Tony Nader, MD, PhD, MARR, is a medical doctor trained at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD in neuroscience), and a globally recognized Vedic scholar. As a scientist and scholar with mastery in both modern science and the ancient Vedic tradition, he was chosen by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to be his successor and is the head of the nonprofit international Transcendental Meditation® organizations in over 100 countries. Dr. Nader guides the TM® programs and their practical applications in education, health, business, defense, agriculture, and other fields.
A French citizen who was born and raised in Lebanon, Dr. Nader received his MD from the American University of Beirut, where he studied internal medicine and psychiatry. Dr. Nader’s interest in and research on the full potential of the human mind led him, while a premedical student in 1975, to begin the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. As a result, Dr. Nader wanted to learn more about consciousness.
Soon after, Dr. Nader met Maharishi, founder of the TM program, at a health conference for doctors and scientists in Switzerland, which he describes as a life-transforming experience.
Thus began a student-teacher relationship that would span nearly 30 years, studying consciousness with Maharishi in light of Vedic science, and fulfilling Dr. Nader’s quest for a complete understanding of mind and body, of the relationship of consciousness and the human physiology.
Once Dr. Nader finished his medical internship, he returned to Switzerland and became a Certified TM Teacher. He has described teaching this technique to his patients as a profound experience, for the TM program addresses health problems holistically, without side effects.
Dr. Nader then came to the United States to continue his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD in brain and cognitive science. He was appointed assistant director of clinical research at MIT, and was a clinical research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He conducted research in neurochemistry and neuroendocrinology; the relationship between diet, age, behavior, mood, seasonal influences, and hormonal activity; and the role of neurotransmitter precursors in medicine.
At the same time, Dr. Nader began working on the science of consciousness developed by Maharishi, which integrates modern research with the broad-based areas of knowledge stemming from the ancient Vedic tradition. With his expertise in neuroscience, Dr. Nader was able to bring a new dimension to the study of consciousness. His scholarship in this area deepens the understanding of the scientific significance of the Veda, the foundational texts of the science of consciousness. In five books he has shown the correspondence between different aspects of the Vedic literature to human physiology, anatomy, cell biology, and DNA.
Dr. Nader has discussed his expertise at academic institutions such as Stanford University, where he gave talks in a series entitled “Hacking Consciousness.”
In his new book, One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness, Dr. Nader comprehensively examines what scientists call the “hard” problem of What is consciousness? He unpacks this abstract question for both a general audience and experts in the field by investigating consciousness in terms of human physiology, quantum mechanics in physics, and Vedic science. Consciousness, he concludes, is the source not only of the human mind and our ability to experience, know, innovate, and create, but also the source of all physical structures and functions—from fine particles and DNA to galaxies.
As founder and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Mathematics and Consciousness, Dr. Nader has also offered a mathematical model for how the multiplicity of matter arises from a fundamental “singularity” or oneness of Transcendental Consciousness through the mechanism of consciousness knowing itself.
Dr. Nader’s unique expertise in the knowledge of East and West has also been recognized. He was the keynote speaker for a conference at the House of Commons, British Parliament, to examine the value of introducing Yoga in the National Health Service. Dr. Nader spoke about the scientific basis of Yoga and the vital role of meditation, particularly the TM technique. He was honored with the Kala Yugandhara Award (“universal enlightened master of all arts and sciences”) for his work as director of the worldwide TM organizations.
Over 700 published studies on the TM technique have demonstrated its far-reaching benefits for health, longevity, intelligence and creativity, relationships and work, and reduced societal stress and greater peace. These studies inspired a scientific quest for enlightenment and established Transcendental Consciousness as a fourth major state of consciousness, as well as the neurophysiological correlates of Cosmic Consciousness, a fifth state of consciousness.
With his work and in his books, Dr. Nader is guiding this legacy into the 21st century, bringing the science of consciousness to new audiences and expanding the understanding of the furthest reaches of human potential.
