College, Round Two

I have had a wide range of educational experiences - inner city schools through middle school, JCIB (a nationally-recognized high school), UAB (a large public university), studies abroad in Tanzania and Colombia, and most recently, Maharishi University of Management, (a small, private college founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi), where I studied for a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Living between 2010-2013. All of these experiences were important in shaping my understanding of the world, but the past three years of my life at MUM have been especially insightful because they have contained many "firsts" in my life. Among the things I will never forget from my years at MUM are:

• the one-of-a-kind classroom building powered by wind and solar energy that combines Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture with LEED, Building Biology, and Living Building Challenge guidelines:

                                        

• homemade fermented foods, like lassi, kefir and kombucha 
• waste-to-energy technologies (polyfuels and cellulosic waste-to-ethanol)
• the Amazon rainforest: 

• learning about the "normal" states of consciousness (sleeping, dreaming, and waking) and the higher states: transcendental consciousness, cosmic consciousness, God consciousness, and Brahman consciousness
• the Sanskrit language and Vedic Literature
• building a wind turbine
• building a solar window unit space heater
• installing an electric motor on a bicycle
• learning to use a sewing machine then creating a line of Thai fisherman pants for an eco-friendly fashion show:

• building with cob earth
• how to walk on ice (you keep your knees bent)
• snowy, windy weather survival:

• using an electric bike as a main source of transportation
• forging iron
• swimming as nature intended (wink) with my best friends on hot afternoons
• making hot compost:

• growing techniques for producing food in Iowa winters
• creating furniture: 

• a quantum physics class from John Hagelin
• learning to form and fund non-profit organizations 
• becoming a Sidha:

• financial accounting and auditing principles
• grants and RFP's
• learning how to solder and weld: 

• teaching ESL (my work study) 
• studying green building design
• building a superadobe eco-refuge in Colombia: 

• building solar panels:

Over the past three years, I also learned a few lessons from the Vedic literature and of course Maharishi tapes. My five most useful "take-aways" from living in a spiritual community like Fairfield:

"Established in yoga, perform action" 

In Sanskrit: "Yogasthaha kuru karmani." In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is a prince leading an army in a war over dynastic succession that has split families and friends against one another. Unsure of how to act as he leads his warriors onto the battlefield, Arjuna asks Lord Krishna for advice, who imparts this piece of wisdom to him.  The essence of the advice is to act only when the changing states of the mind have been stilled. One could relate this to the Taoist philosophy of "holding onto the center."

Seek the highest first 

This means that one should perform every action with the intention, from the beginning, of obtaining the maximum result possible. In other words, be careful to not limit yourself by thinking it is impossible to do exactly what you intend to do on the first try. Underlying this principle is the avoidance of contemplating failure.

Take the path of least resistance/Do less, accomplish more 

This ties in with the lesson above. While seeking the maximum result for our actions, it's also important to not waste energy by acting unnecessarily, remembering that nature never strains to make anything happen. Rather, creation in nature unfolds in an effortless process, receiving the support needed for each step serendipitously along the way. By performing action with a still mind, seeking the highest return on our actions, we do less and accomplish more and experience less resistance along the way.

The source of all solutions lies in the field of endless possibilities 

To unlock full potential, it is necessary to entertain any possibility that enters your mind, regardless of whether it seems like it will work or not. That doesn't mean you implement everything, not everything will work, but the ability to solve problems and change the future for the better doesn't hinge solely on the rational brain and technological know-how, but also on the ability to freely imagine a future that is different from that of the present day.

Knowledge is structured in consciousness, therefore knowledge is different in different states of consciousness 

This may be the most important one. In Maharishi Vedic Science, one of the most important concepts is the relationship between the rishi, devata, and chhandas. Rishi corresponds to "the knower." Devata corresponds to "the process of knowing." And chhandas corresponds to "the known." What this lesson means is that everyone's unique background, skill set, personality, etc., will change the way he or she learns something, as well as the knowledge itself as it becomes part of the knower's makeup. The process by which the knower conceives the information received will be affected by the associations that already exist in the mind of the knower.