Benefits consistently appear in all areas of school life:

Whenever an individual begins to feel more peaceful, there’s an inevitable spillover to society at large. For an insular community like a school, the result can be dramatic

In recent years, students and teachers in schools around the world have learned the Transcendental Meditation program. Upon integrating this program into the daily school routine of some students, benefits consistently appear in all areas of school life:

• Attendance at class improves
• School violence drops
• The rate of students being suspended drops
• Grades improve
• Calmness and happiness increase
• Standardized test scores improve

Jim Dierke, Principal of Visitaction Valley Middle School in San Francisco, describes the transformation of his school through the introduction of the Transcendental Meditation “Quiet Time” Program.

The student and teacher populations in these schools—like microcosms of society at large—have revealed the transformative effect of defusing individual and social stress. Like the schools, studies of larger urban and even national populations have shown that remarkable changes have occurred when only a few members of society practice the advanced meditation programs of the Global Peace Initiative.

As the size of the population grows, the relative number of participants needed to create a change decreases, due to the N2 effect (see Science Behind It). For cities or countries, the critical number of people needed to practice the advanced meditation together in a group is only the square root of 1% of the population. To bring a peaceful influence to the whole world requires a group of only 9,000 participants.

Resolving military conflicts and other problems

The scientifically verified effectiveness of the program at the basis of the Global Peace Initiative—Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program—in resolving military conflicts and other problems on a national scale has prompted governments to implement these programs for the benefit of their countries.

The general policy of government and implementing agencies is to respect the privacy of these governmental projects . In the case of the Republic of Mozambique, however, President Alberto Joachim Chissano during his time of his presidency and the government of Mozambique came forward to publicly announce the great benefits that their nation had experienced from the adoption of the advanced meditation programs that form the basis of the Global Peace Initiative. In particular, President Chissano expressed his willingness to endorse his experiences to any government or head of state who inquires.

The following is an excerpt of a report presented by Lieutenant General Tobias Dai, Former Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Mozambique, who was in charge of implementing this peace-building program into the Armed Forces. The program used in Mozambique, like the core program used by the peace professionals of the Global Peace Initiative, employed the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program, which includes the group practice of a technique called Yogic Flying.

His presentation, given at the 1994 International Conference on Invincible Defense at Maharishi Vedic University, Holland, reported on the positive, comprehensive transformation in the nation brought about by this program.

Lt. Gen. Tobias Dai, Former Commander of the Armed Forced of the Republic of Mozambique

“Mozambique, after a disturbed period of war during the past 16 years, signed a General Peace Agreement in Rome in October 1992. The damage in terms of human life and material property was very high, and the country remained in a very precarious situation.

“After the signing of the General Peace Agreement, there was still a long way to go before the general elections could be held in the country. Uncertainty about the success of the implementation of the General Peace Agreement, and questions about the ability to maintain peace until the elections, shadowed the first happiness in the hearts of the Mozambicans following the signing of the peace agreement. The proposed future UNO mission also was not a guarantee of the maintenance of peace—as has been seen in many countries in the world.

“It was at this time that we were contacted by the representatives of Maharishi Vedic University who gave a detailed exposition of their technologies and their effects…. After serious and critical study of the technologies that were being offered, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of Mozambique were charged with analyzing and studying the possibilities of its implementation in the Armed Forces.

“After having completed a thorough evaluation of the proposal, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to implement the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying, in the Armed Forces of Mozambique with the aim to create the Maharishi Effect in our country. It was a matter of decision. Either to try it or to leave it aside. Our decision was to try. This occurred before the arrival of the UNO forces in Mozambique.

“Thus started the huge work of teaching Transcendental Meditation in the different military units of the country, involving the Ground, Naval, and Air Forces. During the year 1993, about 15,000 people were taught in the provinces of Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Zambezia, Nampula, Niassa, and Cabo Delgado, and in 1994, 1,000 more were taught. Also, schools of police training, pertaining to the Ministry of Home Affairs, began the program. In all, more than 3,000 people were trained in the TM-Sidhi Program…”

“The results of the Maharishi Effect were predicted prior to the implementation of the program. We were told that the increase of coherence in the collective consciousness created by the Maharishi Effect was going to maintain the peace, bring improvements in the crime index, decrease the number of car accidents, and bring an unprecedented improvement of the economy….”

“When thousands of people were taught in Maputo, it was possible to assess a decrease of 20% in the crime index during the first quarter of 1993. This situation was totally anomalous, because, at the end of the war, an increase of crime would be expected. The same thing happened in the city of Quelimane (decrease of 20%) and the province of Manica. Again, when the troops stopped practising due to the troop movements and to the demobilization of the troops, the crime indexes increased again. During the year 1993, the number of cars in the country increased by approximately 3-4 times and the circulation of these vehicles in the country increased dramatically. For the first time in 28 years, it was possible to travel by road freely all around the country. In spite of this, the number of car accidents remained practically the same as in the previous year and the number of deaths due to car accidents decreased compared to 1992. During 1993, an economic growth of 6% was expected, but in fact growth was 19%—completely unexpected…

“Until now, although with several difficulties, the maintenance of peace has been possible during these 2 years, and that free and just elections have been carried out—the only successful UNO mission in the world.

“Our conclusion is that the implementation of TM-Sidhi Programme, with Yogic Flying, into the Armed Forces of Mozambique was worth the effort and that the results were in line with what was predicted….”

Although the large groups of TM-Sidhi program Yogic Flyers in Mozambique were substantially reduced in 1994, as indicated in Lt. Gen. Dai’s speech, smaller groups of Yogic Flyers have continued to create an influence of coherence in the country.

Analysing the Unique Transformation in Mozambique

These changes in Mozambique are in striking contrast to the developments in a similar country, Angola, during the same time period. This comparison makes clear that the progress that Mozambique continues to experience is not a general phenomenon in the region.

Both Angola and Mozambique are former Portuguese colonies; both countries suffered long and severe civil wars in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In the early 1990’s both countries signed peace treaties that were subsequently monitored by the United Nations. (A peace accord in Angola lasted from May 1991 to October 1992, but then collapsed again into civil war until a new accord was reached in November 1994.)

In spite of the peace treaty and the presence of United Nations security forces, violence and disorder have continued to be serious problems in Angola. For example, heavy fighting in 1997 threatened the 1994 peace treaty, while the economy of Angola has continued in disarray.

In contrast, Mozambique implemented Maharishi’s program for defense soon after its 1992 agreement. As a consequence, violence and disorder in Mozambique were drastically reduced; at the same time, the country’s economy began to recover and has shown solid economic growth ever since. Today Mozambique is considered the model for how an African country can recover from severe civil war.

The Transcendental Meditation group creates a wave of peaceful effect throughout the world and positively influences the creation of peace.

The methodology at the basis of the Global Peace Initiative has already had a tremendous impact on the world. For example, from 1987 to 1990, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi trained and assembled 7,000 Vedic Pandits in India to practice these advanced meditation techniques together on a daily basis. This number represented the square root of 1% of the world’s population at that time.

The time leading up to this period was a time of great trouble and strife in many parts of the world. The Cold War had reached dangerous heights, over a million people had been killed in the Iran-Iraq war, Apartheid in South Africa had turned to a violent revolution, and terrorist attacks around the world were becoming commonplace.

From 1987-1990, during the years the Vedic Pandits were practicing the Vedic peace creating technologies of consciousness, the world experienced a remarkable transformation towards peace. The Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall came down, the Iran-Iraq war came to an end, South Africa began to move towards abolishing Apartheid and terrorist attackes subsided.

While it could be argued that these events can be traced to conditions existing prior to the formation of the Vedic Pandits group, the widespread onset of peaceful trends points to a connection between these advanced meditation programs and greater peace. The Transcendental Meditation group creates a wave of peaceful effect throughout the world and positively influences the creation of peace.

What was most striking about this dramatic transformation was its suddenness, which no one expected, and that it happened relatively peacefully. Even the leaders of the two superpowers were taken by surprise.

During this period there were hundreds of press reports giving testament to the phenomenon of peace taking place around the world.

‘Oh what a Peaceful World’ (Cover Headline) The article stated, ‘Peace, you might say, is breaking out all over…’
–The Economist, 30 July 1988

‘History may call 1988 the year of peace.’
-The Christian Science Monitor, 25 August 1988

‘In trouble spots across the globe, some of the world’s bitterest enemies, exhausted by their wars, suddenly are suing for peace.’
–Wall Street Journal, 29 July 1988

‘Unless something suddenly changes, this year will go down as the safest from state-sponsored terrorism in more than 20 years.’
–Time, December 1987

‘1988 appears to be shaping up as the year that peace broke out…’
–Reuters, 23 July 1988

Unfortunately, by 1990, the funding for the Vedic Pandits “global peace experiment’ had run out and the group could no longer be maintained.

The Global Peace Initiative is now dedicated to establishing an endowment fund so that 9,000 peace-creating experts can be maintained permanently in India. Once this is achieved, a pervasive and enduring peace will once again spread throughout the world.