Meditators from 134 nations will practice TM and TM-Sidhi Program for two weeks near Hyderabad to create positive vibrations in the collective consciousness of the world.
At a time when two wars are raging, over 10,000 meditators from 134 nations assembling near Hyderabad in India for world peace is a laudable initiative.
They will collectively practice Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the advanced TM-Sidhi Program for two weeks to activate “The Maharishi Effect”. It is triggered, the TM movement claims, when 1% of the square root of the population practices meditation together. They cite scientific research carried out on the topic to show that the Maharishi Effect is capable of neutralizing negative tendencies in society. It is named after the TM guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The mega-ambitious event near the capital of Telangana is organized by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP), chaired by Dr. Tony Nader, MD, PhD, successor to Mahesh Yogi as head of the TM movement. He formally inaugurated the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly on December 29.
The venue is Kanha Shanti Vanam on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It has the largest meditation hall in India, maybe in the entire world. It was built by the Heartfulness Meditation movement of Shri Ram Chandra Mission.
Addressing the assembly, Dr. Nader, a Harvard and MIT trained neuroscientist, said, “You are making history. Never before have so many experts in the technologies of consciousness (10,175 and counting) gathered together in one place, and from so many countries — 134: truly, a united nations of meditation! And it’s not just history that you’re making here, it is also the future. Together, we will be demonstrating a much brighter tomorrow for our world.”
As quoted by IANS news agency, Dr. Nader continued: “Maharishi Mahesh Yogi often called Bharat ‘the Land of the Veda,’ and two Vedic phrases come immediately to mind: from the Yoga Sutra, ‘In the vicinity of Yoga, hostile tendencies are eliminated;’ and from the Maha Upanishad, ‘The world is my family.’ Here in the heart of Bharat we will be applying the most powerful of all Vedic technologies for peace — the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program — to demonstrate for the entire world how hostility can be ended and the long-sought unity in the family of nations can finally be achieved.”
Sri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the pontiff of Kanchi Peeth, blessed the event, and said, “For more than 50 years, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi traveled the world encouraging top modern scientists to study the technologies of consciousness from ancient Vedic science. By his tireless work, he opened a new era that brought the practical benefits of Vedic science to an increasingly receptive global audience.”
In his address, Dr. Nader said, “Together in our silent sessions of meditation, we will powerfully enliven pure consciousness, that fundamental field of coherence and integration in the whole of world consciousness.”
He elaborated, “This is not just another conference talking about peace. It is not just another rally calling for an end to war. We are here to actually demonstrate a scientifically proven technology so powerful that merely ten thousand can create peace for eight billion once the group of 10, 000 is established permanently.”
With war raging at several places and diplomacy failing everywhere, the world desperately needs a new approach, he asserted earlier at a press conference.
”More than 54 empirical studies published in leading peer-reviewed scholarly journals and professional scientific conference proceedings have proved that the technologies of consciousness to be demonstrated in Hyderabad really work,” he said.
Dr Fred Travis, director of the Brain Center at Maharishi International University, USA demonstrated at the press conference what happens when a person practices TM. Using an EEG machine hooked to a seated meditator, Travis described the brain wave patterns seen on two giant screens in the conference room.
You see a quick onset of activity in the alpha frequency band, about 8-10 cycles per second, indicating a state of deeply restful alertness, deeper than sleep and more alert than waking, Travis said.
”And you can see how the brain waves from all the different parts of the brain have lined up, becoming much more coherent and orderly, and how they’ve increased in power. This is the signature of samadhi, and TM is the only meditation that produces this immediately from the first sitting,” he said.
Dr Tony Nader Photo: Courtesy IANS
