Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

Modern science and vedic science: an introductiona meeting of two traditions, East and West, on the ground of theircommon theme: the investigation of the unified field. Those who havefollowed these symposia have recognized a deep and impressive structureof knowledge common to both traditions. Both identify a boundless,all-pervading field underlying all states of matter and energy inthe universe; both locate it on the most fundamental time-distancescale of nature; both assign to it the same properties of self-sufficiency,self-interaction, infinite dynamism, unboundedness, and unity, amongmany other common attributes; both identify a threefold structureat the basis of all nature; and both describe a dynamics by which thediversity of nature sequentially emerges from this unified field accordingto precise laws. The result of these symposia has been that manyscientists, following Maharishi’s lead, now feel confident to assert thatthe unified field described by physics and the unified field of consciousnessdescribed by Vedic science are one and the same.In the first issue of Modern Science and Vedic Science, the lead articleby John Hagelin explored many of the deep connections between contemporaryunified field theory in physics and Maharishi Vedic Sciencefrom the standpoint of an active field theorist. His work brought thesetwo diverse methods of inquiry into close relation, drawing upon boththe latest developments of unified field theories and the direct experienceof the unified field.Dr. Hagelin presented evidence for Maharishi’s assertion that theunified field of consciousness and the unified field of physics are thesame. His main empirical evidence for this new paradigm was drawnfrom experimental research in the social sciences on the “MaharishiEffect”—the measurable effects on society resulting from the practiceof the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, includingYogic Flying. As further evidence for the identity of consciousness andthe unified field, he cited deep parallels between the descriptions ofthe unified field found in physics and Maharishi Vedic Science. Thesestrikingly similar descriptions support the conclusion that modern scienceand Maharishi Vedic Science are two complementary methods ofapproach to the same underlying unity of nature.581