December 2000

Circling the World with Total Knowledge
By Jeannie Rothenberg

The global impact of Maharishi Open University (MOU) became clear to me last summer on a hilltop near the Sea of Galilee. It was Guru Purnima, the full moon in July, and I had left the urban center of Tel Aviv to spend the evening at the Sidha community at Harrarit. The village was beautiful but remote; dry brown hills and olive groves stretched in all directions. On a clear evening, you could see both Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea.

I was thousands of miles from Maharishi University of Management in Vlodrop, Holland, where Maharishi was unfolding his latest knowledge. But there on that hilltop, in the midst of olive groves in the Middle East, someone turned on the television. Suddenly, I was watching Maharishi from right there in that little room. It felt as though Vlodrop had come to us; the air was permeated by a softness and clarity I had only felt when hearing Maharishi speak in person.

It was my first real taste of what 15,000 people worldwide had been experiencing for six months. I had completed MOU’s first course, the Certificate of Total Knowledge, but I’d watched the lessons at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. With its Consciousness-Based school and University, Fairfield seemed a natural place to enjoy Maharishi’s latest knowledge. The amazing discovery was that I could now hear that same profound knowledge from virtually any place on earth.

That was a year ago. Now, since Guru Purnima of 2000, viewers from Norway to South Africa, from California to Kazakhstan, have been enjoying a wider range of programming than ever. They’ve watched the inauguration of Maharishi Vedic Health programs and witnessed the coronation of Raja Ram, the First Sovereign Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace. They’ve tuned in to daily enlightened news reports from Dr. Bevan Morris and taken part in full moon celebrations.

Ted Hirsch, a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation program in Palo Alto, California, says he participates in these celebrations every month with dozens of other Meditators at his local Maharishi Vedic School. "It’s wonderful that we can all come together to watch these live broadcasts," he says. "To have Maharishi’s attention on a regular basis is uplifting and evolutionary."

According to MOU International Coordinators Dennis and Robin Rowe, this is exactly what Maharishi envisioned when he founded Maharishi Open University in 1998. "Maharishi wanted to bring Total Knowledge to everyone everywhere," says Dennis Rowe. "He recognized that modern satellite technology allowed him to speak to everyone in their homes, no matter where in the world they live." Mr. Rowe’s words bring out a key point. The technology behind MOU is new, but Maharishi’s desire to make his knowledge available in every household is not. For the past half-century, Maharishi has been finding new ways to present his programs on a truly global scale. He began by personally speaking throughout the world, later training people from nearly every nation to teach the TM program in their own Mother Tongue. He preserved his lectures on videotape so people could take his courses in their own localities.

I even recall one videotaped lecture in which Maharishi spoke with engineers, asking whether a special box or antenna could bring his knowledge directly into people’s homes. This was in the mid-1970s. In 1998, technology was finally ready to bring this vision to life.

The first step was to establish a new 24-hour television channel in India. Maharishi Veda Vision, more popularly known as the Maharishi Channel, was inaugurated on June 10, 1998. My friend Saraswati Nagpal remembers the excitement in her New Delhi neighborhood when the new channel made its premiere. "It was so wonderful to finally have Pure Knowledge beaming through the skies and into every household’s living room," she says. "I remember when our cable operator cut off the Maharishi Channel, because he thought sports channels were more in demand. The whole neighborhood signed a petition and got the Maharishi Channel back on our TV sets."

Only a few months later, people in 96 countries were able to share this experience. The Certificate of Total Knowledge course began broadcasting from Vlodrop, Holland, through a system of eight satellites. I remember the evening of December 3, 1998, when hundreds of people at Maharishi University of Management gathered to watch the first lesson. My friends from such countries as Denmark, Croatia, and New Zealand were able to discuss the broadcast afterwards with friends and family who had seen it back home.

During the next few weeks, I heard from countless friends who were watching MOU all around the world. "The thing that amazes me most about MOU is that it really is global," says Pershottam Melwani, a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation program in Asia. "It was incredible enough to see Maharishi’s newest knowledge on TV here in Hong Kong. But what was even more incredible was the fact that I could watch it in my hotel room in Bombay or in our house in Jakarta."

As more and more people tune in to Maharishi Open University, its technology becomes more powerful than ever. We all know the excitement generated during events like the Olympics or the Academy Awards when millions of viewers are experiencing the same event together. With MOU, something much deeper is taking place. Viewers everywhere are enjoying profound inner experiences and new insights into the nature of life. Says Mr. Rowe: "All of those individuals’ brains functioning coherently together at the same time are creating a wave of coherence around the world."

That coherence, above all else, is what I felt that night as I watched the Guru Purnima broadcast in Israel. I was viewing it as music drifted in a window from a nearby Arab village. Others were enjoying the program from the tip of Africa or the forests of Norway. Yet I knew the same clarity and happiness was permeating every landscape. This is the influence of Maharishi Open University. It enriches life wherever we are, making the whole field of time and space feel light and playful. We are all together, throughout the world. And we are all part of a continuous global celebration. Jennie Rothenberg, a Maharishi University of Management graduate, is now working towards her Masters in Journalism at the University of California in Berkeley.

Jennie Rothenberg, a Maharishi University of Management graduate, is now working towards her Masters in Journalism at the University of California in Berkeley.

Watch Maharishi in Your Own Home

Now you can receive Maharishi Open University broadcasts, including the Maharishi Channel, simply by ordering a satellite dish. Every day you’ll see the latest knowledge and news of Maharishi’s worldwide Transcendental Meditation movement. You’ll join live global celebrations— such as Guru Purnima, January 12th and monthly full moon broadcasts— and be ready to take Maharishi Open University courses.

For most of the continental United States (except some areas in the Northwest)
Call 800-333-3474 to purchase a Dish Network system. Their receiver normally costs $199.00. Installation is an additional $49.00 if you order it directly through Dish Network. After the installation is complete and the system is working, call 800-454-0843 to activate your account and subscribe to the Maharishi Open University Channel. The monthly charge is $25.00. Satellite: Echostar 3, Channel 9645, 61.5 degrees west.

For the Northwestern United States, Hawaii, Alaska and the Caribbean You will need a larger dish from Sat-Com Systems at 800-272-8266. Satellite: Telstar 5.97 degrees west.

For Canada
Contact your local Maharishi Vedic College or call 888-532-7686.

For all other countries
Contact your Maharishi Open University national coordinator.