Faculty Address Delhi Conference to Re-Establish Vedic India

Last month MIU President Dr. Bevan Morris and five faculty members participated in and helped to organize a historic conference to re-enliven the Vedic tradition in India.

MIU President Dr. Bevan Morris

The conference was notable for bringing together government ministers, leaders of Indian spiritual organizations, and leaders of Maharishi’s worldwide organizations.

“The purpose was to re-establish ideal Vedic life for India and to connect the Vedic knowledge with modern science,” Dr. Morris said.

Harsh Vardhan, India’s minister of science and technology, addressed the audience and expressed the openness of the Ministry of Science and Technology to consider in detail all scientific evidence on the programs of Vedic science and technology brought out in the conference.

“The great interest of the Indian leaders was again an extraordinary reaffirmation of Maharishi’s work,” Dr. Morris said. “The coming together of government officials and leaders of India’s spiritual organizations was a watershed for Maharishi’s knowledge. Their intention is to implement this knowledge widely.”

The conference included over 120 delegates from 40 countries as well as 200 delegates from India. Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam (Tony Nader, MD, PhD) delivered the keynote address under the auspices and presence of the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati. Dr. Nader’s keynote laid the groundwork for a scientific view of the Veda.

In addition to Dr. Morris, faculty presenters included John Hagelin, Keith Wallace, Robert Schneider, Cathy Gorini, Fred Travis, and John Fagan. Also presenting were Trustees Michael Dillbeck, Susie Dillbeck, and Ram Srivastava.

“The conference opened many channels, and there will be substantial follow-up,” said Dr. Schneider, who presented on two elements of Vedic health care: first, a holistic approach to health care that has been validated by modern science and second, initiatives to establish integrative medical colleges and hospitals to implement Vedic health care.

“There was a very warm feeling among all the different types of people, which included swamis, government officials, and leaders of Maharishi’s organizations,” Dr. Gorini said. “It was a great ice-breaking.” Her talk was about zero and how this concept of observing emptiness was an invention of the Vedic tradition.

Dr. Morris introduced the audience to Maharishi International University and described how it is a model of modern Vedic living. “The fact that the ideal of Vedic living can be found in the heart of America really excited their imagination,” Dr. Morris said.

Dr. Hagelin’s three presentations covered Veda and physics; the practical application of Vedic Science for a unified field-based, Vedic civilization; and how the science of Yagya can bring about global transformation through Vedic recitation.

Jim Karpen is a writer by trade, with a special focus on technology. He has a Ph.D. in English and studied the impact of the computerization of language. In addition to writing for iPhone Life magazine, he has also been writing a column about the Internet for the Iowa Source since 1994. He also edits and publishes the MUM Review.