As the World Girds for War, Maharishi Mobilizes for Peace

Full-Page Announcements in Major Newspapers Detail Plan- Proposal Calls for $1 Billion Endowment Fund for Permanent World Peace

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

(First news conference in 7 years. Live via satellite from Vlodrop, Holland)

Friday, September 28, 10 a.m.

National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

As millions of soldiers around the world gird for war, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is mobilizing tens of thousands of experts to create peace.

In full-page announcements appearing last week in the New York Times, Washington Post, and International Herald Tribune, Maharishi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation program, revealed the details of his "Proposal for Permanent World Peace" and appealed to the wise and the wealthy to implement it immediately.

The need, the announcement states, is clear. "When the U.S. Government, with the most powerful defense force in the world, and a defense budget of over $300 billion, has hopelessly failed to defend its nation against the attacks of the enemy, what hope is there for any nation to protect itself against its enemies through the use of arms."

Maharishi's solution? Establish one group of 40,000 experts trained in ancient Vedic technologies of peace-technologies which have been shown by extensive research, published in leading peer-reviewed journals, to dissolve acute ethnic and religious tensions, and dramatically reduce violence and war.

News Conference Speakers

Maharishi presented his proposal during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday, September 28, 10 a.m., at the National Press Club. Maharishi spoke live via satellite from Maharishi University of Management in Vlodrop, Holland. Speaking at the news conference in Washington was John Hagelin, Ph.D., Harvard-trained quantum physicist and Natural Law Party presidential candidate in the 2000 election; Major General Kulwant Singh, a highly decorated 35-year military leader from India and an expert in anti-terrorism; and John Davies, Ph.D., Research Director of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland.

Two Approaches that Have Failed

The announcement describes the perilous state of the current global crisis: "With the U.S. government and the allies of NATO on one side, and the terrorists on the other side, life on earth-whether it is American life, Chinese life, Afghani life, or any life-will be burnt in flames.

"Can the prevailing national defense system of any country save that country from space-based warfare, chemical warfare, biological warfare, information warfare, guided missile warfare, suicidal attacks, and any other destructive system of warfare where the enemy is seen or unseen?

"We must take recourse to a more effective approach which will be better than the two approaches that have failed: negotiations and the use of destructive weaponry," the announcement states. "Only a new seed will yield a new crop."

"The wise retaliation against terrorism will be to take a step which will completely root out terrorism forever-and this will be by creating a very strong influence of positivity and harmony in world consciousness, so that any kind of negative trends do not arise," the announcement reads.

For that, the proposal calls for establishing a group of 40,000 experts in the Vedic knowledge and technologies of peace.

Scientific Validation

More than 50 studies, published in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, have documented the ability of group practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced techniques, including Yogic Flying, to reduce societal stress and violence, and to calm open warfare in war-torn areas. In the mid 1980's this approach was used to quell violence in the Middle East, and resulted in an 80% drop in war fatalities and war-related injuries, according to articles published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution and other scientific publications.

Endowment Fund for Permanent World Peace

The announcement also outlines the financial requirements of the proposal. "What is immediately needed is an endowment fund of $1 billion in order to permanently engage 40,000 peace-makers in India-at the rate of $100 to $200 per person per month-in the performance of Vedic technologies of peace.

"There must be a few peace-loving billionaires in America who would understand our offer and who can immediately, in one day, create the required endowment fund to try this new peaceful angle of approach to establish permanent world peace.

"The U.S. Congress has just voted $40 billion for the war against terrorism. If they want to truly eliminate terrorism, they should put $1 billion in the Endowment Fund to create peace in the world through the power of the Vedic technologies of peace."

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)