1968 -- Audiotape

•••

Maharishi: God is on the level of consciousness itself

"God is on the level of consciousness itself, through which everything is perceived, known and experienced. He is the very light of life. He is not something to realize in the sense of some objective gain. He is to be lived. He is consciousness itself, through which everything is perceived."

~Maharishi

~On the Bhagavad-Gita-Chapter 7--Commentary ​ excerpt​ on ​Ch. 7, ​ vs ​.​ 25 ​ (p. 40)

•••

[Krishna's special message to you:] "At all times one should be in that state of mind in which he sees the world as an object seen in a dream. All the different spiritual practices are ultimately aimed at such control of the mind. For this purpose it is not necessary that you should all be physically near me. Often, when you are physically away from me you will be spiritually closer to me."

•••

Maharishi: Love knows no reason: the role of the heart in the growth from CC to GC to UC

"The refinement of vision which marks the growth from Cosmic Consciousness to God Consciousness, this refinement of perception is brought about by the improved level of the heart, the expanded capacity of the heart. Therefore, the path between Cosmic Consciousness and God Consciousness is called the path of devotion, the path of love. Devotion. Devotion doesn't like reasoning. 'Love knows no reason.' There is that proverb. It's the spontaneous quality of the heart [that it's] not based on reason which is the glory of the mind.

All reason -- the mind -- is established in: Self, non-Self. Evidently one experiences Self, non-Self [in Cosmic Consciousness]. There may all the absolute reason for the Self and non-Self to be two. There is an absolute reason: Self is Absolute, non-Self is relative; relative is changing manifest, Absolute is non-changing unmanifest. The two have nothing to do with each other as far as their structure is concerned -- one is relative, one is Absolute.

This absolute reason for these two to be separate is not enough for the heart to compromise. It rises to unite them both together in spite of the absolute, fixed, immovable, unchallengeable reason that the two are two. 'Love knows no reason.' It must unite. In the state of Cosmic Consciousness the two are the realities of life. The heart rises and takes courage to even unite these two absolutely different values of life. The heart doesn't mind that they cannot be united, but it rises in its effort to unite them. Absolutely impossible is the unity of the relative with the Absolute, but the heart takes courage. It knows no reason.

It just swells in its quality and rises in the light of love and starts to appreciate the non-Self gradually towards the value of the Self. Gradually, and not directly towards the value of the Self, but directly [in] not minding the crudeness of the surface value of the object, and allowing the vision to fall on the more delicate, subtle, hidden value of the object and gradually, gradually not minding more and more the gross and minding more and more the subtle, and subtle, and subtle. The power of love, the light of love brings in the most delicate value of the object on the surface of cognition. And then the cognition is very, very rich. This rich cognition of the object, celestial value of the object, somehow fascinates the Self, and then the Self, which is absolutely in its characteristic separate from it [the finest relative] starts to melt, as if melt. Or if we can't accept the melting of the Absolute, fine, don't allow it to melt. Now let us melt the finest relative into the value of the infinity.

In the same process of unfolding the more and more delicate aspect of the object and not minding the cruder aspect of the surface value of the object and digging deeper and deeper [into the] more and more delicate value of the object, then the object has been appreciated in the supreme relative celestial value. Then the power of love begins to rejoice over the achievement because then the object is more fascinating and more fascinating and more fascinating. Then this rising wave of love even takes the value of the object from the supreme celestial to the infinite, transcendental value of Being.

When this has been gained, then the swelling of the heart starts to rest, and the heart has accomplished its purpose. The full development of the heart has united the ever-separate values of the Absolute and the relative, the unity of which the mind could not have conceived of without the full development of the heart. Without the help of the heart, the mind wouldn't have conceived of the unity of the non-Self with the Self, the unity of the manifest and unmanifest. It's simply inconceivable on the level of intellect, but the heart came to support, came to help this perilous state of intellect which could not for any reason even have a conception of the Absolute and the relative being united in one phase.

It is the value of heart that has made it possible for the mind or intellect to gain conviction that: I am That, and thou art That, and all this is That. This intellectual understanding on the part of the mind or intellect comes to be realized when, with the help of the heart, the two completely separate from one another, Self and non-Self, have come to shake hands with each other, to stand on the same level. When the object is cognized in terms of the subject -- this is UC, Unity -- then the mind analyzes, 'Yes, yes. It's really we are not two. We are one.'"

~Maharishi

~Humboldt State University, Arcata, USA -- "The Rise of Heart and Mind to Unity" -- August 12, 1970 (Audiofile)

•••

Maharishi: On the value of prayer and praying to God to help others

COURSE PARTICIPANT #1: "Maharishi, is it correct to say that there is no such thing as intercessory prayer? It's not necessary."

MAHARISHI: "Inter?"

CP #1: " 'Intercessory': Prayer of man, his petition [to God] for this, that and the other thing. Man, in his being is complete. He has everything: the joy, the goodness, the intelligence, the understanding, the ability to enjoy. Really, he doesn't have to ask God for anything because he has everything already. Is that correct?"

MAHARISHI: "That is correct, and the other side of it will also be true that when he remains content like that within himself and yet engages in talking with men here and there and there, then he could as well engage himself in talking to God. And talking to God and communicating to Him is the prayer. In that prayer his heart swells and more he enjoys.

For that concrete joy out of communion, one gets oneself to prayers and to sing the glory of God and all sorts of such things. [That will] become concrete and significant and with some value only when one has risen to that level of Being. Having come on that level, then we sing the prayer of God and pray and do all sorts of such things, and that brings some concreteness to the performance.

And then one knows WHO is praying. [Laughter] Otherwise, one doesn't know who is praying because one doesn't know who is one's Self. And then to whom one is praying? That is also unknown. [Laughter] So on both ends what remains is the darkness of ignorance. Nothing concrete seems to happen. [Laughter]

Prayers are a joy only to the evolved states of consciousness."

CP #1: "Then it is true prayer."

MAHARISHI: "Then it is prayer. Prayer is a link to connect the man to his God."

CP #1: "In that case that prayer is glorifying God."

MAHARISHI: "Yes. It's glorifying God; it's receiving the light of God; it's glorifying man with the light of God. All of that happens on THAT level. Below that level one doesn't know one's Self -- the pray-er [the one praying] is not found -- and to whom the prayer goes? It's all in fancy. So it's just both ends in the dark. It's just empty."

COURSE PARTICIPANT #2: "All of us know people who even though their potentialities might be fine and wonderful they are not [fine and wonderful] now. Surely we can pray for them that God in His power will bring the best out of them? Maybe they will learn to meditate."

MAHARISHI: "When we want to give charity, then the first prerequisite to giving is amassing. We must become wealthy. Amass great wealth, and when the wealth is inexhaustible, then we start being charitable.

See, the best kind of help that we can give to all those who we love and to those who love us is that we grow in Being so that we [will] be favored by almighty nature. Then our thought of him, our love for him, or his love for us will simply draw the sympathy of nature without even our knowing and making any effort. That will be something significant because coming from the almighty nature even if a little bit comes from that infinite source, it'll be a great thing for one individual.

Whereas, not having gained the sympathy of almighty nature for ourselves, remaining a little individual, maybe a little more powerful individual, we can't help him so much, as much as we'll be able to help him if we have won the favor of nature. That is what we want to do. People receive help infinitely, infinitely, once we become the main switch of the almighty power. All will be receiving help, everywhere, and that will be something significant.

Whether we desire [it] or not, all those whom we love have our sympathy, and we do for them as much as we can do. But we feel that all the help that we give is not enough for them. There may be something more, something more that we can do, but there is always a physical limit to which one could help others. But if we could stimulate the almighty nature for our favor, then we could transfer the same thing to them all and all would be happy.

So whatever time we want to utilize in praying for others, we meditate and take life easy. Naturally as we grow in Being, our feeling of blessing to all naturally grows. Naturally. Once we have the love for someone, he'll receive from us to the extent our cup is able to overflow. He receives from us. It is our status that is important for all those whom we love, our status of life. And by 'status' we mean the influx of Being that has come up in our consciousness. That is important for ourself and even for those whom we love and want to help."

~Maharishi

~Carmarthen, Wales, UK -- 1965 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: When we transcend, a life-supporting influence comes in an abstract way to all in creation

QUESTION: "Maharishi, these past few days I've felt that just being here is quite a fantastic thing. When we're all just sitting here some night meditating or in the morning or just when we are in our rooms meditating it makes quite a lot of charm and quite a lot of good in the surrounding environment. Does this attract celestial beings?"

MAHARISHI: "This will tempt some angels. (Laughter). See, what is happening? A man meditates, and then he produces such a life-supporting influence for the whole creation because the mantra becomes finer and finer and the mind transcends [to] that transcendental layer of life -- omnipresent, just like the sap present everywhere. If the pure level of the sap is stirred here, the stir won't be restricted to this area. The stir will be felt all around every time the transcendent is stirred by the mind. Actually there is nothing stirring the Absolute, but [rather] on the borderline of the manifest and the pure Absolute.

The finest layer of the relative becomes lively as the conscious mind passes by it. The finest layer of the relative gets enlivened. That being enlivened, the basis of the whole creation gets enlivened. The whole of nature receives life-supporting influence -- a very positive, life-supporting influence in the whole of nature. 'In the whole of nature' means all the worlds of angels and men and animals and trees and forests and everything gets enlivened, enlivened.

And when many people meditate in an area that enlivening influence is further strengthened, suddenly. This is what makes us say that even the angels enjoy man meditating on earth. It's a joy to all. And this is how the whole of nature responds, favorably. A life-supporting influence comes in an abstract way to ALL in creation.

So it's a very great blessing. It is on this strength that we say even if one per cent of the population starts practicing Transcendental Meditation morning and evening, the world will be different. It is on this practical basis that we say so. It's very good."

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 1968 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: What is primary, what is secondary​

"... In the case of everyone, consciousness is the basic value of the physical body. Only, the body has become primary and the basic value, consciousness, has become secondary. Becoming secondary does not mean it has disappeared. No, it's there. Only it has become secondary.

Now, that which has become secondary has been found to be really worthy of the first level of importance: consciousness, consciousness, consciousness. This field of consciousness is always a primary thing, but that has been suppressed, and what has come in its place is the body. The body has become primary, consciousness has become secondary. When we practice Transcendental Meditation, in the Transcendental Consciousness, consciousness is primary, the body is non-existing, a secondary thing, completely secondary. So it is a matter of what is primary, what is secondary; what is primary, what is secondary.

In society, human society, suffering society, God has become secondary, man has become primary. It is just a matter of primary and secondary -- Smṛiti and Upa [secondary] Smṛiti, Purān and Upa Purān; Śhruti and Upa Śhruti; Veda and Vedāṅgas [secondary Veda], Upāṅgas and all. There is a sequential importance in the field of consciousness also as it is in the field of physiology. Something becomes important, something becomes of secondary importance.

So the thing that has been forgotten, the thing in terms of religious language [is]: God, the Light of God inside, man is made in the image of God. That image has become secondary, and what has become primary is some futile thing; change has become primary, non-change has become secondary.

Now, my work is to bring that which has become secondary, make it important. Non-change. Eternity. Continuity. Flawlessness. Perfection. Pūrṇam [fullness]. Pūrṇāt pūrṇam udachyate ['fullness emerges from fullness'*]. Whether we speak in Sanskrit or in Spanish or in any language, but primary and secondary, that's all. Primary and secondary. When human intelligence becomes primary, then God's intelligence, the almighty intelligence becomes secondary. It does not become secondary. It is always primary. Only it is out of memory, that's all. Out of memory.

So bring it back to memory. That is our strength. Our strength, what we are teaching is nothing new. Only we say: close the eyes and let your mind get into Transcendental Consciousness, and you will find a new world there. And it is so beautiful and so enormous, so invincible, so almighty, so fulfilling, everything like that, like that. It is there, completely open to us, and we are grateful to our Tradition of Vedic Masters that has given us such a simple, straightforward, very easy natural way to open the door. There is no door even. You don't have to knock on the door. Just walk in. But you have to walk in to get to that garden. It is a very beautiful field. It is a very beautiful topic, so good. So good to talk about it, so good to handle it. Very beautiful."

~Maharishi

~Global Press Conference -- MERU, Vlodrop, Holland -- August 20, 2003 -- Videotape

*~Maharishi -- Global Press Conference -- MERU, Vlodrop, Holland -- February 18, 2004

•••

"There is no friend nor enemy in this world for anyone.

It is only on account of the Lord's deluding power (maya) that a man considers another as a friend, an enemy, or a neutral.

In truth, the self is one in all beings.

Only fools perceive diversity.

From the point of view of the omnipresent self, there is neither union nor separation

- all these and birth, death etc., pertain only to the body.

Diversity is perceived by the ignorant man who is spiritually asleep and dreaming.

He who is spiritually awake shakes off this perception of diversity, and the consequent sorrow and delusion."

•••

Itihas: the end of laughter.

"Itihas is the quality of the Blossoming of Totality. Itihas literally means the end of laughter. In his Vedic Science, MMY brings to light that Prakriti expands but is not satisfied with its expansion until it sees Purusha in action. Infinite silence -- the nature of Purusha -- becomes active at a point where Prakriti has fully displayed its Creative Intelligence in the ever-expanding universe. At this point ends the laughter of Prakriti. Ascending and descending, inner and outer, merge. Prakriti then stimulates Purusha. The silent, witnessing intelligence of Purusha is stimulated in the quality of rulership. Purusha is given a ruler quality, an administrative quality, and therefore Purusha becomes the administrator. Prakriti furthermore takes Purushottam (the highest and ultimate value of Purusha ) to the level of rulership of the universe. It makes Purusha the ruler. This culmination of the Creative Intelligence of Prakriti is displayed in Itihas -- the end of the laughter of Prakriti, which is Ramayan and Mahabharat, the two books of Itihas. Prakriti puts Ram to rule and Krishna (incarnation of wholeness -- Brahm) to create Brahm in the rulership of the universe. Realization of the supreme rulership is satisfying to the awareness of Brahm. Brahm assuming human form is Itihas. This is the highest level of administration, where Brahm is the administrator -- Brahma bhavati sarathih. Itihas in the physiology is represented by rulership over the activity of the nervous system, which regulates all ascending and descending tracts and their relationship. This is also expressed in the great intermediate net, which represents Puran as the ancient and eternal aspect of Natural Law in the Vedic Literature." p. 209 of Dr. Nader's work on Ved expressed in the human physiology

•••

Maharishi: Thanksgiving -- Celebrating family relationships & the relationship of infinity to its own point

"It's [Thanksgiving] a festival. A festival for the sons and daughters to look to the parents, to grandparents, to great grandparents, to all the source of one's family tradition up to the area one's memory could fathom. And it could go on and on and on and on touching the realms of infinity, the horizon of the unified field of all the laws of nature. And there the awareness rises to fulfillment on that high horizon of beauty, and power, and intelligence, and love -- fulfillment. The children run to the parents, and the parents like the ocean of life wait for all the rivers from all directions to come, and absorb them. It's a great upsurge of life, of intelligence, of existence to connect to the source just because the source is infinite, unbounded.

This quest for unbounded, the search for unbounded is the flow of life. Life flows starting from the unbounded source in the unmanifest unified field of all the laws of nature, and the rivers of life, individual life, flow -- the life of nations individually, a flow emerging from the unbounded, unified field. And they flow on through the waves of space and time to end up in the timeless, unbounded again. From the unmanifest unbounded to the unbounded unmanifest is the flow, the natural flow of the stream of life -- from source to goal, which again is the source unbounded.

The stream of life, from source to goal, is the stream from source to source. And this stream from source to source is a big huge performance of a cosmic, self-referral nature -- infinite self-referral, unbounded self-referral -- and it is also essentially the nature of the self-referral point of the unbounded self-referral. Infinity is self-referral; point is self-referral; infinity referring to the point, and this is what creates the stream of life. Ocean. It's the flow of the ocean; it's the flow of life; and it's the flow of life that one experiences on this day: celebrating the Thanksgiving Day. It's the flow of life unbounded -- from infinity to a point it flows; from point to infinity it flows, but it's the flow of the ocean of life which flows within itself. This whole history of life spreads the red carpet for everyone, the whole human race, to come within and follow this pattern of cosmic, self-referral performance, the huge cycles, very great huge cycles in space in time -- millions of years of Sat Yuga, Treta [Yuga], Dwarpar [Yuga], Kali Yuga -- big, huge cycles. This is the cosmic self-referral nature of the unified field.

This self-referral performance of natural law, or talking as a whole, the self-referral performance of nature, makes this tradition of running to the source at least on one day in a year (of course for the Governors of the Age of Enlightenment it's an all-time running without running, always continuously connected with the source) but for all the world it's a phenomenon. Thanksgiving Day brings a phenomenon out of three hundred and sixty-five phenomenal days. Each day has its own character.

This day has the character of self-referral performance: running to parents. This is the point facing the infinity: parents, grandparents, great grandparents looking to the children. It's like infinity, unbounded coning down, focusing on the point. So infinity focusing on a point, point diverging onto the infinity unbounded, this mutual relationship of infinity to its own point is what governs the universe. Relationship. This is the day to celebrate relationship. Thanksgiving Day is the day we celebrate relationship."

~Maharishi

~MIU College of Natural Law, Washington, DC -- Thanksgiving Day, November 24 1983 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: The difference between Brahman and the Absolute

QUESTION: "What would be the difference between Brahman and the Absolute?"

MAHARISHI: "Brahman and the Absolute. There is a difference in Brahman and the Absolute.

The Absolute is, like the sap is. The sap is. It's attribute-less. There are no differences in the sap. Pink also comes from there, green also comes from there, round comes from there, flat comes from there. All of these different attributes come from the attribute-less sap. So sap is the Absolute of all these expressions. Sap is the Absolute life of all the relative lives. So Absolute is.

Unlike the existence of the Absolute, there is no existence of Brahman other than the knower. Absolute is, whether one knows it or not. It is there. It's validity is not dependent on the knower. If someone recognizes or doesn't recognize, it doesn't matter. The Absolute is. It is Is-ness. Brahman is not like the Absolute. Absolute has its validity whether someone knows it or not, but Brahman has NO validity without the knower. Brahman has no validity without the knower. This is a very great difference.

When the knower identifies himself with everything, or when the knower knows everything in terms of himself, then he is getting to be Brahman. And when he has actually known EVERYTHING in terms of himself, then he is Brahman -- this in terms of my Self, this in terms of my Self. This means Unity Consciousness growing, growing. Because the Absolute is that level of life which knows no differences so that is the field of Unity, like the vacuum state, flat, at the basis of all things. But the appreciation of that more and more fully, more and more fully, appreciation of that completely, infinitely, in its wholeness, that becomes Brahman.

The substance that is omnipresent, everywhere it's there, whether one knows it or not, there is a level of non-changing reality, immortal, eternal, it doesn't change, it's always there: That is the Absolute. Realization of That in terms of one's Self is Brahman. So Brahman is always there in terms of the knower; Absolute is there in terms of Being."

~Location unknown -- November 30, 1974 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: In CC the negative aspect of the relative doesn't belong to life; If the devil gains CC

"Cosmic Consciousness means what? Full relative, full Absolute, yes? Full relative, full Absolute, Cosmic Consciousness. Now when we say 'full relative', then we have to see whether it is really full or not.

In the relative field, what we have is all good of the celestial field at one extreme and all bad of the extreme limit of negativity, hell, on the other. This is the whole range of the relative. When such a relative becomes supplemented with the Absolute, then the span of relative existence belongs to a much [more] restricted area than as compared to that area where one side is celestial, highest relative in sattva [purity], and the other [side is] in extreme tamas [destruction, decay], that hell. This big range becomes reduced to what range? To a range of influence where only life-supporting influence is possible to be produced -- nothing damaging, nothing negative. 'Negative' is lowering. Am I making clear?

When we say 'the whole relative', then we mean even the negative aspect of relative which is minus. Minus so much, minus so much, so much then that minus becomes less and less and less and then it comes to zero. And then from there we start further on one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. So from ten to zero is the positive side of number; zero to minus, to infinity towards this minus, this is the negative aspect.

When the Absolute gets infused into the relative, in Cosmic Consciousness, then the relative that is in the minus aspect of influence, that negative does not belong to life. Only the positive belongs to life. The influence that will be produced will only be life-supporting and will not be life-damaging. It's not the negative; it will be all-positive, all-positive.

So when we rise to Cosmic Consciousness then we are in the relative, but the negative side of the relative we have crossed. Now when we are left with the positive side of the relative and the Absolute both together, then whatever action it will not produce life-damaging influence. Yes? Logical? Life-damaging influence will only be produced when we belong to the negative area."

QUESTION: "Is it possible for the devil to gain Cosmic Consciousness?"

MAHARISHI: "And by the time devil gets to Cosmic Consciousness, just from our present analysis, he must get out of the negativity of the devil. That means, he will cease to be a devil. He must cease to be a devil because Cosmic Consciousness means infusion of Absolute. With the infusion of the Absolute, because the Absolute is the basis of all the laws of nature to function -- just for this one, simple reason -- the man in Cosmic Consciousness cannot produce life-damaging influence because all the laws of nature are only to take every life to more and more higher evolution. Therefore, when the Absolute is infused in the consciousness, then the life has to be in accordance with the purpose of all the laws of nature. And the purpose of all the laws of nature is to evolve, evolve, evolve towards betterment, towards greater and greater. Therefore, whatever action we perform, it will not be against the natural theme of evolution. That's it.

Therefore, when every action has to be in accordance with Nature, then it has to be divine and not devilish. Because devil means: life-damaging influence; divine means: life-supporting influence."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- February 15, 1968

•••

Maharishi: The individual produces the atmosphere & that atmosphere influences the individual: How collective calamities and collective happiness happen

QUESTION: "How do disasters help evolution? How can disasters like earthquakes and such further evolution?"

MAHARISHI: "When the conductor is good, the electricity flows without heating it. If somewhere there is some resistance offered and it ceases to flow, because it wants to flow it heats it up. And if heating is not enough it melts it so it can flow. These [disasters] are the breaking of the resistances on the way to progress in cosmic life.

Cosmic life takes care of every individual life on all levels. Resistance is offered by any life-damaging influence produced by man. Because man has freedom of action he can choose to act this way or that way. Both things. Therefore, wrong action creates negative influence and wrong action of many, many people accumulates that in the atmosphere."

WALTER KOCH: "What is the mechanism for such bad influence? In other words, there must be something, some medium in the atmosphere that accumulates this. A carrier. And if that carrier has accumulated a great deal, how does that carrier produce such disasters? What is the mechanism for this?"

MAHARISHI: " A normal man, a good man produces good influence around him. 'Good influence' is that which produces life-supporting influence. 'Life-supporting influence' is that which helps to conduct all the laws of nature engaged in the process of creation and evolution of everything. That's a good action. By good action the conduct of the laws is supported, and when the laws are supported, evolution is fast. Evolution of that particular object.

Everything is there in creation: innumerable things, innumerable laws functioning to evolve things. And if those laws receive sensations or impulses which further their cause, then that is the action which will be life-supporting. Such a life-supporting action, helping the whole creation evolve further, is a joyous thing. As a result of spreading the joy in all the surroundings the man receives what he gives. That means, when the nature is evolving faster -- means the seasons are good in time, in time rain, in time winter, in time summer, the earth is fertile, and crops are good -- then the tendencies of the people are very harmonious and loving and progressive.

If a man produces wrong influence -- wrong influence means the functioning of the laws of nature for evolution of everything is obstructed and when it is obstructed then [it's as if] the free flow of electricity is obstructed -- the free flow of life towards evolution and higher fulfillment is obstructed. And when it's obstructed there is a limit to which obstruction can be offered by man.

That omnipresent, unbounded intelligence which is responsible for the evolution and creation of everything in the cosmos, is irresistably powerful. [Even] if some people create that influence of life-damaging things, the power of evolution is much greater than any power that can be there. Therefore, it [nature] retaliates against it. Now when Nature retaliates against the influence produced by man, then the retaliation has to reach every contributor, every shareholder. This is how, in a very abstract manner, each one who has contributed to that life-damaging influence in nature receives the slap [from Nature]. See the point?

The mechanics of collective calamity are quite the same as in the case of collective happiness. Individuals radiating happiness, a good life-supporting influence, enhances the functioning of all the laws of nature and the progress is rapid. When the progress is rapid, happiness increases automatically.

So on both sides, either happiness or misery, the mechanics of nature are the same. The individual produces the atmosphere and that atmosphere influences the individual. We see it every day in the houses of our friends. We go [to some places], and we like to go and come back because it's not nice. And we go to some other places where we like to stay because the influence is agreeable. It's a very physical thing -- a physical [influence] which is either sustained or rejected by the power of nature, by Mother Nature who only wants to support, enrich, advance all that is. This is the mechanics."

WALTER KOCH: "Now a few minutes ago you said, to my mind, a very important thing. You said that collective calamities effect those who are the shareholders, the contributors to that. Now supposing a meditator is no longer a contributor to these collective calamities, emitting only life-supporting and harmonious influences. If such a meditator lives in the midst of an earthquake area does this mean that he will not be affected?"

MAHARISHI: "It depends on how much good he is creating around him. How powerful he is."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- February 15, 1968 -- Audiofile

•••

"Wise men do not reject the world, even as he who seeks gold does not reject ornaments made of gold."

•••

Maharishi: It's a greater task to maintain oneself in Unity than to gain it/Proper teaching is needed at each step of evolution

"To maintain oneself in the state of Unity is a greater task than gaining Unity, because living Unity means living infinity which in its character is devoid of activity. Infinity is devoid of activity in its character. That which is devoid of activity in its essential structure, in its essential nature, has to be lived in the field of activity.

​Infinity is omnipresent. Opening our awareness to that which is everywhere​ [is] not so difficult, but to put to action that sphere of life which in its structure is devoid of activity, a greater bravery is needed. It comes from proper teaching, proper teaching, proper teaching, proper teaching, proper teaching, proper teaching.

And you see how the teachings are in their character contradictory from stage to stage, how they are contradictory from stage to stage. I'll define this, how the teaching is contradictory from step to step of evolution.

To get Transcendental Consciousness you minimize activity and get onto that. One way: minimize activity, gain Transcendental Consciousness.

To get to Cosmic Consciousness: entertain vigorous activity. Completely different. At one stage meditate and be happy; another stage, open two shops if you have only one, [open] four shops, increase activity -- dip the cloth [in the dye], and let it fade in the sun. The more intense the sun, the better it is erased. And then, in Cosmic Consciousness, the Self remains, and the whole world is this, this.

[For God Consciousness] activity for the celestial, unseen, different -- the activity of devotion for the unseen. Previously, activity for the obvious, for the seen, vigorous activity; and now for something unseen, don't know whom. Go ahead. Gain the Self, that was the aim for rising to Cosmic Consciousness. Losing the Self is what comes about in the next higher state. Something that has been gained is allowed to be lost in the increasing degrees of happiness. From something that has been gained so dearly, now willingly lost.

The whole teaching gets perverted [overturned]. Sometime this, sometime completely opposite to this, this completely opposite to that. So it's the proper teaching. This is [the role of] the Guru. The tradition of Masters [is] held up for these minute reasons: that the path even though straight and direct has different values. At every step, it has a different value. It's very narrow; it's very wide; it's something very marvelous; it's something very strange. The whole thing is there: one, the other, one, the other.

This is what is your status as a TM Teacher. This is your status as a TM Teacher: to guide the man sometimes this way, and [then] this way, but overall guide him to the highest. This is the status of a TM Teacher: leading onto the highest. The whole thing is very natural, the whole thing is very simple, but it has to fit in the procedure of the overall purpose of life."

~Maharishi~

~Livigno, Italy -- 1970 -- Audiotape

•••

Maharishi: The science of defense -- "The road on which the enemy proceeds is the sin of the nation."

MAHARISHI: "If the army, if the soldiers of a country meditate, no armies will come up against them. Nature will handle the situation.

During this time of war in India I had two, three days. I wrote a small pamphlet, that is, Science of Defense. And in that it was shown that the calamity that comes, either on the individual or anyone, is the result of one's own sin, the result of one's own misdoings, whatever. The misery comes and to whomsoever it comes.

If people meditate and gain more influx of Being in their life, nature will be harmonious. The need of defense arises when the enemy raids. The road on which the enemy proceeds is the sin of the nation. And the science of defense demands something to be done by the people in the nation so that the enemy does not come on the border. And that is elimination of the tension in the atmosphere.

And I said that even if the military personnel, who are to be the victims of war and the families of those people who are to be the victims of the disaster of war -- and they might be numbering one out of a thousand in the whole population -- if they meditate morning and evening for half an hour, no enemy will be produced in the atmosphere. This will be eliminating the need for defense by military operation.

The life of the military people is meant for maintaining security of the nation. It is one thing to allow the enemy to grow and allow him to come to raid, and it is another thing to disallow the enemy to grow anywhere. So why not the defense starts from the beginning of the enemy? Why should it start only when the enemy has come to the border and is already raiding? Nip it in the bud. And it is easier to nip it in the bud. It is by the people meditating regularly morning and evening. I made a call to the civilians to help the military because it is the young men of every family that go to the military and as a result of that, [their] families feel a disaster and all that.

So why not the mothers at home and sisters at home meditate so that the clouds may not gather in the atmosphere? This is the science of defense which does not need our people to go and die and kill and all sorts of misery."

COURSE PARTICIPANT: "Vietnam."

MAHARISHI: "Today it's Vietnam, tomorrow it could be anywhere and yesterday it has been in many places. It is the joint effort of the individuals of the world that can keep the world in peace and in harmony and in love and all glory of life. So it is vitally important we spread this meditation as soon as possible in as many lives as possible. All efforts should be made on every level to propagate it far and wide, everywhere. And then we'll be creating a new world."

~Carmarthen, Wales, UK -- 1965 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: The role of Sāma Veda in transforming Cosmic Consciousness into Unity Consciousness

"It's the modification of awareness that raises the value of Cosmic Consciousness to Unity Consciousness. The value of our consciousness. And that is by modifying that value of consciousness which registers differences. In Cosmic Consciousness two values exist simultaneously -- one, unbounded Self awareness, and the other, awareness of the boundaries -- and it is on the level of our consciousness.

Now that aspect of our consciousness which registers differences has to be modified so that it starts to register less and less differences and more and more harmony. These hymns of Sāma Veda produce that quality in our awareness which transforms this ability of perceiving the differences into the ability of perceiving harmony. Perceiving harmony instead of differences is the value of Unity Consciousness. So there has to be transformation of that aspect of awareness which registers differences into that value which registers harmony.

Particularly the use of Sāma hymns is from that level from where Soma* starts to be created inside, and it is from the time one starts to gain CC. And that is to enrich all the qualities of the senses in order to enrich the perception so that instead of differences, harmony becomes more evident. So the value of Sāma hymns is enormous.

Because this process of evolution is a natural procedure -- the process of evolution of consciousness is a natural procedure -- even without any practice or anything everyone is destined to get onto UC. Through this regular practice we hasten the procedure and help our own nature. But the process of evolution is a natural procedure. Because it's a natural procedure, the impulses which modify CC into UC are already there -- they're already there. These hymns stir them, activate them and thereby, they enliven them. So instead of comprehending differences the awareness starts to comprehend harmony.

It's just enlivening the level of awareness. And because perception on the level of awareness is also a relative value of life -- it's relative, consciousness -- modification of CC into UC is a relative phenomenon. Therefore, these hymns have that relative value which is capable of enlivening that aspect which will transform perception of difference into perception of harmony."

~Maharishi

~Humboldt State University, Arcata, USA -- August 31, 1972 -- Audiofile

Footnote reference only *"So that which is the last substance from the digestive system, the most refined digested value, would be Soma, which in itself is wholeness of awareness, Cosmic Intelligence."

~Maharishi

•••

Maharishi: The value of long-lived traditions/In the relative, anything nearer to truth lives longer

"All the do's and don'ts of religion aim at maintaining normal-functioning nervous system in order that in meditation the mind gets to the transcendental area easily, and having reached that gets that transcendental awareness infused into the very nature of the mind and lives it normally, spontaneously, naturally in life. 'Do this, and don't do this.' 'Do this, and don't do this.' All the do's of don'ts of religions. Maybe some have been distorted here and there, but basically the do's and don'ts that are coming on from a long time in the past -- anything that is coming on from a long time in the past -- has been accepted by Nature.

Anything that is nearer to truth will be long-lived because pure truth is eternal Being. Truth is that which never changes. The definition of truth is that which never changes, which is eternal, immortal, infinite. And that is absolute Being -- non-changing, eternal, immortal, absolute Being. That is truth.

Anything that is nearer to truth lives longer. Any habits of man, any traditions of man, any tradition of any society, any tradition of any religion, any tradition of living, anything that has proved its value in time is nearer to truth. The absolute truth is all immortal Being, but in the relative field anything that is nearer to truth is long-lived. This is one way of verifying the validity of traditions.

Grosser spheres of life are short-lived. Life in the grosser strata has much shorter life-span. Beings or creatures belonging to the finer regions of creation live longer. Man is somewhere in the middle. Man's life is so much. Angels live longer; better angels live much longer. [Audience laughter] Beings in the celestial field live very, very long. Some God, the supreme, on the finest relative level of celestial life, is very, very long-lived, and longer than that is the eternity. Anything nearer to truth, anything nearer to eternity has to live longer and longer and longer.

So if a tradition is very old, Nature wants it to survive, Nature wants it to survive -- survival of the fittest. "Fittest" means belonging to the finer regions of creation -- more energy, more intelligence. Therefore, all the do's and don'ts that are coming on from traditions are an indication, a natural heritage of every man in order that the nervous system should remain pure so that man may live in higher consciousness, [so that] he may enjoy more, produce more, create more energy, intelligence, happiness, three things, more in life."

~Maharishi

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 1968 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: The 3 fields of faith/How faith grows

"There are three fields of faith: faith in oneself, faith in the teacher and faith in God. Faith in oneself is necessary so that one does not begin to doubt one's own experience. Faith in the teacher enables one to accept the fundamentals of the teaching; if in the absence of faith the basic principles of the teaching are rejected, one can neither derive any benefit from it nor verify its truth, since the truth of the teaching can be verified only by personal experience which arises from the practice given by the teacher. Faith in God protects man's heart and mind and ensures that steady progress which is so important in the life of a seeker.

Faith provides an anchor in life, not only for the seeker of Truth but for any man. It is needed for any accomplishment in life; for greater accomplishment it is needed in greater measure; for ultimate fulfillment in God-consciousness the greatest faith is needed.

[Transcendental] Meditation is a process which provides increasing charm at every step on the way to the Transcendent. The experience of this charm causes faith to grow. Moreover, the regular practice of [Transcendental] meditation brings the great blessings of harmony and joy to life; this too helps the heart and mind to grow in faith ..."

~Maharishi

~On the Bhagavad-Gita -- Commentary excerpt on Chapter 4, Verse 39 -- pp. 316-317

•••

The ever-changing is the form; the changeless is the reality. It is the awareness that remains continuous and unbroken throughout waking, dreaming, and sleep (and in the superconscious state of samadhi), just as space remains continuous and unbroken within a house, through the wall and outside the house (and in the sky).

•••

Maharishi: The Kingdom of Heaven is within every object of creation & in the innermost recesses of everyone's heart

"That state of eternal peace and bliss is just here. The Kingdom of Heaven is within me, and 'me' means the 'me' of everything, not only the 'me' of man but the 'me' of everything. The Kingdom of Heaven is within every object of creation and in the innermost recesses of everyone's heart. It is the essential substratum of life. The 'me' is the innermost life principle. This is the state of Being. To establish ourselves in That nothing is needed; already everyone is established in himself. The 'I' is there, so every man is already established in himself; only his attention is outside, and what is needed is to bring the attention within himself."

~Maharishi

~London, UK -- Between March 1960 and mid-1961

~Transcendental Meditation with Questions and Answers(p.94)--1967

•••

Maharishi: Q & A on the loss/revival of knowledge, Masters, & the special nature of the current revival

MAHARISHI: "Every generation has realized people, lots of them here and there. Coming to realization by that gradual realization, realized people are found everywhere in all the generations. But this wisdom of natural integration, this wisdom, this completeness of wisdom of what we bring out/teach, this has not been brought to light in such utter simplicity and [on such a] natural level before."

COURSE PARTICIPANT (CP): "What is lost?"

MAHARISHI: "What is lost is the correct expression; the correct expression of the wisdom gets lost. It's there in the scriptures. It's there. What gets lost is the meaning of the expression. That gets lost. And it is this meaning that gets revised generation after generation according to the current language, current expression. That's why the revival."

CP: "Maharishi, when you were speaking about the Holy Tradition previously, you mentioned that Vasiṣhṭha was immortal and recurrent in Tretā Yuga, who are the other immortals for the other yugas?"

MAHARISHI: "Vyāsa is heard to be immortal."

CP: "In which yuga?"

MAHARISHI: "Beginning of this [yuga], beginning of Kali Yuga, end of Dwāpar[a] [Yuga]. Vyāsa is another immortal."

CP: "Does the knowledge originate from the Master or from the Absolute?"

MAHARISHI: "From the Absolute. Always the wisdom comes from the Master, but then it's a matter of expression in the current language. That is what brings the revival.

There are many who are going to pass on this wisdom to the next generation. [Only] one is not necessary. Many, many, many. All the knowers of Reality, speaking about the Reality in the current-coin language, the current language, speaking about the Reality in the current language."

CP: "If Vyāsa is immortal in this yuga, wouldn't it be his task to come and give the message from time to time?"

MAHARISHI: "I think he must be whispering to me when I am commenting on Brahma Sūtras or on Gītā. [Course participants' laughter] He must be in the air around."

CP: "What is it that makes some Masters greater than others?"

MAHARISHI: "Their usefulness."

CP: "Why couldn't the Buddha get it across to his followers?"

MAHARISHI: "He did. He did. Somebody told me that during the lifetime of Buddha, five hundred people got ​N irvāna ​ [CC]​ . Five hundred. So he must have made a great impact on the masses during his lifetime, otherwise he won't survive till today. Must have made."

CP: "Were those people only in India or were some people outside of India?"

MAHARISHI: "Some part of India."

CP: "So none were outside of India?"

MAHARISHI: "I don't think. History doesn't record any such thing.

And for that we are obliged to these jets flying twenty-four hours [a day] around the world. Jets. Quick. Quick. This is in favor of our Movement -- quick communication. Quick."

CP: [Question asked is garbled on the tape -- best ​ ​ ​GUESSES​ ] "Did Guru Dev know it would be like this?" OR ​ "Did Guru Dev know​ ​ ​ you would be doing ​this?" ​ ​

MAHARISHI: "He must have known. [Course participants' laughter] He never said to me, otherwise quite a lot of time would have been wasted in planning. [Maharishi and course participants' laughter] He saved us from that waste, waste of planning. It just blossomed and blossomed and blossomed and blossomed."

~Rishikesh, India -- February 1969 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: We don't depreciate non-meditators/We always respect whatever the state of a man is

"A man may have been born with 90% infused Being already from birth. Another man may have been born with 20% of infusion. Now both are gradually going ahead, gradually going ahead, gradually going ahead. So no meditator will depreciate the value of life of a non-meditator, 'Because he is not meditating and I am meditating so I have better vibrations.'

We don't depreciate the value of [non-meditators]. Somebody may have been born with 98% of cosmic infusion, and we may be struggling along day after day meditating and may have reached [only] 70%. [Laughter] He may be feeling much better than what we are feeling after four years of meditation because he is already on a higher level of consciousness by birth.

So we always respect whatever the state of a man is because there is no direct gauge to measure the level of consciousness."

~Maharishi

~Squaw Valley, USA -- August 1968 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: The entire endeavor of Nature is to let consciousness grow to Cosmic Consciousness

"The entire endeavor of Nature is to culminate there in that state of Cosmic Consciousness. All the activity of Nature, the whole effort of Nature in all the various fields is to let consciousness grow to that high limit of Cosmic Consciousness. That is the fulfillment of the entire endeavor of Nature. It's very simple. And that is a more natural state of life. To God Consciousness it evolves, but there's no evolution -- it's just the glorification of that most highly evolved state of life.

Nature rejoices in the life in Cosmic Consciousness. A man in Cosmic Consciousness is enjoyed by Nature. Life in Cosmic Consciousness is a joy to the almighty Nature because then Nature doesn't have to work on him anymore. (Laughter). It's a joy to the almighty Nature."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- February 8, 1967 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: The unwinding of stresses & strain in the waking state, outside of TM & how to avoid it

QUESTION: "During TM every thought seems to represent the unwinding of the nervous system itself, yet I think we've all experienced that during our daily life, during our waking state, we might smell something or we might see something and recall a whole series of memories before our eyes. Is this the same type of unwinding process that takes place during TM, these sudden memories?"

MAHARISHI: "Anything that is negative, anything that is harmful, damaging is the result of the unwinding process; and everything that is good and positive and life-supporting is the expression of life that comes from the normally-functioning nervous system. Normally-functioning nervous system reflects life as it is. And it is bliss consciousness, life as it is.

Now it may vary how much of life is reflected: whether hundred per cent or fifty per cent or maybe ten per cent, maybe one per cent life, but that reflection as long as it is the reflection of life it is the result of normally-functioning nervous system. Stresses and strain would reflect anti-normal state of consciousness -- a state of consciousness which is not normal. And that will be something which will be not life-supporting, or negative. That is the criterion.

We have often seen the people flaring up in anger sometime, and two minutes later they say, "Oh! It was not necessary. I was wrong." Something. Immediately, opposite feelings. So by way of anger some unwinding has taken place, and when that stress is gone the man thinks differently."

QUESTION: "Would you say anger is good for unwinding, to let off the stress, to get rid of some of the stress?"

MAHARISHI: "Always it is like that. But as we develop bliss consciousness anger doesn't have to be entertained in order to unwind. (Laughter) So we hide ourself in quietness [i.e. meditate] in order to unwind, and when we come out, we come out unwound. (Laughter). This is the technique of good social behavior. If there is something negative, we quietly sit in a corner and unwind it. (Laughter) And then come out. This is wisdom of life."

~Maharishi

~Rishikesh, India -- 1967 -- Audiofile

•••

Maharishi: Spontaneously living the scriptures of one's religion in daily life

MAHARISHI: "The only way for really living the light of God and taking advantage from the merciful nature of the Almighty is: meditate and act, meditate and act, and meditate and act. Naturally we will come to a level from where we will only live scriptures and scriptures only will be spoken, will be lived in our day-to-day life. So it's not the individual, but the way of living, the standard of individual living, and that in simple words is: a few minutes morning and evening meditation and action throughout the day and take it easy. (Laughter) This is the way to be really religious.

Otherwise, just the label of religion, it just does not help. A really religious man is he who is emitting the light of God, who is living the light of God, who is spreading through all of his thought, speech and action spontaneously the light of God. One doesn't have to keep on praying all the time to emit the light of God. Through every action that one does one influences the surroundings in that right spirit which helps evolution, and that is spreading the light of God.

We don't have to talk of God in order to live the light of God. Talk of God or talk of faith and talk of this, doesn't mean much when it comes to practically living the light of God. And that is accomplished through regularly and gradually evolving to Cosmic Consciousness, and THEN from that level we live that life of the scriptures. Otherwise, the whole thing is a hodge-podge.

Now you see the vision of life? It's a complete vision of life. And we have a tool in hand to live this life of the scriptures."

COURSE PARTICIPANT (i.e. the CP who asked the original question that triggered Maharishi's long talk on how to spontaneously live the scriptures in daily life): "Thank you very much." (Audience applause)

MAHARISHI: "I think everyone will thank you for bringing out such a thing so that we could probe deeply into it." (Audience applause)

"When we talk of the scriptures I feel so sad about the situation of the scriptures. They have been completely mutilated for the purpose they were created for originally. The interpreters, the commentators from their very incomplete level of consciousness have given commentaries to those beautiful expressions which only mean life. This is true of the scriptures for all religions: Vedas have been very poorly interpreted, Bible has been very poorly interpreted, the Koran [in] Islam, and the teachings of Buddha have been so poorly interpreted that there is absolutely no connection between what Buddha meant and what the Buddhist teachers say today, between what Christ meant and what the church is saying about his teachings today, what Krishna said and what the Hindu preachers are saying today. The whole thing is a flop! (Audience laughter)

And this is why life in no part of the world is really happy, why there is unhappiness and suffering, and why this is increasing in degree. Men of ANY religion, men of ALL religions are equally chaotic, absolutely no life. Life is bliss, and where is bliss in life except in those in the family of the International Meditation Society [an early TM organization]. (Audience laughter) Transcendental Meditation is a key to all good and evolved life. And then, this is going to bring the life of every man on a level where he will start living his religion in the true sense.

Christians meditating this way rise to Cosmic Consciousness; Hindus meditating this way rise to Cosmic Consciousness; Buddhists meditating this way rise to Cosmic Consciousness. They start living the scriptures. And the scriptures are basically the same whether they are written in Hebrew, or in English, or in Pali -- Buddhist literature is in Pali --, or in Sanskrit -- Vedic literature is in Sanskrit --, or in Arabic or whatever -- Islamic literature is in Arabic. No matter what religion but basic things are the same. Differences are on the superficial level. Differences are only on the superficial level. All the scriptures are the same, and when the follower of any religion rises to Cosmic Consciousness through Transcendental Meditation he justifies being the follower of that religion, no matter what religion. Then his life justifies being the follower of that religion.

We hope we'll create a society where all the religions will be LIVED by all the people. Every religion will be glorified when its followers are happy and live the light of God. That's it. It's a very beautiful plan for the whole human race."

~Lake Louise, Canada -- June 1968

•••

Lord Krishna said: "He who is devoted to me, finds bliss flowing to him from all sides. He who has offered his heart to me, longs for nothing else. Nay, I myself run after that devotee, in order that the dust of his feet may purify me. The mind of the man who dwells on worldly objects, becomes attached to them; the mind of my devotee becomes absorbed in me."

•••

Maharishi: How the Creator becomes one's charioteer -- Yatīnām Brahmā bhavati sārathiḥ

"Just one little phrase -- Yatīnām Brahmā bhavati sārathiḥ -- four words, four -- Yatīnām Brahmā bhavati sārathiḥ. One who is completely retired from the field of dynamism, from the field of action, is the Yati; Brahmā bhavati sārathiḥ: the Creator becomes his charioteer.

How does the Creator become the charioteer? It is the Creator who created creation from what He remembered about the past creation -- from the memory. To make the memory really thrive again is the act of the Creator. Someone who is transcendental [the Yati] is on that level of the Creator from where he can create by thought. That is the awareness of the Rājā, the awareness of the administrator. That is Vedic administration -- competence.

It is the competence that rules. There is no mistake. There is no punishment in this administration. There is no punishment in this administration because no one does wrong. By nature one does only the right thing, the right thing. There is a whole philosophy of perfection, and we are proud of having this from our Master, from our Guru Dev, from our tradition of Vedic knowledge."

~Maharishi

~Global Press Conference -- MERU, Vlodrop, Holland -- February 2, 2005 -- Video file

•••

Maharishi: Why stress builds up in the nervous system when full potentiality is not unfolded/How to remedy

"Aspiration of the mind is aspiration of the force of evolution, and that is: infinity should function. Nothing less than infinity. That is why stress is very normal and natural if full potential is not put to use. This is the basic thing, this is the basic thing. Other factors are secondary. The basic thing is this. The very nature of life is that. It must be stressed, it must be under stress if full potentiality is not unfolded.

QUESTION: "Why does a mental experience of contacting the Absolute release a physical knot of karma or stress?"

MAHARISHI: "This is because the experience of the mind has to depend on the functioning of the body. The mind can experience only by the specific functioning of the nervous system -- the nervous system functions like that, corresponding experience on the mental level.

So when the mind gets to the infinite [in TM], the nervous system gets to that value of functioning. It starts to function in such a way that the corresponding state in the mind will be Being, state of Being. Mind will be universal, unbounded, and the body will have that particular type of functioning.

In this state the body has reached its full capacity; it's functioning in its full value. And when this functioning of the full value of the nervous system becomes a routine thing -- spontaneously at all times it is capable of maintaining this bliss consciousness -- then the aspiration of the mind motivated by that infinite value of the force of evolution is not challenged by the functioning ability of the body. Then the body also is competent to hold to that aspiration. And then there is no stress."

~Maharishi

~Livigno, Italy -- 1970 -- Audio file

•••

Lord Krishna:

"...beings undergo birth and death all the time; but on account of the speed and subtlety of time, this is not so perceived. Just as the flame of a candle is constantly renewed and the waters of a stream are continually changed -- and yet people regard them as the same flame and the same stream -- even so with the body. Again, the jiva neither takes birth nor dies: fire exists forever though it seems to appear and disappear."

Sage Suka:

"...sages declare that everyone experiences perpetual dissolution - nitya pralaya - inasmuch as there is continuous creation and dissolution of the elements that constitute this universe, like sparks in a flame, or waters of a river. Give up the foolish notion that you were born, and that you will die. All this takes place in the dream state of the ignorant jiva, not in truth. Mind alone creates, perpetuates, and dissolves; and mind is a product of maya. The body, its birth and its death are all illusory projections of this maya. Remain established in this truth: 'I am Brahman the infinite, the supreme abode, I am Brahman, the highest goal.' Thus have I narrated to you, my own self, the holy actions of lord Hari. What else is there worth hearing?"

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Maharishi: We can cope with all the destructive features of life on earth, but we will be in light/We don't mind others. We mind what WE do; we mind what WE are

"Our world means the world of peaceful people, and not minding the other destroyers of the world who are growing in magnitude -- but we don't mind. The scorpion will always sting, but God's grace has always saved the world. So many Rākshasas [demons] have been in the past, and we are witnessing the Rākshasa opinion everywhere [now]: 'I'll kill this. I'll kill this. Bombing this. Bombing this.' So all this has been continuing in the world, and it'll continue.

But our performance also will continue. The darkness has always existed, and the candlelights and torchlights also have existed. So we can cope with all the destructive features of life on earth, but we will be in light. Vedic tradition is an eternal tradition of total knowledge in which there is no chance of any darkness to come in."

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"And we have been giving out to the world a straight, lighted path of evolution to engage the highest state of consciousness for every aspect of our daily life. We'll continue on those very beautiful, pleasant duties of ours assigned by our tradition of Vedic Masters, by Guru Dev and certified and welcomed by scientific research in the field of all the physical sciences.

So we are on a very solid ground of stability of peace perpetual on earth, and now we have conceived of a global administration [The Global Country of World Peace (GCWP)] that will disallow the sprouting of any problems in any part of the world. The world will be a global world of everyone concerned, and globally the whole world family will move together on the path of higher states of consciousness, engaging higher intelligence, and moving fast to achieve the supreme goal of life: realization of God, of all almighty grace of God, all harmony, all peace, Heaven on Earth -- our beautiful target of all these years.

Now we have a global administration which will run by natural law, the will of God, and which will be helped by the currency of Raam [a currency floated by the GCWP] to relieve everyone from stress and strain, and all that, all that. The world has drifted away from the real path of peace and happiness, and we are resolved to create a Capital of World Peace, to create from that Capital an administration of natural law, an open gate to heaven, a direct evolutionary path of life for everyone.

It doesn't matter how mistaken other people are functioning. We don't mind others. We mind what WE do; we mind what WE are. We center ourselves in that infinite potential of divine Grace, we live that field of life and let our example be followed by all other people. But we don't mind if nobody follows. We remain exalted and supremely fulfilled in everyday life of ours, and that is enough for us."

~Maharishi

~MERU, Vlodrop, Holland -- January 12, 2002 -- Video file

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Maharishi on invincibility

"Life is invincible: this is the principle of indestructibility. The real, real nature of life is indestructible. Surface values of life change, but the inner value of life is invincible in its own right."

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More quotes from Maharishi and the Vedic literature