The Flying Squad

When the Queen visited Mozambique on this year’s tour of Southern Africa, she commented on how the country’s politicians had put cooperation before confrontation—“The recognition by all parties that it was only through peace that there could be any prospect of resolving differences…offers a valuable lesson to countries still riven by conflict,” she said.

Many see Mozambique’s experience as an example of what can be achieved simply by diplomacy. But followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi see another force in action—that of ‘invincible defence’. It is a programme based around transcendental meditation [TM], a technique developed from ancient Indian traditions which, followers say, is practised by Mozambique’s president, Joaquim Chissano, and many of his ministers.

“Mozambique is the best example in modern times of a country that has appreciated the abilities of the principles of invincible defence to end war,” says Dr Bevan Morris, a Cambridge University graduate, now International President of the Maharishi Vedic Universities. “It has appreciated the ability of TM to promote peace.”

Indeed, President Chissano, who has visited the university twice to meet the Maharishi, introduced TM to 13,000 Mozambican troops in 1992, Dr Morris says. President Chissano has maintained the programme after the establishment of peace. “A building has been constructed in Maputo for group meditation, and the intention is there should be continued growth in the number of people practising yogic flying,” Dr Morris says. “And politicians are not just advocating these programmes but practising them themselves. The president is forthright in speaking about the benefits he feels TM has brought to him and his nation.”

While observers can explain such factors through any number of reasons besides TM, the university claims a large body of evidence supports the effectiveness of its methods. More than 600 studies prove the efficacy of TM in promoting the health of individuals and, when TM and yogic flying are practised by a group, the well-being of the surrounding community, researchers say.

Dr Volker Schanbacher, professor of physics at the Maharishi University of Management, says: “Studies show the effect clearly. As soon as a group starts practising TM technology, effects such as reduced crime start immediately. As soon as the TM group practice stops, problems start again. It is like switching a light on, and then off again.”

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Dr Schanbacher, a doctor in quantum field theory from Germany’s University of Tuebingen, believes a small part of society practising TM enlivens coherence in the whole group—just as in a laser, when only a small number of atoms is enlivened, the whole field of atoms becomes coherent. TM works at the level of the unified field, the ultimate level of physics, which is providing mainstream researchers with physics’ Holy Grailïthe single ‘theory of everything’.

“The unified field of physics is the same underlying field of human consciousness. When it is enlivened through TM, the orderliness found everywhere in nature increases in the individual, and radiates into his environment,” Dr Schanbacher says. “Just as a radio transmitter sends invisible waves great distances through a field effect, the practice of TM and yogic flying creates a field effect of peace and harmony that improves life for everyone in the surrounding environment.”

Such effects are set to be tested in Europe with the setting up by Gunter Chassse, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the German Air Force now also based at the Vedic University, of the Vedic Peace Corps. The corp will consist of 8,000 champions of TM and yogic flying who will create “an atmosphere of harmony and cordiality in the middle of Europe and radiate this to other nations, eliminating causes of war”.

He believes conventional armies should similarly deploy troops to practice TM and YF, and so prevent hostility. “Could the US prevent attacks on their embassies? No. Could the EU prevent war in the Balkans? No. So if we are to make defence forces fulfil their purpose we must arm them with another tool. This tool is invincible defence, which is based on enriching rather than killing.”

In the UK, a group of some 2,000 practisers of TM and YF in one place would be sufficient to act as a “prevention wing”. Such troops would practise TM and YF for two hours morning and evening, being otherwise free for conventional military duties. Dr Morris says: “As far as day-to-day life goes, they could still enjoy family life, play football, and so on. This is not any kind of religion. It is just something to add to the routine of life.”

One battalion of TM-trained troops would be needed to help peace in Northern Ireland. “Negotiations between the Unionists and Sinn Fein are sometimes difficult to maintain. Why not use transcendental meditation and yogic flying to help them?”

The UK government will probably find many reasons to ignore Invincible Defence, as did the US when offered the help of yogic flyers in bringing peace to Kosovo. But time at least is on the side of TM. Based on knowledge which has already survived for thousands of years, TM will no doubt be around to assist peace processes for centuries to come.