Global Good News: Excellence in Action

On 12 June 1972 in Fiuggi Fonte, Italy, Maharishi spoke about enriching the three states of human consciousness—waking, dreaming, and sleeping—with the experience of Transcendental Consciousness, a fourth state of consciousness. This talk became part of 33-lesson course Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence.

Over the last 40 years this enrichment of human consciousness from the Transcendental Meditation program has since been verified by both psychological and physiological research, showing that the experience of Transcendental Consciousness produces a very deep state of rest in the nervous system.

Maharishi explained that the fourth state of consciousness transcends waking, dreaming, and sleeping, and through repeated experience of the deep rest gained in this state, it is possible to maintain Transcendental Consciousness along with the other three states.

‘This transcendental state is unmanifest and unbounded and is experienced as pure awareness,’ Maharishi said. ‘Pure awareness is the nature of the fourth state of consciousness, while the awareness of the objective world characterizes the waking state of consciousness.

‘The co-existence of the transcendental and waking states of consciousness is characterized by the awareness of unboundedness along with awareness of boundaries, giving rise to the fifth state of consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness.’

When unbounded awareness is established on the level of the conscious mind, the comprehension of boundaries becomes more complete. ‘In this state perception begins to appreciate deeper, more refined values of the object until the finest relative value is perceived spontaneously on the gross, surface level of the object,’ Maharishi said.

This is the sixth state of consciousness: unbounded awareness along with finest relative perception. The development of this state takes place through the experience of Transcendental Consciousness along with the most refined activity guided by the level of feeling.

‘When the unbounded awareness of the conscious mind falls on the boundaries of the finest relative value of the object,’ Maharishi continued, ‘then the unmanifest, transcendental value permeating the finest relative value of the object is enlivened. This perception of the infinite within the finite is possible only when the conscious mind is vibrant in that infinite value.’

Maharishi explained that in this state the value of the subject and the value of the object are found to be the same. This is the seventh state of consciousness, Unity Consciousness, in which perception has risen to its infinite value and the object of perception is cognized in terms of the pure subjective value of unbounded, unmanifest awareness.

‘In Unity Consciousness, the knower knows the object of knowledge in its completeness—from its finite, surface values to its ultimate, infinite value,’ Maharishi said. ‘In this unified state of awareness one gains the full value of knowledge, which bridges the gulf between the knower and the object of knowing.’

Unity Consciousness is the supreme state of consciousness, which can be lived by everyone through the knowledge and experience of Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence.

"The potential of every student is infinite. The time of student life should serve to unfold that infinite potential so that every individual becomes a vibrant centre of Total Knowledge."—Maharishi