In recent decades, modern science has probed into deeper and deeper levels of nature's functioning - from molecular to atomic to nuclear to sub-nuclear - culminating in the discovery of completely unified field theories based on the superstring. These new discoveries, supported by rigorous mathematics, tell us that at the basis of all the surface diversity and change we experience in daily life is one unchanging, universal field of concentrated intelligence and energy.

This unified field, interacting purely with itself, dynamically gives rise to the entire cosmos, including ourselves. Since it resides at infinitesimal distance scales that are not directly accessible by experiments, it cannot be measured directly - but its existence can be inferred mathematically and verified by the way nature functions on more expressed levels.

What does this have to do with your TM practice?

These ground-breaking discoveries from the objective field of modern science have fascinating parallels with our own subjective experience of effortless transcending during TM. Here too, we move from more superficial levels of nature's functioning (surface mental activity) to deeper, quieter, more expanded and powerful levels of thought and ultimately to pure inner wakefulness, devoid of thought - a field of pure intelligence, pure consciousness, which underlies and influences all the more expressed levels of our individual life.

This experience of pure consciousness, where we are awake to our own core reality, is the basis for the deep rest and release of stress that TM provides; it transforms brain functioning, physiological health, and behaviour, as extensive research has confirmed. And it gives us access to the full range of our own existence, from our surface localised perceptions to the unbounded intelligence and creativity within us.

The Unified Field and Consciousness

Extensive analysis of the parallels between ancient Vedic science and modern physical science by researchers such as Dr. John Hagelin (see video) have shown a quantitative and qualitative identity between these two different descriptions of nature and its source. But whereas the objective approach of modern science can only provide an intellectual glimpse of the unified field, the subjective approach of TM allows us to directly experience the unified field as the ultimate nature of our own consciousness. And in this way, through your effortless TM practice, you naturally begin to access and harness the limitless possibilities of that field - and thereby to bring fulfilment to all your dreams and aspirations.

What does "Vedic" mean?

The word "Veda" (VAY-da) means "Knowledge." It describes the ancient tradition of knowledge from which the Transcendental Meditation technique is derived.

According to scholars, the Vedic Tradition is the oldest continuous tradition of knowledge on Earth, dating back at least 10,000 years. This tradition includes detailed information on a wide range of topics—from health care to architecture, from agriculture to music. It's the tradition that gave us yoga.

The Vedic Tradition focuses especially on knowledge about consciousness, technologies of self-development, and growth to higher stages of human develop, or enlightenment - described as the state of peak mental performance and optimal health and well-being.

Some people assume that the Vedic wisdom is strictly a cultural tradition, relevant only in India. Others see it as a philosophical tradition, and others yet as a religious tradition.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the TM program, worked to restore aspects of Vedic knowledge that had fallen into disuse or had been lost. He understood the Vedic Tradition to contain practical knowledge that is as scientific, and as measurable in its effects, as knowledge from modern physics. In this sense, just as Newton's Laws of Motion are not English or Christian, nor Einstein's Theory of Relativity German or Jewish, the TM technique, revived from the Vedic Tradition, is a scientific discovery based on laws of nature that are true and universal for all people and cultures.