A Newsletter by Roger Gurr for those interested in TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

...and I asked Maharishi if there is anything else everyone should remember?

And Maharishi said; “Remember to bring the knowledge to the children. The children - particularly those now coming in, now that the grip of Kali Yuga has been broken and we now have this sort of oasis within Kali Yuga - this is providing now an opportunity for very advanced souls to come in and to be born now that the environment has changed and consciousness is rising. So these children coming in will be a very fine nervous system, some that were not able to be here earlier because of the grossness and roughness of the environment and the level of consciousness in the world. These very advanced souls now can incarnate and receive Maharishi’s knowledge. “

"And all that is necessary is that we bring the Knowledge to the children. They will instantly know what to do with it. They will instantly understand it. They will be of that level. Once they will be given the Transcendental Meditation they will be on the road to their own enlightenment, which will happen then very rapidly.”

“...and I asked Maharishi if it is necessary to have teachers who are fully enlightened to offer this Knowledge to the children?

And he said; “No, no, no, the children will know it. Just provide the Knowledge in its pure form.

That is all what is needed. Those teachers who are practising and perfecting the Knowledge within themselves, who are perfecting their program, they will become enlightened. And as they

do, it will accelerate everything, it will make everything go faster. But it is not a requirement for the development of the children who are coming in."

TM. Mainly it referred to film director David Lynch’s new book ‘Catching the Big Fish’ and his enthusiasm for TM.

The article covered five pages, included many pictures and contained the following three quotes;-

1. From David Lynch; “When you truly transcend your creativity increases, your joy is greater and your love expands”.

2. From Dr. Deepak Chopra (Deepack spent many years with Maharishi). “Personally I owe everything to him (Maharishi). Everything I have learnt, I have learnt from him. Without him, it is fair to say the west would not have learnt to meditate.”

3. From Dr. Nicholas Argyle (Consultant Psychiatrist); “If TM were a new drug, it would have been hailed as a major breakthrough”

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls impulsive actions, judgment and social cues. Children and adults suffering from ADHD have impaired function of the prefrontal cortex. This means the nervous systems’ communication network that serves as a natural filter for keeping us from acting impulsively or enabling us to focus is not yet fully online. (or has gone off line?ed. note)

Dr. William Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist in Silver Spring who specializes in the neuropsychological assessment of children, adolescents and adults with learning, attention and executive, and emotional disorders says, “TM has been shown to improve executive functioning (i.e. planning, organizing, regulating emotion and keeping to task). This can be particularly helpful for children with learning disabilities and ADHD. ...These physiological changes have not been demonstrated in any other systematic meditation or relaxation technique.”

An extract from an article in the (October 2005) Washington Parent by Sarina J. Grosswald. She has a doctorate in education from George Washington University and is President of SJ Grosswald & Associates, a medical education consulting company. She spearheaded the first research on TM and ADHD with Dr. William Stixrud.

AN OLD ITALIAN LIVED ALONE.

He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,

I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year.

I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.

I know if you were here my troubles would be over

I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.

Love, Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Pop,

Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried. Love, Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies.

They apologized to the old man and left.
Later, that same day the old man received a telegram from his son.

Dear Pop,

Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love you, Vinnie

...(Meditate) over and over again, morning and evening. Within a short time a state of mind will be gained in which Being (The Transcendent) is not lost, even while mind is engaged in the field of experience and activity. This is the state of real freedom in life.

... during the process of transcending, the conscious capacity of the mind increases, and, when one comes out of meditation and engages oneself in the field of experience and activity in the world, the experience of objects becomes deeper, fuller and more substantial. One engages in the activity with greater energy, more intelligence and improved efficiency. This is the glory of divine realization: that, on the one hand, the state of Being is cultivated to remain for all times infused into the very nature, and, on the other, the field of activity becomes more substantial and more rewarding on all levels. This brings harmony between the inner spiritual and outer material glories of life.

This state has been the object of a great quest for man from time immemorial because it glorifies all aspects of one's life. The material life of man is brightened by the light of the inner Being. That is why the emphasis of all the scriptures of all religions and of the whole field of metaphysics is that the state of Self-realization or God realization is the goal of man. Because on the way to achieving this goal, the world is made better, efficiency improves, and the man becomes more capable in the world. He enjoys the world more on all levels while enjoying the divine. The individual enjoys the world to the maximum because the nature of his mind is now bliss consciousness, and bliss consciousness is the basis of all experience and activity.

Art is the expression of life and is fulfilling to life. It is the expression of the artist who puts their heart and mind in their creation. This is enjoyable to life because it is their own expression. Art is the extension of one's territory of influence and as such, it is a step of evolution. Life thrives in evolution. Existence finds fulfilment in evolution.

So a piece of art is a piece of heart of the artist, it is an expression of love, an expression of happiness. The artist, while creating, stands as a creator and that status of the creator (how so ever small) takes the vision to the very big creator of the entire cosmos.

So an artist (as a creator), is one who expresses and therefore tells the whole story of creation. Just as an artist expresses in the piece of art, the Creator has expressed Self in every aspect of His Creation.

The Upanishads describe this aspect of Creator in a very beautiful expression- they say 'having created - He enters into his Creation'.

This is the phenomenon of the expression of a piece of art as the expression of the life of the artist. Just this phenomenon of a creator entering their creation and when the Creator enters their creation, the creation becomes lively.

When the artist expresses self in a piece of art, which is an automatic phenomenon, spontaneously the creation contains its creator and this phenomenon of the piece of art containing the expression of the heart and mind of the artist - this itself is promotion of life.

The artist promotes life on a lifeless piece of paper or stone- how lifeless a stone is- but an artist, a sculptor puts life into it. He promotes life into the lifeless, this is the greatest display of the characteristic of life and the artist is instrumental in this phenomenon of the display of life. The display of life through the lifeless. This is the territory of an artist. He displays life in the lifeless and, by incorporating the lifeless into the value of his own life, he promotes life into that area and that is the reason why an artist is high above his fellowmen.

Another aspect of the artist is that while promoting life in the lifeless he substantiates the lifeless on the high level of eternity.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar.

I love not man the less, but nature more. Lord Byron 1788 - 1824

Every part of this earth is sacred...

Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,

Every mist in the dark woods,

Every clearing and every humming insect is holy... Chief Seathlel from a letter to the president of USA 1883

Love all Gods’ creation,

Both the whole and every grain of sand.

Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing.

If thou love each thing thou will perceive the mystery of God in all. Feodor Dostoevsky 1821 -1881 Russian Novelist.

After you have seen everything, done everything, experienced everything, what remains?

Nature Remains.

Nature was there at the beginning and will be there at the end, for it underlies every thing.

Keep regular contact with your own underlying inner Nature, by regularly transcending

For it is that which is the seed of your own happiness in your heart and

Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.

Cobbled together from the works of American poet Walt Whitman 1819 - 1892, William Wordsworth 1770-1850 and with thanks to Guru Dev & Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for opening my eyes.

Big Fish’ by Film Director David Lynch I saw the results of consciousness-based education, which is education that develops the full potential of the human being. It's the same education everyone receives, with the added bonus that the student learns to dive within and unfold that Self, that pure consciousness.

There's a school Principal, Dr. George Rutherford, in Washington, D.C, who has introduced Transcendental Meditation into three schools. Before that, the schools were filled with violence: There were shootings, suicides and violence. But he got the staff meditating, got the teachers meditating, got the students meditating and watched it all turn around.

There's another Principal. Carmen N'Namdi, in Detroit, who introduced Transcendental Meditation in her school, Nataki Talibah, about nine years ago. The kids meditate ten minutes in the morning together, ten minutes in the afternoon, and the school is a blissful school. Those kids are happier, getting better grades, and going out and experiencing all kinds of success.

It's something that works. You take in more intellectual knowledge during school because it's so much fun. But you're also expanding the container of that knowledge. You contrast that with what normal education produces, which is a joke. Its facts and figures, but the knower does not know him or herself.

One night I saw a play at a school in Iowa-a school that has consciousness-based education. It was a cold and rainy night, and when I was told I was going to see a high school play, I thought. “Man. it's going to be a very long night."

I was sitting in the middle of this little theatre, a beautiful little theatre, and out on stage came the students. They weren't professional actors; they were just kids putting on a play but I was never more blown away. I thought it was better than a Broadway production, because what I saw was consciousness on these faces-a lively, glowing consciousness. They had such intelligence and timing, and their humour was right on the money. You don't worry about students like that. They are self-sufficient. They're going to do fine in the world and they're going to make the world better by being in it.

My foundation, the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, was set up to help more kids get that kind of experience. We've raised money and given it to schools all over the country for thousands and thousands of students to learn to meditate. And it's amazing to see kids who do this. Stress just doesn’t catch them; it's like water off a duck's back.

I want to do this not only for those students' sake, for their own growth of consciousness, but for all of us, because we are like light bulbs. And, like light bulbs, we can enjoy that brighter light of consciousness within, and also radiate it. I believe that the key to peace is in this.

If there were ten thousand new meditating students, it would affect this country. It would be like a wave of peace. It's harmony, coherence, real peace. In the individual, that light of consciousness drives negativity further and further away. In the world, it can do the same thing.

The positive psychology that his school teaches includes; how to manage mind and body, how to meditate and be calm, how to cope with worries, how to