March 2001

A Global Family Gains Total Knowledge
Interview with Maharishi Open University International Faculty Members by Rolf Erickson

Enlightenment: What has been the response in your home country to the Maharishi Open University courses?

Jolanta Terlega (Polish language group): People say that the course is transforming their life on every level— on the level of consciousness, on the level of the body, and on the level of their everyday life

Heiner Röder (German): The students often tell us, "This lesson must be the top of what is possible in inspiration, depth and beauty of knowledge." Then the next lesson comes and they say, "I couldn’t have imagined that a lesson could be nicer, but this new one was even more powerful and more beautiful."

Aleksey Kovtun (Russian): People love these courses. They are sending letters of gratitude, photos with their shining faces, and poetry inspired by what they hear in the course. This makes us feel that we’re doing something of great importance.

Richard Dubrovskis (German): When I was visiting Germany, everyone was very much touched and inspired by the knowledge. They were all asking me, "When will the next course come? We are waiting."

Enlightenment: What aspects of the courses do students appreciate most?

Alain Courvoisier (French): One common experience is that people really feel Maharishi’s presence in their home. Even if Maharishi isn’t speaking in every lesson, his knowledge is there every day. They feel a completely different atmosphere in their home. They feel more connected to Maharishi than ever before.

Heiner Röder: A very big highlight in their experience is listening to the Vedic recitations. They were astounded at how deeply they can be changed and moved by listening to a few sounds that come out of a TV set.

Chan Wei Wah (Mandarin and Cantonese): What our students appreciate most is that the teaching is given in their Mother Tongue. This gives them a very deep experience of Maharishi’s knowledge.

Enlightenment: This must be very satisfying for the students, to hear Maharishi’s knowledge in their own language.

Yoshio Ide (Japanese): Yes. In Japan most people do not understand English. Since we began broadcasting in Japanese, everyone has been enjoying Maharishi’s knowledge even more than before

Mahmut Görkey (Turkish): When we are not working on a new course, we are translating all of Maharishi’s lectures and global celebrations for broadcast. It’s important that our Meditators can view these special events in their own language, too.

Siu Kit Foon (Mandarin and Cantonese): When they listen to the knowledge, our students not only grasp the meaning on an intellectual level, but can really feel the meaning contained in the knowledge.

Jayme Torres (Portuguese): Because it’s in their Mother Tongue, the students can really receive the whole thing, the experience and intellectual understanding. They feel much more at home with the knowledge. The knowledge flows frictionlessly. It goes straight to the heart.

Enlightenment: What’s your experience when you are translating and teaching the courses?

Sasha Kovtun (Russian): Recording the lessons, sitting before the camera and speaking out Maharishi’s knowledge, is a very special experience indeed. To be a link between Maharishi and thousands of people who are in need of his teaching—it’s fantastic!

Aleksey Kovtun: Giving knowledge is bliss. Even more so when you realize that you are speaking to a huge audience eager for it.

Jayme Torres: We really feel fortunate, because we have to go very deep into Maharishi’s knowledge in order to teach it properly. Each language has its own logic, its own way to emphasize this point or that idea. When we are able to speak this out in our own language, we strengthen the knowledge within ourselves.

Chan Wei Wah: People watching the MOU classes notice that every teacher looks better and better with every lesson. It’s just our own awakening. We feel that Maharishi is training us to express his knowledge perfectly, and this skill is multiplying into every language.

Enlightenment: Do you notice benefits from living and working with the MOU faculty from other countries?

Jayme Torres: Although we all work in our own language groups, we’re always sharing our understanding. We sit together in the dining hall and discuss the knowledge. We ask, "How did you explain this point?" It’s very nourishing for all of us.

Yoshio Ide: It’s really nice. I always feel the unity in diversity. It’s so harmonious and powerful, completely like one family.

Enlightenment: What would you tell someone who had never taken an MOU course? Why should they sign up now?

Alain Courvoisier: I would tell them, "If you want to deepen your experience in meditation, and really go in depth into Maharishi Vedic Science, if you want to grasp the Total Knowledge that Maharishi has been giving the last 50 years, then this is the time to do it."

Heiner Röder: We were always thinking there would be a time when Maharishi would call everyone together and spend years in a big group, going deeply into his wisdom. Now it has come true through a completely unexpected window, the MOU Channel. Maharishi is literally with everyone in their own living room. This is something wonderful for the people in the field, and it must also be great for Maharishi, that now he can reach the mind and the heart of everyone who wants his blessings through this supreme wisdom.

Jayme Torres: This is the opportunity to have all the knowledge that Maharishi has been unfolding and reviving for 50 years. Within three or four courses you can have Total Knowledge, very quickly. It’s such a fortune for all of us to be living at this moment, to be able to participate in all these programs and receive this knowledge now. Everybody should really wake up and find the time, the place, the equipment, the money, whatever is needed to participate in the courses of MOU, because everything is there, everything.

Siu Kit Foon: If you want enlightenment, you should sign up for MOU courses. You can sit comfortably at home and be connected to the most supreme knowledge for enlightenment— Unity Consciousness.

Maharishi Open University Courses Available

Total Knowledge: Be totally up to date with the complete range and application of Maharishi Vedic Science. Participants say, "It pulled together everything I’d ever learned on any other course, and the experience of all my years meditating."

Creating a Perfect Man (Course 1): Hear King Nader Raam explain the correspondence between the structure and function of Veda and the structure and function of the individual and cosmic physiology; listen to traditional recitation of the Vedic Literature by Vedic pandits and transforming lectures by Maharishi.

Creating a Perfect Man (Course 2): Continue your exploration, with the Maharishi Open University faculty, of the historic discovery by King Nader Raam of the 40 values of Veda and the Vedic Literature in human physiology.

Maharishi Sthapatya Veda: Vastu Vidya: Go deeply with Maharishi into the foundations of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design— the structural engineering of the universe— which promotes bliss, good health and success.

Continuing Free Programs: Dr. Bevan Morris provides an analysis of world news, knowledge and inspiration while examining world events in the light of the principles of Natural Law. Enjoy live broadcasts of global celebrations and lectures by Maharishi.

How to Apply: Visit the MOU Web site at www.MOU.org to apply, pay by credit card, and learn how to receive MOU courses by satellite.