Biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yoga. Maharishi Mahesh Yoga sect "transcendental meditation"

Biography

Little is known about the early life of Mahesh Prasad Varma. In his youth, Mahesh studied physics at the University of Allahabad. In addition to his studies, he worked in factories for some time.

He became interested in the activities of spiritual teachers and when Guru Dev Brahamanda Saraswati visited Allahabad, he became his follower. After graduating from university, Mahesh spent thirteen years with Guru Dev Brahamanda Saraswati in the Himalayas, becoming his closest disciple.

In 1953, after thirteen years of service with Guru Dev, the Maharishi retired to the caves of the Valley of Saints in Uttarkashi (Himalayas). But after two years of seclusion, in 1955, he returned to the world and settled in the state of Kerala in southern India. Here, a monk from the North was delighted and invited him to read a weekly cycle of lectures on the knowledge gained in the Himalayas. The interest in his first lectures was so great that by the seventh lecture the hall was overcrowded, and for six months he lectured in various cities throughout the state. The result of this activity was his first book, The Light of the Himalayas Lighthouse, in which Maharishi told that through Transcendental Meditation reborn true meaning Vedic sacred texts.

In 1957, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced his The theory of transcendental meditation (TM) at the Festival of Spiritual Luminaries, and then disseminated it through an organization called the Spiritual Revival Movement (eng. Spiritual Regeneration Movement ).

The Maharishi and the TM technique quickly gained acceptance among the people, which inspired them to ask him to create a worldwide movement for spiritual revival. And in 1958 such a movement was organized, laying a solid foundation for the further dissemination of Vedic knowledge.

In 1958, Maharishi traveled to the East, visited Singapore and Hawaii, and at the beginning of 1959 he came to California, where he taught TM to interested people for several months. The huge interest in Vedic knowledge in the United States made it possible to organize a permanent center of the Movement. The same thing happened in New York and Europe. And in the 1960s, the hippie movement also made a great contribution to the spread of TM in the United States.

In the end, Maharishi realized that he could no longer teach TM to everyone, and decided to start training TM teachers. In the early 1970s, Maharishi launched the TM World Plan, which involved the creation of one TM training center for every million of the world's population. He managed to create then many such centers, and by the beginning of the XXI century there were 5 million people in the world who officially studied the TM technique in educational centers. In Russia, the mass enthusiasm for meditation and, in particular, transcendental meditation, fell on the late 1980s - early 1990s.

Spreading the teachings

Initially, teacher training took place in India, in small town Rishikesh, where the Ganges descends from the Himalayas. This is the place from which the pilgrimage of many Hindus begins. Here outside the city, on a steep forested hill, Maharishi built Ashram Vedic Center... There, future TM teachers mastered the skill of teaching. The first enrollment was about thirty listeners, but by 1960 this number had increased to two hundred. Faced with a growing need for teachers, Maharishi also opened teacher training courses in Europe, where he was able to provide training for thousands or more.

In 1960, Maharishi gave his organization a new name - International Meditation Society... And in 1963 it was created and International Student Meditation Society, since the activities of Maharishi aroused great interest in student and youth circles. At the same time, Western scientists began to show great interest in the physiological and psychological effects of TM, as a result of which TM gained recognition in the scientific community.

All this led to the creation Maharishi International University (MIU), in which education is based on the Science of Creative Mind (SCI), a teaching that synthesizes TM study with traditional academic disciplines. The purpose of this new science- applying the benefits and advantages of TM for the prosperity of people in all aspects of life.

By 1965, through his centers, Maharishi had already trained a total of about ten thousand TM teachers, the number of TM teachers in America alone amounted to 550,000 people, and worldwide - more than 1 million, and the growth of the movement was already 35,000 people a month.

The huge interest in TM turned out to be characteristic not only of America and Europe. TM is taught today in almost every country in the world, but the greatest interest in the teaching is in India.

Today Maharishi Open University broadcasts his lectures using satellite TV to 120 countries of the world in 21 languages. The university's programs are designed for people of all ages. Their task is to revive the qualities of pure knowledge and endless organizing power in the minds of people, which should serve as the basis for perfection in the personal life of each person and the basis for life in harmony throughout the Earth.

Today Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is widely recognized as an eminent scholar in the field of human consciousness and one of the most famous in modern world guru. Maharishi revived Vedic literature, which had existed for many thousands of years in a fragmented form, and systematized it in the form of a complete science of consciousness in all its theoretical and practical significance.

Science of the Creative Mind

The Science of Creative Mind is the theory behind the Transcendental Meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In fact, it is a modernized re-interpretation of the fundamental teachings of the Advaita Vedanta of Shankaracharya, in which Sanskrit terms are replaced by modern scientific ones. Thanks to this presentation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi managed to instill a technology originally developed by Indians and for Indians, on the basis of skeptical Western culture.

States of consciousness

Along with the states of consciousness known from psychology as "wakefulness", "sleep without dreams" and "sleep with dreams", Maharishi speaks of the existence of four additional states, still unknown to science or unrecognized by it. He calls them: "transcendental consciousness", "cosmic consciousness", "divine consciousness" and "Oneness". At the heart of these seven states is the "creative mind", thanks to which they all become possible.

Transcendental Consciousness

Maharishi teaches that "duality is the main cause of suffering." His technique for overcoming this duality begins with the practice of dhyana, which he calls Transcendental Meditation. Maharishi indicates an increasing "charm" as the mind is allowed to follow its natural tendency to "enter the region of greater happiness" by sinking into more subtle states of thought with the help of mantra. He describes ever more subtle levels of one-pointedness as increasing bliss and greatness.

The following, often cited description of the nature of TM given by Maharishi, describes well the narrowing of attention to the object of meditation and going beyond this object. Transcendental meditation, he says, leads to "... a turn of attention to more and more subtle levels of thought, until the mind transcends the subtlest state of thought and reaches the very source of thought ...". Bliss is said to come with peace of mind. The purpose of the mantra is what Maharishi calls "transcendental consciousness": when the mind "attains a direct experience of bliss, it loses all contact with the outside world and is content with a state of transcendental Bliss-Consciousness."

Cosmic Consciousness

Following the "transcendental consciousness" is the "cosmic consciousness", which Maharishi calls the introduction of dhyana or transcendental meditation in a state of wakefulness and sleep. This is done by alternating periods of normal activity with periods of meditation. According to Maharishi, “true virtue is acquired only through repeated entry into samadhi,” and purification is not a cause, but, on the contrary, a consequence of transcendence. As a result, Maharishi denies the necessity of imposing a vow of renunciation on himself, claiming that regular practice will gradually remove all obstacles and obscurations from life.

Maharishi describes the transition from the transcendental to the cosmic consciousness: “From this state of pure Being, the mind again returns to the mental experiences of the relative world ... With practice, the ability of the mind to maintain its inherent nature during the perception of objects through the senses increases. When this happens, the mind and its inherent nature become one, and the mind acquires the ability to retain its true nature (Being), being immersed in thinking, talking or doing. "

This becomes possible because a person who is in a state of "cosmic consciousness" already has the experience of transitions to the state of dhyana, in which all sense of perception disappears. In the waking state, he remains somewhat detached from the sense of perception, despite the fact that at the same time he is more sensitive to both his inner thoughts and external events. Maharishi describes this as a state in which two different levels of organization function nervous system- transcendental consciousness and wakefulness. Usually these levels suppress each other, but here they function side by side, retaining their unique characteristics. "Silence," says Maharishi, "is experienced with activity, but nevertheless separate from it."

If, before a person attains the state of "cosmic consciousness", the effects of everyday meditations are erased over time, and the meditator must constantly renew them with regular practice, then in the state of "cosmic consciousness" these effects are constantly present. The meditator discovers that such a state is present as “ pure consciousness»Under any circumstances and in any activity. According to Maharishi, “life in cosmic consciousness is effortless ... an enlightened person lives full life... His actions, free from desires, serve only what the current moment in time requires. He no longer has a personal interest in acquisitions. He is absorbed in the fulfillment of the cosmic purpose, and therefore nature directs his actions. That is why he does not need to worry about his needs. His needs are the needs of nature, which takes care of their fulfillment, while he himself is an instrument in the hands of the Divine. "

Divine Consciousness

The next step in advancement is the "divine consciousness", which arises as a result of service while staying in the "cosmic consciousness". In the "divine consciousness" the meditator perceives all things as sacred: "everything is naturally experienced in the realization of God." At first, says Maharishi, this state of oneness of dissimilarities can be overwhelming, and the meditator can immerse himself deeply in it, however, gradually, "divine consciousness" begins to merge with other activities, just as earlier "transcendental consciousness" was mixed with normal states to become "cosmic consciousness."

In "divine consciousness" the meditator renounces his individuality. This is the "most pure state" in which the meditator overcomes the slightest traces of any impurity in thoughts and deeds: now he exists in direct harmony with nature and the Divine. Achieving "divine consciousness", according to Maharishi, leads to a transformation in which a person is conscious of God in all aspects of creation.

Unity

The next stage of advancement for the TM adherent can be a state called "oneness." Consciousness at this stage becomes so refined that the meditator perceives all things as they are, without any illusion.

Meaning

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Founded the Transcendental Meditation program and created the worldwide Spiritual Revival Movement (1957).

He laid the foundation for research in the field of consciousness and outlined the theory of seven states of consciousness (1957-1967).

In 1968, members of the legendary group The Beatles became Maharishi's students. But, subsequently, they became disillusioned with the Guru and with his teaching. After visiting the Guru, John Lennon wrote the sarcastic song Sexy Sadie. The reason for writing was a quickly spreading rumor that during an individual session, Maharishi attempted to rape actress Mia Farrow. Cynthia Lennon, the wife of John Lennon, who attended the Maharishi's ashram in India with the Beatles, wrote about this incident (A Twist of Lennon, 1978): happier days , until trouble rolled up to our doorstep. I was terribly worried, because it all seemed to me a wild absurdity: some rumors, unproven actions, unconfirmed statements. The finger of suspicion was directed at the man who gave us so much and in so many ways on the Maharishi. Alexis and one girl, also a student of meditation, began to sow seeds of doubt in open souls. Open because meditation, practiced over a long period, makes the meditator extremely receptive to any open and strong "vibration". His psyche becomes sensitive. Alexis's statements about how badly Maharishi had treated a certain lady, and what a villain he turned out to be, fell on susceptible soil and began to gain strength. Moreover, I must emphasize this, without any evidence or evidence. It was clear to me why Alex did it: Maharishi pushed him out of the heart of the Beatles and he took revenge on him for it. Wanting to get out of the game, he dragged the Beatles with him. George and John were in such a state of mind that Alex's rumor threw them into a strange confusion. They could not objectively understand this matter. All night long there was a heated debate over whether the accusations of Alexis and that girl could be believed. One meditator was particularly distrustful of Alexis. He said that he saw Alexis in that girl's room under rather incriminating circumstances. He believed that Alexis was having an unhealthy influence on the girl. “Actually, there’s something wrong here,” he said. I thought so too. The result of the night showdown was Alexis' victory. In my opinion, it was a great misfortune. The confusion caused by the false accusations gave rise to mistrust and anger. The atmosphere was electrified. The fog of an unreal situation enveloped us again, and it was impossible to fight against it. Everything happened so quickly and with such precision of sight that the situation was irreversible. Maharishi was accused and sentenced, unable to defend himself. All bad thoughts rushed back, faith was undermined, and the next morning, before we woke up, the wheel began to turn: Alexis ordered a taxi that was supposed to take us to the airport. That's how quickly things went wrong. When John and George came to Maharishi and announced to him that they were leaving, the Master was sincerely upset. The accusations were based on unverified rumors, the Beatles were shocked and angry at what they were told, but they did not give Maharishi a chance to defend themselves. When he asked why they were leaving him, they replied: "If you have cosmic consciousness, as you claim, then you should know why we are leaving." With these words, they left him and returned to the refectory, where we were all waiting for them. Never before have I packed my things with such a heavy heart. I felt: what we are doing is not that, not at all. How can you judge a person who didn’t do anything bad to us, but, on the contrary, gave us so much happiness ... But what happened just before the departure turned my whole soul out. Waiting for a taxi, we sat behind dining table and spoke in whispers. Everyone was clearly tormented by remorse. Maharishi emerged from his stone tent and positioned himself less than a hundred yards from our agitated dissident group. One of his faithful disciples approached us and said that Master invites all of us to talk quietly about everything. He added that Maharishi is very upset, wants to settle everything and convince us to stay. I almost burst into tears. It was so heartbreakingly touching. The Maharishi, all alone, sat under a small thatched shed and looked like the biblical patriarch, alone in his faith. Power was taken away from him, putting forward unsubstantiated accusations, and, apparently, no one wanted to respond to his call to reason and humanity. The guys were adamant. They had already made a decision, burned the bridges behind them, and now nothing could convince them. They stood up and walked past him in a chain without a word. This picture will never fade from my memory. It may sound melodramatic, but at that moment I had a clear feeling that here, in the mountains of India, I see a repetition of the biblical scene: the disciples are denying Jesus. This does not mean that I equate Maharishi with Jesus, but for me it was seeker dreamed of better world, and here we are, a group of people who have a huge impact on the youth of the world, maybe we are destroying all the good that he did. The only person other than the Beatles, to whom the youth listened, was now vilified and henceforth receded into the shadows. "Actress Mia Farrow also denies this incident in her autobiography. support for Transcendental Meditation In connection with the death of Maharishi in 2007, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr stated the following: “Even though I am deeply saddened by his passing, my memories of him will always be bright,” McCartney said. working tirelessly for the people of the whole world and for the sake of unity. I will never forget the dedication he wrote in the book he once gave me. It reads: "Light, bliss, consciousness", and for me these words mean a lot. I will miss him, but I will always think of him with a smile. ”“ One of the sages I have met in my life was the Maharishi, ”Starr said. knows where he is going. "

Created a new science - the Science of Creative Reason - and trained 2000 teachers of this science (1972); there are currently over 40,000 teachers of the Science of Creative Mind in the world.

He discovered the Constitution of the Universe - the living potential of natural law in the Rig Veda and the structuring dynamic processes of the Rig Veda in all Vedic literature (1975).

Celebrated the Rise of the Age of Enlightenment based on the discovery of the Maharishi Effect (1975).

Created the world government of the Age of Enlightenment, based on the awareness of the invincibility of Natural Law (1976).

Developed the TM-Sidhi program and the experience of the seething bliss of Yogic flight to create maximum coherence of the mind and body of the individual consciousness and the coherence of the world consciousness (1976).

Formulated his theories of government, education, health and defense for the rise of every area of life to perfection (1977).

He revealed the meaning of Apaurusheya Bhasya - a commentary to the Rig-Veda, describing it as a structure of consciousness that generates and perpetuates itself (1980).

He systematized Vedic literature, which existed for many centuries in a scattered form, as literature perfect science- Maharishi Vedic Science and Technology (1981).

Revealed the full potential of Ayurveda, Gandharva Veda, Dhanur Veda, Sthapatya Veda and Jyotish to create a family of nations free from diseases and problems (1985).

Formulated the Master Plan for the creation of Paradise on Earth for the reconstruction of the whole world both from the inside and outside (1988).

Created the Higher Science of Politics, with the introduction of automatism in management and inspired the creation of the party of Natural Law in the countries of the world (1992).

Solemnly Proclaimed Global Ram Raj - Global Governance Through Natural Law (1993). Founded Maharishi Vedic Universities and Maharishi Ayurveda Universities around the world to give every person a path to mastering natural law, to establish the harmony of life with natural law forever - perfection in all areas human activity, and to create in each country a government acting at the level of natural law, capable of preventing the occurrence of any problem (1993-1994).

Discovered that Veda and Vedic literature are fully reflected in human physiology; this discovery finally established the complete unity of the entire physical diversity of the universe, all sciences and all religions.

Maharishi

Mach means great, Rishi - initiate, seer.

Rishi sees the truth, Maharishi revives the truth in everyone's life.

Physicist by training, "giggling guru" Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was an outstanding manager: for a short time he has managed to turn a selfless passion for India into a well-functioning and wealthy commercial organization. Voluntarily and involuntarily, rock stars and filmmakers helped him in this.

The year of birth of Mahesh Prasad Varma (this is his real name) is unknown. Presumably, he was born between 1911 and 1918 in the city of Jabalbur, present-day Madhya Pradesh. Mahesh Prasad Varma graduated from the Physics Department of Allahabad University (Uttar Pradesh). In 1941 he became a disciple and secretary of Guru Deva (Brahmananda Sarasvati), an influential spiritual leader (shankaracharya). Guru Dev gave a new title-name to his assistant - Bal Brahamacharya Mahesh. The concept of brahmacharya implies austerity and the rejection of any means of obtaining physical pleasure. Subsequently, in the second half of the 1960s, it was the attempt at sexual contact that would undermine the reputation of Mahesh Yogi.

After the death of Guru Deva in 1953, Mahesh Yogi went "to free bread": he could not become a shankaracharya and the direct heir of his teacher, because he was not a brahmin. He spent the next four years of his life developing the teachings on Transcendental Meditation (TM). Mahesh Yogi claimed that his technique comes from old Vedic practices, but he came up with a modern name for his project, and this played into his hands. Since 1957, Mahesh Yogi, the "giggling guru" (he was so called for his incessant giggles during television interviews), regularly traveled all over the world, promoting his technique, and his adherents rather quickly turned out to be not so much compatriots as the residents of the United States and Europe who were infatuated with India. countries. It was for them that the recipe for improving the quality of life through meditation was calculated. In the East, this utilitarian approach is not enough: meditation, first of all, should serve spiritual enlightenment. A person who has reached this state worries least about the quality of life, or rather, he does not care about it at all.

In the mid-1960s, Mahesh Yogi, who by that time had long called himself Maharishi, that is, "the great sage", began to publish books about his practices, which quickly found many admirers: "The Science of Being and the Art of Life" and commented in accordance with ( TM) translation of the Bhagavad Gita. But the real success fell on him in 1968, when his abode was visited (inevitably, accompanied by dozens of journalists) all four members of The Beatles, as well as Mick Jagger and other celebrities. Among them was the actress Mia Farrow, who by that time had played her perhaps the most famous role - in the film "Rosemary's Baby". The incident with Farrow, who accused the guru of attempting sexual contact, nearly cost him his reputation. So, apart from George Harrison, who remained loyal to the teacher, all the other Beatles, with some relief, abandoned transcendental meditation. John Lennon is known to have written the song "Sexy Sadie" about the Maharishi on the White Album in order to avoid possible lawsuits.

However, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has many loyal fans - for example, Mike Love, one of the founders of the Beach Boys, and "Scottish Dylan" - singer Donovan. The latter, by the way, still remains a staunch supporter of the doctrine of (TM) and is going to build a University of Transcendental Meditation either in Glasgow or in Edinburgh.

Among the adepts (TM) in different years were directors Clint Eastwood and David Lynch. The creator of Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, like Donovan, still not only practices the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yoga, but also maintains his own foundation for teaching transcendental meditation.

Maharishi recovered from the fiasco of the late 1960s rather quickly: already in 1972 he created the World Plan Executive Council, which coordinated "solving the main world problems", but in practice was the headquarters of the Mahesh Yogi empire. From there, the management of training centers was carried out, new programs were developed there - Ayurvedic, astrological, architectural, and so on.

Despite a series of lawsuits in which the Maharishi was accused of fraud, the fate of himself and his school remained quite prosperous. Now the number of adepts (TM) is from five to six million people all over the world. average cost rate (TM) in the US reaches $ 2,500. A mantra (usually one word) can cost around $ 400.

In 1990, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi moved to the Netherlands and settled near Amsterdam. Then he stopped appearing in public and directed his charges by video link. On January 11, 2008, Maharishi announced that he was retiring. He passed away less than a month later. According to the press attaché of the headquarters (TM), the teacher of millions died from natural causes - that is, from old age.

He studied natural sciences: physics and chemistry. After graduation Maharishi for about twenty years he studied and worked with Guru Deva Swami Brahmananda Saraswati - the great Teacher and revered Indian Saint. During this time, Maharishi became the closest disciple of Guru Deva and inherited from him the wisdom of Vedic knowledge.

After the departure of Guru Virgo Maharishi retired in the Himalayas to lead a hermitic lifestyle. However, after two years of loneliness, Maharishi felt the call to return to the world and soon left the peace and loneliness of his mountain cave and headed to the south of India.

First place where you arrived Maharishi, was the state of Kerala. A few days after his arrival, he was approached by a man who recognized him as a hermit from the North and offered to read a weekly cycle of lectures. Maharishi agreed. Interest already in the first lectures Maharishi was so great that he was immediately invited to lecture in other cities and, in the end, Maharishi spent six months lecturing on Vedic knowledge and teaching Transcendental Meditation (TM) throughout the state.

Leaving Kerala, Maharishi for about two years he traveled all over India introducing people to Transcendental Meditation. TM quickly gained recognition among the people, and in 1957 the worldwide Spiritual Revival Movement was organized. This was the beginning of the spread of ancient Vedic knowledge throughout the world.

In 1958 Maharishi visited Singapore and Hawaii, and in early 1959 came to California. There he spent several months teaching TM and established a permanent movement center, after which he traveled to New York and from there to Europe.

The interest in Transcendental Meditation and Vedic knowledge around the world was enormous, and soon Maharishi realized that in the future he would not be able to teach TM to everyone, and in 1961 in the small town of Rishikesh in India, in the place where the Ganges descends from the Himalayas, the first Training Course for TM Teachers was held. Just outside the city, on a steep forested hill, Maharishi built a Vedic center ("Ashram"). There the future TM Teachers mastered the skill of teaching. Subsequently, training courses for TM Teachers were organized in America, Europe and Russia.

Since 1968, Western scholars have begun to show great interest in the physiological and psychological effects of Transcendental Meditation, with the result that TM has gained acceptance in academia as well. In total, more than 200 scientific research who confirmed beneficial influence techniques of Transcendental Meditation on health, mental activity, emotional condition and many other aspects of human life.

This led to the creation Maharishi International University in the USA (1971), in which education is based on the principle of integrating the study of TM and Vedic knowledge with traditional academic disciplines.

The huge interest in TM is characteristic not only of America and Europe. TM is trained in almost every country in the world, and most of all in India itself. At present, there are already about 6 million people in the world who have learned the TM technique. Among them are many prominent figures in science and art, representatives of business and politics.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi- founder:

Famous indian scientist, a well-known teacher of such a direction as transcendental meditation... Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was at one time the spiritual mentor of the participants group "Beatles".

Mahesh Yogi- one of the founding fathers of the doctrine preaching transcendental meditation. Nee Mahesh Prasad Varma, he was born on January 12, 1917, in India. Its main specialty - physicist, he began teaching this science in 1955. However, the science itself did not attract him too much, it was perceived rather as a kind of background on which meditations were conducted by Himalayan Teacher Virgo... Maharishi anxiously absorbed the knowledge that the Teacher shared with him, in order to subsequently carry it further around the world.

home the goal of Mahesh Yoga was defined as follows - acquaint enlightened West with the practice of complete mind control, that is meditation... In the 50s, meditation gained unprecedented popularity in India. In 1958, Mahesh Yogi traveled - visited Singapore and Hawaii. Already in 1959, he arrived in the United States. Here Maharishi for several months taught those wishing to transcendental meditation... True, at first there were not many who wanted to. Real success came to Master in 1968. It was then that the musicians of the Liverpool Four visited India and became interested in meditation. Having chosen Maharishi as his spiritual guide, The Beatles at first followed his teachings, but later their relationship ended on a loud note scandal.

but famous musicians did their job - the teachings of Maharishi went up sharply, popularity of meditation warmed up by the names of Liverpudlians, grew every day. Maharishi's Income Increased even faster. Learning the technique of meditation cost people 2.5 thous.dollars, and besides, he collected huge donations.

In addition to the Beatles, other world stars were also seriously fond of transcendental meditation - the actor Clint Eastwood, director David lynch, band musicians Rolling Stones.

One of Maharishi's favorite expressions is "It is not worth fighting with the darkness, you need to carry the light so that the darkness disappears."... Remembering the legendary Teacher-Guru, these words of his are most often pronounced.

Created by Maharishi continues to work today Open university... Here they teach to fully realize the existing potential of your own brain. Lectures universities are broadcast in 120 countries of the world, they sound in 21 languages.

It is interesting that, despite his enormous fortune, Maharishi himself was content with little in life. His mansion consisted of 200 rooms, but he used only two of them, almost without leaving them. He had neither a wife nor children. Generally almost nothing is known about his personal life... He liked to repeat that monks do not talk about their personal lives, because the main thing is not the person, but the message.

Maharishi recognized great scientist in the field human consciousness... He succeeded restore Vedic literature, which was previously in a scattered form. His works on Vedic philosophy are being studied now.

Copied from the site "Samopoznanie.ru"

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught the West transcendental meditation and became famous in the 1960s as the spiritual guru of the Beatles, passed away on February 7, 2008 at his home in the Dutch city of Flodrop, where his organization is headquartered. According to reports, he was over 90 years old. Movement spokesman Stephen Yellin confirmed the death of Maharishi, but did not name the cause of death.

On January 11, Maharishi announced that his public activities were over and that he would devote the remainder of his time to publishing his longstanding series of commentaries on the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts in Hinduism.

Maharishi was both an entrepreneur and a monk, a spiritual leader who strove to find a platform from which to preach the path to inner harmony. Critics called his organization a cult business. The press in the 1960s and 1970s often vilified him, calling him a hippie mystic. The audience knew the "laughing guru" well from photographs, in which he invariably appeared with a smile, sitting on a deerskin in a lotus position in a white silk loincloth, with a garland of flowers around his neck and with a greasy messy beard.

In Hindi, maha means great, and rishi means prophet. "Maharishi" is the traditional title of the brahmanas. Critics accused Yogi of arbitrarily adopting this name for himself, since he came from a lower caste.

In 1957, Maharishi founded the Transcendental Meditation Movement, which reached the United States in 1959. TM Movement (registered trademark) uses a technique in which a person closes his eyes for 20 minutes twice a day and silently repeats mantras in order to completely relax, relieve stress, improve well-being, achieve clarity of thought and inner satisfaction. A five-day course in this discipline costs $ 2,500 today.

The TM movement has had a profound impact on the billion dollar "self-help course" industry. Many began to practice similar forms of meditation without being linked to the teachings of the Maharishi.

Over the years, the movement has gained popularity, many scientists have confirmed that meditation, including transcendental, benefits the body and mind, especially in the fight against diseases caused by stress.

According to the organization, after the appearance of this technique in 1955, more than 40 thousand mentors have mastered it. Those, in turn, trained more than 5 million people, opened thousands training centers and created hundreds of schools, colleges and universities.

In the United States, the organization's assets are estimated at about $ 300 million, and its center is located in Fairfield, Iowa, where the Maharishi University of Management operates. In 2001, followers of the movement created their own settlement - the Vedic city of Maharishi a few miles north of Fairfield.

Last March, one of the organization's offices, the Global Financial Capital in New York, bought a new headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

The organization owes much of its popularity to the Beatles. In 1968, the musicians, with great attention from the press, began to study with the Maharishi in his refuge - an ashram - in Rishikesh, in the Himalayas in northern India. They traveled there with their wives, folk singer Donovan, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, actress Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence.

They left after rumors of a sex scandal involving Maharishi, who officially preached celibacy. However, no claims of sexual harassment were filed, and some of the training participants later denied that any inappropriate behavior had taken place.

Be that as it may, Western society took an interest in the movement, and it continued to grow in the 1970s, when Maharishi began to spread it around the world, and his techniques earned the respect of doctors.

Later on, Maharishi refused to talk about the Beatles. Among his other students was the Indian spirit Deepak Chopra - he was friends with ex-Beatle George Harrison and preached his own doctrine based on traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and meditation.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Spiritual Guru of the Beatles

The Maharishi's movement began to lose followers in the late 1970s - they were frightened away by the propaganda of an "advanced" form of TM - the so-called yogic flights, in which people tried to invoke energy that would allow them to get off the ground. No one managed to overcome the first stage of flight, the so-called "jumping frog".

Mahesh Prasad Varma was born near the city of Jabalpur in central India, his family belonged to the caste of scribes. He studied physics at the University of Allahabad, and then for 13 years was a disciple and assistant to the "holy man" Swami Brahmananda Saraswati - he was called Guru Dev by the young Mahesh.

"From the beginning, the goal was to breathe his breath," writes Maharishi in his book Thirty Years Around the World: Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment, published in 1986. "That was my ideal. The goal was to connect with Guru Dev."

After the death of his teacher in 1953, Mahesh went to live as a hermit at the foot of the Himalayas. Two years later, he returned and began to preach his teachings, which grew into the worldwide TM movement.

"Apparently, Maharishi developed his teachings after the death of his mentor, when he was unemployed and became a hermit," says Paul Mason, critic of Maharishi and author of a book about him entitled Maharishi: A Biography of the Man Who Gave the World Transcendental Meditation. himself anew, became a "maharishi" and wanted to be perceived as the messiah, "adds Mason.

Since 1990, Maharishi has lived in Flodrop with about 50 followers, one of whom was "Minister of Science and Technology" John Hagelin, a physicist at Harvard. He is now expected to lead the organization's operations in the United States.

At some point, Maharishi tried to breathe into TM new life, in 2000 he created the "Universal State of World Peace", which aimed to prevent war, eradicate poverty and support environment... In particular, the guru tried to attract the attention of American youth with the help of stars like Donovan and director David Lynch, who gave a series of lectures in colleges in support of the Maharishi initiative.

Maharishi sought to rebuild the world on the basis of Vedic principles. He called for the destruction of all poisonous buildings and unhealthy cities, even demanded to destroy historical monuments that do not meet the requirements of "Vedic architecture in harmony with the law of nature." Maharishi argued that the White House was not located correctly. According to him, more suitable place for the capital of the United States would be the small town of Smith Center in Kansas.

V last years life he rarely met with people, even with his "ministers", preferring to communicate with his followers exclusively through TV broadcasts.