Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

Modern science and vedic science: an introductionconsciousness. The interaction of the different intellectually conceivedcomponents of this unified self-referral state of consciousness is thatall-powerful activity at the most elementary level of nature. That activityis responsible for the innumerable varieties of life in the world, theinnumerable streams of intelligence in creation. (pp. 25–26)The Structure of Maharishi Vedic ScienceOne of Maharishi’s most important contributions to Vedic scholarshiphas been his discovery of the Apaurusheya Bhashyā, the “uncreated commentary”of the Ṛk Veda, which brings to light the dynamics by whichthe Veda emerges sequentially from the self-interacting dynamics ofconsciousness. According to Maharishi’s analysis, the Veda unfoldsthrough its own commentary on itself, through the sequential unfoldment,in different-sized packets of knowledge, of its own knowledge ofitself. All knowledge of the Veda is contained implicitly even in the firstsyllable “Ak” of the Ṛk Veda, and each subsequent expression of knowledgeelaborates the meaning inherent in that packet of knowledgethrough an expanded commentary. The phonology of that syllable, asanalyzed by Maharishi, expresses the self-interacting dynamics of consciousnessknowing itself. As pure consciousness interacts with itself, atevery stage of creation a new level of wholeness emerges to express thesame self-interacting dynamics of Ṛishi, Devatā, and Chhandas.Thus the body of Vedic literature reflects, in its very organizationand structure, the sequential emergence of all structures of naturallaw from the unity of pure consciousness. Each unit of Vedic literature—ṚkVeda, Sāma Veda, Yajur-Veda, Atharva Veda, Upanishad,Āraṇyakas, Brāhmaṇa, Vedānga, Upānga, Itihās, Purāṇ, Smṛiti, andUpaveda—expresses one aspect or level of the process. As Maharishi(1986) describes it:The whole of Vedic literature is beautifully organized in its sequentialdevelopment to present complete knowledge of the reality at theunmanifest basis of creation and complete knowledge of all of its manifestvalues. (p. 28)Veda, Maharishi asserts, is the self-interaction of consciousness thatultimately gives rise to the diversity of nature. The diversity of creationsequentially unfolding from the unity of consciousness is the result of579