The Family of Nations
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, July 31, 1975, Seelisburg, Switzerland
“When we look into the possibility of developing a united nation, unity of all nations, what we find is that unity of nations can only be secured on a permanent basis if the procedure of the development of the individual nation develops the nation in a universal breath. The individual dignity of the nation grows, and in the process of that growth the individual nation becomes capable of maintaining its own stability at the same time, and becomes more and more capable of adaptation for the environmental values of other nations.
If there could be a strategy which develops the individual nation and—in the process of its development—it develops the nation in universal value, only then it will be possible for all the nations to live in a family-like united manner. What has been missing is a procedure whereby the rising of the individual dignity of a nation is capable of making that nation a fertilizer to every other nation. That strategy has been missing.
Science of Creative Intelligence (editor’s note: SCI is a merger of Vedic knowledge with modern science exploring how the unified field of consciousness manifests in intelligence, energy, and creativity, sustaining and evolving life). SCI provides an intellectual framework for Transcendental Meditation provides that missing element because through this— through the practice of Transcendental Meditation and the knowledge of Science of Creative Intelligence—what happens is five elements grow in the life of the nation; and these five elements are stability, adaptability, integration, purification and growth. All these five elements are necessary for the individual nation to develop.
The individual nation must be more stable; it must be adaptable also because if one is not adaptable then one would remain behind in the fast pace of progress. Shutting off contacts with other nations will mean shutting off progress. Progress is so fast in the whole world… some countries progressing in one manner, some other country progressing in some other manner. So, if there is no exchange, interchange of ideas, interchange of technology, or interchange of the means of development, then the nations will not progress so fast. So it is necessary for the countries to become stable so that they maintain their own cultural integrity, their own cultural identity, and yet they are capable of adapting to what is coming from outside in such a way that the elements—the foreign elements entering in our country—are only capable of adding growth to the country, but not usurping the life of the country.
And for that, what is necessary is for the third element to be very, very lively in the country and that is the element of purification. Any influence that comes from outside must be purified in an automatic manner, and whatever is the life-supporting aspect of it is integrated and that will make the country grow. Otherwise, the life-damaging influence coming from outside serves as a dry rot for the culture of the country and all the custodians of cultures of different countries are today afraid of this dry rot. They are afraid of exposing their nations to outside influences. Every effort is made to shut out their nations from outside, but this is a very great mistake in itself.
What they have to do is they have to develop the stability of their nation and in that process of growing stability they must have the element of adaptability so that when the stability grows, adaptability also grows at the same time, and the nation must grow in the element of purification. And once the purification and adaptability and stability are very intact in the life of the country, no matter what comes from outside, only the life-supporting influence will be allowed to be integrated in the culture of the nation and through that the culture will grow. It will maintain its integrity and yet be exposed to evolution, growth.
Otherwise, the element of purification is not lively. Whatever comes will be influencing the country for its entirety. Whatever will be life-supporting will be used. Whatever is life-damaging will serve as a dry rot for the nation and will spoil the whole thing. So, the element of purification also must be very, very lively in the country. And thereby the thing will be that every country will be looking forward to let anything come into the country, because once the element of purification is lively in the breath of the nation, whatever is not life-supporting will die out at the border.
It’s like the superfluid situation in the case of superfluidity and the Meissner’s effect. All the foreign material is not able to disrupt the integrity of the state. That has to be the phenomenon of development of a country so that stability, adaptability, purification, integration and growth—all these five values—make the country grow in its individual dignity and make the country fearless about outside influences. Come what may, because I’m so strong I can’t be beaten down. I’ll take in all that is best for my integrity, for my life, for my growth, and anything that is unhelpful to life will die out on its own. And this is the only situation which will make the nations free from fears about other nations.
Otherwise, a small fish is always under the fear of the big fish because that’s what history has shown. So, in essence the formula to build up a United Nations is the knowledge that comes from Science of Creative Intelligence and the experience that comes from Transcendental Meditation. Hundreds of experiments performed throughout the world have shown that with Transcendental Meditation these five elements grow in physiology, in psychology, in sociology. These levels of behavior—in the level of thinking, in the level of existence, the physical system, physiology, psychology, sociology of the individual, of the society, of the nation—grow in these five values.
And this is the only way that will develop every nation for its own individual dignity. And in the process of its own individual development what will develop is the ability to share life with others without losing one’s own integrity—tthe only useful and effective formula to really realize the state of United Nations. As long as the development of a country does not have the element of developing adaptability and purification, so long one country will always remain like a frog in a well: He knows only this much. This is the whole world for a frog, the whole small hole in a well. That’s all the world that exists.
But the times are fast changing. It’s not possible today for any nation to preserve its own dignity on the basis of either fear or adaptability. If a nation feels too free with anyone then the effect will be that the culture of that country will be swayed, might be taken over by the mixture of many, many countries. Communications are so fast today, jets flowing around the world, they are bringing intermixing of races with such great rapid pace that it’s not possible for any culture to remain integrated.
And this is the fear for every culture, be it the culture of a big country or the culture of a small country. Every culture is on the threshold of great change. The only thing that will maintain the cultural dignity of every great or small country will be that country’s growth in the elements of stability, adaptability, integration, purification, and growth. It’s very, very necessary that the procedure of development of a nation is such that it develops these five qualities in the nation. And then, automatically, the structure of United Nations will be so beautiful that every country will maintain its dignity, blossomed to its full value. And yet that fully developed nation will be so cordial to every other nation around. Because more comes from outside, more growth will result without losing one’s own integrity.
Here is a formula for United Nations to fulfill its goals. Otherwise it will always remain a stock of fighting birds. These ideas have been put up in a very consolidated manner in this chart, ‘Formula for Fulfillment in the Family of Nations’. It brings out the diversifying elements and the unifying knowledge. All these cultural values, economic values, religious values, all these different values, they are the values which distinguish nation from nation.
And when all these values grow in these five qualities, this unifying knowledge which comes from this Science of Creative Intelligence, it eliminates the predominance of diversity amongst the nations. It brings the upsurge of a unifying value, but that unifying value is significant only if it does not dismantle the individual dignity of a country. No country would love a United Nations if it loses its identity. It should not be a dream of United Nations to have the differences of the countries resolved. It’s not possible. It’s the difference that makes a world. It’s the difference. Many more countries will mean a bigger United Nations.
If there are 200 countries today, if there could be a thousand countries, the United Nations will be a five times stronger United Nations. So, it’s not the difference that is damaging to the purpose of the United Nations. It is the inability of the nations to remain integrated in their structure when they come to unite themselves with others. It is this inability to maintain their own integrity that is lacking. That is the element which brings failure to the purpose of the United Nations.
That must be united and that must be achieved and that is on the level of consciousness. Yes.”
