All knowledge in one brain: Maharishi Vedic University and the renewal of Cambodia

All knowledge in one brain: Maharishi Vedic University and the renewal of Cambodia

The establishment of Maharishi Vedic University (MVU) in Cambodia is part of a worldwide initiative by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to bring fulfilment to higher education.
MVU in Cambodia was established as part of a network of like-minded institutions, including Maharishi University of Management, an accredited, private university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in most major disciplines, located in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalaya (Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi Vedic University), an accredited, public university located in Katni, Madhya Pradesh, India, with campuses in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, Maharishi University of
Vedic Medicine in Geneva, Switzerland, and Maharishi Vedic University of World Peace in Holland.

The Maharishi Vedic University global network of schools, colleges and universities was founded by Maharishi to unfold the full potential of every student as an intrinsic
goal of education through technologies of consciousness revitalized by Maharishi from the ancient knowledge of Veda and Vedic Literature and to systematically connect this
vast body of knowledge with modern science. In Cambodia, a further goal of Maharishi Vedic University was to help rebuild Cambodia, including by reconnecting Cambodian
culture with its roots in Vedic knowledge, through higher education. The approach to learning at MVU is called “Vedic Science-Based Education”. Since Veda is the structure
and function of pure knowledge, which encompasses the entire range of science and technology in both their theoretical and practical applications, any mission to enliven the values of Veda in Cambodian education was intended for the sole purpose of developing within each student the total range of knowledge, from its source in the
unmanifest field of pure consciousness, through all its manifestations on the physical level of life, to its goal of fulfillment in the state of enlightenment and complete
knowledge.

Such a system of education embraces complete knowledge of the observer or knower of knowledge (referred to in Sanskrit as the Ṛishi), the process of observation
and the means of gaining knowledge (the Devata), and the object of observation or the known (Chhandas). Moreover, Vedic Science develops the togetherness (Samhita) of
each of these three elements of knowledge on the level of the consciousness of every student, and thereby promotes both intellectual understanding and direct experience of
the fullness of knowledge in the student’s consciousness. An awakening of complete knowledge in the student’s consciousness is said to be the ultimate goal of Vedic
education. For these reasons, Maharishi maintains that a Vedic Science-based approach to education delivers the “fruit of all knowledge” to every individual who studies it, and thus promotes “all knowledge in one brain.” While “all knowledge” is impossible to gain on the level of facts and information, the fruit or benefit of all knowledge can be lived spontaneously through full development of consciousness, based on total brain
functioning. Maharishi has stated that study of Veda includes the whole path of knowledge from the knower to the known―the entire field of subjectivity, objectivity and their relationship, the whole field of life from the unmanifest level through to all the forms and phenomena of the manifest universe. A Vedic Science-based approach to education thus introduces to the student an appreciation for the unbounded field of space and time, from the smallest point of knowledge to the most expanded, infinite values of understanding and experience.

This chapter, written by Lee Fergusson and Susan Brown, both former Rectors of Maharishi Vedic University, documents the educational foundations of MVU, highlighting some of the unique elements of the curriculum. The chapter traces the origins of the university to 1978 when Maharishi launched his global World Peace Project to generate coherence on the collective consciousness of some of the world’s then most troubled regions, including Cambodia, and charts the establishment of the university from its beginning years in the early 1990s through to the present day. Particular attention is given to the content of the curriculum, and to the staff and resources of the university; the chapter also includes student testimonials and provides an update on the current status of higher education in Cambodia.

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