Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and governmentby each of these elements of natural law. Maharishi (1967) then identifiesa third stage of the process: the formation of these modes of activitiesinto traditions, on which the structure of society is based:As these specific modes of activity are passed on from generation togeneration, they form what we call traditions. It is these traditionswhich are referred to here as family dharmas. (p. 64)Maharishi points out that the description of dharmic traditions as“age-old” has a special significance. The term translated is sanԀtanawhich has been held to have the meaning of eternal, everlasting, orancient (Monier-Williams, Leumann, & Cappler, 1979, p. 1141); butMaharishi (1967) brings out the more explicit sense of age after age,generation after generation, in other words, the continuity of humanexperience:Arjuna uses the word “age-old” because the ideals of life that have withstoodthe test of time represent the genuine path of evolution, the upwardcurrent in nature. Nothing that is against evolution lasts long. Thereforethe tradition which has survived the ages has certainly proved itself to bethe right one, the one nearest to the Truth, which is Life Eternal. (p. 65)“Life Eternal” refers to the immortal status of the unified field ofnatural law, the field of pure consciousness.Maharishi therefore defines genuine traditions in society, embodyingthe different dharmas, as those which, being in accord with naturallaw, meet the criteria of having lasted over a long period of time. Healso identifies these traditions with families: They are practiced, preserved,and passed on within families. In this sense the family is thestructural basis of the society.In his commentary on a later verse (I.44), Maharishi (1967) explainsthe practical value of this traditional structure for the growth of higherstates of consciousness in the whole population:“Family dharma” is an established tradition where people born in a particularfamily engage in the profession of that family. Because of theirparental heritage they work efficiently, produce better material for societyand improve in their profession. Working with all ease and comfortin their profession, they do not exhaust themselves in work and findtime to be regular in their practice for spiritual unfoldment, which is112