Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Indian guru Maharishi Yogi dies

The Maharishi built up a following of about six million people worldwideThe Indian Hindu guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who is credited with setting the Beatles and other stars on the path to spiritual enlightenment, has died.

The Maharishi, thought to have been 91 years old, died in his sleep on Tuesday evening at his home in the Netherlands.

He introduced the Transcendental Meditation movement to the West in 1958, with the intention of creating individual peace and enlightenment.

By the time of his death, it had grown into a multi-million dollar empire.

Born in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the Maharishi trained as a physicist before devoting himself to spiritual enlightenment.

After studying in the Himalayas under Guru Dev during the 1940s and 1950s, he spread the teachings of transcendental meditation throughout the world.

He eventually built up a following of about six million people in more than 100 countries. His most famous followers were the Beatles, who travelled to India in 1968 to meditate with him.
The Maharishi announced his retirement last month, saying his work was done.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7229597.stm

1 comment:

Laura said...

wow.
i hadn't heard this! thank you for the post. my husband is a major fan of george harrison, and of course george was a pretty serious and continuous devotee - i don't know if he stayed with Maharishi or not though. the "concert for george" is amazingly beautiful and moving with Ravi Shankar....
i was always curious about TM, but muleishly unwilling to pay - aka "i can do it on my own". thank heavens for entheogens! Gaian Botanicals rock! I will light a pipe in blessing memory for Maharishi.
:L