JMVRI Issue Number Fourteen is the second of three Special Issues which serialise a new book by Dr Geoffrey Wells, titled The Foundations of Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence. The first instalments of the book appear in JMVRI Issue Number 12. This Special Issue contains the next three Chapters: Chapter Four—dealing with the fifth state of consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness; Chapter Five—concerning the theme of living Cosmic Consciousness; and Chapter Six—discussing the sixth state of consciousness, Refined Cosmic Consciousness.
JMVRI Issue Number 14
JMVRI Paper 14.1
The Foundations of Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence
Chapter Four: The Fifth State of Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness
Author: Geoffrey A. Wells, with Lee Fergusson and Anna Bonshek
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Wells, G. A., with Fergusson, L., & Bonshek, A. (2020). The foundations of Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence—Chapter four: The fifth state of consciousness, cosmic consciousness. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 14, 13-54.
Summary (excerpt):
We have emphasised Maharishi’s description of Transcendental Meditation as a technique. In this context, we have described some of the remarkable and beneficial changes it brings to both mind and body during the period of practice. Maharishi also, however, speaks of his. Transcendental Meditation program. This refers to the fact that Transcendental Meditation is practiced twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. The question which naturally arises is: what are the cumulative effects of this daily practice? Maharishi’s answer is of the greatest significance to our understanding of human life, both individual and collective. It is that the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation and its associated programs (particularly, as we shall see, the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying) systematically gives rise to a predictable sequence of higher states of consciousness—the fifth, sixth, and seventh states of consciousness—of which the last represents the full development of human potential. These states of consciousness, with Maharishi’s English and Sanskrit names for them, are as follows:
Cosmic Consciousness: Turiyateet Avastha or Turiyateet Chetna
Refined Cosmic Consciousness or God Consciousness: Bhagavat Chetna
Unity Consciousness: Brahmi Sthithi or Brahmi Chetna.
The significance of these names will become apparent in our discussion of the characteristics Maharishi ascribes to them in this and later chapters of the book.