Maharishi Global Archives & Collections (MGAC) at the MIU Repository preserves the priceless knowledge at the heart of MIU’s Consciousness-Based education and the success of TM-related projects around the world. We are creating a secure and permanent online digital archive of Maharishi’s knowledge, including the unique materials sent by Maharishi to MIU and extensive additional items and documents recording the history of the TM Movement.
Our digital archive will be an indispensable tool for online and on-campus MIU students and faculty. Moreover, seekers of knowledge everywhere will have direct access to Maharishi’s teachings as appropriate, providing wisdom and inspiration now and for future generations. Users will be inspired to attend MIU, enriching the quality and scholarship of our student body
Maharishi was asked how his knowledge would last for thousands of years, he replied that books, buildings, and audiovisual recordings will ensure the longevity of his knowledge. We are pleased to report that our new Searchable Online Maharishi Archive (SOMA) will meet these requirements by permanently maintaining access to the digitized contents of Maharishi’s print publications, audios, and videos.
When Maharishi was asked how his knowledge would last for thousands of years, he replied that books, buildings, and audiovisual recordings will ensure the longevity of his knowledge. We are pleased to report that our new Searchable Online Maharishi Archive (SOMA) will meet these requirements by permanently maintaining access to the digitized contents of Maharishi’s print publications, audios, and videos.
To access this new online archive, we have acquired world class archival content management software that meets the standards followed by major international educational institutions. With over 100,000 source materials and items in our collection, we are seeking funds to catalog, digitize, and preserve these precious, historic materials for thousands of years to come.
We have selected standards for the best industry practices and designed a data organizational system based upon the recommendations of the International Council on Archives. This ensures that everything in our collections will be properly preserved, digitally reproduced, easily located.
Our nearly 13,000 audiovisual recordings of Maharishi have been recorded in eight different formats over the years, and some are over 60 years old. Recent examination by professional digitizing experts has revealed that as much as 20% of our older holdings may have been irreparably damaged over time and are now unusable—an alarming loss of knowledge.
To preserve Maharishi’s knowledge, with the support of the MIU Board of Trustees, MGAC staff are quickly raising funds to professionally digitize all collection recordings as quickly possible, and to preserve the digitized files on permanent storage media.
Our state-of-the-art archives content-management system software, which we have named the “Searchable Online Maharishi Archives” (SOMA), is comparable to software used by the Harvard Archives and Library of Congress.
So far, MGAC staff have input data from several hundred of Maharishi’s tape recordings and are now beta testing the user interface with input from several MIU faculty, students, and staff.
“I have been wishing for something like SOMA for decades,” said Dr. Craig Pearson, Vice President for Growth of Consciousness at MIU. “The technology has finally arrived. Now we can make Maharishi’s treasured knowledge available to MIU students and faculty worldwide as well as to a global audience while also preserving it into the distant future. We can only imagine how pleased Maharishi would be.”
Opening screen for the MGAC’s Searchable Online Maharishi Archives (SOMA) electronic collection.
To realize Maharishi’s wish for an enduring repository for securing and accessing the knowledge, we require dedicated financial support.
- Our most immediate and urgent need is to complete the digitization of approximately 13,000 video and other recordings, requiring up to $400,000.
- Completing this project in a reasonable timeframe will require additional staff and equipment: $600,000/year for three years.
In Gratitude
The MIU Archives department has received a groundswell of support and donated materials from countless people around the world. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way.
If you would like to contribute archival materials, resources, or support to the Archive, please feel free to contact us at archives@miu.edu.