By Michael Jansen Jr.

In July of 1986, I boarded a jumbo jet in Washington, D.C. Thirty hours later I stepped out of a time machine in New Delhi, India. It was my first trip to India. Bullocks were plowing the fields right up to the runway. Through a maze of weaving bicycles, scooter rickshaws, honking taxis and camels, I was transported to a beautiful hotel surrounded by exotic gardens. So much of the hotel was open to the gardens that I had the impression of living in them as much as in my room. It was a refreshing and exhilarating experience. I spent only a few days there before moving to Maharishi Nagar, a small town built by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi outside of the city, where I joined a fascinating project that lasted until the end of November.

Maharishi was building a community devoted to bringing peace to the world and perfect health to every person. Though I take them for granted now, creating peace and health were new concepts to me back then. I had come to India to learn about these aims and to live in this place—the World Center for Maharishi Ayurveda [Vedic science of life and longevity], a model community in the midst of gardens where medicinal herbs and flowers are grown. In the serene atmosphere there, I immediately sensed that a unique undertaking had begun, one that everyone would benefit from.

World peace and perfect health are not separate issues according to Maharishi: “World peace is just an expression of a healthy world.” To me, that sounds intuitively right. Many green trees make a green forest. Create a peaceful, balanced state in each individual and what reason will anyone have to fight. No healthy mind would want to create war. We only resort to war because we’ve found no better way of resolving conflicts, but we know, based on past experience, that war will only breed more war. (read more)