Attn: Abdul Kalam, a Positive Counter-Terrorism Method for India Maj Gen (Retd) Kulwant Singh, PhD, UYSM, John Hagelin
"India has to have positive counter-terrorism methods so that we can end terrorism once for all. If evil minds combine, good minds have to cooperate and combat them," -- Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, 2 December 2008 "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." -- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) The attack by gunmen on Mumbai's landmarks and hotels shows that the armed forces of India, despite their advanced technologies and valiant efforts, are still struggling to eliminate violent extremismâ"and cannot guarantee peace for the nation. Clearly a new approach is needed. Violent extremism is a human problem requiring human solutions. The underlying cause of extremist social violence is accumulated social stress. Therefore, to protect the nation effectively, the armed forces need first to reduce the collective societal stress in India. A new technology of defense now exists that can accomplish this goal. It is based upon the latest discoveries in the fields of physics, neuroscience, and physiology. Ultimately, it is based on the discovery of the unified field of all the laws of natureâ"the most fundamental and powerful level of natureâs dynamics. Extensive research has confirmed its effectiveness. This new technology is easily applied, highly cost-effective, and can prevent disruption and attack from within the country or outside the country. This approach is known today as the Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). It has its roots in ancient Vedic technologies of consciousness, revived in modern times by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a non-religious approach to peace. These technologies of consciousness directly access and harness the unified field on the deepest level of human experienceâ"pure consciousness itself. Extensive scientific research indicates that this approach reduces collective societal stress, eliminates extremism and thereby snuffs out war and terrorism. Over the past three decades it has been quietly and successfully used by members of many faiths to defuse and eliminate conflict. The approach involves the creation of large groups of peace-creating experts practicing Invincible Defense Technology together. A Prevention Wing of the Military consisting of approximately 2% to 3% of the military of India could easily achieve this goal. This special unit would be trained in the Vedic technologies of consciousness revived by Maharishiâ"the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM- Sidhi programsâ"and would practice these techniques in large groups, twice a day. Extensive research shows that the size of the group needed to reduce social stress in a given population should exceed the square root of 1% of the population size. To calculate this number, multiply the population size by 0.01, and then take the square root of the result. The population of India, for example, is about 1,121,800,000, and 1,121,800,000 x 0.01 = 11,218,000. The square root of 11,218,000 is approximately 3,350, so a group of at least 3,350 IDT experts is needed to create the desired effect of national peace. Studies show that when the required threshold of IDT experts is crossed, crime rates go down in the affected population, quality of life indices go up, and terrorism and war abate. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Maharishi Effect in honor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who first predicted it. As an example of this effect, in 1993 a two-month Maharishi Effect intervention was implemented in Washington, DC, the capital city of the US. Predictions of specific drops in crime and other indices were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. An independent Project Review Board approved the research protocol. The findings showed that crime fell 24 percent below expected levels when the group size reached its maximum. Temperature, weekend effects, and previous trends in the data failed to account for these changes. The study was published in Social Indicators Research (1999, vol. 47, 153-201). Over 50 studies have shown that IDT works. The causal mechanism has been postulated to be a field effect of consciousnessâ"a spillover effect on the level of the unified field from the peace-creating group into the larger population. On this basis, a study in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality (2005, vol. 17, #1, pp. 339-373) additionally offers a proposed explanation of causality in biological terms. Research conducted on the powerful neurotransmitter serotonin shows that it produces feelings of contentment, happiness and even euphoria. Low levels of serotonin, according to research, correlate with violence, aggression, and poor emotional moods. The IDT study showed that higher numbers of IDT experts correlated with a marked increase in serotonin production among other community members. These results were statistically significant and followed the attendance figures in the IDT group. This finding offers a plausible neurophysiologic mechanism to explain reduced hostility and aggression in society at large. The Maharishi Effect has also been documented on a worldwide scale in a study published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (2003, vol. 36, #1-4, 283-302) using data provided by the Rand Corporation. When large assemblies of IDT experts exceeded the Maharishi Effect threshold for the world during the years 1983-1985, terrorism decreased globally 72%, international conflict decreased 33%, and violence within nations was reduced without intrusion by other governments. In the 1990s, the military in Mozambique used IDT to end its civil war. Today, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Peru have enough practitioners of IDT to create the Maharishi Effect. The United States of America is close to achieving the requisite number of IDT experts through its Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa. And a group large enough to have a global effect is planned for India. But these are all civilian groups, and most require financial support. Since the military of India is funded by the government and its personnel are paid to perform their duties and protect the nation, an IDT group in the military would not be subject to fluctuations of donors, jobs, student graduations, and optional activities. It would be a permanent peace-creating group for the nation. The armed forces of India are responsible for protecting India, and are obligated to thoroughly examine realistic, scientifically proven methods for ending war and terrorism. IDT is such a method. Therefore, we feel it is the duty of the military of India to create a Prevention Wing of the Military and make India truly invincible. It is the most effective and efficient way for good minds to cooperate and combat terrorism. Dr. John Hagelin is the Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP), an organization in the United States that advocates prevention-oriented technologies. He is a Harvard-trained quantum physicist who won the prestigious Kilby Award, and appeared in the feature films The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? Dr. David Leffler, a United States Air Force veteran, is the Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS) at ISTPP. www.StrongMilitary.org 4th Dec 2008, 11:40 pm.
