The more years that I meditate, the smoother my life goes,
and the more good luck, the more support I get in my activity
from the environment and from people around me," says Fred
Gratzon, chairman of Telegroup, Inc., a long distance international
discount carrier. Founded in 1989, Telegroup is now one of the
fastest growing companies in America. The firm has clients in
114 countries.
"Transcendental Meditation refines my thinking and feelings
so that I am more in tune with the subtle creative impulses deep
within me -- and to the source of those creative impulses. When
I am in tune with that, I have very good luck. It's as simple
as that. It's an abstract thing to describe, but it's a very
real experience. When I have it I feel confident. It's like an
athlete who is in the 'zone.' I want the ball. I know I'll hit
the shot. I can't miss. That's a metaphor for everything in my
life. I feel that I've got the rhythm, I'm hot. I have come to
expect support of nature, even insist upon it. And I know what
I have to do to keep it. I meditate. Everyone in business should
have this experience. No, everyone should have it."
"If you favor natural law, natural
law will favor you." -- Maharishi
Support of Natural Law for Success
in Life
One day everything is a strain. You feel worried and tense
and out of-step with the day. You just miss an important phone
call, hit all the red lights when you're rushing for an appointment,
and can't find a parking place anywhere.
Another day you feel quite good. Everything seems to go right
and click into place. You find the perfect parking place, reach
the right person on the phone, and come up with a workable solution
to a problem at the office. The day seems to go effortlessly
and you wonder why every day can't go at least as smoothly.
It can -- through "support of natural law."
Here's how.
What Is
a Law of Nature?
Throw a tennis ball up in the air and it falls to the earth:
gravity, a law of nature.
Heat water to 212°F and it boils: a law of nature.
Water a plant, give it proper food and sunlight and it grows:
laws of nature.
The entire world, the entire universe is governed by laws
of nature. Everywhere we look -- at DNA through an electron microscope
or at the galactic life through a high-powered telescope -- everything
in the universe is permeated by intelligence; all activity is
governed by natural law.
What Is the Purpose of Natural Law?
Like a strong current in a river, natural law propels life
in an evolutionary direction. It is the invincible force in nature
from the level of the unified field that continually creates,
maintains, and evolves life.
Natural Law and You
What does natural law have to do with you? Everything -- because
not only are electrons and galaxies subject to the laws of nature,
but so are you.
There are, for example, countless laws of nature that govern
the functioning of your body. If you align yourself with those
laws -- eat the right foods, exercise properly, get enough rest,
etc. -- your body maintains its health.
Violate those laws and you fall sick and suffer.
Therefore, the key to better health -- actually the key to
perfect health -- is to attune yourself with all the laws of
nature that naturally promote growth and evolution. It's also
the key to skill in action in life.
How can that be accomplished?
You Can't Try to Live in Accord
with Natural Law
Living in accord with natural law is simple through Transcendental
Meditation, and we'll see how in a moment. But first, let's analyze
the ways that you can't gain this alliance:
- By trying intellectually to understand or remember all of
the different laws of nature that govern life;
- By trying strictly to adhere to specific laws of nature.
Why? Because there are far too many laws of nature to understand,
much less remember. And, even if you were able to gain some knowledge
about specific laws of nature, it's no guarantee you'll be able
to abide by them.
For example, there's the medical doctor, a noted authority
on the causes of stress-related diseases, who nevertheless gets
sick from overwork and worry. He's fully aware of the causes
and consequences of stress, yet he is unable to follow his own
professional advice. He works too long and too hard.
Or the factory supervisor with a heart condition who's placed
on a strict diet and exercise program by his physician. How long
does it take before he begins to compromise on his regimen even
though it's in his own best interest to maintain it?
What is the difficulty?
To act in a way that is completely life supporting is next
to impossible, unless it is natural. It can never be accomplished
by trying to remember what's right, or by forcing oneself to
behave in a certain way.
Alliance
with Natural Law Must Be Spontaneous
Alliance with natural law must be spontaneous. And it can
be lived only on the basis of a fully developed consciousness.
Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation places life in the center
stream of the evolutionary power of natural law.
How? By allowing the conscious mind to settle down to its
most silent, wakeful, and fully expanded state, Transcendental
Meditation opens the awareness to pure consciousness, which is
the unified field of all the laws of nature.
As we discussed earlier, it is the unified field, through
its "self-interacting dynamics," which expresses itself
as all the diversified forms and phenomena in creation. This
means that all matter, all energy, and all the laws of nature
that govern all the activity in the universe spring from the
unified field.
Concrete, Natural, and Practical
When you open your awareness to the unified field during Transcendental
Meditation, you draw upon the unlimited potential of nature at
its source. Your mind naturally becomes clearer and more creative.
Your body becomes healthier and more energetic. Your thoughts,
feelings, and actions are spontaneously more in tune with
the evolutionary power of natural law. And then you enjoy more
success and satisfaction in everything you do.
Does it sound abstract?
It's actually concrete, natural, and very practical.
"I believe that you get back what you
give," says Michael Reed, Ph.D., manager in business
development for Glaxo Inc., a pharmaceutical company in Research
Triangle Park, near Raleigh, in North Carolina. "Transcendental
Meditation has allowed me to give more, do more, and live and
enjoy my life more fully. At the same time, because I meditate
I feel that I am having a positive influence on the people I
live with, the people I work with, and society in general.
"Some people just call it good luck, but since I've been
meditating I've found that spontaneously good things happen,
often without any directed thought or effort on my part. Nature
spontaneously delivers opportunities and situations to enhance
my job, my family, and my social life.
"I have a wonderful life. I have a beautiful wife, a
new baby, a job that is very satisfying, and I live very comfortably.
I feel that I'm living the fruits of support of nature every
day in many, many ways."
"Everyone has had this happen: You
want something and suddenly 5 minutes later, or a day later,
it's there and you didn't seem to do anything," says Channler
Drawdy, chairman and part-owner of Atherton Technology, a computer-aided
software engineering company in Fremont, California. "Most
people think this kind of good luck is coincidental, but it doesn't
have to be that way. Since I've been practicing Transcendental
Meditation these things are occurring with more and more frequency
in my business and in my personal life. The amount of support
I seem to be spontaneously receiving has reached the point where
I can no longer say it's a coincidence. I am able to do less
and accomplish more. Life has become simpler and much more enjoyable."
Before acquiring controlling interest in Atherton Technology
in 1993, Mr. Drawdy was a software engineering director for Sun
Microsystems. Atherton Technology had not been successful since
its founding in 1986, but the company turned a profit the first
year after Mr. Drawdy and his associates came in. Now we're into
an explosive growth period," he says. "We're really
taking off fast."
"In my experience, success comes from support of nature.
There are laws of nature, like the laws of physics, and you can
either violate those laws or you can live in harmony with them.
If you live in harmony with those laws, then every aspect of
your life is fuller, richer, more successful. If you violate
them, then you experience a lot of pain and failure and discomfort.
The easiest, fastest way to cultivate harmony with the laws of
nature is through Transcendental Meditation."
Solution
to Problems Is Alliance with Natural Law
Why do people violate the laws of nature?
"Education is responsible," Maharishi has said.
"No educational system in the world is capable of training
an individual to function spontaneously in accord with natural
law. This lack in education is the cause of all problems in every
area of life."
The solution to all problems then, as Maharishi has said,
is spontaneous alliance with natural law. Why? Because when you
closely examine them, all problems in life originate from the
violation of natural law. It is violation of natural law that
causes stress. Stress in an individual's life is the cause of
sickness and suffering, and the build-up of stress among all
the individuals in society is the cause of crime, violence, conflict,
and war.
On the other hand, life spontaneously lived in
harmony with natural law is the basis for a healthy, prosperous,
and fulfilling life for the individual, and the foundation for
lasting peace and progress for the whole world.
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