JMVRI Issue No. 29 features three studies: “Psychological Determinants of Mental and Physical Wellbeing in Participants of Personal Development Groups”, by Joanna Wanta (pp. 11–47); “Conflict and Conflict Resolution: Domain of the Action Principle, Para Shakti/Mother Divine”, by Candace Badgett (pp. 49–64); and “Vastu, Traditional Knowledge Holders, and Contemporary Architecture Education and Practice in India” by Aparna Datey (pp. 65–99).
JMVRI Issue Number 29
JMVRI Paper 29.1
Psychological Determinants of Mental and Physical Wellbeing in Participants of Personal Development Groups
Author: Joanna Wanta
https://doi.org/10.66743/ykzl6638
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Wanta, J. (2026). Psychological determinants of mental and physical wellbeing in participants of personal development groups. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 29, 11–47.
Summary:
International studies conducted around the world have considered important human traits such as wellbeing and self-esteem. The present study seeks to add further insight to that body of understanding. The research group consisted of 399 people—187 Europeans, 138 Americans, and 74 people from other countries.
Participants were assigned to five personal development study groups, engaged in one or other of the following practices or programs: Buddhist meditation, Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, Zen Buddhist meditation, or neuro-linguistic programing (NLP). The purpose of the present study was to examine the level of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and mental, physical and emotional wellbeing according to the type of personal development training they received and practised.
Findings suggest practitioners of Transcendental Meditation had the highest levels of wellbeing, life satisfaction and self-esteem. Statistically significant inter-group differences in favour of Transcendental Meditation were also observed for measures such as recurring headaches, pain and tension, chest and heart pain, breathlessness, heart palpitations and fatigue.
JMVRI Paper 29.2
Conflict and Conflict Resolution: Domain of the Action Principle, Para Shakti/Mother Divine
Author: Candace Badgett
https://doi.org/10.66743/lxph3514
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Badgett, C. (2026). Conflict and conflict resolution: Domain of the action principle, Para Shakti/Mother Divine. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 29, 49–64.
Summary (excerpt):
Conflict and conflict resolution, from the perspective of Vedic science, are based on an appreciation of the two opposite values that structure the unmanifest field of Pure Consciousness: Purusha and Para Shakti, with Purusha defined as the unmoving, unbounded, eternal, unmanifest field of Pure Intelligence, and Para Shakti—or Creative Intelligence—as the unmanifest, potential dynamism that gives rise to unmanifest Veda, which in turn precipitates as human physiology, which in turn precipitates as the ever-expanding universe. Both Purusha and Para Shakti are Nitya and Apaurusheya: eternal and uncreated.
JMVRI Paper 29.3
Vastu, Traditional Knowledge Holders, and Contemporary Architecture Education and Practice in India
Author: Aparna Datey
https://doi.org/10.66743/jotx1571
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Datey, A. (2026). Vastu, traditional knowledge holders, and contemporary architecture education and practice in India. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 29, 65–99.
Summary:
This paper argues that understanding teaching approaches and building practices of traditional knowledge holders has the potential to act as a catalyst for connecting knowledge, theory, practice and profession. The study focuses on two traditional knowledge holders and building practitioners from Kerala, India.
The traditional science of architecture is known as Vastu Shastra. The knowledge is held in ancient texts and put into practice by traditional knowledge holders and practitioners. While the link between education and practice by way of the Gurukul (‘guru’ means teacher and ‘kul’ means lineage and home) tradition and crafts guilds has been weakened due to colonisation, architectural knowledge survives in the capable hands of some practitioners. The participants are committed to teaching traditional building knowledge locally in their Gurukul, nationally online at a preeminent university, and internationally through a variety of means. Their Vastu practice is authentic and continuously evolving.
This study employs ‘listening’ as a research methodology, since oral traditions are an integral part of the ancient education system of India. The findings provide an integrative understanding of building knowledge, theory, and practice. With their identity and practice rooted in holistic scientific knowledge and responsibility-based roles, traditional know- ledge holders and practitioners amplify the fundamental value that architecture education and the profession of architecture bring to society.