Everyone wants good health. Your body's health is a reflection of the quality of food you eat, so perhaps you eat healthier foods, whole foods, and organic foods in an effort to maintain your health. Maharishi Vedic Organic^TM certified foods go well beyond meeting current organic standards and are based on ancient Vedic knowledge. This form of Vedic agriculture is gaining popularity in the United States and around the world. It even offers solutions to poverty.

The goal of Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture^SM is agriculture in perfect harmony with Natural Law. The Sanskrit word "Veda" means "knowledge"—complete knowledge of Natural Law. Natural Law is the fundamental intelligence of Nature that administers everything in creation—from the farmer, to the seed, the soil and the weather, to the entire universe.

Today, agriculture is focused on price, convenience, packaging, marketing and mass production. Most fruits and vegetables are harvested before they are ripe and have developed their full nutritive value. At the convenience of the industry, unripe foods are unnaturally or chemically ripened.

When the USDA unveiled the National Organics Program in 2001, Maharishi Vedic Organic Institute was among the first accredited organic certification organizations. Organic certifiers ensure that farm products meet the organic standards. For instance, the crops must be grown without chemical fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides. Seeds must not be genetically modified. Organic animal products must come from animals that have eaten only organic feed, and have not received antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. If land has been used for non-organic farming in the past, the land must be cultivated using organic standards for three years before products from that land can be certified organic.

However, beyond these organic standards, Maharishi Vedic Organic agriculture enhances the growing process by introducing specific Vedic sounds at the appropriate stages of the plant's development, including Maharishi Gandharva Veda^SM music. This enlivens the inner intelligence of the plants to produce food filled with the vitality of Nature's intelligence. Additionally, the farmer has a healthy, pesticide-free environment to cultivate an abundance of pure, nourishing food. Preliminary research on fruits and vegetables grown according to Maharishi Vedic Organic principles shows very high levels of vitamins and minerals in these foods.

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture takes an holistic approach to solving the food supply problem for the world. Vedic Organics interact with nature in a balanced way, and thereby nurture Mother Nature and Natural Law, to support the evolution of every aspect of life on earth. It maintains harmony between all levels of life—the farmer, the fields, the ecosystem, and the whole earth and cosmos.

In the United States, Maharishi Vedic Organic farms are in operation in three states:

• Iowa: Maharishi University Organic Farm in Fairfield supplies Maharishi University of Management with fresh produce year-round as part of its unique Sustainable Living undergraduate degree.
• Florida: 25 acres of a Maharishi Farm supplies wholesome Maharishi Vedic Organic vegetables to the homeless in central Florida, and supplies vegetables to non-profit organizations who cook daily for the homeless and impoverished of central Florida. (433 acres are in an agroforestry program.)
• New York: 830-acre "black dirt" farm in Goshen, started three years ago, is developing a large plantation of Maharishi Vedic Organic blueberries. "Black dirt" is muck soil, rich in organic matter. A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project is planned, so subscribers can receive fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm, as well as whole foods produced elsewhere, year-round. The farm also grows organic field corn to feed organic dairy cows.

The principles of Maharishi Vedic Agriculture will be used in the Poverty Removal Program initiated by Maharishi University of Management in the Netherlands two years ago. The plan calls for 500 million hectares of land to be cultivated with organic crops. This land has agricultural potential but is not currently cultivated. In this way, $3 trillion dollars will be generated, sufficient to provide a basic annual income to the most impoverished 25% of the world's population. Complete details are at www.poverty-removal.org and www.globalfinancialcapitalny.org.

"The whole process of the plant sprouting from the seed and growing into leaves, flowers, and fruits, has been found to gain nourishment from soothing music and melodies; from enhanced seasonal influences of Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, and from increased qualities of harmony and pleasantness in the environment. This is now quite well established through worldwide scientific research. To produce this effect we will have the Vedic Experts from India whose traditional melodies and Vedic Recitations are most effective."

—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi's Poverty Removal Program

As Maharishi Vedic Organic foods become increasingly available over time, more people will have the opportunity to nurture their health by eating a diet high in consciousness.

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