CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/13/2021 (Global Country of World Peace, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation, Conspiracy Theories, People's Temple, Book Review, Podcast)

Global Country of World Peace, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation, Conspiracy Theories, People's Temple, Book Review, Podcast

Latestly: 'Raam' Is Not a Currency Used in Holland! Know All About the Bearer Bond Started by Maharishi Cult in the Dutch Country

"Twitter is flooded with posts that claim a currency called "Raam" is being used as legal tender in Holland or the Netherlands. Such posts also claimed "Raam" is the most expensive currency in the world. However, the fact is "Raam" is not a currency but a bearer bond. Launched in 2001 by Global Country of World Peace (GCWP), "Raam" has been used as a medium of exchange within a closed group of stakeholders in some parts of the United States and Netherlands. Rs 500 Note in Which Green Stripe Is Not Near RBI Governor's Signature Should Not Be Taken? PIB Fact Check Reveals Truth Behind Fake Post.

The Global Country of World Peace, set up by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, launched "Raam" in October 2001. Headquartered in Maharishi Vedic City in US state of Iowa, the GCWP is a non-profit organisation. The Maharishi Vedic City described "Raam" as "the ideal local currency to support economic development in the city and development of local businesses and organisations wishing to accept that currency". Rs 1,000 Currency Note to be Rescinded Into Cash Circulation? PIB Fact Check Trashes Rumour, Says No Such Move Planned by RBI."

Esquire: Kurt Vonnegut's Trip to See the Guru

" ... I saw Maharishi in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after my daughter got hooked, before my wife got hooked, and on the very day that Mia Farrow got hooked. This was last January. Miss Farrow had been suggesting for about a year that she was a Transcendental Meditator, but that was the bunk. She had merely been hankering to be one. You can't be the real thing without an initiation.

And not just any Transcendental Meditator can turn you on. Maharishi has to do it, which would be a great honor, or one of the few teachers he has trained. Miss Farrow got the great honor in Maharishi's hotel room in Cambridge. My wife and daughter had to make do with a teacher in the apartment of a Boston painter and jazz musician who meditates.

Maharishi says that his thing is not a religion but a technique.

There is private stuff, but no secret stuff in the initiation. You go to several public lectures first, which are cheerful and encouraging. You are told lovingly that this thing is easy, never fails to make a person more blissful and virtuous and effective, if it is done correctly. The lecturer does not explain what meditation feels like because he cannot. It must be experienced, he says.

So you ask for an interview with the teacher, and during that he asks you a little about yourself. He will want to know if you are on drugs or drunk or under psychiatric treatment or plain crazy. You have to be clean and sober and sane, or you won't be initiated. If you're under treatment for mental kinks, you will be told to come back when the treatment is complete.

If the teacher thinks you're okay, you're told to go to a certain address at such and such a time, and to bring as gifts a handkerchief, some fresh fruit, some flowers, and $75. If you are a student or a housewife, you bring $35.

So I have $70 in this new religion so far. Maharishi says that his thing is not a religion but a technique. Still, at cocktail parties every so often, I can be heard to say sulkily, often within earshot of my wife or daughter, "I've got seventy goddamn simoleons in this new religion so far."

The money goes into traveling expenses for the Master and his teachers, and they don't live very high, and a decent set of books is kept, and the books are open. This is not Southern California religion. Sergeant Friday is not about to appear.

Only you and your teacher are present at your initiation into this thing that, to its followers, is so definitely not a religion. And there is candlelight and incense, and there are small pictures of Maharishi and his deceased Master, who was His Divinity Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Jagadguru Bhagwan Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math.

Your teacher, most likely a fellow American in a business suit, will give you your own private mantra, a sound which, when contemplated, will begin your descent into your own mind. This giving of sounds, usually Sanskrit words, is the teacher's special art, or, I beg your pardon, science.

Video: Maharishi Veda Lila

CultNEWS101: Transcendental Meditation Collection (300 + articles)

Discover Magazine: Why People Become Overwhelmed by Conspiracy Theories — and How To Help Them

"Commonly driven by financial stress, many people will readily adopt even the wildest conspiracy theories. Disavowing them, on the other hand, often requires the help of social psychologists."

Joseph Szimhart: Journey to Nowhere, a review

"A review of Journey to Nowhere by Shiva Naipaul (1980), a journalist account about Jim Jones, his People's Temple, and the social context for the murder-suicide cult tragedy in Guyana in 1978. I suggest the book helps us understand how and why tension between radical left and right narratives continue today."

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Maharishi on the Raam Currency

Published on Apr 27, 2014

Dr. John Hagelin (PhD Physics, Harvard): Thank you, Maharishi. This is a question on the importance of the Raam. BBC news is doing a story on the Raam Mudra. Last week a BBC reporter, Chris Morris, interviewed His Excellency Dr. Benjamin Feldman, Minister of Finance and Planning of the Global Country of World Peace. Now this reporter would like to ask a few follow-up questions of Maharishi. Three quick questions: the first is, why is the Raam so important to your program?

Maharishi: Raam is important because first, the meaning of Raam is Brahm. Brahm is the reality of every single individual. Brahm means totality. Brahm means embodiment of total natural law. That is why Raam is dear to me. Aham Brahmāsmi is the fondest expression of the Vedic wisdom. Aham Brahmāsmi I am totality. I am Brahm. I am Raam. So I am fond of Raam because I am fond of my (cosmic) Self. And I am fond of the best of my Self. Brahm, totality, embodiment of total natural law. That is Raam. That is on the personal level. And on the social level ...

The world needed a currency which will be kind to the people. What ever are the currencies, they are kind, but their kindness is equally placed with cruelty. The banks are very kind; at the same time they are very cruel to poverty. They are cruel to poverty. A man has to give guarantee after guarantee, and then the bank gives him money. So the world needed a very liberal currency which will be a friend to the needy. That is what Raam is. There is a phrase in English. "A friend in need is a friend indeed." A poor man needs money. Dollar is not for him. Pound is not for him. Any other currency is not for him, because he has nothing to guarantee upon, and all that..

Raam is floated by the government of the Global Country of World Peace. Government of Global Country of World Peace has a global parental role for everyone. It needed a currency which will be kind to the needy. A friend in need is friend indeed. A friendly currency was needed on the global scale, because currencies are there, but they are no good for the poor. It's a simple fact

Currencies existing are not good for the poor, no good for the poor, no good for the poor.

Global Country of World Peace, Global Country, Global Country. A parental role for all the countries. It needed a currency of a parental role. And the parental role is to fulfill the requirements of the people.

So the finance policy of the Global Country of World Peace as floated a currencies with a liberal, parental role for all the people. This is the specialty of Raam.

It may be said of those who are the other side: Only the rich will become richer, from the other currencies. Only the rich will become richer. With the Raam, the poor will become richer.

The whole world economy is badly handled, as everything else is badly handled in the world. Every currency, here and there, every currency, every rich man who lives on this currency, whose riches are based on this currency. Every man who is rich, suffers from heart palpitation. Now it is going up. Now it is going down. That means, the present basic philosophy of the currency is heart palpitating for the rich. For the poor there is hearth shrinking. Raam is a currency will have a balanced economy in the world. There are tremendous advantages of the Raam, fulfilling the requirement of the world today, and every tomorrow.

This is Raam the Global Country of World Peace. In these beginning days of issuing Raam, we say Raam is a development currency. But it's going to be the fondest currency in the world, because it has that generous basis to its behavior. That is why Raam is dear to us. And this is the specialty of Raam. It was a good question. The answer is: Raam is the fulfillment of the requirement of the world economy, of the currencies of the world. In every way, Raam is a blessing to the world.

We can keep on saying the glory of the Raam. There is a great blessing of Raam in the Vedic literature. All glory to Raam in the Vedic literature. My Raam. Your Raam. Everyone's Raam. Raam is the Self. It is the Unified Field. Apart from its very practical basis on the hard currency level. Very good. Very good.

Six Pandits Sent Back to India, More Expected

March 18, 2014
Pam Credille
Ottumwa Post

FAIRFIELD, IA – Six Pandits returned to India following the riot on their campus on March 11, 2014. The riot was a result of a Pandit leader being removed from campus with the help of the Jefferson County Sheriff. As a result of the riot, the leader was not taken from the Global Country of World Peace campus. However, he and five others were the six who flew back to India on Saturday via the Chicago- O’Hare Airport. The Representative for the Global Country of World Peace, William Goldstein, told The Post that all six Pandits volunteered to return to India.

“This group volunteered to return on Saturday. We suspect some of them may have been involved in the incident on Tuesday and we have come to similar conclusions as to others who will be taken to Chicago over the course of the next seven days,” said Goldstein.

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of a pandit is as follows: "a wise or learned man in India —often used as an honorary title." The Global Country of World Peace (GCWP) is the Pandits’ sponsor organization. According to their website, the GCWP’s mission is to “support the Vedic Pandits in maharishi Vedic City to create invincibility for America.”

Goldstein told The Post that the situation is still being investigated and further action is expected.

“An internal review of the situation is continuing with the aim to avoid any such repeat incidents. It is expected that additional Pandits involved in this incident will be requested to return to India this week,” said Goldstein.

Goldstein went on to share that the Pandits in Fairfield are on tours that last for two to three years. According to Goldstein, all Pandits return to India at the end of their tour.

“Other than this incident, a very small number have been sent home for disciplinary reasons prior to their normal tour over the last seven years of the project,” said Goldstein.

The Pandit program has been in place in Fairfield for a total of seven years. During that time, thousands of Pandits have taken part in the program.

“Over 2,600 Pandits have come to Iowa to participate in this unprecedented cultural exchange approved by the governmental authorities which involves the Pandits engaging full time in daily group meditation, Vedic performances and Vedic study. Pandits normally come for two to three year tours and return to India, and often, after a leave to their homes in India, return to the Iowa facility for an additional tour,” said Goldstein.

Below is a FAQ’s Guide Provided to The Post from Goldstein

Is there reason for people in the area to fear for their safety?

This unprecedented and short-lived outbreak of rock throwing by a group of approximately 40 Pandits of the 350 currently on the campus was the first, and we trust the last, such episode in the 7 years of the project. It was not aimed at citizens of Jefferson County and was not based in any animus they feel to anyone here. They were upset that their leader was without notice being removed from their midst in their view by the Sheriff, and this upset those in the group who were closest to him and they reacted to the Sheriff’s presence for that reason alone. They are a very closely knit group of “brothers,” as they have lived and studied together in their campuses in India in some cases for over 15 years and have travelled here together.
For these reasons, we do not feel there is any reason of concern for one’s safety. We are addressing the cause of the reaction and if we need to remove a Pandit going forward, as we might on occasion have to do, we will first allow everyone to say their good-byes to their brother.

Are the Pandits free to come and go from their fenced campus?

There is a security fence around the perimeter of the campus with several gates, but it is quite “porous” and the Pandits come and go for walks outside the perimeter every day, weather permitting, as they please. The fence is more intended to keep outsiders out than the insiders in. Virtually every Sunday, visitors who wish to come on the campus and experience the Pandits in their Vedic performances are welcome, but other visits are discouraged to avoid distracting the Pandits from their program.

The Pandits are used to being in a closed campus as that is the life they have committed to live in the “Ashrams” in India where they engage in their spiritual vocation and study. The campus here is designed to mirror and support that same lifestyle of complete dedication to Vedic study, meditation and Vedic performances. The Pandits understand this and have taken oaths and signed agreements committing themselves to this lifestyle. It is different from the lifestyle that most of us are accustomed to, but we seek to respect and support it as best we can with as few distractions as possible. Occasional trips off campus are taken by the group and as needed for medical care or other essential needs and for field trips. But the campus is quite self-sufficient and well equipped, having been constructed in the last seven years, with its cafeteria, exercise hall, cricket fields, study halls, medical dispensary where two M.D.s and a nurse take care of their medical needs, and their two to ten-bedroom modular homes. The Pandits understand they have not come here to be tourists, but just to continue to engage in the program they do in India, to help foster World Peace.


Are they being paid properly? Is that why they acted in this way?

The Pandits are provided $200 per month in cash compensation and are provided all their needs, i.e., room, board, medical care, incidentals, travel and bonuses on an agreed basis. Of this $200, $50 is provided in cash to the Pandit and the balance is sent to their account in India that their family can access. This $200 is the compensation they agreed to in writing upon coming here and the terms the USCIS-approved Visa Petition provided for. It is higher than the cash compensation they receive in India. In the last year the Indian rupee has declined in value in comparison to the dollar and this, along with inflation in India, has caused some concern amongst the Pandits. We are seeking to address this situation by obtaining more support from the donors who entirely support this project and are hoping we can provide for additional increases. However, this was not the reason for this incident. It had nothing to do with compensation as noted above and our review of the situation has confirmed this.
http://www.ottumwaeveningpost.com/9470/69149/a/six-pandits-sent-back-to-india-more-expected