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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1978
Personal
Born
Mahesh Prasad Varma

12 January 191?[Note 1]
Rajim, Central Provinces and Berar, British India (present-day Chhattisgarh, India) [1]
Died (aged 89–98)
Vlodrop, Limburg, Netherlands
ReligionHinduism
Organization
Founder of
PhilosophyTranscendental Meditation
Senior posting
GuruBrahmananda Saraswati
HonoursMaharishi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191?[Note 1] – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new religious movement and as non-religious.[7][8] He became known as Maharishi (meaning "great seer")[1][9] and Yogi as an adult.[10][11]

After earning a degree in physics at Allahabad University in 1942, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became an assistant and disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (also known as Guru Dev), the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of the Jyotir Math 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.[12] His devotees referred to him as His Holiness,[13] and because he laughed frequently in early TV interviews, he was sometimes referred to as the "giggling guru."[14][15][16]

The Maharishi 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,[1][17][18] while TM websites report that tens of thousands have 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.[19] 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; in 2008, the organization placed the value of their United States assets at about $300 million.[1]

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, which proposed to improve the mind–body relationship of practitioners through techniques such as Yogic flying.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]


Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ a b c d Koppel, Lily (6 February 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader, Dies". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Powell, James (13 March 2008). "His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1911*-2008". The Independent.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Una Kroll was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jefferson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Ruthven, Malise (5 February 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Woo, Elaine (6 February 2008). "Guru brought meditation West". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ Beckford, James A. (1985). Cult controversies: the societal response to new religious movements. Tavistock Publications. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-422-79630-9.
  8. ^ Parsons, Gerald (1994). The Growth of Religious Diversity: Traditions. The Open University/Methuen. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-415-08326-3.
  9. ^ Weidmann, K.T. (1999). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". In von Dehsen, Christian (ed.). Philosophers and Religious Leaders: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World. Greenwood. p. 120. ISBN 978-1573561525.
  10. ^ Mason (1994), p. 28
  11. ^ Goldberg, Philip (2010). American Veda: from Emerson and the Beatles to yoga and meditation. Harmony Books, Crown Publishing/Random House. p. 362. ISBN 9780307719614.
  12. ^ Oates, Robert M. (1976). Celebrating the dawn: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the TM technique. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-399-11815-9.
  13. ^ Carlton, Jim (15 April 1991). "For $1,500 a Head, Maharishi Promises Mellower Inmates --- Transcendental Meditation Goes to Prison as Backers Try to Lock Up Contracts". The Wall Street Journal. New York, N.Y. p. A.1.
  14. ^ Shankar, Jay (6 February 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  15. ^ Richardson, Mark (12 October 1993). "A leap of faith". The Ottawa Citizen. p. A.1.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Woo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Hudson, Alexandra (6 February 2008). "Beatles Indian Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010.
  18. ^ Page, Jeremy; Hoyle, Ben (6 February 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies a Recluse". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011.
  19. ^ "Gifts of the Global Country of World Peace: Education Products Services". gifts.globalgoodnews.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  20. ^ Warren, Jenifer (27 October 1995). "Party Asks Voters to Put Their Faith in Meditation; Politics: Skeptics scoff at Natural Law Party's answer to nation's ills, but backers say they have more to offer". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Koppel2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Srinivasan, 2008. Hinduism For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.

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