Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

CONSCIOUSNESS-BASED EDUCATION AND GovernmentThe Availability of Nature’s Government to Human Awareness;The Transcendental Meditation Program in RāmāyaṇAccording to Maharishi’s Absolute Theory of Government, self-referralconsciousness is not only the source of creation, but also the silent level ofhuman awareness, Ātmā, the source of thought from which our creativityand intelligence arise. This is the practical application of Maharishi’sAbsolute Theory of Government, for in this account the government of theuniverse is available to every individual at the deepest level of his or herown consciousness.Maharishi explains that pure intelligence can be experiencedthrough the principle technology of his Vedic Science, the TranscendentalMeditation technique, which he describes as “a simple, natural,effortless procedure whereby the mind easily and naturally arrives atthe source of thought, the settled state of mind—Transcendental Consciousness—pureconsciousness, self-referral consciousness, which isthe source of all creative processes” (1995a, p. 280). Thus, the mostfundamental level of nature’s functioning can be located when the consciousmind identifies itself with Ātmā, its own simplest state.We previously discussed Rām as the embodiment of fully awake selfreferralconsciousness, but to adequately establish this correlation wemust also locate descriptions of him as Ātmā, the inner Self of everyindividual. Such descriptions are readily available, and in the YuddhaKāṇd we find his brother Lakshmaṇ describing him as Ātmā, inquiring,ikm;Tm;n' mh;Tm;nm;Tm;n' n;vbu?yseKim Ātmānaԥ mahātmānam Ātmānaԥ nāvabudhyase(Yuddha Kāԗd, 83.43)How is it that you do not recognize that you are Ātmā, thegreat Self?By equating Rām with both Ātmā and “great Self,” Lakshmaṇ effectivelyidentifies Rām with both the simplest form of human awareness(Ātmā) as well as fully awake self-referral consciousness (Mahātmā), theSelf of the entire creation.150