It’s that time of year when eager young students are deciding where to embark on, or to continue, their higher educations. You can see our advice-giving posts on choosing an undergraduate school and choosing a graduate school.
But there are a lot of options out there, and it would be a shame to overlook any of them. So we’d be remiss not to mention the unique opportunities offered by the Maharishi University of Management. Founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, spiritual advisor to the Beatles, and led by John Hagelin, highly-cited theoretical physicist and occasional Presidential candidate, the MUM offers a — did I already mention “unique”? — set of experiences to the enthusiastic student. And that’s not even counting the Yogic Flying!
Here, for example, are some of the course descriptions for the undergraduate major in mathematics.
Infinity: From the Empty Set to the Boundless Universe of All Sets — Exploring the Full Range of Mathematics and Seeing its Source in Your Self (MATH 148)
Functions and Graphs 1: Name and Form — Locating the Patterns of Orderliness that Connect a Function with its Graph and Describe Numerical Relationships (MATH 161)
Maharishi Vedic Mathematics: Mathematical Structure and the Transcendental Source of Natural Law (MATH 205)
Geometry: From Point to Infinity — Using Properties of Shape and Form to Handle Visual and Spatial Data (MATH 267)
Calculus 1: Derivatives as the Mathematics of Transcending, Used to Handle Changing Quantities (MATH 281)
Calculus 2: Integrals as the Mathematics of Unification, Used to Handle Wholeness (MATH 282)
Calculus 3: Unified Management of Change in All Possible Directions (MATH 283)
Linear Algebra 1: Linearity as the Simplest Form of a Quantitative Relationship (MATH 286)
Calculus 4: Locating Silence within Dynamism (MATH 304)
Complex Analysis: Transcending the Real Numbers to a Simpler and More Unified Numbering System (MATH 318)
Probability: Locating Orderly Patterns in Random Events to Predict Future Outcomes (MATH 351)
Real Analysis 1: Locating the Finest Impulses of Dynamism within the Continuum of Real Numbers (MATH 423)
Set Theory: Mathematics Unfolding the Path to the Unified Field — the Most Fundamental Field of Natural Law (MATH 434)
Foundations of Mathematics: The Unified Field as the Basis of All of Mathematics and All Laws of Nature (MATH 436)
Now, sure, any old university will be offering courses in real analysis and set theory. But will they learn about the unified field, and locate the finest impulses of dynamism? “Vector calculus” sounds kind if dry, but “Unified Management of Change in All Possible Directions”? Sign me up!
Nobody ever said the Maharishi wasn’t a good salesman.
I wonder if we can be “just as guilty” of perpetuating those things that one could despise? It’s a penguin?
Bah, it is the American Beatles/hippie generation that went and imported Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Bhagawan Rajneesh and that sort. If some people are so dumb as to be willing to give these folks lots of money, then it is highly likely (so says evolution) that others will arise that will exploit this niche. This does not reflect on Indian mathematics, any more than creationism and intelligent design reflects on American biology.
Furthermore, Americans give money to the foreign missionary sort who are a lot more destructive than the Maharishi. At least the Maharishi doesn’t go about telling illiterate people that if they don’t believe in his God they will burn in hell or giving them antibiotics and claiming that their prayers to Jesus cured them (and not the antibiotics). At least the conman and the conned are on a level playing field here.
Several years ago I took a look at the MUM course materials in physics and “Vedic Science”. They seemed to be spending quite a lot of time teaching students about string field theory and how it integrated well with the rest of the Maharishi’s teachings. Looks now like they have given up on string theory and moved on…
Pingback: Ars Mathematica » Blog Archive » Maharishi Mathematics
I’m continually surprised that science has become the new standard for validation. There’s a reason faith, science and spirituality co-existed ( with bits of fighting here and there ) together for so long. One or the other might get the other hand for a time but the other ones always bounced back.
Defining themselves in the context of the others doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Spirituality won’t survive a scientific litmus test and science can’t explain the meaning of life. Criticizing either of those by the others is like criticizing a steak for not being an apple.
For a critical look at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation Movement, you might like to visit TM-Free Blog.
J.
On the other side of the coin, Hagelin’s a smart guy, who did a lot of quite decent physics in his day and (not that this would be any sort of justification, but..) probably makes more money than any of the people writing/reading here now. MUM is obviously completely nutty, but if you don’t take it too seriously and just relax about it (isn’t that what the point of it is, how to relax?), I think it’s certainly harmless. Science certainly has not answered the question of how do we get people to relax and enjoy life … so if you take that as a goal, then I wouldn’t say MUM is the worst thing in the world.
Pingback: Why Can’t We Visualize More Than Three Dimensions? | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine
These folks prove once again that since they feel obligated to reference all this yogic gibberish to western science, as do fundamentalist Christians seeking to have western medicine verify ‘miracles’, what the accepted structure of reality actually is.