JMVRI Issue No. 25 features two main research studies: “The Self-Referral Dynamics of Consciousness in Maharishi Vedic University—Vedic Knowledge for Everyone: A Close Reading”, by Geoffrey Wells (pp. 11–44), and “Transcending OCD: Studying the Effects of Transcending on Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder through Transcendental Meditation”, by Adam Delfiner and Brittany Stahnke (pp. 45–76).
JMVRI Issue Number 25
JMVRI Paper 25.1
The Self-Referral Dynamics of Consciousness in Maharishi Vedic University—Vedic Knowledge for Everyone: A Close Reading
Author: Geoffrey Wells
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Wells, G. A. (2024). The self-referral dynamics of consciousness in Maharishi Vedic University—Vedic knowledge for everyone: A close reading. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 25, 11–44.
Summary (excerpt):
Dr Wells follows a method laid out in previous articles, a method he has termed ‘close reading’ or ‘slow reading’. He has emphasised that this approach to gaining knowledge encompasses principles that are, in his opinion, central to reading Maharishi’s published work, and may be expanded to include collaborative study.
Importantly, the approach adopted and developed by Dr Wells should be distinguished from the approaches of standard textual commentary or exegesis: he simply takes and considers Maharishi’s words as they are presented. No external position is adopted, no significant comment about the meaning of the text is made, and all discussion is internal to the actual text Maharishi provides and is therefore reflective of it. Dr Wells looks particularly at the terms, principles, and systematic development of the teaching as Maharishi lays them out. With it, he takes a stance of care, attention, and receptivity—unhurried and reflective.
Before beginning its analysis of the second footnote of significance in Maharishi’s book Maharishi Vedic University—Vedic Knowledge for Everyone, this fifth research study reminds the reader that footnotes play a particular role in the exposition of Maharishi’s teaching of Vedic Science.