Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
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|---|---|
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1978
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| Personal | |
| Born |
Mahesh Prasad Varma
12 January 1918 |
| Died | 5 February 2008 (aged 90) |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Founder of | Transcendental Meditation movement Global Country of World Peace |
| Philosophy | Transcendental Meditation |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Brahmananda Saraswati |
| Honours | Maharishi |
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918 – 5 February 2008) was an Indian guru, known for developing the Transcendental Meditation technique and for being the leader and guru of a worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a new religious movement and as non-religious. He became known as Maharishi (meaning "great seer") and Yogi as an adult.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became a disciple and assistant of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of Jyotirmath in the Indian Himalayas. The Maharishi credits Brahmananda Saraswati with inspiring his teachings. In 1955, the Maharishi began to introduce his Transcendental Deep Meditation (later renamed Transcendental Meditation) to India and the world. His first global tour began in 1958. His devotees referred to him as His Holiness, and because he often laughed in TV interviews he was sometimes referred to as the "giggling guru".
The Maharishi is reported to have trained more than 40,000 TM teachers, taught the Transcendental Meditation technique to "more than five million people" and founded thousands of teaching centres and hundreds of colleges, universities and schools, while TM websites report tens of thousands learned the TM-Sidhi programme. His initiatives include schools and universities with campuses in several countries including India, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The Maharishi, his family and close associates created charitable organisations and for-profit businesses including health clinics, mail-order health supplements and organic farms. The reported value of the Maharishi's organization has ranged from the millions to billions of U.S. dollars and in 2008, the organization placed the value of their United States assets at about $300 million.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Maharishi achieved fame as the guru to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and other celebrities. In the late 1970s, he started the TM-Sidhi programme that claimed to offer practitioners the ability to levitate and to create world peace. The Maharishi's Natural Law Party was founded in 1992, and ran campaigns in dozens of countries. He moved to near Vlodrop, the Netherlands, in the same year. In 2000, he created the Global Country of World Peace, a non-profit organization, and appointed its leaders. In 2008, the Maharishi announced his retirement from all administrative activities and went into silence until his death three weeks later.
Life
Birth
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi belonged to the Kayastha caste, a subcast of scribes and administrators, of the Hindu religion.
The birth name and the birth dates of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are not
known with certainty, in part because of the tradition of ascetics and
monks to relinquish family connections. Many accounts say he was born Mahesh Prasad Varma (Hindi: महेश प्रसाद वर्मा) into a Kayastha family living in the Central Provinces of British India. A different name appears in the Allahabad University list of distinguished alumni, where he is listed as M.C. Srivastava and an obituary says his name was "Mahesh Srivastava".
Various accounts give the year of his birth as 1911, 1917 or 1918. Authors Paul Mason and William Jefferson say that he was born 12 January 1917 in Jabalpur, Central Provinces, British India (now Madhya Pradesh, India). The place of birth given in his passport is "Pounalulla", India, and his birth date 12 January 1918. Mahesh came from an upper-caste family, being a member of the Kayastha caste, a high-status caste whose traditional profession is writing.
Early life
Mahesh studied physics at Allahabad University and earned a degree in 1942. While a few sources say that he worked at the Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur for some time, most report that in 1941, he became an administrative secretary to the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (also known as Guru Dev, which means "divine teacher") and took a new name, Bal Brahmachari Mahesh. Coplin refers to bala brahmachari
as both a title and a name, and considers that it "identified him as a
fully dedicated student of spiritual knowledge and life-long celibate
ascetic."
Saraswati insisted that before accepting Mahsesh as a pupil he must
first complete his university degree and get permission from his
parents.
The Maharishi recalls how it took about two and a half years to attune
himself to the thinking of Brahmananda Saraswati and to gain "a very
genuine feeling of complete oneness". At first Brahmachari Mahesh performed common chores but gained trust and became Guru Dev's "personal secretary" and "favored pupil".
He was trusted to take care of the bulk of Swami Brahmananda
Saraswati's correspondence without direction, and was also sent out to
give public speeches on Vedic (scriptural) themes.
The Maharishi said his life truly began in 1940, at the feet of his
master, when he learned the secret of swift and deep meditation.
Brahmachari Mahesh remained with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati until the latter died in 1953, when he moved to Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand in the Himalayas where he undertook a reclusive life for two years.
Although Brahmachari Mahesh was a close disciple, he could not be the
Shankaracharya's spiritual successor because he was not of the Brahmin caste.
The Shankaracharya, at the end of his life, charged him with the
responsibility of travelling and teaching meditation to the masses,
while he named Swami Shantananda Saraswati as his successor.
Tour in India (1955–1957)
In 1955, Brahmachari Mahesh left Uttarkashi and began publicly teaching what he stated was a traditional meditation technique learned from his master Brahmananda Saraswati, and that he called Transcendental Deep Meditation. Later the technique was renamed Transcendental Meditation.
It was also then that he was first publicly known with the name
"Maharishi" an honorific title meaning "great sage" after the title was
given to him according to some sources from "Indian Pundits" and
according to another source the honorific was given along with Yogi by
followers in India. Later in the west the title was retained as a name.
He traveled around India for two years interacting with his "Hindu audiences" in an "Indian context". At that time, he called his movement the Spiritual Development Movement, but renamed it the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in 1957, in Madras, India, on the concluding day of the Seminar of Spiritual Luminaries. According to Coplin, in his visits to southern India, the Maharishi spoke English rather than the Hindi
spoken in his home area to avoid provoking resistance among those
seeking linguistic self-determination, and to appeal to the "learned
classes".
World tours (1958–1968)
According
to William Jefferson, in 1958, the Maharishi went to Madras to address a
large crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate the memory of Guru
Dev. It was there that he spontaneously announced that he planned to
spread the teaching of TM throughout the world. Hundreds of people
immediately asked to learn TM. In 1959, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began his first world tour, writing: "I had one thing in mind, that I know something which is useful to every man".
The Maharishi's 1986 book, Thirty Years Around the World, gives a detailed account of his world tours, as do two biographies, The Story of the Maharishi, by William Jefferson, and The Maharishi by Paul Mason. The first world tour began in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) and included the countries of Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and Hawaii. He arrived in Hawaii in the spring of 1959 and the Honolulu Star Bulletin
reported: "He has no money, he asks for nothing. His worldly
possessions can be carried in one hand. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is on a
world odyssey. He carries a message that he says will rid the world of
all unhappiness and discontent."
In 1959, the Maharishi lectured and taught the Transcendental
Meditation technique in Honolulu, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston,
New York and London. While in Los Angeles the Maharishi stayed at the home of author Helena Olson, and during this period he developed a three-year plan to propagate Transcendental Meditation to the whole world. Though most of his audience consisted of average middle class individuals, he also attracted a few celebrities, such as Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Nancy Cooke de Herrera and Doris Duke.
Left to right: Michael Cooper, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Shepard Sherbell and Brian Jones; sitting: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Concertgebouw Amsterdam, 1967)
When the Maharishi came to the U.S. in 1959, his Spiritual Regeneration Movement was called Transcendental Meditation. That same year he began the International Meditation Society and other organizations to propagate his teachings, establishing centres in San Francisco and London. For years, the sole teacher of Transcendental Meditation in America was a San Diego woman named Beulah Smith.
In 1960, the Maharishi travelled to many cities in India, France,
Switzerland, England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the
Netherlands, Italy, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Africa.
While in Manchester, England, the Maharishi gave a television interview and was featured in many English newspapers such as the Birmingham Post, the Oxford Mail and the Cambridge Daily News. This was also the year in which the Maharishi trained Henry Nyburg to be the first Transcendental Meditation teacher in Europe.
In 1961, the Maharishi visited the United States, Austria, Sweden, France, Italy, Greece, India, Kenya, England, and Canada. While in England, he appeared on BBC television and gave a lecture to 5,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall in London, organised by Leon MacLaren of the School of Economic Science. In April 1961, the Maharishi conducted his first Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh, India, with sixty participants from various countries. Teachers continued to be trained as time progressed.
During the course, the Maharishi began to introduce additional
knowledge regarding the development of human potential, and began
writing his translation and commentary on the first six chapters of the
ancient Vedic text, the Bhagavad Gita.
His 1962 world tour included visits to Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand. In Britain, he founded a branch of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. The year concluded in California where the Maharishi began dictating his book The Science of Being and Art of Living.
In Rishikesh, India, beginning on 20 April 1962, a forty-day course was
held for "sadhus, sanyasis, and brahmacharis" to introduce TM to
"religious preachers and spiritual masters in India".
The Maharishi toured cities in Europe, Asia, North America and India in 1963, and also addressed ministers of the Indian Parliament.
According to his memoirs, twenty-one members of parliament then issued a
public statement endorsing the Maharishi's goals and meditation
technique. His Canadian tour was also well covered by the press.
The Maharishi's fifth world tour, in 1964, consisted of visits to many cities in North America, Europe and India. During his visit to England, he appeared with the Abbot of Downside, Abbot Butler, on a BBC television show called The Viewpoint.
In October of that year, in California, the Maharishi began teaching
the first Advanced Technique of Transcendental Meditation to some
experienced meditators. While travelling in America, the Maharishi met with Robert Maynard Hutchins, the head of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, and U Thant, the Secretary General of the United Nations. During this same year, the Maharishi finished his book The Science of Being and Art of Living, which sold more than a million copies and was published in fifteen languages.
The Maharishi’s activities in 1966 included a course in India and
a one-month tour in South America. He established Transcendental
Meditation centers in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Caracas, Venezuela; Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Bogota, Colombia.
In addition, in 1966 the Maharishi founded the Students' International Meditation Society ("SIMS"), which The Los Angeles Times later characterised as a "phenomenal success". In the 1970s, SIMS centres were established at "over one thousand campuses", including Harvard University, Yale University, and UCLA.
In 1967, the Maharishi gave a lecture at Caxton Hall in London which was attended by Leon MacLaren, the founder and leader of the School of Economic Science (SES). He also lectured at UCLA, Harvard, Yale and Berkeley. That year, an article in Time
magazine reported that the Maharishi "has been sharply criticised by
other Indian sages, who complain that his programme for spiritual peace
without either penance or asceticism contravenes every traditional Hindu
belief".
Religion and culture scholar Sean McCloud also reported that
traditional Indian sages and gurus were critical of the Maharishi, for
teaching a simple technique and making it available to everyone, and for
abandoning traditional concepts of suffering and concentration as paths
to enlightenment. At the end of 1968, the Maharishi said that after ten years of teaching and world tours, he would return to India.
Association with the Beatles
In 1967, the Maharishi's fame increased and his movement gained greater prominence when he became the "spiritual advisor to the Beatles",
though he was already well known among young people in the UK and had
already had numerous public appearances that brought him to the band's
attention. Following the Beatles' endorsement of TM, during 1967 and 1968 the Maharishi appeared on American magazine covers such as Life, Newsweek, Time and many others. He gave lectures to capacity crowds at the Felt Forum in New York City and Harvard's Sanders Hall. He also appeared on The Tonight Show and the Today TV shows.
He and the Beatles met in London in August 1967, when George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd
urged their friends to attend the Maharishi's lecture at the Hilton on
Park Lane. The band members went to study with the Maharishi in Bangor, Wales, before travelling to Rishikesh, India, in February 1968 to "devote themselves fully to his instruction". Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen left after ten days, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher left after five weeks; the group's most dedicated students, Harrison and John Lennon, departed with their wives sixteen days later. During their stay, the Beatles heard that the Maharishi had allegedly made sexual advances towards Mia Farrow. On 15 June 1968, in London, the Beatles formally renounced their association with the Maharishi as a "public mistake". "Sexy Sadie" is the title of a song Lennon wrote in response to the episode. Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi",
but changed the title at Harrison's request. Harrison commented years
later, "Now, historically, there's the story that something went on that
shouldn't have done – but nothing did." In 1992, Harrison gave a
benefit concert for the Maharishi-associated Natural Law Party, and
later apologised for the way the Maharishi had been treated by saying,
"We were very young" and "It's probably in the history books that
Maharishi 'tried to attack Mia Farrow' – but it's bullshit, total
bullshit." Cynthia Lennon wrote in 2006 that she "hated leaving on a
note of discord and mistrust, when we had enjoyed so much kindness from
the Maharishi". Asked if he forgave the Beatles, the Maharishi replied,
"I could never be upset with angels." McCartney took his daughter,
Stella, to visit the Maharishi in the Netherlands in 2007, which renewed
their friendship. The New York Times and The Independent
reported that the influence of the Maharishi, and the journey to
Rishikesh to meditate, steered the Beatles away from LSD and inspired
them to write many new songs.
In 2009, McCartney commented that Transcendental Meditation was a gift
the Beatles had received from the Maharishi at a time when they were
looking for something to stabilise them.
The Beatles' visit to the Maharishi's ashram coincided with a
thirty-participant Transcendental Meditation teacher training course
that was ongoing when they arrived. Graduates of the course included Prudence Farrow and Mike Love.
Although the Rishikesh ashram had thrived in its early days it
was eventually abandoned in 2001. By 2016, some of it had been reclaimed
with building repairs, cleared paths, a small photo museum, murals, a
cafe and charges for visitors although the site remains essentially a
ruin.
Further growth of the TM movement (1968–1990)
The Maharishi's headquarters in Seelisberg, Switzerland
In 1968, the Maharishi announced that he would stop his public
activities and instead begin the training of TM teachers at his new
global headquarters in Seelisberg, Switzerland. In 1969, he inaugurated a course in his Science of Creative Intelligence at Stanford University, which was then offered at 25 other American universities.
In 1970, the Maharishi held a TM teacher training course at a Victorian hotel in Poland Springs, Maine, with 1,200 participants. Later that year, he held a similar four-week course with 1500 participants at Humboldt State College in Arcata, California.
In 1970, after having trouble with Indian tax authorities, he moved his
headquarters to Italy, returning to India in the late 1970s. That same year, the City of Hope Foundation in Los Angeles gave the Maharishi their "Man of Hope" award.
By 1971, the Maharishi had completed 13 world tours, visited 50 countries, and held a press conference with American inventor Buckminster Fuller at his first International Symposium on SCI at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts.
From 1970 to 1973, about 10,000 people attended the Maharishi sponsored
symposia on his modern interpretation of Vedanta philosophy called
Science of Creative Intelligence. During these conferences, held at
universities, the Maharishi spoke with "leading thinkers" of the day
such as Hans Selye, Marshall McLuhan, and Jonas Salk.
The Maharishi announced his World Plan in 1972, the goal of which was to establish 3,600 TM centres around the world. That year, a TM training course was given by the Maharishi at Queen's University
and was attended by 1,000 young people from the USA and Canada. At the
start of the course, the Maharishi encouraged the attendees to improve
their appearance by getting haircuts and wearing ties. He also persuaded the U.S. Army to offer courses in TM to its soldiers and made videotaped recordings of what was thought to be the West's first comprehensive recitation of the Rig Veda.
In March 1973, the Maharishi addressed the legislature of the
state of Illinois. That same year, the legislature passed a resolution
in support of the use of Maharishi's Science of Creative Intelligence in
Illinois public schools. Later that year he organized a world conference of mayors in Switzerland.
In that same year, he also addressed 3000 educators at an American
Association of Higher Education (AAHE) conference on quality of life and
higher education.
In 1974, the Maharishi International University was founded. In October 1975, the Maharishi was pictured on the front cover of Time magazine. He made his last visit to the Spiritual Regeneration Movement centre in Los Angeles in 1975, according to film director David Lynch, who met him for the first time there.
In 1975, the Maharishi embarked on a five-continent trip to
inaugurate what he called "the Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment". The
Maharishi said the purpose of the inaugural tour was to "go around the
country and give a gentle whisper to the population".
He visited Ottawa during this tour and had a private meeting with
Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, during which he spoke about the
principles of TM and "the possibility of structuring an ideal society".
That same year, the Pittsburgh Press reported that "The Maharishi has
been criticised by other Eastern yogis for simplifying their ancient
art." The Maharishi appeared as a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in 1975 and again in 1977, and this resulted in "tens of thousands of new practitioners" around the USA.
The Maharishi during a 1979 visit to Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa
In the mid 1970s, the Maharishi's U.S. movement was operating 370 TM centres manned by 6,000 TM teachers.
At that time, the Maharishi also began approaching the business
community via an organisation called the American Foundation for SCI
(AFSCI), whose objective was to eliminate stress for business
professionals. His TM movement came to be increasingly structured along
the lines of a multinational corporation.
The teaching of TM and the Science of Creative Intelligence in a
New Jersey public school was stopped when a US court, in 1977, declared
the movement to be religious, and ruled adoption of TM by public
organisations in breach of the separation of church and state (First Amendment).
During the 1980s, the organisation continued to expand and his meditation technique continued to attract celebrities despite its "outlandish claims" and accusations of fraud from disaffected former disciples. The TM organization made a number of property investments, buying a former Rothschild mansion in England, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, Roydon Hall in Maidstone, Swythamley Park in the Peak District, and a Georgian rectory in Suffolk. In the United States, resorts and hotels, many in city centres, were purchased to be used as TM training centres. Doug Henning and the Maharishi planned a magical Vedic amusement park, Vedaland, and bought large tracts of land near Orlando, Florida, and Niagara Falls, Ontario,
to host the park. The theme park was supposed to be a gateway into
understanding the mysteries of the universe. According to the
Maharishi's official Vedic city website, "Entering Veda Land through a
secret cave on a windswept plateau high in the Himalayas the adventure
starts as one travels through a waterfall that leads to a forest where
an ancient Vedic civilization awaits to reveal the deepest secrets of
the universe (sic)".
These plans were never executed and, for Niagara Falls, Veda Land
turned out to be just another theme park proposal that never
materialized, joining an eclectic list that includes the Worlds of Jules
Verne, the Ancient Chinese City and even Canada's Wonderland when it
was first being planned. The Maharishi commissioned plans from a prominent architect for the world's tallest building, a Vedic-style pyramid to be built in São Paulo, Brazil, and to be filled with Yogic Flyers and other TM endeavours. The Maharishi founded Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a self-described educational institution located in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1982. The institution reports that it has trained 50,000 pundits in traditional Vedic recitation. In 1983, the Maharishi invited government leaders to interact with his organization called "World Government".
In January 1988, offices at the Maharishinagar complex in New
Delhi were raided by Indian tax authorities and the Maharishi and his
organisation were accused of falsifying expenses. Reports on the value of stocks, fixed-deposit notes, cash and jewels confiscated, vary from source to source.
The Maharishi, who was "headquartered in Switzerland" at the time,
reportedly moved to the Netherlands "after the Indian government accused
him of tax fraud".)
Following an earthquake in Armenia, the Maharishi trained Russian TM
teachers and set up a Maharishi Ayurveda training centre in the Urals
region.
Beginning in 1989, the Maharishi's movement began incorporating the
term "Maharishi" into the names of their new and existing entities,
concepts and programmes.
Years in Vlodrop (1991–2008)
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The Maharishi's headquarters in MERU, The Netherlands
In 1990, the Maharishi relocated his headquarters from Seelisberg, Switzerland, to a former Franciscan monastery in Vlodrop, the Netherlands, which became known as MERU, Holland, on account of the Maharishi European Research University (MERU) campus there.
During his time in Vlodrop, he communicated to the public mainly via
video and the internet. He also created a subscription-based, satellite
TV channel, called Veda Vision, which broadcast content in 22 languages
and 144 countries.
In 1991, the Maharishi called Washington D.C. a "pool of mud"
after a decade of attempts to lower the rate of crime in the city, which
had the second-largest TM community in the US. He told his followers to
leave and save themselves from its "criminal atmosphere". The Maharishi is believed to have made his final public appearance in 1991, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Deepak Chopra, described as "one of the Maharishi's top assistants before he launched his own career",
wrote that the Maharishi collapsed in 1991 with kidney and pancreas
failure, that the illness was kept secret by the Maharishi's family and
that he tended to Maharishi during a year-long recovery. According to
Chopra, the Maharishi accused him, in July 1993, of trying to compete
for the position of guru and asked him to stop travelling and writing
books, which led to Chopra's decision to leave the movement in January
1994.
As part of a world plan for peace, the Maharishi inaugurated the Natural Law Party (NLP) and calling it a "natural government". His adherents founded the NLP in 1992. It was active in forty-two countries. John Hagelin, the NLP's three-time candidate for U.S. president, denied any formal connection between the Maharishi and the party. According to spokesman Bob Roth, "The Maharishi has said the party has to grow to encompass everyone". Critics charged that the party was an effort to recruit people for Transcendental Meditation, and that it resembled "the political arm of an international corporation" more than a "home-grown political creation". The Indian arm of the NLP, the Ajeya Bharat Party, achieved electoral success, winning one seat in a state assembly in 1998. The Maharishi shut down the political effort in 2004, saying, "I had to get into politics to know what is wrong there."
In 1992, the Maharishi began to send groups of Yogic Flyers to countries like India, Brazil, China and America in an effort to promote world peace through "coherent world consciousness". In 1993 and 2003, he decided to raise the fees for learning the TM technique.
In 1997 the Maharishi's organization built the largest wooden structure in the Netherlands without using any nails.
The building was the Maharishi's residence for the last two decades of
his life. In later years, the Maharishi rarely left his two-room
quarters in order to preserve his health and energy. He used videoconferencing to communicate with the world and with his advisors. Built to Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
architectural standards, the structure, according to the Maharishi, is
said to have helped him infuse "the light of Total Knowledge" into "the
destiny of the human race".
In 2000, the Maharishi founded the Global Country of World Peace
(GCWP) "to create global world peace by unifying all nations in
happiness, prosperity, invincibility and perfect health, while
supporting the rich diversity of our world family". The Maharishi crowned Tony Nader, a physician and MIT-trained neuroscientist, as the king or Maharaja of the GCWP in 2000. The GCWP unsuccessfully attempted to establish a sovereign micronation when it offered US$1.3 billion to the President of Suriname for a 200-year lease of 3,500 acres (14 km2) of land and in 2002, attempted to choose a king for the Talamanca, a "remote Indian reservation" in Costa Rica.
In 2001, followers of the Maharishi founded Maharishi Vedic City a few miles north of Fairfield, Iowa,
in the United States. This new city requires that the construction of
its homes and buildings be done according to the Maharishi Sthapatya
Veda principles of "harmony with nature".
The Maharishi in 2007
In a 2002 appearance on the CNN show, Larry King Live,
the first time in twenty-five years that the Maharishi had appeared in
the mainstream media, he said "Transcendental Meditation is something
that can be defined as a means to do what one wants to do in a better
way, a right way, for maximum results". It was occasioned by the reissue of the Maharishi's book The Science of Being and Art of Living. That same year, the Maharishi Global Financing Research Foundation issued the "Raam" as a currency "dedicated to financing peace promoting projects".
In 2003, David Lynch
began a fundraising project to raise US$1 billion "on behalf of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" to build a meditation centre large enough to hold
8,000 skilled practitioners.
The Maharishi ordered a suspension of TM training in Britain in 2005 due to his opposition to prime minister Tony Blair's decision to support the Iraq War. The Maharishi said that he did not want to waste the "beautiful nectar" of TM on a "scorpion nation". He lifted the ban after Blair's resignation in 2007. During this period, skeptics were critical of some of the Maharishi's programmes, such as a US$10 trillion plan to end poverty through organic farming in poor countries and a US$1 billion plan to use meditation groups to end conflict.
Death
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, concerned about his health, became increasingly secluded in two rooms of his residence.
During this period he rarely had in-person meetings and instead
communicated with his followers almost exclusively by closed-circuit
television.
On 12 January 2008, his ninetieth birthday, the Maharishi declared: "It has been my pleasure at the feet of Guru Dev (Brahmananda Saraswati),
to take the light of Guru Dev and pass it on in my environment. Now
today, I am closing my designed duty to Guru Dev. And I can only say,
'Live long the world in peace, happiness, prosperity, and freedom from
suffering.'"
A week before his death, the Maharishi said that he was "stepping
down as leader of the TM movement" and "retreating into silence" and
that he planned to spend his remaining time studying "the ancient Indian
texts". The Maharishi died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes on 5 February 2008 at his residence in Vlodrop, Netherlands. The cremation and funeral rites were conducted at the Maharishi's Prayagraj ashram in India, overlooking the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
The funeral, with state honours,
was carried by Sadhana TV station and was presided over by one of the
claimants to the seat of Shankaracharya of the North, Swami
Vasudevananda Saraswati Maharaj.
Indian officials who attended the funeral included central minister
Subodh Kant Sahay; Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal; and
former Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker and state BJP leader Keshri Nath
Tripathi, as well as top local officials. Also in attendance were thirty-five rajas of the Global Country of World Peace, one-time disciple Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and David Lynch. A troop of uniformed policemen lowered their arms in salute. The funeral received its status as a state funeral because the Maharishi was a recognised master in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta founded by Shankara.
The Maharishi is survived by a brother and "a number of nephews". One nephew, Girish Chandra Varma, is chairman of the Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools Group and a "senior functionary of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement in India." Other nephews include Prakash Shrivastav, president of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools and Anand Shrivastava, chairman of the Maharishi Group.
In its obituary, BBC News
reported that the Maharishi's master had bequeathed him "the task of
keeping the tradition of Transcendental Meditation alive" and that "the
Maharishi's commercial mantras drew criticism from stricter Hindus, but
his promises of better health, stress relief and spiritual enlightenment
drew devotees from all over the world". Paul McCartney
commented saying that "Whilst I am deeply saddened by his passing, my
memories of him will only be joyful ones. He was a great man who worked
tirelessly for the people of the world and the cause of unity."
Legacy
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on a 2019 stamp of India
The Maharishi left a legacy that includes the revival of India's
ancient spiritual tradition of meditation, which he made available to
everyone. He is considered responsible for the popularisation of meditation in the west,
something he accomplished by teaching Transcendental Meditation
worldwide through a highly effective organization of his own
development.
The Maharishi is also credited with "the proposal of the existence of a
unique or fourth state of consciousness with a basis in physiology" and
the application of scientific studies to research on the physiological
effects of Transcendental Meditation and the development of higher
states of consciousness, areas previously relegated to mysticism. Partly because of this, Newsweek credited him with helping to launch "a legitimate new field of neuroscience". According to the Times of India
his "unique and enduring contribution to humankind was his deep
understanding of – and mechanics of experiencing – pure consciousness". A memorial building, the Maharishi Smarak, was inaugurated at Prayagraj in February 2013.
Philosophy and teaching
The Maharishi had come out to teach with the "avowed intention" to change "the course of human history".
When he first began teaching he had three main aims: to revive the
spiritual tradition in India, to show that meditation was for everyone
and not just for recluses, and to show that Vedanta is compatible with
science.
The Maharishi had a message of happiness, writing in 1967 that "being
happy is of the utmost importance. Success in anything is through
happiness. Under all circumstances be happy. Just think of any
negativity that comes at you as a raindrop falling into the ocean of
your bliss". His philosophy featured the concept that "within everyone is an unlimited reservoir of energy, intelligence, and happiness". He emphasised the naturalness of his meditation technique as a simple way of developing this potential.
Beginning in 1962, the Maharishi began to recommend the daily practice of yoga exercises or asanas to further accelerate growth.
He also taught that practising Transcendental Meditation twice a
day would create inner peace and that "mass meditation sessions" could
create outer peace by reducing violence and war. According to a TM website, the performance of yagyas by 7,000 pandits
in India, plus hundreds of Yogic Flyers in Germany, brought "coherence
and unity in the collective consciousness of Germany" and caused the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
One religion scholar, Michael York, considers the Maharishi to have
been the most articulate spokesman for the spiritual argument that a
critical mass of people becoming enlightened through the practice of
"meditation and yogic discipline" will trigger the New Age movement's
hoped-for period of postmillennial "peace, harmony, and collective consciousness".
Religious studies scholar Carl Olson writes that the TM technique was
based on "a neo-Vedanta metaphysical philosophy in which an unchanging
reality is opposed to an ever-changing phenomenal world" and that the
Maharishi says it is not necessary to renounce worldly activities to
gain enlightenment, unlike other ascetic traditions.
According to author Jack Forem, the Maharishi stated that the
experience of transcendence, which resulted in a naturally increasing
refinement of mind and body, enabled people to naturally behave in more
correct ways. Thus, behavioral guidelines did not need to be issued, and
were best left to the teachings of various religions: "It is much
easier to raise a man's consciousness than to get him to act
righteously" the Maharishi said.
Some religious studies scholars have further said that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is one of a number of Indian gurus who brought neo-Hindu adaptations of Vedantic Hinduism to the west. Author Meera Nanda calls neo-Hinduism "the brand of Hinduism that is taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Deepak Chopra, and their clones".
J. R. Coplin, a sociologist and MIU graduate, says that the Maharishi
saw his own purpose as "the 'revival' of the knowledge of an integrated
life based upon Vedic principles and Vedantist reality".
Author Barry Miles writes that, in spite of the media's
scepticism for the Maharishi's spiritual message, they seized upon him
because young people seemed to listen to his pro-establishment,
anti-drug message with one TM participant saying the Maharishi "signaled
the beginning of the post-acid generation".
Transcendental Meditation
During a CNN interview in 2002, the Maharishi said "Transcendental
meditation is something that can be defined as a means to do what one
wants to do in a better way, a right way, for maximum results". His movement offered in-residence style TM advanced courses. By the time of his death, there were nearly 1,000 TM training centres around the world.
The Maharishi is credited as having contributed to the western
world a meditation technique that is both simple and systematic as well
as introducing the scientific study of meditation.
In the mid 1970s, the Maharishi began the TM-Sidhi programme,
which included Yogic Flying, as an additional option for those who had
been practising the Transcendental Meditation technique for some time.
According to Coplin, this new aspect of knowledge emphasised not only
the individual, but also the collective benefits created by group
practice of this advanced programme. This new programme gave rise to a new principle called the Maharishi Effect, which is said to "create coherence in the collective consciousness" and to suppress crime, violence, and accidents.
Maharishi Vedic Science
Entrance to the Maharishi University of Management and Maharishi Vedic University campus in Vlodrop, the Netherlands
Maharishi Vedic Science (MVS) is based on the Maharishi's interpretation of the ancient Vedic texts based on his master, Brahmananda Saraswati's teachings. MVS aims to put forward traditional Vedic literature in the light of Western traditions of knowledge and understanding. According to Roy Ascott,
MVS also explains the potential for every human being to experience the
infinite nature of transcendental consciousness, also defined as Being
or Self, while engaged in normal activities of daily life.
Once this state is fully established an individual is no longer
influenced by outer aspects of existence and perceives pure
consciousness in everything.
MVS includes two aspects, the practical aspect of the Transcendental
Meditation technique and the TM-Sidhi programme, as well as the
theoretical aspect of how MVS is applied to day to day living. These applications include programmes in: Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH); Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, a mathematical system for the design and construction of buildings; Maharishi Gandharva Veda, a form of classical Indian music; Maharishi Jyotish (also known as Maharishi Vedic Astrology),
a system claiming the evaluation of life tendencies of an individual;
Maharishi Vedic Agriculture, a trademarked process for producing fresh,
organic food; and Consciousness-Based Education. According to educator James Grant, a former Maharishi University of Management
Associate Professor of Education and the former Dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, Maharishi brought out a "full revival of the Vedic
tradition of knowledge from India" and demonstrated its relevance in
many areas including education, business, medicine and government.
Publications
The Maharishi wrote more than twenty books on the Transcendental Meditation technique and Maharishi Vedic Science.
The Beacon Light of the Himalayas
In 1955, the organisers of the Great Spiritual Development Conference of Kerala published The Beacon Light of the Himalayas,
a transcribed 170-page "souvenir" of the conference. Authors
Chryssides, Humes and Forsthoefel, Miller, and Russel cite this as the
Maharishi's first published book on Transcendental Meditation, although
Transcendental Meditation is not mentioned in the text of the book.
The book is dedicated to Maharshi Bala Brahmachari Mahesh Yogi Rajaram
by his devotees of Kerala and contains photographs, letters and lectures
by numerous authors which appear in various languages such as English,
Hindi and Sanskrit.
Science of Being and Art of Living
In 1963, the Maharishi audiotaped the text of the book Science of Being and Art of Living, which was later transcribed and published in fifteen languages.
K.T. Weidmann describes the book as the Maharishi's fundamental
philosophical treatise, one in which its author provides an illustration
of the ancient Vedic traditions of India in terms that can be easily
interpreted and understood by the scientific thinking of the western
world. In the Science of Being,
the Maharishi illustrates the concepts of relative existence as the
experience of everyday reality through one's senses, and absolute
reality as the origin of being, and the source of all creative
intelligence.
The Maharishi describes this absolute reality, or Being, as unchanging,
omnipresent, and eternal. He also identifies it with bliss
consciousness. The two aspects of reality, the relative and the
absolute, are like an ocean with many waves.
The waves represent the relative, and the ocean beneath is the
foundation of everything, or Being. Establishing oneself in the field of
Being, or unchanging reality, ensures stability.
In his Science of Being the Maharishi introduced an
additional concept: that of fulfillment viewed as something to be
obtained not through exertion or self effort, but through the
progressive settling of the mind during the practice of TM. This was the first full systematic description of the principles underlying the Maharishi's teachings.
Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation and Commentary: 1967
In his 1967 publication, Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation and Commentary,
the Maharishi describes the Bhagavad Gita as "the Scripture of Yoga".
He says that "its purpose is to explain in theory and practice all that
is needed to raise the consciousness of man to the highest possible
level."
According to Peter Russell, the Bhagavad-Gita deals with the concept of
loss of knowledge and subsequent revival, and this is brought out by
the Maharishi himself in the introduction.
In the Preface, the Maharishi writes: "The purpose of this commentary
is to restore the fundamental truths of the Bhagavad-Gita and thus
restore the significance of its teaching. If this teaching is followed,
effectiveness in life will be achieved, men will be fulfilled on all
levels and the historical need of the age will be fulfilled also."
A second concept, that of freedom, presented as the antithesis of fear, is also prevalent in the book, according to Jack Forem.
Forem states that in his interpretation of the Gita, the Maharishi
expressed several times that as man gains greater awareness through the
practice of Transcendental Meditation, he gradually establishes a level
of contentment which remain increasingly grounded within him and in
which the mind does not waver and is not affected by either attachment
or fear.
Characterizations
The Maharishi was reported to be a vegetarian, an entrepreneur, a monk and "a spiritual man who sought a world stage from which to espouse the joys of inner happiness".
He was described as an abstemious man with tremendous energy who took a
weekly day of silence while sleeping only two hours per night.
He did not present himself as a guru or claim his teachings as his own.
Instead he taught "in the name of his guru Brahmananda Saraswati" and paid tribute to him by placing a picture of Saraswati behind him when he spoke. He was on a mission to bring the ancient techniques of TM to the world. Scientist and futurist Buckminster Fuller
spent two days with the Maharishi at a symposium at the University of
Massachusetts in 1971 and said, "You could not meet with Maharishi
without recognizing instantly his integrity." Authors Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley write that the Maharishi did not claim any "special divine revelation nor supernatural personal qualities".
Still others said he helped to "inspire the anti-materialism of the
late 60s" and received good publicity because he "opposed drugs".
According to author Chryssides, "The Maharishi tended to emphasize the
positive aspects of humanity, focusing on the good that exists in
everyone."
According to The Times
the Maharishi attracted scepticism because of his involvement with
wealthy celebrities, his business acumen, and his love of luxury,
including touring in a Rolls-Royce. A reporter for The Economist
calls this a "misconception" saying: "He did not use his money for
sinister ends. He neither drank, nor smoked, nor took drugs. ... He did
not accumulate scores of Rolls-Royces, like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; his biggest self-indulgence was a helicopter. "
When some observers questioned how his organisation's money was being
used, the Maharishi said, "It goes to support the centres, it does not
go on me. I have nothing."
He was often referred to as the "Giggling Guru" because of his habit of laughing during television interviews. Diminutive at a little over five feet tall, the Maharishi often wore a traditional cotton or silk, white dhoti while carrying or wearing flowers. He often sat cross-legged on a deerskin and had a "grayish-white beard, mustache and long, dark, stringy hair". Barry Miles described the Maharishi as having "liquid eyes, twinkling but inscrutable with the wisdom from the East". Miles said the Maharishi in his seventies looked much younger than his age.
He had a high pitched voice and in the words of Merv Griffin, "a long
flowing beard and a distinctive, high pitched laugh that I loved to
provoke".
Biographer Paul Mason's web site says that Swami Swaroopananda, one of three claimants to the title Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, is "an outspoken critic" of the Maharishi. According to Swaroopananda, the Maharishi "was responsible for the controversy over Shankaracharyas"
because he gave Shankaracharya Swami Shantanand encouragement and
assistance in fighting the court case which challenged Shantanand's
inheritance of the title. In a review of the documentary film David Wants to Fly, Variety
magazine reported Swaroopananda's assertion that "as a member of the
trader class" the Maharishi "has no right to give mantras or teach
meditation". According to religious scholar Cynthia Humes, enlightened individuals of any caste may "teach brahmavidya"
and author Patricia Drake writes that "when Guru Dev was about to die
he charged Maharishi with teaching laymen ... to meditate". Mason says Shantanand "publicly commended the practice of the Maharishi's meditation" and sociologist J.R. Coplin says that Shantanand's successor, Swami Vishnudevanand, also "speaks highly of the Maharishi".
While the Beatles were in Rishikesh allegations of sexual
improprieties by the Maharishi in his ashram were circulated but
participants later denied them and no law suits were ever filed.
Popular culture
The British satirical magazine Private Eye ridiculed him as "Veririchi Lotsamoney Yogi Bear". The Maharishi was also parodied by comedians Bill Dana and Joey Forman in the 1968 comedy album The Mashuganishi Yogi, by comedian Mike Myers in the film The Love Guru, and in the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. He was portrayed by actor Gerry Bednob in the 2007 film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
He was also the subject of The Beatles' song Sexy Sadie. In an episode of the popular BBC Radio 4 fictional comedy show Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge a comment is made about Yogi when Partridge is interviewing a spiritual man comparing him to Buddha, Dalai Lama, Uri Geller and "that man The Beatles went to see..."
Other initiatives, projects and programmes
Maharishi International University (renamed Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in 1995), the first university the Maharishi founded, began classes in Santa Barbara, California, in 1973. In 1974 the university moved to Fairfield, Iowa,
where it remains today. The university houses a library of the
Maharishi's taped lectures and writings, including the
thirty-three-lesson Science of Creative Intelligence course, originally a series of lectures given by the Maharishi in Fiuggi, Italy, in 1972. Described in the MUM university catalogue as combining modern science and Vedic science, the course also defines certain higher states of consciousness, and gives guidance on how to attain these states.
Though the university claims to grant PhDs, including in neuroscience
and psychology, the university is not accredited by either the America
Psychological Association (APA) or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
MCEE School Campus at Bhopal, India
The Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools
(MVMS), an educational system established in sixteen Indian states and
affiliated with the New Delhi Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE), was founded in 1995 by the Maharishi. It has 148 branches in 118 cities with 90,000 to 100,000 students and 5,500 teaching and support staff.
In 1998, Maharishi Open University was founded by the Maharishi.
It was accessible via a network of eight satellites broadcasting to
every country in the world, and via the Internet.
The Maharishi also introduced theories of management, defence, and government programmes designed to alleviate poverty, and introduced a new economic development currency called the Raam.
In 2000, the Maharishi began building administrative and teaching
centres called "Peace Palaces" around the world, and by 2008 at least
eight had been constructed in the US alone.
The Maharishi Institute, an African university that is part of a group
of schools around the world that are named after him, was founded in
2007 and uses his Transcendental Meditation technique in their teaching.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in his farewell message on 11 January
2008, announced the establishment of the Brahmananda Saraswati Trust
(BST), named in honour of his teacher, to support large groups totalling
more than 30,000 peace-creating Vedic Pandits in perpetuity across
India. The Patron of the Brahmanand Saraswati Trust is the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math.
Organizations and businesses
The
Maharishi is credited with heading charitable organisations, for-profit
businesses, and real estate investments whose total value has been
estimated at various times, to range from US$2 to US$5 billion. The real estate alone was valued in 2003 at between $3.6 and $5 billion.
Holdings in the United States, estimated at $250 million in 2008,
include dozens of hotels, commercial buildings and undeveloped land. The Maharishi "amassed a personal fortune that his spokesman told one reporter may exceed $1 billion". According to a 2008 article in The Times, the Maharishi "was reported to have an income of six million pounds".
The Maharishi's movement is said to be funded through donations, course
fees for Transcendental Meditation and various real estate
transactions.
In his biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Story of the
Maharishi (published 1976), William Jefferson suggests that the
financial aspect of the TM organisation was one of the greatest
controversies it faced. Questions were raised about the Maharishi's
mission, comments from leaders of the movement at that time, and fees
and charges the TM organisation levied on followers. Jefferson says that
the concerns with money came from journalists more than those who have
learned to meditate.
Published works
- Beacon Light of the Himalayas, Azad Printers, 1955
- Meditation : easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi., International Meditation Centre, 1962
- Science of Being and Art of Living – Transcendental Meditation, Allied Publishers, 1963 ISBN 0-452-28266-7
- Love and God, Spiritual Regeneration Movement, 1965
- Yoga asanas, Spiritual Regeneration Movement, 1965
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita – A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1–6, Arkana 1990 ISBN 0-14-019247-6
- Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Bantam books, 1968
- Alliance for knowledge, Maharishi International University, 1974
- Creating an ideal society: a global undertaking, International Association for the Advancement of the Science of Creative Intelligence, 1976
- Results of scientific research on the Transcendental Meditation program, MERU Press, 1976
- Enlightenment to every individual, invincibility to every nation, Age of Enlightenment, 1978 ISBN 99911-608-9-2
- Freedom behind bars: enlightenment to every individual and invincibility to every nation, International Association for the Advancement of the Science of Creative Intelligence, 1978
- Dawn of the age of enlightenment, MVU Press, 1986 ISBN 978-90-71750-02-1
- Life supported by natural law : discovery of the Unified Field of all the laws of nature and the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1986 ISBN 978-0-89186-051-8
- Thirty years around the world: dawn of the Age of Enlightenment, Maharishi Vedic University, 1986 ISBN 978-90-71750-01-4
- Maharishi's Programme to create world peace: global inauguration, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1987 ISBN 978-0-89186-052-5
- Maharishi's master plan to create heaven on earth, Maharishi Vedic University Press, 1991 ISBN 978-90-71750-11-3
- A Proven program for our criminal justice system: Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and Corrections, Maharishi International University, 1993
- Vedic knowledge for everyone: Maharishi Vedic University, an introduction, Maharishi Vedic University Press, 1994 ISBN 90-71750-17-5
- Maharishi's Absolute Theory of Government – Automation in Administration, Maharishi Prakshan, 1995 ISBN 81-7523-002-9
- Maharishi University of Management – Wholeness on the Move, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1995 ISBN 81-7523-001-0
- Constitution of India Fulfilled through Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1996 ISBN 81-7523-004-5
- Inaugurating Maharishi Vedic University, Maharishi Vedic University Press, 1996 ISBN 978-81-7523-006-4
- Maharishi's Absolute Theory of Defence – Sovereignty in Invincibility, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1996 ISBN 81-7523-000-2
- Celebrating Perfection in Education – Dawn of Total Knowledge, Maharishi Vedic University Press, 1997 ISBN 81-7523-013-4
- Maharishi Forum of Natural Law and National Law for Doctors – Perfect Health for Everyone, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1997 ISBN 81-7523-003-7
- Maharishi Speaks to Educators – Mastery Over Natural Law, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1997 ISBN 81-7523-008-8
- Maharishi Speaks to Students – Mastery Over Natural Law, Age of Enlightenment Publications, 1997 ISBN 81-7523-012-6
- Celebrating Perfection in Administration, Maharishi Vedic University, 1998 ISBN 81-7523-015-0
- Ideal India – The Lighthouse of Peace on Earth, Maharishi University of Management, 2001 ISBN 90-806005-1-2
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Bhagavad-Gita – Chapter 7, 2009, Maharishi Foundation International-Maharishi Vedic University, The Netherlands
- Discography
- The master speaks, World Pacific Records, 1967
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