Finally, Maharishi opened his eyes and spoke. "Today I have found the day to achieve that which all these half-acentury pursuits of my global Movement is achieving. Today I feel so fulfilled that the target has been achieved."
His voice grew stronger as he spoke. He talked for a while about the accomplishments of the Movement. "It's a very great fulfillment for me to say that the climax of the blessings of our Vedic tradition of masters is at the dawn .... The first ray of the dawn, the first ray of the dawn, the first ray of the sun." It's always been difficult for me to follow Maharishi's lengthy speeches. I'm stuck on the level of style and content, and what I hear seems vague and repetitive. That's not the point, of course. The point is him, being in his presence, getting his darshan (the blessing that comes from seeing a saint, even if it's just on video). Most Movement people understood this from the start, which is why they can listen in total absorption for hours. Me, I just get antsy. It was more difficult back in the MIU classrooms with their hardbacked chairs and fluorescent lights. In the dome, however, it was easy to slip into the relaxed mood. People sat or stretched out on the foam and listened in the comfortable dim light, coming and going as they pleased. I settled in as Maharishi's stream of consciousness took him from the Vedas to the state of higher education to war profiteering and the perfidy of scientific journals that refuse to publish the Movement's research studies for fear of upsetting their clients in the weapons industry. At one point, Maharishi announced that he had assembled the "greatest scientists" of all time. At this, the camera cut to a lineup of stone-faced men in off-white suits. 'The Maharishi Effect' By Geoff Gilpin Tarcher/Penguin, 2006 Page 90
