MVS PhD Students: Vaidyanathan Vivek

In Fall 2014, the new batch of doctoral students embarked upon their research journey. In the first year of the program, they dive deep into MVS knowledge under the guidance of the professors. In the second year, individual research begins. We’d like to present the PhD in Vedic Science program through introducing the students and their impressions of the program.

Vivek at his brothers’ wedding reception

Vivek Iyyer comes from Tamil Nadu, India, and is a native Tamil speaker. He is a sweet and knowledgeable person who constantly impressed his PhD classmates with his mastery of Maharishi’s concepts. Vivek not only comes from the land of the Veda, he comes from a Brahman family where chanting Sanskrit is a tradition, passed down from generation to generation. Having Vivek guiding our chanting in class was like participating in a pandit performance.

Vivek found out about Transcendental Meditation (TM) from a friend. Vivek helped his friend move to Maharishi Nagar, a TM community near Delhi that was established by Maharishi in early 80’s. Vivek stayed and met many TM teachers. He was intrigued by the simplicity and efficiency of the TM technique. He did thorough research on TM and the Maharishi effect; even studying Raja Raam’s book about human physiology and the Veda.

When Vivek learned TM, he was almost disappointed. TM was very expensive for his student budget and it seemed to him too simple to do any good. He even asked his TM teacher to give him a different mantra. Despite his doubts, he still continued to practice TM. After a few days he noticed an improvement. He remembers becoming “less accident inclined and more independent.”

Vivek with his parents

Vivek needed a break from a stressful city job, so he went to meditate in the forests of Amarkantak, the very same forests where Maharishi’s teacher Guru Dev spent many years in deep silence. Vivek lived with Brahmacharis, single men dedicated to long hours of deep meditation. It was there where Vivek decided to become a TM teacher.

Soon after Vivek became a TM teacher, Maharishi passed on. Vivek helped some of the followers of Maharishi with their stay as they came from all over the world to Allahabad. Many of them encouraged Vivek to become a student at MIU. One year later, Vivek came to Fairfield, Iowa to become a Masters student in Maharishi Vedic Science.

Yogic flyers competition: 2nd place

One of Vivek’s favorite things about MIU is going to the dome. Long meditation in a large group is a powerful experience. Vivek said he sometimes feels like all boundaries were dissolving and expanding during his meditations. He joined the Prep Purusha program, a group of single men who live together according to the Vedic ideal as expressed by Maharishi. Their main focus was maintaining a healthy daily routine and doing the yogic flying in the dome. This was one of Vivek’s most powerful experiences.

One of Vivek’s job at MIU was working with the pandits. “It was a very sweet job,” says Vivek. “I was hired to teach pandits about MVS. This knowledge was very intimate to them… I was connecting with them and connecting with my own heritage.”

Another one of Vivek’s jobs was working with Dr. Peter Freund. Dr. Freund was studying Sanskrit manuscripts, and he encouraged Vivek to do his Master’s thesis on one of those documents. Vivek came in touch with many manuscripts that were never explored before, which was very exciting. After that, the idea about doing the PhD in MVS came almost spontaneously.

Working spirit

Vivek reflects on his first year of the PhD program: “Coursework was an amazing time. We had one of the greatest teachers, who gave us so much support to learn. It was not just about going to the class and passing the exam. Learning was part of my life. I got onto a better routine with Dr. Egenes, I improved my writing skills with Dr. Sands and Dr. Finkelstein. We’ve learned many amazing skills.”

“Being in the class was like spending time with a family. My classmates were not only fully immersed in Maharishi’s knowledge but they also mastered expressing the knowledge.”

With Dr. Fred Travis

Vivek is excited about Dr. Travis’ most recent research on EEG, which shows that listening to Vedic sounds has even higher coherence than TM – but only with Sidhas, meditators who have enhanced their meditation through the TM-Sidhis program. Now, he would like to take this research further and do his PhD thesis about it.

When I asked Vivek about his future plans, he replied: “I really want to bring Maharishi’s knowledge in a real form to India. The value of consciousness is something I’d really like to pursue. In India, there is a prevailing opinion that Sanskrit and Veda are lost science. But Veda is living existence, it’s life – that’s the true heritage of India. With Maharishi’s knowledge, a new sun is rising in India”.