IN THESE difficult times for Hongkong, there are those who may be dreaming of calling the Pope for guidance. I did call His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the bringer of transcendental meditation, the founder of more than 30 schemes and institutes in 36 years, including Creative Intelligence, World Government of the Age of Enlightenment, Vedic Science and Technology, and Samhita Systems of Computer Software. For those whose memories are untouched by the flower power spiritualism of 25 years ago, you should imagine the Maharishi as a slight, elderly fellow, balding now but with a beard still down to his chest, dressed in white and surrounded by a permanent Chelsea Flower Show. On the subject of Hongkong's political future, I received from the Maharishi the immediate guarantee of a way of dealing with the British and simultaneously sorting out the Chinese, too. ''Neither the British nor the Chinese will lose,'' he assured me. ''These two rivals will meet as friends.'' This rapprochement will be achieved by the almost non-intervention of a carefully counted number of ''experts'' - 500 for Hongkong - who will meditate to an advanced intensity which makes them rise from the ground and fly a bit. These meditations will bring Natural Law to bear on the situation. To say everything will then come up roses does not begin to underestimate the effect that will have on government and anybody else within feeling distance. I could have expected nothing less from the Maharishi, a man who became a totem of the spiritual liberation movements of the early '70s, to whom Western youth flocked, weighted in beads, wearing its mother's curtains. Now the Maharishi is reviving in the public mind through the appearance of the New Law Party, which is fielding candidates wherever there is the ghost of a fair election. Intelligent gentle souls they are, who have never a bad word for anyone, including their opponents, and lose their deposits. The Maharishi has, lately - and admittedly with scientific help - discovered the Constitution of the Universe which is not only out there but also within your own physiology. That being sorted out, it paves the way for the worldwide application of Administration through Natural Law and the path back to the historic Golden Times. His followers here - The Foundation for the Science of Creative Intelligence - briefed me on the principles of Administration through Natural Law which seemed to have as good a chance as anything else of solving the Hongkong impasse. Like all devotees grabbed by something they can not touch, these sweet people swing like trapeze artists from one technical term to another. ''Silent self referral consciousness'' will ''access the Unified Field''; it will then ''integrate into the Collective Consciousness and create the extraordinary effect of enlivening the Constitution of the Universe''. ''Yes, yes,'' I thought, ''but how does it actually work?'' ''There is one solution,'' declared the convener and we all stood up and started to move chairs. God, was it under the table? No, we were turning round to the Chart. At the bottom of the Chart, like the sea bed, is a thick base of Pure Intelligence: The Unified Field. This works its way up to us through transparent bits and pieces like forces and quarks until it makes DNA. Through tangibles like proteins, cells, tissues and organs, the Intelligence goes into you and me - the Physiology. From one physiology it can move in to all of them - the collective or national consciousness, represented on the Chart by a group photograph of what seemed to be a salespersons national convention. But of this picture of us comes Government. Politicians, I am told, are not themselves. They seem to act by their own will but, in fact, they only reflect what the Collective Consciousness wants. They are ''the innocent mirror''. This from politicians we have heard before. Government affected by this enlivened national consciousness will find itself automatically ruling by Natural Law - ''absolutely perfect and eternal''. The Maharashi explained the nitty gritty of it, which, in fact, is smoothy woothy. The group of ''experts'' meditate to the highest level: transcendental meditation-sidhi. They are ''yogic fliers'' and they levitate together, day in day out, under one roof. From day one, this has an effect outside. People going to work, shopping, cooking, washing the children or shooting each other, become positive and harmonious. Crime plummets, war abates and, one for Hongkong, stock markets rise. Creativity increases, tensions evaporate and harmony reigns. This has an immediate effect on government, which rules quietly, probably because it hasn't got much to do anymore. The Maharishi assured me this enlivening of the national consciousness by the United Field through the yogic fliers was a ''completely scientific process - a spiritual experience through scientific procedure''. He claims the Maharishi Effect - as it is known - has been scientifically tested scores of times in limited doses in selected spots for arbitrary periods. Meditators have sat down in hotel rooms in the middle of wars, crime waves and recessions, and, by doing nothing more than meditate, have seen stock prices rise in Australia, conflicts settled in Nicaragua and an improved quality of life in Rhode Island. Administration through Natural Law also has manpower considerations. The Maharishi says studies have proved a society can be affected by numbers of sidhi meditators gathered all in one place totalling not less than the square root of one per cent of the population. But the 500 called for in Hongkong is more than that. ''We need reserves here. It is impossible to get the same 500 people to sit all the time without having to go somewhere or on holiday,'' one follower said. ''The task is tougher here. The population is so migratory we have 'imported stress' all the time.'' The 10,000 experts required to hum in China is a surplus even for her. Allowing for reserves, it is a figure that ensures a constant meditational base of 7,000 - which is the square root of one per cent the population of the world! It is from China that they hope to tackle the peoples and governments of the globe. At last the Communist Party can claim to have successfully exported something. There is a catch: To train up yogic fliers in enough numbers, the Maharishi will have to establish a Vedic University in Hongkong. A site has been selected off Sai Kung, a peninsula of such spaced out harmonies already, it is going to be a while before anyone notices. It will take $60 million to build the university. In the meantime, to get Natural Law under immediate way, meditators are to be imported from India for one year at a cost of $20 million. The Maharishi is appealing to the rich people in Hongkong. This project should tempt them. So convinced will the unpleasantly rich be of their natural immunity to the wimpish effects of love, peace, harmony and trust, they will fund the introduction of Natural Law like fury, confident of their ability to walk among us star-eyed suckers afterwards picking our pockets. The Maharishi's certainty that Natural Law will solve Hongkong's problems is impressive. Neither the British nor the Chinese will lose. Both will gain from the mediation of the yogic fliers. The two rivals will meet as friends. I honestly cannot see why we cannot give it a try here. After 44 years of communism, any suggestion in China deserves intellectual house room. As for Hongkong, the sight of Governor Mr Chris Patten and Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office director Mr Lu Ping flinging themselves into a brotherly hug is worth $20 million of levitating Indians and I can do with less tension and more creativity myself, as anyone who has got this far will know.
