Maharishi Vedic Medicine
Encyclopedia
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH) (also known as Maharishi Ayurveda and Maharishi Vedic
Medicine) was founded internationally in the mid 1980s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
, who developed the Transcendental Meditation technique
(TM). MVAH is considered an alternative medicine
, providing a complementary system to modern, western medicine. It aims to restore balance in the physiology, eliminate toxins and impurities, and awaken the body's natural healing mechanisms.
Distinct from traditional Ayurveda, Maharishi Ayurveda (MAV) emphasizes the role of consciousness, gives importance to positive emotions, and supports being in tune with the natural rhythms of the body. Maharishi Ayur Veda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the Advaita Vedanta
school of Hindu philosophy
, representing the entirety of the Ayurvedic tradition, and as a system that restores the ancient Ayurvedic texts of India to a more holistic perspective.
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health is a trademark licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation. It offers a variety of products and services, such as purification therapies and herbal supplements. Its technologies include the Transcendental Meditation technique, Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
architecture, astrology, sound therapies, light therapy with gems, and Yagyas.
A 1991 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that promoters of MVAH failed to disclose financial incentives when they submitted a letter for publication and that their marketing practices were misleading. A 2008 study published in JAMA reported that two of the 19 Maharishi Ayurveda products tested contained heavy metals. A 1991 British case found two doctors guilty of "serious professional misconduct" for using MVAH in the unsuccessful treatment of HIV
.
. According to MVAH, each of these 40 branches of Vedic literature has a direct correlation to various aspects of the human physiology. These 40 approaches are further reduced to three areas of practical application: mind, body, and environment.
In Alternative Medicine and Ethics, Stephen Barrett
describes 20 components to Maharishi Ayurveda:
An integrated approach, including meditation, herbal formulas, and other modalities, is a fundamental aspect of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health. According to Kenneth Pelletier, "Insofar as Ayurveda constitutes an integrated orientation to healthy physical, mental, and spiritual practices, as it does in the Maharishi Ayur-Ved system, it would seem to be conducive to good health and spiritual well-being." He says that historically meditation was a part of Ayurveda but that in India and the West, practitioners tend to prescribe Ayurvedic treatments without meditation, which makes it more difficult to integrate Ayurveda into a comprehensive system of health care.
Andrew Weil writes that, in India, Ayurveda is an inexpensive alternative to allopathic medicine available to all people, while Maharishi Ayurveda is expensive. A traditional Vaidya treats patients individually, diagnosing them and then individually preparing or instructing the patient how to prepare treatments for the entire complexity of their individual symptoms, whereas Maharishi Ayur-Veda takes a mass-market approach.
, body weight, heart rate
, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients.http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/meditation/medit.pdf TM researcher and former Maharishi University of Management
professor David Orme-Johnson
said that the review's use of double blinding, which is required by the Jadad scale, is not appropriate to meditation research and that the review failed to assess more relevant determinants of research quality. Another review did find a reduction in diastolic and systolic blood pressure in those who practiced TM compared to controls. The review and its primary author were partially funded by Howard Settle, a proponent of TM.
(also known in Sanskrit
as "nadi vigyan"), which they say is like "plugging into the inner intelligence of the body" and allows them to assess levels of imbalance and impurities in a person's physiology. Based on these imbalances, recommendations related to herbal preparations, diet, daily and seasonal routines, exercise, and physiological purification are offered. Procedures seeking to strengthen digestion and proper nutrient absorption are also given importance. Proponents say that the pulse can be used to detect "imbalances at early stages when there may be no other clinical signs and when mild forms of intervention may suffice". It is thought that herbal remedies, dietary adjustments and changes in routine initiated at this stage can prevent imbalances from developing into disease.
Deepak Chopra
and Sharma wrote that pulse diagnosis can detect a variety of diseases, including those unrelated to the cardiovascular system, including asthma, cancer, and diabetes. In 1991, Andrew Skolnick
wrote that William Jarvis, president of The National Council Against Health Fraud
, described pulse diagnosis as a variety of palm reading and that Chopra refused to have pulse diagnosis tested by JAMA in a blinded protocol "on the grounds that a blinded experiment would 'eliminate the most crucial component of the experiment, which is consciousness.'"
, India
became the first Ayurvedic hospital in Northern India to receive the accreditation of the National Hospital Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH). Such health centers and spas offer a series of multimodal therapies including the purification therapy called Maharishi Panchakarma. Panchakarma means "five actions", and is intended to clear impurities from the body and to balance the doṣas. The first preparatory step is called "snehana", involving the ingestion of prescribed quantities of ghee
over several days, followed by a purgative. The actual panchakarma then begins with "abhyanga", a herbalized full-body oil massage. The panchakarma continues with one or more additional treatments, including "svedana
", a herbalized steam bath; "shirodhara
", in which warm sesame oil is poured on the forehead; "nasya", an oil massage of head, neck and shoulders combined with steam inhalation and nasal drops; and "basti", a herbal enema. The exact treatments are specifically designed for the person by an expert in MAV. Additional therapies generally undertaken in association with Maharishi Panchakarma are Maharishi Gandharva Veda music therapy and aromatherapy. Typical Maharishi Panchakarma treatments take 2 hours per day, over the course of 3 to 14 days, and are recommended several times per year as ideal, usually in conjunction with the change of seasons.
, India, Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) of Colorado Springs, Colorado
, and Maharishi Ayurveda Products Europe B.V., the Netherlands. Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) of Colorado Springs sells more than 400 products and in 2000, was said to be the largest Ayurvedic company in North America, with reported sales of $20 million in 1999.
Maharishi Ayurveda products and services are also sold through outlets in Australia, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa.
One of the main product lines is Ayurvedic herbal formulas called rasayanas. Rather than extracting active ingredients, as is typically done in western medicine, rasayanas use whole plants in various combinations. Using the whole plant makes the rasayanas more easily digestible, and by virtue of that, specific substances with antioxidant properties can pass into the bloodstream without damage. The plants are ground to produce a refined powder that further enhances digestion and assimilation. Combining herbs is said to create synergies — that is, various molecular substances complement one another to create a greater effect. Research suggests that combinations of antioxidant molecules can do more to stem harmful molecules in the body than individual vitamins and bioflavonoids.
, Aloeweed, Black musale, Amla
, Gulancha Tinospora, Three-leaved Chaste Tree and Elephant Creeper.
Chemical analysis has found that the formula is a mixture of low-molecular-weight substances that serve as antioxidants. Research has found that these antioxidants scavenge "free radicals
" that damage cells, scavenge dangerous molecules known as lipid peroxides, and scavenge oxidized low-density lipoproteins that are a cause of cardiovascular disease. Research suggests that Amrit Kalash can reduce the frequency of angina in patients as well as lower systolic blood pressure and improve exercise tolerance. Free radicals have been implicated in the formation and growth of cancer cells. Studies on lab animals have found a reduction in tumors and increased survival rate with a diet supplemented by Amrit Kalash. And studies using human cancer cells have found that Amrit Kalash may help to prevent formation of cancer cells and transform cancer cells to normal cells. However, no clinical trials have been done, and it is unknown whether these test-tube results would translate to an effective cancer therapy.
Chopra recommended that everyone take MAK twice daily as a cure-all/prevent-all, saying that MAV is far more cost-effective than conventional medicine. Skolnick said that the cost of MAK alone was $1,000 per year as of 1991, equal to 40% of the average per-capita expenditure on all health care in the United States in 1989.
Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association said that eliminating every trace of arsenic, mercury or lead from products would require "an entirely new food supply". According to McGuffin, the government and professional agencies set widely different safety standards for lead, mercury and arsenic and that while most of the products in Saper's article have lead levels that exceed California's standard, only two violate the World Health Organization's standard. However, a 2008 review has stated that "adverse health outcomes at blood lead levels below this threshold have been well demonstrated", and concluded that "it is increasingly acknowledged there is no threshold for the adverse consequences of lead exposure".
In 2008, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court against Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation ("MVED"), Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation and Maharishi Ayurveda Products Ltd. ("MAP Ltd"). The Plaintiff claims that she contracted lead poisoning
from Garbhapal Ras, an herbo-mineral product she purchased in India. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Garbhapal Ras contained nearly 3% lead. The product was manufactured by MAP Ltd. in India, and prescribed for her by a physician at the Maharishi Ayurveda Arogyadham clinic in Delhi
. A spokesperson said that MVED is not involved in the manufacturing, prescribing, or sale of products from the Indian clinic where the product was prescribed and purchased. The spokesperson said that products sold in the U.S. are subject to inspection, testing, and quality control.
David Whitley, Director of Ayurveda Limited in the United Kingdom, writes that the Maharishi Ayurveda Council of Vaidyas approves of the use of arsenic, lead, and mercury under the supervision of trained and certified vaidyas, in accordance with ancient Ayurvedic texts. Whitley writes that the benefits of heavy metals are increased and the side effects are minimized when used properly. Whitley acknowledges that these compounds would be required to be licensed as medicines in the UK, but are unlicensed and thus cannot be sold there.
(MSV), a system of Vedic architecture, is the main modality of MVAH for improving the immediate environment. Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is described as a science of structure that creates a relationship with the natural laws that structure the universe. MSV aims to design buildings in a way that aligns them with nature or natural law, thereby creating harmony for the individuals who occupy the building. MSV consists of precise mathematical formulas, equations, and proportions for architectural design.
In Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, the architect takes into account three major factors: the orientation of the structure, room placement and the proportion of the rooms, windows, doors, walls etc. and their dimensions. The MSV architect also considers the slope and shape of the lot, exposure to the rising sun, location of nearby bodies of water, cemeteries, and the other buildings or activities in the nearby environment.
Maharishi Global Construction in Fairfield, Iowa, states that building a home according to the principles of MSV "connects the individual intelligence of the occupant of the house to the cosmic intelligence of the universe". Homes with entrances facing west invite "poverty, lack of creativity and vitality", and "anxiety, depression, bad luck and even criminal tendencies".
within the field of Vedic literature. Maharishi Jyotish is premised on the ability to precisely calculate mathematically the unfolding pattern of life, and to locate the trends and tendencies of an individual life within that pattern, making it possible to determine in advance whether a difficult period was coming, and to take action in the present to amend a future difficulty. According Maharishi Jyotish, the solar system has an influence on the human brain, cells and DNA. According to the Maharishi and his successor, Tony Nader
, there is a correspondence between the nine Grahas of Vedic Astrology and the structure of DNA, the brain and the structure of cells. Each graha is associated with a gemstone:
Relationship of 9 Grahas to DNA structure, brain structure and cell structure, and associated gems
Anna Bonshek, a multi-media artist with a Ph.D. in Vedic Science from Maharishi University of Management
, quotes the Maharishi on the relationship of the Grahas to various biological structures and gems:
With respect to the nervous system, Maharishi Vedic Astrology associates the Grahas with the basal ganglia, thalmus and hypothalmus; the 12 Bhavas (astrological houses) with cortical areas; the 12 Rashis (zodiac signs) with the cranial nerves; and the 27 Nakshatras (lunar mansions) with groups of the brainstem.
A Vedic Calendar, which establishes the most auspicious days for the performance of Yagyas, is published on the Global Good News web site. For example, Yagyas performed on Maha Shivaratri
, the Day of Shiva
, are said to enliven spiritual and material aspects of one's consciousness, and to promote progress in all areas of life; Yagyas performed on Maha Lakshmi
are said to bring prosperity, growth and good fortune; and, Yagyas performed on Akshaya Tritiya
are said to enhance lasting success in one's activities. The Vedic calendar is based on the movement of Surya (sun) and Chandra (moon) and specifies which Laws of Nature are most lively on that specific day.
Andrew Skolnick describes Maharishi Yagyas as Hindu ceremonies to appease the gods and beseech their help on behalf of afflicted followers that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and which the patient neither takes part in nor witnesses. He wrote that, while Chopra and Nancy Lonsdorf
, medical director of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Center in Washington, D.C. denied that they prescribed Yagyas or that Yagyas were part of Maharishi Ayur-Veda, Chopra's Lancaster Center did recommend Yagyas for its patients, and a TM-Movement fundraising letter states that Lonsdorf prescribed an $11,500 Yagya for a seriously-ill patient of hers.
The Maharishi described Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems (MLG) as a Vedic technology, according to Rainer Picha, Minister of Health for the Global Country of World Peace
. Training in the therapeutic use of gemstones is conducted at the Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Holland. Picha says that the MLG "approach is absolutely harmless. There is nothing invasive about it. It is pure cosmic light that enters the physiology, bringing order and helping in every way. Order in the physiology basically means health, and health is promoted through this approach."
published two studies online in 2001, including one by Tony Nader
, the Lebanese neurologist
who succeeded the Maharishi as head of the TM movement.
, American author and professor who specializes in Hindu culture, writes that Gandharva Veda is North Indian classical music, that has Islamic rather than Vedic roots, something ignored by the Maharishi and the TM Movement. Compact discs of the music are published by the Maharishi University of Management Press.
credit. The faculty and curriculum committee of the MAAA include: Stuart Rothenberg, Robert Schneider, Walter Moelk, Nancy Lonsdorf
, Richard Averbach, Gary Kaplan, and Vaidya Manohar Palakurthi. Courses are offered in conjunction with the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, California.
. These courses include: post graduate training, Maharishi Aroma Therapy, Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems, Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Educator, Vedic Mind-Body program and Presentation of Medical Research. The faculty includes Rainer Picha, Walter Mölk, Robert Keith Wallace, Roswitha Margarete Geelvink-Tradel, and Bob Apon.
in the 1990s and 2000s. There is now a campus in San Diego, California
.
. In MVAH, the Veda is said to be an "abstract blueprint of creation". The knowledge and technologies of MVAH are based on the understanding that the order displayed throughout the entire universe, including within the human physiology, is governed by a fundamental underlying intelligence. According to the Maharishi, illness comes about when there is a lack of coordination between the body's inner intelligence and its outer expression.
As with traditional Ayurveda, Maharishi Ayur Veda describes material creation according to panchamahābhūtas theory, in which the five elements of earth, air, fire, water and ether combine to form three doṣas
: vāta, pitta and kapha. The theory of both traditional and Maharishi Ayurveda is that the body's function is governed by the three doṣas, which designate body types and the physical and mental traits they typify. An individual's doṣa contains various combinations of vāta, pitta and kapha, which can vary with the seasons and time of day. Disease symptoms are attributed to imbalances in one's doṣa, which can be detected through pulse diagnosis
or a questionnaire. Balance is achieved through a variety of products and procedures, many of which are specific to one's doṣa. Maharishi Ayur-Veda does not stray from these traditional common interpretations of doṣa.
Maharishi Ayur Veda emerges from and consistently reflects the Advaita Vedanta
school of Hindu philosophy
, and is the upaveda of Atharva Veda. Maharishi Ayur Veda represents itself as representing the entirety of the Ayurvedic tradition.
The practices of Maharishi Ayur-Veda are said to be authentic, but Francis Zimmerman says that they are biased toward gentleness, avoiding violent or painful treatments that were historically part of ayurveda in early India. He also says that Maharishi Ayur-Veda involves an ideological confusion of Ayurvedic categories. In 1985, Maharishi Ayurveda doctors met with outside consultants, who suggested that some traditional Ayurvedic remedies would not be accepted by American consumers. The principal difference between Maharishi Ayur-Veda and traditional Ayurveda is the emphasis on the role of consciousness and the use of Transcendental Meditation, as well as the highlighting of the need to express positive emotions and attuning one's life to the natural rhythms of the body.
Maharishi Ayur Veda also holds that perfect health is a state present within every person, that can be chosen by the individual, and that the physical body is a portal to a "quantum mechanical body" that exists at the subatomic level where matter and energy are one, and that every organ and process in the body has a quantum equivalent. Tony Nader, called Maharajadhiraj Raja Ram, who is the Sovereign Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace
, identifies this concept of "quantum healing" with the Maharishi's theories of Vedic Science.
Individual metabolic differences and seasonal variations as described in MAV are an important part of a healthy diet. MAV considers taste and quality to be central features in the classification of foods, and seasonal factors as crucial in determining nutritional needs. MAV also advises use of certain herbal nutritional supplements to maintain optimum health.
Deepak Chopra
, founding president of Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International, Inc (MAPI), the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine and former medical director of the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center for Stress Management and Behavioral Medicine, says, according to Stephen Barrett in an article in the journal Alternative Medicine and Ethics, that "If you have happy thoughts, then you make happy molecules. On the other hand, if you have sad thoughts, and angry thoughts, and hostile thoughts, then you make those molecules which may depress the immune system and make you more susceptible to disease." Barrett goes on to say that, while the TM technique and other relaxation techniques may temporarily relieve stress, claims made by Chopra that happy or sad thought may affect the molecular levels of the body and the immune system have no scientific basis.
". In the same volume, Newcombe cites criticism of the commercial nature of Maharishi Ayur-Veda, but says that ""Maharishi Ayur-Veda is an important part of the practice of Ayurveda in contemporary society, despite the ideological claims of those who oppose the system." Smith and Wujastyk write that previously it was a requirement that MAV practitioners have a medical degree, but in 2005, all medical doctors with MAV training were replaced by Maharishi Ayurveda practitioners from India. However, the Medical Director at one facility is a licensed medical doctor, also trained in Maharishi Ayurveda.
found Roger Chalmers, Dean of Medicine of the unrecognized Maharishi University of Natural Law, Mentmore and Leslie Davis, Dean of Physiology at that institution, guilty of "Serious Professional Misconduct" in connection with their use of Maharishi Ayur-Veda for the treatment of AIDS
and HIV
, and ordered them erased from the List of Registered Medical Practitioners. (Chalmers was subsequently reinstated.) The Committee found, among other things, that there were no proper and approved clinical trials for the treatments, there was inadequate scientific evidence to support the treatments, that they were prescribing and that they had made false and misleading statements on the value of MAV in the treatment of HIV and AIDs and about the TM-affiliated "World Medical Association for Perfect Health". Independent tests of the pills prescribed by Chalmers and Davis showed that they had, at best, a negligible effect on HIV, but were 100,000 times more toxic than AZT
. According to a 1990 report in The Independent regarding the accusations, the claim that Ayurveda has no side effects "appears to be inaccurate." The article says that separate warnings had been issued in the past on side-effects of both Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi Ayurvedic diet, such as a warning by the British Dietetic Association
on the potential dangers of the Maharishi Ayurvedic diet to AIDS patients.
According to Suzanne Newcombe, alternative treatments often receive little attention in the U.K. and MAV was the focus of GMC only because the treatments involved AIDS patients, which she characterized as a vulnerable and controversial group at the time.
(JAMA) published an article on the benefits of Maharishi Ayur-Veda titled Letter from New Delhi: Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights into Ancient Medicine, authored by Hari Sharma, of the Ohio State University
College of Medicine, Brihaspati Dev Triguna
, of the All India Ayur-Veda Congress, and Deepak Chopra
, of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine.
A subsequent article in JAMA alleged that the authors of the first article had not disclosed their financial ties with organizations that sell the products and services about which they wrote. The article also investigated the marketing practices surrounding Ayur-Veda products and services. It was alleged there was a "widespread pattern of misinformation, deception, and manipulation of lay and scientific news media". It also challenged the Sharma et al. claim that Maharishi Ayur-Veda was more cost effective than standard medical care. Additionally, the article reported that in the late 1980s, herbal researcher Tony Nader, at the time a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, had been criticized for misrepresenting his research promoting Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) herbal products as being sponsored by MIT and Harvard. The article reported that Nader and David Orme-Johnson
were criticized by the organizers of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, which was held at the University of Illinois in Chicago in June 1987. According to the organizers, Nader and Orme-Johnson submitted research abstracts for the conference, but the presentation that they made had little to do with the abstracts, but instead was a promotion for the herbal remedies of MAPI and for Transcendental Meditation. The JAMA article quotes a former TM teacher and chair of the TM center in Washington, D.C., as saying that he had been told to deceive the media.
A letter to the editor by Chopra and Sharma was published in JAMA in October, 1991. Chopra and Sharma wrote that many of the criticisms they had received in letters to the editor were inflammatory and had depended heavily on emotional and unfounded charges, without sound scientific backing and few references. They went on to say that the criticisms were directed largely at the TM organization, rather than to the approaches of Maharishi Ayur-Veda. Andrew Skolnick, in letter to the editor of JAMA, says Chopra and Sharma did not deny and made no apology that they had concealed from JAMA their financial ties to organizations selling and marketing the products and services about which they wrote, and claimed to have no such conflicts of interest on their signed author's form. Skolnick later published an account of how JAMA was deceived.
In response, two Transcendental Meditation groups and Chopra sued Skolnick, JAMA's editor Dr. George Lundberg, and the AMA for $194 million in July 1992. In 1997, Newsweek reported that according to Chopra's lawyer the suit was "settled for an undisclosed amount." Newsweek later published a correction and clarified that there was no monetary settlement. Philip Goldberg's 2010 book American Veda says that the lawsuit was settled in 1993.
Vedic
Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
Medicine) was founded internationally in the mid 1980s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
, who developed the Transcendental Meditation technique
Transcendental Meditation technique
The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of mantra meditation often referred to as Transcendental Meditation. It was introduced in India in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...
(TM). MVAH is considered an alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
, providing a complementary system to modern, western medicine. It aims to restore balance in the physiology, eliminate toxins and impurities, and awaken the body's natural healing mechanisms.
Distinct from traditional Ayurveda, Maharishi Ayurveda (MAV) emphasizes the role of consciousness, gives importance to positive emotions, and supports being in tune with the natural rhythms of the body. Maharishi Ayur Veda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
school of Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
, representing the entirety of the Ayurvedic tradition, and as a system that restores the ancient Ayurvedic texts of India to a more holistic perspective.
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health is a trademark licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation. It offers a variety of products and services, such as purification therapies and herbal supplements. Its technologies include the Transcendental Meditation technique, Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is a set of architectural and planning principles assembled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi based on "ancient Sanskrit texts" Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture is also called "Maharishi Vastu" architecture, "Fortune-Creating" buildings and homes, and "Maharishi Vedic...
architecture, astrology, sound therapies, light therapy with gems, and Yagyas.
A 1991 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that promoters of MVAH failed to disclose financial incentives when they submitted a letter for publication and that their marketing practices were misleading. A 2008 study published in JAMA reported that two of the 19 Maharishi Ayurveda products tested contained heavy metals. A 1991 British case found two doctors guilty of "serious professional misconduct" for using MVAH in the unsuccessful treatment of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
.
Theoretical basis
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health uses a model for understanding health and disease that is fundamentally different from modern medicine. According to MVAH researcher Hari Sharma, MVAH views the body as an abstract pattern of intelligence where as he feels modern medicine views the body as a machine. He says that the worldview of MVAH is closer to the reality described by 20th century physics, which challenged the reductionist materialist worldview by finding that quantum mechanical phenomena contradict the idea of solid matter, that causality is less definite, that material existence is connected in unexpected and nonlocal ways, and that a reductionist view is untenable at the quantum level. Sharma says that "Vedic thought discusses a unified field of pure, nonmaterial intelligence and consciousness whose modes of vibration manifest as the material universe." Disease results from losing connection with this underlying field of intelligence.Components
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health seeks to reconnect physiological functioning with the body's inner intelligence by reducing and eliminating impurities and imbalances that are said to be the cause of disease. Proponents state that through MVAH, the Maharishi revived the ancient Vedic system of health care. Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health uses 40 approaches, each one based on one of the 40 branches of Vedic literatureVedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. According to MVAH, each of these 40 branches of Vedic literature has a direct correlation to various aspects of the human physiology. These 40 approaches are further reduced to three areas of practical application: mind, body, and environment.
In Alternative Medicine and Ethics, Stephen Barrett
Stephen Barrett
Stephen Joel Barrett is a retired American psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud , and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific...
describes 20 components to Maharishi Ayurveda:
The full range of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda program 'for creating healthy individuals and a disease free society' has 20 components: development of higher states of consciousness through advanced meditation techniques, use of primordial sounds, correction of the "mistake of the intellect', strengthening of the emotions, Vedic structuring of language, music therapy, enlivening of the senses, pulse diagnosis, psychophysiological integration, neuromuscular integration, neurorespiratory integration, purification (to remove 'impurities due to faulty diet or behavioral patterns'), dietary measures, herbal food supplements, other herbal preparations, daily behavioral routines, prediction of future imbalances , religious ceremonies, nourishing the environment and promoting world health and peace. Most of these cost several hundred dollars but some cost thousands and require the service of an Ayurvedic practitioner.
An integrated approach, including meditation, herbal formulas, and other modalities, is a fundamental aspect of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health. According to Kenneth Pelletier, "Insofar as Ayurveda constitutes an integrated orientation to healthy physical, mental, and spiritual practices, as it does in the Maharishi Ayur-Ved system, it would seem to be conducive to good health and spiritual well-being." He says that historically meditation was a part of Ayurveda but that in India and the West, practitioners tend to prescribe Ayurvedic treatments without meditation, which makes it more difficult to integrate Ayurveda into a comprehensive system of health care.
Andrew Weil writes that, in India, Ayurveda is an inexpensive alternative to allopathic medicine available to all people, while Maharishi Ayurveda is expensive. A traditional Vaidya treats patients individually, diagnosing them and then individually preparing or instructing the patient how to prepare treatments for the entire complexity of their individual symptoms, whereas Maharishi Ayur-Veda takes a mass-market approach.
Transcendental Meditation technique
The Transcendental Meditation technique is the main modality said to improve mental health and promote collective health in MVAH. A 2007 review of meditative practices that included Transcendental Meditation concluded that the definitive health effects of meditation cannot be determined as the scientific evidence was of poor quality. The review found that meditation has no advantage over health education to improve blood pressureBlood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
, body weight, heart rate
Heart rate
Heart rate is the number of heartbeats per unit of time, typically expressed as beats per minute . Heart rate can vary as the body's need to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide changes, such as during exercise or sleep....
, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients.http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/meditation/medit.pdf TM researcher and former Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management , formerly known as Maharishi International University, is a non-profit, American university, located in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a "consciousness-based education" system that includes the practice of the...
professor David Orme-Johnson
David Orme-Johnson
David W. Orme-Johnson is a former professor of psychology at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. He is the author of over 100 papers investigating the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique....
said that the review's use of double blinding, which is required by the Jadad scale, is not appropriate to meditation research and that the review failed to assess more relevant determinants of research quality. Another review did find a reduction in diastolic and systolic blood pressure in those who practiced TM compared to controls. The review and its primary author were partially funded by Howard Settle, a proponent of TM.
Pulse diagnosis
MVAH practitioners utilize pulse diagnosisPulse diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis is a technique used in traditional medicines such as in Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, or early Greek medicine.In Ayurveda, advocates claim that by taking a pulse examination, humoral imbalances such as the three Doshas - Vata, Pitta, and Kaphha - can be diagnosed.In Traditional...
(also known in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
as "nadi vigyan"), which they say is like "plugging into the inner intelligence of the body" and allows them to assess levels of imbalance and impurities in a person's physiology. Based on these imbalances, recommendations related to herbal preparations, diet, daily and seasonal routines, exercise, and physiological purification are offered. Procedures seeking to strengthen digestion and proper nutrient absorption are also given importance. Proponents say that the pulse can be used to detect "imbalances at early stages when there may be no other clinical signs and when mild forms of intervention may suffice". It is thought that herbal remedies, dietary adjustments and changes in routine initiated at this stage can prevent imbalances from developing into disease.
Deepak Chopra
Chopra
Chopra is a Punjabi Khatri family name.- Etymology and historical references :Chopra is a Punjabi Khatri clan and belongs to the Bara-Ghar Khatri section....
and Sharma wrote that pulse diagnosis can detect a variety of diseases, including those unrelated to the cardiovascular system, including asthma, cancer, and diabetes. In 1991, Andrew Skolnick
Andrew A. Skolnick
Andrew A. Skolnick is an American science and medical journalist and photographer. He was an associate news editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association.-Education:...
wrote that William Jarvis, president of The National Council Against Health Fraud
The National Council Against Health Fraud
The National Council Against Health Fraud is a 501 non-profit, US-based organization registered in California, that describes itself as a "private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health problems." The NCAHF has been...
, described pulse diagnosis as a variety of palm reading and that Chopra refused to have pulse diagnosis tested by JAMA in a blinded protocol "on the grounds that a blinded experiment would 'eliminate the most crucial component of the experiment, which is consciousness.'"
Multimodal therapy at health centers
According to the Maharishi Open University web site archive, there are Maharishi Ayurveda spas and health centers around the world, including two in the United States, three in Germany, two in Switzerland and one in Yugoslovia. In 2011, a Maharishi Ayuveda Hospital in New DelhiNew Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
became the first Ayurvedic hospital in Northern India to receive the accreditation of the National Hospital Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH). Such health centers and spas offer a series of multimodal therapies including the purification therapy called Maharishi Panchakarma. Panchakarma means "five actions", and is intended to clear impurities from the body and to balance the doṣas. The first preparatory step is called "snehana", involving the ingestion of prescribed quantities of ghee
Ghee
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....
over several days, followed by a purgative. The actual panchakarma then begins with "abhyanga", a herbalized full-body oil massage. The panchakarma continues with one or more additional treatments, including "svedana
Svedana
Svedana is a form of Ayurvedic medicine that involves steam therapy, usually by sitting or laying inside a tent or box, laying out in the sun or by fomentation. the intention is to detoxify the body of toxins through sweating. Svedana can be done as part of the steps of panchakarma, especially in...
", a herbalized steam bath; "shirodhara
Shirodhara
Shirodhara is a form of Ayurveda medicine that involves gently pouring liquids over the forehead . It was developed by vaidyas in Kerala, India for use in sukhachikitsa and can be one of the steps involved in Panchakarma. The name comes from the Sanskrit words shiras 'head' and dhara 'flow'...
", in which warm sesame oil is poured on the forehead; "nasya", an oil massage of head, neck and shoulders combined with steam inhalation and nasal drops; and "basti", a herbal enema. The exact treatments are specifically designed for the person by an expert in MAV. Additional therapies generally undertaken in association with Maharishi Panchakarma are Maharishi Gandharva Veda music therapy and aromatherapy. Typical Maharishi Panchakarma treatments take 2 hours per day, over the course of 3 to 14 days, and are recommended several times per year as ideal, usually in conjunction with the change of seasons.
Maharishi Ayurveda Products
The Maharishi and experts in MAV, working with Vedic and Western scholars, have developed, marketed, and researched a variety of botanical preparations that are based on restored ancient Ayurvedic recipes. Maharishi Ayurvedic herbal products are manufactured and distributed by several companies, including: Maharishi Ayurveda Products Pvt. Ltd. (MAPPL) of New DelhiNew Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, India, Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) of Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, and Maharishi Ayurveda Products Europe B.V., the Netherlands. Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) of Colorado Springs sells more than 400 products and in 2000, was said to be the largest Ayurvedic company in North America, with reported sales of $20 million in 1999.
Maharishi Ayurveda products and services are also sold through outlets in Australia, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa.
One of the main product lines is Ayurvedic herbal formulas called rasayanas. Rather than extracting active ingredients, as is typically done in western medicine, rasayanas use whole plants in various combinations. Using the whole plant makes the rasayanas more easily digestible, and by virtue of that, specific substances with antioxidant properties can pass into the bloodstream without damage. The plants are ground to produce a refined powder that further enhances digestion and assimilation. Combining herbs is said to create synergies — that is, various molecular substances complement one another to create a greater effect. Research suggests that combinations of antioxidant molecules can do more to stem harmful molecules in the body than individual vitamins and bioflavonoids.
Maharishi Amrit Kalash
The original Maharishi Ayurveda product is Maharishi Amrit Kalash (MAK), a two-part ancient formula introduced by Balraj Maharishi based on classical Ayurvedic texts and referred to as "nectar" and "ambrosia" or "MAK-4" and "MAK-5". It uses a combination of dozens of different herbs and fruits, each of which has hundreds of substances. Ingredients include herbs such as White Musali, Liquorice, Giant Potato, Aswagandha, Gum Arabic Tree, Indian asparagus, CaperCaper
Capparis spinosa, the caper bush, is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant...
, Aloeweed, Black musale, Amla
Amla
Amla may refer to:* Indian gooseberry, called amla in Hindi. Amla is the size of a lemon, spherical, bitter and yellow-green.* Hashim Amla, a South African cricketer of Indian descent* Ahmed Amla, a South African cricketer and brother of Hashim...
, Gulancha Tinospora, Three-leaved Chaste Tree and Elephant Creeper.
Chemical analysis has found that the formula is a mixture of low-molecular-weight substances that serve as antioxidants. Research has found that these antioxidants scavenge "free radicals
Radical (chemistry)
Radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons on an open shell configuration. Free radicals may have positive, negative, or zero charge...
" that damage cells, scavenge dangerous molecules known as lipid peroxides, and scavenge oxidized low-density lipoproteins that are a cause of cardiovascular disease. Research suggests that Amrit Kalash can reduce the frequency of angina in patients as well as lower systolic blood pressure and improve exercise tolerance. Free radicals have been implicated in the formation and growth of cancer cells. Studies on lab animals have found a reduction in tumors and increased survival rate with a diet supplemented by Amrit Kalash. And studies using human cancer cells have found that Amrit Kalash may help to prevent formation of cancer cells and transform cancer cells to normal cells. However, no clinical trials have been done, and it is unknown whether these test-tube results would translate to an effective cancer therapy.
Chopra recommended that everyone take MAK twice daily as a cure-all/prevent-all, saying that MAV is far more cost-effective than conventional medicine. Skolnick said that the cost of MAK alone was $1,000 per year as of 1991, equal to 40% of the average per-capita expenditure on all health care in the United States in 1989.
Other Herbal Formulas
While most of the research has been on Amrit Kalash, studies have also looked at the antioxidant properties of a formula titled MAK-631 and an herbal coffee substitute. Both were found to scavenge LDL free radicals nearly as affectively as Amrit Kalash. In addition, research suggests that MAK-631 may help prevent or treat atherosclerosis.Heavy metals
A 2008 study by Robert B. Saper, published in JAMA, found that one-fifth of 213 US-manufactured and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines purchased via the Internet contained detectable lead, mercury, or arsenic. Two Maharishi Ayurveda Products International Inc. USA (MAPI) products, "Vital Lady" and "Worry Free" were found to have detectable levels of lead, but seventeen other MAPI products tested had no detectable levels of lead, mercury, or arsenic. Ted Wallace, president of MAPI, stated that the company tests its products before and after shipment from India to the US, and that its products are examined for purity, heavy metals, residual pesticides, and biological contaminants.Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association said that eliminating every trace of arsenic, mercury or lead from products would require "an entirely new food supply". According to McGuffin, the government and professional agencies set widely different safety standards for lead, mercury and arsenic and that while most of the products in Saper's article have lead levels that exceed California's standard, only two violate the World Health Organization's standard. However, a 2008 review has stated that "adverse health outcomes at blood lead levels below this threshold have been well demonstrated", and concluded that "it is increasingly acknowledged there is no threshold for the adverse consequences of lead exposure".
In 2008, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court against Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation ("MVED"), Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation and Maharishi Ayurveda Products Ltd. ("MAP Ltd"). The Plaintiff claims that she contracted lead poisoning
Lead poisoning
Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
from Garbhapal Ras, an herbo-mineral product she purchased in India. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Garbhapal Ras contained nearly 3% lead. The product was manufactured by MAP Ltd. in India, and prescribed for her by a physician at the Maharishi Ayurveda Arogyadham clinic in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. A spokesperson said that MVED is not involved in the manufacturing, prescribing, or sale of products from the Indian clinic where the product was prescribed and purchased. The spokesperson said that products sold in the U.S. are subject to inspection, testing, and quality control.
David Whitley, Director of Ayurveda Limited in the United Kingdom, writes that the Maharishi Ayurveda Council of Vaidyas approves of the use of arsenic, lead, and mercury under the supervision of trained and certified vaidyas, in accordance with ancient Ayurvedic texts. Whitley writes that the benefits of heavy metals are increased and the side effects are minimized when used properly. Whitley acknowledges that these compounds would be required to be licensed as medicines in the UK, but are unlicensed and thus cannot be sold there.
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
Maharishi Sthapatya VedaMaharishi Sthapatya Veda
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is a set of architectural and planning principles assembled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi based on "ancient Sanskrit texts" Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture is also called "Maharishi Vastu" architecture, "Fortune-Creating" buildings and homes, and "Maharishi Vedic...
(MSV), a system of Vedic architecture, is the main modality of MVAH for improving the immediate environment. Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is described as a science of structure that creates a relationship with the natural laws that structure the universe. MSV aims to design buildings in a way that aligns them with nature or natural law, thereby creating harmony for the individuals who occupy the building. MSV consists of precise mathematical formulas, equations, and proportions for architectural design.
In Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, the architect takes into account three major factors: the orientation of the structure, room placement and the proportion of the rooms, windows, doors, walls etc. and their dimensions. The MSV architect also considers the slope and shape of the lot, exposure to the rising sun, location of nearby bodies of water, cemeteries, and the other buildings or activities in the nearby environment.
Maharishi Global Construction in Fairfield, Iowa, states that building a home according to the principles of MSV "connects the individual intelligence of the occupant of the house to the cosmic intelligence of the universe". Homes with entrances facing west invite "poverty, lack of creativity and vitality", and "anxiety, depression, bad luck and even criminal tendencies".
Maharishi Vedic Astrology
Maharishi Vedic Astrology (also known as Maharishi Jyotish) is said to address planetary influences on individual health. Jotyish is a vedangaVedanga
The Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines traditionally associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas.#Shiksha : phonetics, phonology and morphophonology #Kalpa : ritual#Vyakarana : grammar...
within the field of Vedic literature. Maharishi Jyotish is premised on the ability to precisely calculate mathematically the unfolding pattern of life, and to locate the trends and tendencies of an individual life within that pattern, making it possible to determine in advance whether a difficult period was coming, and to take action in the present to amend a future difficulty. According Maharishi Jyotish, the solar system has an influence on the human brain, cells and DNA. According to the Maharishi and his successor, Tony Nader
Tony Nader
Tony Abu Nader is a Lebanese neuro-physiologist, the president of both Maharishi University of Management in Holland and Maharishi Open University, and was designated the 'First Sovereign Ruler' of the 'Global Country of World Peace'. After receiving his medical degree in internal medicine and...
, there is a correspondence between the nine Grahas of Vedic Astrology and the structure of DNA, the brain and the structure of cells. Each graha is associated with a gemstone:
Relationship of 9 Grahas to DNA structure, brain structure and cell structure, and associated gems
Anna Bonshek, a multi-media artist with a Ph.D. in Vedic Science from Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management , formerly known as Maharishi International University, is a non-profit, American university, located in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a "consciousness-based education" system that includes the practice of the...
, quotes the Maharishi on the relationship of the Grahas to various biological structures and gems:
| Graha | Structure of DNA | Brain Components | Cell Structure | Gemstones | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun | hydrogen bonds | thalmus | cell nucleus Cell nucleus In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these... |
ruby Ruby A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires... |
| 2 | Jupiter | guanine Guanine Guanine is one of the four main nucleobases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine, and thymine . In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine. With the formula C5H5N5O, guanine is a derivative of purine, consisting of a fused pyrimidine-imidazole ring system with... |
globus pallidus Globus pallidus The globus pallidus also known as paleostriatum, is a sub-cortical structure of the brain. Topographically, it is part of the telencephalon, but retains close functional ties with the subthalamus - both of which are part of the extrapyramidal motor system... |
golgi apparatus Golgi apparatus The Golgi apparatus is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. It was identified in 1898 by the Italian physician Camillo Golgi, after whom the Golgi apparatus is named.... |
yellow sapphire |
| 3 | Saturn | adenine Adenine Adenine is a nucleobase with a variety of roles in biochemistry including cellular respiration, in the form of both the energy-rich adenosine triphosphate and the cofactors nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide , and protein synthesis, as a chemical component of DNA... |
putamen Putamen The putamen is a round structure located at the base of the forebrain . The putamen and caudate nucleus together form the dorsal striatum. It is also one of the structures that comprises the basal ganglia. Through various pathways, the putamen is connected to the substantia nigra and globus pallidus... |
lysosomes | blue sapphire |
| 4 | Mars | cytosine Cytosine Cytosine is one of the four main bases found in DNA and RNA, along with adenine, guanine, and thymine . It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attached . The nucleoside of cytosine is cytidine... |
amygdala Amygdala The ' are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep within the medial temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. Shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions, the amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system.-... |
mitochondria | red coral |
| 5 | Venus | thymine Thymine Thymine is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine is also known as 5-methyluracil, a pyrimidine nucleobase. As the name suggests, thymine may be derived by methylation of uracil at... |
substantia nigra Substantia nigra The substantia nigra is a brain structure located in the mesencephalon that plays an important role in reward, addiction, and movement. Substantia nigra is Latin for "black substance", as parts of the substantia nigra appear darker than neighboring areas due to high levels of melanin in... |
endoplasmic reticulum Endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum is an organelle of cells in eukaryotic organisms that forms an interconnected network of tubules, vesicles, and cisternae... |
diamond Diamond In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions... |
| 6 | Mercury | sugar Sugar Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet... |
subthalamus Subthalamus The subthalamus is a part of the diencephalon. Its major part is the subthalamic nucleus. Functionally, it also encompasses the globus pallidus, which is topographically part of the telencephalon.-Anatomy:... |
cell membranes | emerald Emerald Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness... |
| 7 | Moon | phosphate Phosphate A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in... |
hypothalmus | cytosol Cytosol The cytosol or intracellular fluid is the liquid found inside cells, that is separated into compartments by membranes. For example, the mitochondrial matrix separates the mitochondrion into compartments.... |
pearl Pearl A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other... |
| 8 | Descending Lunar Nodes | enzymes | nucleus caudatus (tail) Caudate nucleus The caudate nucleus is a nucleus located within the basal ganglia of the brains of many animal species. The caudate nucleus is an important part of the brain's learning and memory system.-Anatomy:... |
the pores | cat's eye Chatoyancy In gemology, chatoyancy , or chatoyance, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye," chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in tiger eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within... |
| 9 | Ascending Lunar Nodes | enzymes | nucleus caudatus (head) Caudate nucleus The caudate nucleus is a nucleus located within the basal ganglia of the brains of many animal species. The caudate nucleus is an important part of the brain's learning and memory system.-Anatomy:... |
endosome Endosome In biology, an endosome is a membrane-bound compartment inside eukaryotic cells. It is a compartment of the endocytic membrane transport pathway from the plasma membrane to the lysosome. Molecules internalized from the plasma membrane can follow this pathway all the way to lysosomes for... |
garnet Garnet The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds... |
With respect to the nervous system, Maharishi Vedic Astrology associates the Grahas with the basal ganglia, thalmus and hypothalmus; the 12 Bhavas (astrological houses) with cortical areas; the 12 Rashis (zodiac signs) with the cranial nerves; and the 27 Nakshatras (lunar mansions) with groups of the brainstem.
Yagyas
Correction of imbalances discovered through Maharishi Jyotish is possible, the Maharishi said, through the performance of "Yagyas" by Vedic Pandits in India. Yagyas are ceremonies designed to restore the balance between the individual and the environment. MVAH holds that the patient need not witness or be present for the Yagya, or even for the Yagya to be conducted nearby the patient. It is said that, by chanting verses from Vedic literature, the sounds affect the unified field to neutralize negative patterns and reinforce positive patterns. According to Maharishi Jyotish, Maharishi Yagya performances are Vedic engineering technologies to avert and dissolve negativity, and through which perfection of life can be created.A Vedic Calendar, which establishes the most auspicious days for the performance of Yagyas, is published on the Global Good News web site. For example, Yagyas performed on Maha Shivaratri
Maha Shivaratri
Maha Shivratri or Maha Sivaratri or Shivaratri or Sivarathri is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day in the Krishna Paksha of the month of Maagha or Phalguna...
, the Day of Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, are said to enliven spiritual and material aspects of one's consciousness, and to promote progress in all areas of life; Yagyas performed on Maha Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
are said to bring prosperity, growth and good fortune; and, Yagyas performed on Akshaya Tritiya
Akshaya Tritiya
Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej is a Hindu and Jain holy day, that falls on the third Tithi of Bright Half of the pan-Indian month of Vaishakha....
are said to enhance lasting success in one's activities. The Vedic calendar is based on the movement of Surya (sun) and Chandra (moon) and specifies which Laws of Nature are most lively on that specific day.
Andrew Skolnick describes Maharishi Yagyas as Hindu ceremonies to appease the gods and beseech their help on behalf of afflicted followers that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and which the patient neither takes part in nor witnesses. He wrote that, while Chopra and Nancy Lonsdorf
Nancy Lonsdorf
Nancy Lonsdorf is an American author and medical doctor who practices Maharishi Ayurveda.-Education:Lonsdorf received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did her residency training in psychiatry at Stanford University....
, medical director of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Center in Washington, D.C. denied that they prescribed Yagyas or that Yagyas were part of Maharishi Ayur-Veda, Chopra's Lancaster Center did recommend Yagyas for its patients, and a TM-Movement fundraising letter states that Lonsdorf prescribed an $11,500 Yagya for a seriously-ill patient of hers.
Jyotish Gems
Patients with serious illnesses often pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for gemstones prescribed by Maharishi Jyotish astrologers. A TM-Movement company called Jyotish Gems sells gemstones prescribed by Maharishi Jyotish astrologers to ward off the effects of bad influences in one's horoscope.Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems
Nader writes that various gemstones correspond to the planets of Maharisi Jyotish, and also correspond to parts of the body.The Maharishi described Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems (MLG) as a Vedic technology, according to Rainer Picha, Minister of Health for the Global Country of World Peace
Global Country of World Peace
The Global Country of World Peace was declared by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder and guru of the Transcendental Meditation movement, on Vijayadashami , October 7, 2000. He described it as "a country without borders for peace loving people everywhere"...
. Training in the therapeutic use of gemstones is conducted at the Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Holland. Picha says that the MLG "approach is absolutely harmless. There is nothing invasive about it. It is pure cosmic light that enters the physiology, bringing order and helping in every way. Order in the physiology basically means health, and health is promoted through this approach."
Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology
Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology (MVVT), about which MVAH is secretive, but which apparently consists of the recitation of mantras from Vedic or other orthodox texts by the practitioner while blowing on or touching the afflicted body part. Frontiers in BioscienceFrontiers in Bioscience
Frontiers in Bioscience is a peer reviewed academic journal.It is indexed in PubMed, INDEX Medius, MEDLINE, Research Alert, Current Web Content, and CrossRef....
published two studies online in 2001, including one by Tony Nader
Tony Nader
Tony Abu Nader is a Lebanese neuro-physiologist, the president of both Maharishi University of Management in Holland and Maharishi Open University, and was designated the 'First Sovereign Ruler' of the 'Global Country of World Peace'. After receiving his medical degree in internal medicine and...
, the Lebanese neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
who succeeded the Maharishi as head of the TM movement.
Vedic Literature
Listening to Vedic Literature recited in Sanskrit from a specific branch of the Vedic Literature that corresponds to the appropriate area of the body as determined by a MVAH expert.Maharishi Gandharva Veda
Listening to a form of classical Indian music called Maharishi Gandharva Veda is purported to integrate and harmonize the cycles and rhythms of the body. Maharishi Gandaharva Veda is described in the TM Movement as the science of sound, focusing on finding the healing properties of sounds. It is said that the melodies date from the Vedic period, and that particular melodies or ragas express the qualities of specific periods of day or night, divided into eight three-hour periods. Gandharva Veda is an upaveda and is codified in a number of texts that came to be known collectively at Gandharva Veda, an auxiliary text attached to Sama Veda. Mukund Lath writes that Gandharva Veda is a sacred corpus of music, derived from the still more ancient sama, a sacred Vedic form of music. Cynthia Ann HumesCynthia Ann Humes
Cynthia Ann Humes is a professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, California. The college lists her research interests as: History of Hinduism in America, Modern Hindu Goddess Worship, and Gender and Religion...
, American author and professor who specializes in Hindu culture, writes that Gandharva Veda is North Indian classical music, that has Islamic rather than Vedic roots, something ignored by the Maharishi and the TM Movement. Compact discs of the music are published by the Maharishi University of Management Press.
Maharishi Ayur-Veda Association of America
Courses to train physicians, nurses and health professionals in the principles and practices of Maharishi Ayurveda are offered by the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Association of America (MAAA) in various locations in the USA. These courses include Continuing Medical EducationContinuing medical education
Continuing medical education refers to a specific form of continuing education that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or...
credit. The faculty and curriculum committee of the MAAA include: Stuart Rothenberg, Robert Schneider, Walter Moelk, Nancy Lonsdorf
Nancy Lonsdorf
Nancy Lonsdorf is an American author and medical doctor who practices Maharishi Ayurveda.-Education:Lonsdorf received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did her residency training in psychiatry at Stanford University....
, Richard Averbach, Gary Kaplan, and Vaidya Manohar Palakurthi. Courses are offered in conjunction with the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, California.
Maharishi College of Perfect Health
Courses in Maharishi Ayur-Veda for health professionals are also conducted at the Maharishi College of Perfect Health, International Maharishi Ayur-Veda Training Centre at MERU, HollandMERU, Holland
MERU, Holland, is a residential and office complex which includes the residence of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a capital of the Global Country of World Peace, a campus of Maharishi European Research University , and other institutions of the Transcendental Meditation movement. It occupies the...
. These courses include: post graduate training, Maharishi Aroma Therapy, Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems, Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Educator, Vedic Mind-Body program and Presentation of Medical Research. The faculty includes Rainer Picha, Walter Mölk, Robert Keith Wallace, Roswitha Margarete Geelvink-Tradel, and Bob Apon.
Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine
The Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine was located at 2721 Arizona Street, NE Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
in the 1990s and 2000s. There is now a campus in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
.
Origin of Ayurveda and its relationship to Maharishi Ayurveda
Maharishi Ayur-Veda is described as a modern restoration of the holistic perspective of the original texts of Ayurveda found in the VedasVedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. In MVAH, the Veda is said to be an "abstract blueprint of creation". The knowledge and technologies of MVAH are based on the understanding that the order displayed throughout the entire universe, including within the human physiology, is governed by a fundamental underlying intelligence. According to the Maharishi, illness comes about when there is a lack of coordination between the body's inner intelligence and its outer expression.
As with traditional Ayurveda, Maharishi Ayur Veda describes material creation according to panchamahābhūtas theory, in which the five elements of earth, air, fire, water and ether combine to form three doṣas
Dosha
A dosha is one of three bodily humors that make up one's constitution according to Ayurveda. These teachings are also known as the Tridosha system....
: vāta, pitta and kapha. The theory of both traditional and Maharishi Ayurveda is that the body's function is governed by the three doṣas, which designate body types and the physical and mental traits they typify. An individual's doṣa contains various combinations of vāta, pitta and kapha, which can vary with the seasons and time of day. Disease symptoms are attributed to imbalances in one's doṣa, which can be detected through pulse diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis is a technique used in traditional medicines such as in Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, or early Greek medicine.In Ayurveda, advocates claim that by taking a pulse examination, humoral imbalances such as the three Doshas - Vata, Pitta, and Kaphha - can be diagnosed.In Traditional...
or a questionnaire. Balance is achieved through a variety of products and procedures, many of which are specific to one's doṣa. Maharishi Ayur-Veda does not stray from these traditional common interpretations of doṣa.
Maharishi Ayur Veda emerges from and consistently reflects the Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
school of Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
, and is the upaveda of Atharva Veda. Maharishi Ayur Veda represents itself as representing the entirety of the Ayurvedic tradition.
The practices of Maharishi Ayur-Veda are said to be authentic, but Francis Zimmerman says that they are biased toward gentleness, avoiding violent or painful treatments that were historically part of ayurveda in early India. He also says that Maharishi Ayur-Veda involves an ideological confusion of Ayurvedic categories. In 1985, Maharishi Ayurveda doctors met with outside consultants, who suggested that some traditional Ayurvedic remedies would not be accepted by American consumers. The principal difference between Maharishi Ayur-Veda and traditional Ayurveda is the emphasis on the role of consciousness and the use of Transcendental Meditation, as well as the highlighting of the need to express positive emotions and attuning one's life to the natural rhythms of the body.
Maharishi Ayur Veda also holds that perfect health is a state present within every person, that can be chosen by the individual, and that the physical body is a portal to a "quantum mechanical body" that exists at the subatomic level where matter and energy are one, and that every organ and process in the body has a quantum equivalent. Tony Nader, called Maharajadhiraj Raja Ram, who is the Sovereign Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace
Global Country of World Peace
The Global Country of World Peace was declared by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder and guru of the Transcendental Meditation movement, on Vijayadashami , October 7, 2000. He described it as "a country without borders for peace loving people everywhere"...
, identifies this concept of "quantum healing" with the Maharishi's theories of Vedic Science.
Individual metabolic differences and seasonal variations as described in MAV are an important part of a healthy diet. MAV considers taste and quality to be central features in the classification of foods, and seasonal factors as crucial in determining nutritional needs. MAV also advises use of certain herbal nutritional supplements to maintain optimum health.
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
, founding president of Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International, Inc (MAPI), the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine and former medical director of the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center for Stress Management and Behavioral Medicine, says, according to Stephen Barrett in an article in the journal Alternative Medicine and Ethics, that "If you have happy thoughts, then you make happy molecules. On the other hand, if you have sad thoughts, and angry thoughts, and hostile thoughts, then you make those molecules which may depress the immune system and make you more susceptible to disease." Barrett goes on to say that, while the TM technique and other relaxation techniques may temporarily relieve stress, claims made by Chopra that happy or sad thought may affect the molecular levels of the body and the immune system have no scientific basis.
Reception
According to the book Global and Modern Ayurveda, while Maharishi Ayur-Veda was instrumental in the popularization of Ayurveda in the 1980s and early 1990s, its role in global Ayurveda has now been marginalized. Authors Smith and Wujastyk attribute the virtual disappearance of MAV as an influence in global Ayurveda to the following factors: (i) isolating and describing itself as being authentic, thereby inferring that other forms of Ayurveda are "disbarred from legitimacy"; (ii) raising "its prices stratospherically" for its medicines and treatments, which placed it beyond the means of all but "the most committed and enthusiastic (and wealthy) followers"; and (iii) "become stridently opposed to allopathic medicineAllopathic medicine
Allopathic medicine refers to the practice of conventional medicine that uses pharmacologically active agents or physical interventions to treat or suppress symptoms or pathophysiologic processes of diseases or conditions. It was coined by Samuel Hahnemann , a homeopath, in 1810...
". In the same volume, Newcombe cites criticism of the commercial nature of Maharishi Ayur-Veda, but says that ""Maharishi Ayur-Veda is an important part of the practice of Ayurveda in contemporary society, despite the ideological claims of those who oppose the system." Smith and Wujastyk write that previously it was a requirement that MAV practitioners have a medical degree, but in 2005, all medical doctors with MAV training were replaced by Maharishi Ayurveda practitioners from India. However, the Medical Director at one facility is a licensed medical doctor, also trained in Maharishi Ayurveda.
Chalmers and Davis
In October 1991, the Professional Conduct Committee of the British General Medical CouncilGeneral Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
found Roger Chalmers, Dean of Medicine of the unrecognized Maharishi University of Natural Law, Mentmore and Leslie Davis, Dean of Physiology at that institution, guilty of "Serious Professional Misconduct" in connection with their use of Maharishi Ayur-Veda for the treatment of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
, and ordered them erased from the List of Registered Medical Practitioners. (Chalmers was subsequently reinstated.) The Committee found, among other things, that there were no proper and approved clinical trials for the treatments, there was inadequate scientific evidence to support the treatments, that they were prescribing and that they had made false and misleading statements on the value of MAV in the treatment of HIV and AIDs and about the TM-affiliated "World Medical Association for Perfect Health". Independent tests of the pills prescribed by Chalmers and Davis showed that they had, at best, a negligible effect on HIV, but were 100,000 times more toxic than AZT
Zidovudine
Zidovudine or azidothymidine is a nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitor , a type of antiretroviral drug used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is an analog of thymidine....
. According to a 1990 report in The Independent regarding the accusations, the claim that Ayurveda has no side effects "appears to be inaccurate." The article says that separate warnings had been issued in the past on side-effects of both Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi Ayurvedic diet, such as a warning by the British Dietetic Association
British Dietetic Association
The British Dietetic Association is a professional association and trade union for dieticians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982; it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scottish Trades Union Congress.The BDA was established in 1936...
on the potential dangers of the Maharishi Ayurvedic diet to AIDS patients.
According to Suzanne Newcombe, alternative treatments often receive little attention in the U.K. and MAV was the focus of GMC only because the treatments involved AIDS patients, which she characterized as a vulnerable and controversial group at the time.
Sharma and Chopra
In 1991, the Journal of the American Medical AssociationJournal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
(JAMA) published an article on the benefits of Maharishi Ayur-Veda titled Letter from New Delhi: Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights into Ancient Medicine, authored by Hari Sharma, of the Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
College of Medicine, Brihaspati Dev Triguna
Brihaspati Dev Triguna
Brihaspati Dev Triguna Brihaspati Dev Triguna Brihaspati Dev Triguna ( (Born in India, 1920) is a Vaidya or ayurvedic doctor and an expert in nadivigyan, the ayurvedic technique of pulse diagnosis....
, of the All India Ayur-Veda Congress, and Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
, of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine.
A subsequent article in JAMA alleged that the authors of the first article had not disclosed their financial ties with organizations that sell the products and services about which they wrote. The article also investigated the marketing practices surrounding Ayur-Veda products and services. It was alleged there was a "widespread pattern of misinformation, deception, and manipulation of lay and scientific news media". It also challenged the Sharma et al. claim that Maharishi Ayur-Veda was more cost effective than standard medical care. Additionally, the article reported that in the late 1980s, herbal researcher Tony Nader, at the time a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, had been criticized for misrepresenting his research promoting Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI) herbal products as being sponsored by MIT and Harvard. The article reported that Nader and David Orme-Johnson
David Orme-Johnson
David W. Orme-Johnson is a former professor of psychology at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. He is the author of over 100 papers investigating the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique....
were criticized by the organizers of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, which was held at the University of Illinois in Chicago in June 1987. According to the organizers, Nader and Orme-Johnson submitted research abstracts for the conference, but the presentation that they made had little to do with the abstracts, but instead was a promotion for the herbal remedies of MAPI and for Transcendental Meditation. The JAMA article quotes a former TM teacher and chair of the TM center in Washington, D.C., as saying that he had been told to deceive the media.
A letter to the editor by Chopra and Sharma was published in JAMA in October, 1991. Chopra and Sharma wrote that many of the criticisms they had received in letters to the editor were inflammatory and had depended heavily on emotional and unfounded charges, without sound scientific backing and few references. They went on to say that the criticisms were directed largely at the TM organization, rather than to the approaches of Maharishi Ayur-Veda. Andrew Skolnick, in letter to the editor of JAMA, says Chopra and Sharma did not deny and made no apology that they had concealed from JAMA their financial ties to organizations selling and marketing the products and services about which they wrote, and claimed to have no such conflicts of interest on their signed author's form. Skolnick later published an account of how JAMA was deceived.
In response, two Transcendental Meditation groups and Chopra sued Skolnick, JAMA's editor Dr. George Lundberg, and the AMA for $194 million in July 1992. In 1997, Newsweek reported that according to Chopra's lawyer the suit was "settled for an undisclosed amount." Newsweek later published a correction and clarified that there was no monetary settlement. Philip Goldberg's 2010 book American Veda says that the lawsuit was settled in 1993.