Maharishi emphasized that students should sharpen and enlarge the container of knowledge, the mind, through the practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi speaks to Harvard Law Forum—1970
by Global Good News staff writer
29 March 2010

In 1970 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi spoke at the Harvard Law Forum about the Transcendental Meditation Technique and education. Filmed at the time by local PBS station WGBH, Maharishi offered ‘something which is so essential to life and that has been overlooked’. Maharishi gave an Introductory Lecture with characteristic humour, warmth, serenity, authority, and insight. 

In one section of the film, Maharishi explains that present education brings information from here, there, and there; it is gathering information. ‘If one remembers, then fine,’ Maharishi said. ‘If one doesn't, then the education is not complete.’  

Maharishi used the analogy of sharpening a knife. ‘We are given a knife to cut the vegetable and we keep on cutting the vegetable. And then we cut the vegetable in triangles and quadrants—different, different designs, fine—but what about sharpening the knife? 

‘If we don’t take off time to sharpen the knife, all our knowledge to cut it into different pieces like that and like that, may just be a bore and a burden. If the knife doesn't cut, then what to do?’ 

Maharishi explained that with Transcendental Meditation we sharpen the mind. ‘Sharpen the mind means expand the mind. Clear mind. With clear mind we study as much as is possible.’ 

Maharishi said that all the branches of learning in the relative field are highly essential, ‘but the container of knowledge should also be enlarged. The mind should also be sharpened. The mind should also be developed, and the man should not remain only using a small portion of the mind. No.  

‘This is something which has been missing and it is now open to all the fields of education to incorporate this Transcendental Meditation in their daily routine.’ 

Excellence in Action will soon feature further parts of Maharishi’s lecture at the Harvard Law Forum.

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