Morality and moral Life

Maharishi on morality and moral Life (from a press Conference and Assembly in the 60s in Canada)

Question: “You say that through your meditation a person can fulfil his desires. What type of (…) control do you have, so that the fulfilment of one person’s desires will not stop the fulfilment of desires of another person. (…) Would you have some type of control of morality for people?"

Maharishi: "The morality comes very naturally. All moral sense of behaviour comes out of inner contentment. A strong, more evolved man, more energetic, more intelligent, happier man naturally behaves in a right way.

No use telling a man to remain weak and do right! A weak man will naturally try to accomplish things that he wants to accomplish through any way. And a weak man naturally goes wrong this way or that way.
It is the weakness that lies at the basis of all immorality. All immoral behaviour is based on weakness, discontentment.

And when the mind goes deep into Being, it gains Bliss Consciousness. Bliss Consciousness develops contentment and contentment in fullness of awareness – one naturally behaves right. Naturally! Automatically one goes the right way. And this is a way to build the whole society on ideal of behaviour on moral standards.

Otherwise we see, the teaching of morality saying “do this and don’t do this” and “do this and don’t do this", people know that something is wrong, even they know that “if I do something, I’ll go to jail”. With all the knowledge, they are not able to resist the temptation. And that’s why telling the people “do this and don’t do this” and “do this and don’t do this” doesn’t much help to create a morality in society.

That is why International Meditation Society does not take upon itself to preach the code of moral living! It raises the level of consciousness and leaves a man to be automatically moral. It’s a great thing!”

It raises the level of consciousness and leaves a man to be automatically moral. It’s a great thing!”

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Personal note : The thing I like most about Maharishi's message is often the other way round of commonly accepted ideas. In particular the fact that developing human qualities is the result of many efforts with constraints. With the knowledge and direct experience of this simplest state of our consciousness, we find that it is not only unnecessary but certainly unproductive.

The direct experience of this silent state of transcendental consciousness, our Self, the source of our thoughts, makes us become better day by day. It is not moral teaching, it is how to be moral without trying.

In my experience, morality is the effect of brain coherence related to the experience of consciousness at its basis and bliss. Morality develops naturally with the daily repetition of the experience of transcendence which lies at the origin of our thoughts. This naturally appears as a side effect of the direct experience of pure consciousness.