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Lake Arrowhead is a spectacular site high in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California. It was there, on a beautiful and secluded spot by the shore, that one of the most influential books ever published was written. It was autumn 1962, and the silent beauty of Lake Arrowhead was in stark contrast to the violence and bloodshed that was breaking out on the other side of the globe. The world watched with alarm as India and China, the two largest populations of the world, veered towards a full-scale border war.
At the time, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who within a few years would gain worldwide renown for his introduction of the Transcendental Meditation program, was in California on his third world tour to "spiritually regenerate mankind." When Maharishi was told about the fighting, he said that he would return to India in the face of the impending crisis. Those around him asked if, before he left, he would set down the essence of his teaching in a book--and thus was born the Science of Being and Art of Living.
There was not much time before he would leave for India, so Maharishi spent three weeks at Lake Arrowhead speaking his message onto tape. The book was transcribed and published as a 300-page volume in 1963. Since then, Science of Being and Art of Living has become an international bestseller, translated into dozens of languages, and read by millions around the world. And today, with the interest rising rapidly in the development of consciousness and spiritual growth, the time was right to put Maharishi's book on audiotape, so that millions more could enjoy its profound wisdom and practical applications.
I am a member of the Purusha Program at the Maharishi Spiritual Center of America in North Carolina. Earlier in the year I had helped to put Maharishi's Translation and Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita on audiotape, and there had been a huge positive response to that project. To put the Science of Being and Art of Living on tape, I worked with Dr. Mike Tompkins, who read Maharishi's words, and Michel Teboul, our audio engineer.
Scrutinizing Being
Maharishi begins his explanation of Being as the ultimate reality of life with a section entitled "Science of Being." In 40 pages, from every conceivable angle, Maharishi scrutinizes, analyzes, describes, defines, and dissects Being. I'd always found this a rather abstract section of the book, but hearing it read was a different experience. For example, Mike Tompkins started on the part "Omnipresence of Being" and read and reread it with several stops. At the end of the second reading, he was quiet for a moment and then said, "I get it now--one more time." This time, as he progressed through each sentence, his voice was able to maintain the meaning of the previous sentence. By the end of it, Mike had, as it were, connected all the dots and created a crystal clear picture of "omnipresence" in my mind. When he finished he took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Maharishi really knew what he was doing!"
Prescient Commentary
As we made our way through the book, it became clear that all the seeds of the knowledge that Maharishi has been bringing out to the world for the past 30 years are present in this book. Maharishi had been teaching in the West only for four years when he wrote Science of Being, but when he reflects on education, psychology, and almost every aspect of contemporary living, it is clear that he has seen deeply into the very core of modern civilization. I thought of the possible hazards of genetic engineering of our food supply, when Mike read, "As a child who plays with anything, even with a burning branch or hot charcoal, so the immature minds of the present scientists all over the world are playing with whatever they find by chance during their experiments. . . ." Or the dangerous side-effects of modern medicine when he read, "It is not our intent to dwell on what great harm is produced by dealing with the problem of health in a partial manner; however, the medical profession and psychologists are themselves aware of their great limitations."
The Concrete Experience of Being
We all found it so refreshing to hear Maharishi's straightforward, penetrating analysis. The thought kept coming to me, "It's so profound and at the same time so obvious, how could this angle have been missed for so long?" But, of course, without the concrete experience of Being, Being was relegated to metaphysics and mysticism, and lost its appeal to practical minds in the world. It is only through a technique of direct experience that the benefits of contact with Being can be enjoyed. It's not surprising, therefore, that hardly a part goes by without mention of the application of the Transcendental Meditation technique, a simple, natural way to contact inner Being.
With incredible detail and completeness, Maharishi proceeds to connect every aspect of individual life to its source in Being. As we made our way through this deeply engaging exercise, I felt as if every channel of my mind, my body, my nervous system, emotions--everything--was being purified and connected to its source.
What we found most extraordinary about the book is the way Maharishi moves from the most practical advice to the individual on how to deal with his day-to-day concerns (in parts such as "Right and Wrong," "Speaking Pleasingly," "The Influence of Food," and "The Art of Proper Planning of Action") to the broad analysis of social problems. In his penetrating review of modern education he clearly shows that without the study of the Absolute or Being in every field, specialization will only lead to growing dissatisfaction in the minds of the students. What is needed, he says, is "along with knowledge of each subject, [students] should also receive the vision of the full value of life." Maharishi summarizes, "The study of the Absolute will reveal to the students the great and hidden values of life lying beyond the obvious phenomenal phase of existence and will bring to them a deeper sense of existence, a broader vision of life, and the unfathomable field of wisdom."
The book culminates in the section entitled simply, "Fulfillment." It is a powerful conclusion stressing the importance of realization of the full potential of consciousness in practical life through a scientific approach. We were transfixed as we listened to Maharishi's revealing words in "Fulfillment of Religion." Maharishi's emphasis is on the role of religion to connect man back to his source, which he points out is the real meaning of the word "religion"--to bind back, from the Latin religire. Maharishi states, "The purpose of religion should not only be to indicate what is right and what is wrong, but its direct purpose should be to elevate man to a state of life so that he will only go for that which is right and will not go for that which is wrong. It should not seek to achieve its purpose through instilling fear of the Almighty in the mind. A fully alive and integrated religion will be that in which every man is a man of realized God consciousness, a man of full values of life, a man of God--the divine in the form of man on earth."
An Enlightened Mind
It is an enlightened mind that is speaking in Science of Being, and often we get a glimpse into how that mind experiences. For example, in the part entitled "Physiological Approach to God Realization," we read: "If the brain is functioning normally, if the mind is pure, if the nervous system is pure, then between every two thoughts, the state of Being will be experienced. This is not generally the case, however. We want to purify the nervous system to such a great extent that eventually it will give rise to the experience of transcendental consciousness."
As we finished our taping, I thought of the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome--their tremendous insights into reality and the refined beauty of the art and architecture that they produced. The writings of Plato and Aristotle, Plotinus, Marcus Aurelius, to name just a few, are all centered in the experience of Being. Certainly it was this knowledge and experience which was at the basis of the flourishing of the Classical world. But even then, this experience seemed to be open to only a relatively small portion of the total population. The electrifying implication of Maharishi's Science of Being is that this experience--the concrete realization of Being in one's own daily life--is open to everyone. What a civilization could rise from here!
As we came to the conclusion of the taping, there was a wonderful feeling we shared of having done something useful for ourselves and for others. Somehow we felt that we had been connected back to the first sproutings of this great tree of knowledge, whose lofty boughs will someday provide refreshing shade for the whole world.
Science of Being and Art of Living in its unabridged audio version is available as a set of 12 audio cassettes (total playing time: 15 hours) for $70 from The Maharishi Spiritual Center of America. To order, call toll free, in the U.S. and Canada, (888) 840-0680. International callers, call (828) 262-3793. Or order online at <http://www.purusha.org/1store.html>.
