JMVRI Issue No. 19 contains two scholarly articles about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: “A Close Reading of the Definition of Maharishi Vedic University” by Dr Geoffrey Wells (pp. 13–67), and “A Life Profile of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Master of Āyur-Veda and Global Health” by Drs Lee Fergusson, Manohar Palakurthi, Sathya Dornala, and Anna Bonshek (pp. 69–102).
JMVRI Issue Number 19
JMVRI Paper 19.1
A Close Reading of the Definition of Maharishi Vedic University
Author: Geoffrey A. Wells
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
https://www.academia.edu/83095191/Definition_of_Maharishi_Vedic_University_A_Close_Reading
Citation: Wells, G. A. (2022). Definition of Maharishi Vedic University: A close reading. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 19, 13–67.
Summary (excerpt):
In JMVRI Issue No. 16 (April 2021, pp. 37–62), Dr Wells introduced the topic of scholarship and Maharishi Vedic Science. In that article he presented an analysis of contemporary scholarship, as it is found in universities and research organisations, noting that scholarship includes the agreed and accepted use of principles like “precise terminology and propositions; logically developed arguments; evidential support; and an overarching commitment to submitting texts, as journal articles or books, one’s own or others, [and] to searching texts according to these principles” (p. 38). Dr Wells pointed out the centrality of ‘texts’ as a commonly agreed source of modern scholarly work because, among other reasons, these are open to public and collective scrutiny and evaluation.
He went on to explain that the “open review principle becomes, predominantly, peer review within [specialist disciplinary and interdisciplinary] groups. Although scholarly knowledge is in principle open to anyone’s evaluation, in practice effective review is highly specialised. Participation in scholarly work demands that a researcher be a member of one or more of these specialist groups, through the entry of graduate work followed by a record of publication of articles in well-regarded (by specialist) journals or books. [Thus, contemporary scholars] …share a relatively uniform idea of what scholarship is” (p. 39).
Dr Wells stated his task in that first article was to describe this view of contemporary scholarship and to “apply it systematically to Maharishi Vedic Science” (p. 39). However, he rhetorically also asked several questions, including whether such conceptualisations and practice of scholarship have a place in Maharishi Vedic Science, and if so, whether they mean the same thing and perform the same role in that context, and thus whether the standards of contemporary practice are indeed the same when applied to Maharishi Vedic Science? He said, “Since the idea of scholarship is so central to the modern conception of valid knowledge, in approaching Maharishi Vedic Science these seem to be important questions to ask” (p. 39).