From the mid-1950s forward, as increasing numbers of people around the world started practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and experiencing Transcendental Consciousness, they began describing exalted experiences outside of meditation as well.

In response to these experiences, Maharishi brought to light a clear, complete, and systematic understanding of human development. In hundreds of videotaped lectures and discussions, he described the nature and dynamics of higher states of consciousness. He also described higher states in a number of books, including the Science of Being and Art of Living and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad­ Gita: A Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1–6.

For most psychologists, the “endpoint” of mental growth, the highest level of cognitive development adults can reach, occurs in adolescence, when we gain the ability to think logically and abstractly—although as many as 60 percent of adults have not reached this stage. We may continue to change after adolescence, refining or extending capacities we have already developed, but no major growth beyond this final stage is commonly acknowledged.

But in the Vedic understanding of human potential that Maharishi brought to light, the common “adult” level of growth is only the starting point. Complete human development involves growth through a series of higher states of consciousness. Maharishi’s model comprises seven states of consciousness altogether, of which waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are but the first three.