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Maharishi describes his Proposal for Permanent World Peace - September 2001

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26 September 2011

Ten years ago, in the last week of September 2001—as millions of soldiers around the world girded for war following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was mobilizing tens of thousands of experts to create peace. In full-page announcements* in the New York Times, Washington Post, and International Herald Tribune, Maharishi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation Programme, revealed the details of his ''Proposal for Permanent World Peace'' and appealed to the wise and the wealthy to implement it immediately.

Summary of Maharishi's Press Announcement 23-25 September 2001

(Please also see Maharishi's Proposal for Permanent World Peace – An 'open letter' to US and world leaders, September 2001, which includes other points from Maharishi's press announcement.)

The need, the announcement states, is clear. ''When the U.S. government, with the most powerful defence force in the world, and a defence 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 that 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.

Two approaches that have failed

The announcement describes the perilous state of the current global crisis: ''With the US 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 defence 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.

Solution

''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-1980s 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 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 US 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.''

Maharishi warned against attack two years ago

The announcement also highlights Maharishi's warning of attacks such as those on Washington and the World Trade Center over two years before, on 12 April 1999, in an announcement that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune of Europe, and the Financial Times of London.

Calling on the world's wealthy to establish an Endowment Fund for Perpetual World Peace during the war in Yugoslavia, the 1999 announcement predicted the dire consequences if a group of peace-promoting experts was not created:

''The horror of war being witnessed in Yugoslavia is creating fear in the hearts of everyone everywhere. This crisis is a challenge to the wealthy of the world to save their own wealth and the life of all people in their nation. What is happening in Yugoslavia can happen to any nation anytime. Can you imagine if bombs began to fall on Washington, D.C., and to destroy the high-rises of money markets of New York? Will NATO be able to prevent this?''

Global Good News will continue to feature Maharishi's scientifically verified Programme to Create Permanent World Peace, announced in his first press conference in seven years, on 28 September 2001; as well as news of the programme's implementation in countries around the world in the decade since.

Related articles:

∙ 9/11: Have We Overlooked the Most Effective Way to Prevent Terrorism and War?
∙ Senior Nepal military leader and scientist urge UN to deploy Vedic Defense Technology in peacekeeping missions
∙ US violent crime continues its 5-year steep decline, baffling authorities – but not the Transcendental Meditators in Iowa

* A full-page advertisement presenting Maharishi's Proposal for Permanent World Peace—'a respectful open letter' to President Bush, the leaders of Congress, and the 'philanthropic, peace-loving citizens of the USA and the world'—was published September 23-25, 2001 in the Washington Post, The New York Times, and the International Herald Tribune.

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For the good news about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.

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