Jan Olof Bengtsson

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Literature and Language

Maharishi University of Management Press, 2010

Back Cover:

Over the years, His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi recorded brilliant and inspiring lectures on the literary process, as well as on critical theory and technique, emphasizing the relevance of the state of consciousness of both writer and reader. He explained how only from an expanded basis can the writer spontaneously experience and express refined emotions and ideas and only from such a basis can the reader hope to understand and enjoy such writings. A fully developed consciousness can express the ocean in a drop, and from that drop flows a river of meaning, power, and enjoyment. Literature itself can be a means to evolve one’s consciousness through sound, rhythm, and meaning, swinging the reader’s attention from concrete to abstract, thus purifying consciousness and producing bliss.

Immersing oneself in the transcripts of Maharishi’s lectures allows readers to feel his presence, to hear his voice, his rhythms of speech, his humor, and to appreciate his skill as a teacher. His exposition of the power of poetry, particularly the poetry of the Veda, gives the reader a taste of his intellect and his profound understanding of language and literature. It is a journey through a great mind and an exploration of a topic familiar and beloved by all.

This volume is a valuable resource to teachers, students, and all readers of literature, to all those interested in higher human development and the literary process.

JOB’s Comment:

The term “abstract”, which appears in the text above, has a special meaning in Maharishi’s works, different from the ordinary;  and both “abstract” and “concrete” are used in senses different from the ones they have in my own philosophical texts. Maharishi’s meanings are close to “subtle” and “gross”, respectively; and especially “subtle” is one of his most commonly used terms.