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The growth of enlightenment as recorded in the ancient Vedic Science and verified by modern science Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains the mechanics of the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme from the Vedic teachings of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, Karma Mimamsa of Jaimini, and Vedanta of Vyasa, which are three of the Upangas* in the Vedic Literature. Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Programme has defined the physiological correlates of Transcendental Consciousness, the state of maximum coherence in neurophysiological functioning, and has also investigated the extension of this coherence into the practical field of daily life. All the research results taken together show the progressive expression of order or coherence from the field of pure consciousness to individual performance and finally to society as a whole. While Transcendental Meditation establishes an overall state of coherence in the physiology during the experience of deep rest, Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme promotes the maintenance of this coherence during dynamic activity. For example, EEG studies have shown increased coherence not only in frequencies associated with restfulness, but also in the higher frequencies, which are associated with activation. In this way the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme accelerates the growth towards enlightenment, in which silence, or coherence, is maintained in all activity. In a talk given in March 1978 in Seelisberg, Switzerland, and presented in Maharishi's book Maharishi Speaks to Educators: Mastery over Natural Law, Maharishi explains that the ability of unbounded awareness [pure consciousness] to function is the basis for the experience of any of the Siddhis described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra. 'Any experience of a specific Siddhi predicted by Patanjali confirms that this level of awareness is functioning,' Maharishi said. It is now possible to measure this ability of unbounded awareness to function, and in this state, the consciousness that was limited is now infinite—this is the supreme level of physiological development. Maharishi continued, 'Patanjali explains that the experience of the Siddhis requires three things: Dhyan, or meditation, which is the process that minimizes the excitations [in the mind and body] until there is no excitation; Samadhi, unbounded awareness; and Dharana, the ability of the awareness to stay on one point, or fixity of awareness. When all three of these values are found together, it is called Samyama. 'In the process of Samyama, awareness is moving and yet non-moving, containing the values of absolute silence, relative silence, and relative motion all at once. This is possible only in the completely fluid field of consciousness, which is open to all possibilities in every direction. 'Consciousness is a field of infinite creativity, for it has multiplied itself as the whole creation,' Maharishi explained. 'This infinite potential of consciousness, which is unfolded through the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme, is the normal, natural state of life. 'Patanjali makes use of the daily habit of awareness, the ability to have many patterns of its own excitations at one time—from faint feelings to gross activity. The Yoga-Sutra cultures consciousness so that at any level of excitation it is fully awake in its potentiality and knows itself as all its diverse expressions.' Maharishi then explained that the culturing process of Patanjali establishes the awareness in the state of Yoga—unbounded silence—and then activates the surface of that inner silence. The Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini locates all possible excitations or Karma [action] within the field of silence, and cultures the awareness to operate within itself in order to enliven all possibilities in its own unmanifest nature. 'Through the culturing process of Jaimini, the Self finds the whole creation within itself and can create anything from within itself,' Maharishi said. 'Jaimini provides the real insight into the mechanics of action, the Yagya of the Veda: awareness performs from within itself to create all possibilities. 'When Jaimini has established all possibilities within the Self, Vyasa's system of Vedanta reduces all possibilities to one unified wholeness—the Self. 'In this supreme state of enlightenment the full potential of the Self is wide awake. The whole universe is experienced as nothing other than the impulses of the Self, the Absolute. The impulses of the Self are the Vedic hymns, which are the seeds of the whole creation. 'The creation came out of the Veda, and Vedoham, 'I am the Veda'; Aham Brahmasmi, 'I am Brahm [the Totality]' is the complete picture of the possibility of human culture,' said Maharishi, 'where man has the universe within himself, not only in his awareness, but in the practical ability to create anything. 'This level of consciousness has the character of infinite correlation, and infinite correlation is the characteristic of the Self that proclaims, "I am everything; I am correlated with everything else." This is the experience of Vedanta. 'Vedanta means the end of Veda: the impulses of the Veda, the expressions of creation, are found to be nothing other than one's own consciousness. This is accomplished through the Brahma Sutras of Vyasa, which eliminate all differences and establish everything in the field of the Self. 'Yoga philosophy, Karma Mimamsa philosophy, and Vedanta philosophy transform the values of the physiology, ultimately creating that level of consciousness which is at once everything. 'A basic misunderstanding of Indian culture was that desire was damaging to the infinite power of awareness, because it created a boundary, a limitation in the awareness. Patanjali creates the situation in which one desires without losing unboundedness; one creates Samadhi and then stabilizes it so that one is never out of it. This ability can only be a reality on the basis of culturing the mind and body to maintain the state of least excitation along with all the excited states.' Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme establishes wholeness of awareness—the full development of subjectivity—while at the same time structuring the ability to achieve anything in the objective field by mere intention. 'In the Vedic system of action, action itself becomes a means of liberation. It is a process that brings one everything in the relative and, through the same stroke of operation, establishes more and more freedom. 'The quest of knowledge ends in the ultimate state of awakening, in which the knower realizes that everything is himself. The test of this state lies in the ability to create all possibilities within the Self.'
*The Upangas are the six subordinate (upa) limbs (anga) of the Vedic Literature. These Vedic texts provide intellectual understanding and technologies for direct experience of total Natural Law in human consciousness. © Copyright 2008 Global Good News®
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