View source for Biography:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

{{short description|Indian guru who reintroduced the Transcendental Meditation technique (1918-2008)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox Hindu leader
| name           = Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 
| image          = Maharishi Huntsville Jan 1978A.JPG
| alt            =
| caption        = Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1978
| religion = [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]]
| birth_name     = Mahesh Prasad Varma
| birth_date     = 12 January 1918
| birth_place    = Rajim, Central Provinces, [[History:British Raj|British India]]<ref name="Koppel">{{Cite news |last=Koppel |first=Lily |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader, Dies |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/world/asia/06maharishi-1.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0}}</ref> (present-day Gariaband district, Chhattisgarh, {{wipe|India}})
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2008|2|5|1918|1|12|df=y}}
| death_place    = Vlodrop, Limburg, Netherlands
| nationality    = Indian
| spouse         = <!-- Name(s) of spouse(s), years of marriage: {{marriage|Name|year married|year separated}} -->
| children       = <!-- Number of children (e.g., 3), or list of children names -->
| relatives      = <!-- Names of parents, siblings or other relatives. -->
| honours         = Maharishi 
| founder        = [[Organization:Transcendental Meditation movement|Transcendental Meditation movement]]<br />Global Country of World Peace
| sect           = <!-- Sects/Traditions associated with the Hindu leader-->
| order          = 
| guru           = Brahmananda Saraswati 
| philosophy     = [[Unsolved:Transcendental Meditation|Transcendental Meditation]] 
| literary_works = <!-- Preferably having pages on wikipedia and wikisource--> 
| influenced     =
| signature      = <!--Preferably uploaded on wikipedia commons-->
| signature_alt  =
| footnotes      =
}}
'''Maharishi Mahesh Yogi''' (born '''Mahesh Prasad Varma''', 12 January 1918<ref name="pass">[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090320043416/http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/sources/photos/MMY_passport.jpg Yogi's passport]. paulmason.info</ref> – 5 February 2008) was an Indian guru, known for developing the [[Unsolved:Transcendental Meditation technique|Transcendental Meditation technique]] and for being the leader and [[Biography:Guru|guru]] of a [[Organization:Transcendental Meditation movement|worldwide organization]] that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a [[Religion:New religious movement|new religious movement]] and as non-religious.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beckford |first=James A. |url=https://archive.org/details/cultcontroversie0000beck |title=Cult controversies: the societal response to new religious movements |publisher=Tavistock Publications |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-422-79630-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cultcontroversie0000beck/page/23 23] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parsons |first=Gerald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlKkZoNPi0oC&pg=PA288 |title=The Growth of Religious Diversity: Traditions |publisher=The Open University/Methuen |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-415-08326-3 |page=288}}</ref><ref>Chryssides, George D. (August 2000)  [https://web.archive.org/web/20010110132000/http://www.cesnur.org/conferences/riga2000/chryssides.htm "Defining the New Spirituality], ''CESNUR 14th International Conference, Riga, Latvia'': "One possible suggestion is that religion demands exclusive allegiance: this would ipso facto exclude Scientology, TM and the Soka Gakkai simply on the grounds that they claim compatibility with whatever other religion the practitioner has been following. For example, TM is simply – as they state – a technique. Although it enables one to cope with life, it offers no goal beyond human existence (such as moksha), nor does it offer rites or passage or an ethic. Unlike certain other Hindu-derived movements, TM does not prescribe a dharma to its followers – that is to say a set of spiritual obligations deriving from one's essential nature."</ref> He became known as ''Maharishi'' (meaning "great seer")<ref name="Koppel" /><ref name="Dehsen">{{Cite book |last=Weidmann |first=K.T. |title=Philosophers and Religious Leaders: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World |publisher=Greenwood |year=1999 |isbn=978-1573561525 |editor-last=von Dehsen |editor-first=Christian |page=[https://archive.org/details/philosophersreli0000unse/page/120 120] |chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/philosophersreli0000unse/page/120}}</ref> and ''[[Philosophy:Yogi|Yogi]]'' as an adult.<ref name="Mason">Mason (1994), p. 28</ref><ref name="American">{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3Mdr3IMgW0C&pg=PA362 |title=''American Veda: from Emerson and the Beatles to yoga and meditation |publisher=Harmony Books, Crown Publishing/Random House |year=2010 |isbn=9780307719614 |page=362}}</ref>

After earning a degree in [[Physics:Physics|physic]]s at Allahabad University in 1942, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became an assistant and disciple of [[Religion:Swami|Swami]] Brahmananda Saraswati (also known as Guru Dev), the [[Religion:Shankaracharya|Shankaracharya]] (spiritual leader) of the [[Organization:Jyotir Math|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oates |first=Robert M. |title=Celebrating the dawn: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the TM technique |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-399-11815-9 |location=New York |page=40}}</ref> His devotees referred to him as ''His Holiness'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carlton |first=Jim |date=15 April 1991 |title=For $1,500 a Head, Maharishi Promises Mellower Inmates --- Transcendental Meditation Goes to Prison as Backers Try to Lock Up Contracts |page=A.1 |work={{wipe|The Wall Street Journal}} |location=New York, N.Y.}}</ref> and because he often laughed in TV interviews he was sometimes referred to as the "giggling guru".<ref name="bloomberg.com">{{Cite web |last=Shankar |first=Jay |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aXiUpQyKxGnI&refer=india |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720040637/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aXiUpQyKxGnI&refer=india |archive-date=20 July 2012 |access-date=2010-08-15 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Richardson |first=Mark |date=12 October 1993 |title=A leap of faith |page=A.1 |work=The Ottawa Citizen}}</ref><ref name=Woo/>

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,<ref name=Koppel/><ref name="Hudson">{{Cite news |last=Hudson |first=Alexandra |date=6 February 2008 |title=Beatles Indian Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=Reuters |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL0611095720080206 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829052126/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL0611095720080206 |archive-date=29 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="The Times of London">{{Cite news |last1=Page |first1=Jeremy |last2=Hoyle |first2=Ben |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies a Recluse |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article3322232.ece}}</ref> 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.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |title=Gifts of the Global Country of World Peace: Education Products Services |url=http://gifts.globalgoodnews.com/education/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326091208/http://gifts.globalgoodnews.com/education/index.html |archive-date=26 March 2010 |access-date=2010-08-28 |website=gifts.globalgoodnews.com}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Koppel/>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Warren |first=Jenifer |date=27 October 1995 |title=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. |page=1 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Koppel2006/> 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.<ref>Srinivasan, 2008. ''Hinduism For Dummies''. {{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}}.</ref>

==Life==

===Birth===
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi belonged to the Kayastha caste, a subcast of scribes and administrators, of the Hindu religion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldberg, Philip, 1944– |title=American Veda : from Emerson and the Beatles to yoga and meditation—how Indian spirituality changed the West |isbn=9780385521352 |edition=First paperback |location=New York |oclc=808413359}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Coplin2n">Coplin, Ch. 2, Socio-Historical Context for SRM's Emergence, Footnote #73: "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's caste background is a matter of some uncertainty because it is the tradition of yogis, ascetics, and renunciants to relinquish their family ties. His education and family status are known by many long-time movement members, however. Shrivastava is the family name of his cousins and nephews, and that name can be traced to the Hindu Kayasthas."</ref> Many accounts say he was born Mahesh Prasad Varma ({{lang-hi|महेश प्रसाद वर्मा}}) into a Kayastha family living in the Central Provinces of British India.<ref name=Koppel/><ref name="Humes 2005 61">Humes, p. 61</ref> A different name appears in the Allahabad University list of distinguished alumni, where he is listed as M.C. Srivastava<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061011132039/http://allduniv.edu/hostels/gnjha/gnjha_alumni.htm Distinguished Alumni]. Allahabad University</ref> and an obituary says his name was "Mahesh Srivastava".<ref name=Kalambakal/><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 July 2012 |title=Our Proud Past, Allahabad University Alumni Association |url=http://auaa.in/?page_id=31 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707073335/http://auaa.in/?page_id=31 |archive-date=7 July 2012 |website=archive.is}}</ref>

Various accounts give the year of his birth as 1911, 1917 or 1918.<ref name=Woo/> Authors Paul Mason and William Jefferson say that he was born 12 January 1917 in Jabalpur, Central Provinces, [[History:British Raj|British India]] (now Madhya Pradesh, {{wipe|India}}).<ref name="Una Kroll">Kroll, Una (1974)  ''The Healing Potential of Transcendental Meditation'', John Knox Press. Ch. 1: The Guru, pp 17–25. {{ISBN|9780804205986}}</ref><ref name="Jefferson">Jefferson, William (1976) ''The Story of The Maharishi'', Pocket Books. pp 7–21. {{ISBN|9780671805265}}</ref> The place of birth given in his passport is "Pounalulla", India, and his birth date 12 January 1918.<ref name=pass/> Mahesh came from an upper-caste family,<ref name=Simon/> being a member of the Kayastha caste, a high-status caste whose traditional profession is writing.<ref name="Odd Gods">Lewis, James (2001) Prometheus Books,  ''Odd Gods, New Religions and the Cult Controversy'', pp 230–233,</ref><ref>Coplin, p. 48: "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi . . . was most likely born into a family of Hindu Kayasthas, a well-known and high-status literary caste of Hindustan – with reference to ''varna'', a kshatryia not a brahmin ''jati''".</ref>

===Early life===
Mahesh studied physics at Allahabad University and earned a degree in 1942.<ref name="Ruthven">{{Cite news |last=Ruthven |first=Malise |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/06/india.obituaries |access-date=5 April 2010}}</ref> While a few sources say that he worked at the Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur for some time,<ref name="BBC Obit" /><ref>Coplin, Ch.2, footnote 74</ref> most report that in 1941, he became an administrative secretary to the [[Religion:Shankaracharya|Shankaracharya]] of the [[Organization:Jyotir Math|Jyotir Math]], Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (also known as Guru Dev, which means "divine teacher")<ref name="Odd Gods" /><ref name="Humes 2005 59-60">Humes, pp. 59–60.</ref><ref name="Williamson81">Williamson, p. 81</ref><ref name="Goldberg154">{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Philip |title=American Veda |publisher=Harmony Books |year=2011 |page=154}}</ref><ref name="American" /> and took a new name, Bal Brahmachari Mahesh.<ref name="Mason22">Mason (1994), p. 22</ref> 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."<ref name="Coplin3">Coplin, Ch. 3, SRM as Cultural Revitalization Text: "While his association with the illustrious Shankaracharya tradition served as vital letter of introduction throughout India, his title, "bala brahmachari" identified him as a fully dedicated student of spiritual knowledge and life-long celibate ascetic. Literally, the name means "childhood or boy" (bala) "student of sacred knowledge" (brahmachari), and it has signified from Vedic times one who has taken the vow of chastity."</ref> Saraswati insisted that before accepting Mahesh as a pupil he must first complete his university degree and get permission from his parents.<ref name="Mason" /> 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".<ref>'Thirty Years Around the World- Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment', MVU, 1986, pp185-6</ref> At first Brahmachari Mahesh performed common chores but gained trust and became Guru Dev's "personal secretary"<ref name="Chryssides Exploring New Religions">Chryssides, George D. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=jxIxPBpGMwgC&pg=PA293 Exploring new religions].  London: Cassell. pp. 293–296. {{ISBN|978-0-8264-5959-6}}. Page 293</ref> and "favored pupil".<ref name="Una Kroll" /> 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 [[Religion:Vedas|Vedic]] (scriptural) themes.<ref name="Mason22" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mason, Paul, 1952– |title=The Maharishi : the biography of the man who gave transcendental meditation to the world |year=1994 |isbn=1852305711 |location=Shaftesbury, Dorset |oclc=31133549}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloomfield |first=Harold H |url=https://archive.org/details/tmdiscoveringinn00haro/page/32 |title=TM*: discovering inner energy and overcoming stress |date=1975 |publisher=Delacorte Press |others=Cain, Michael Peter, 1941–, Jaffe, Dennis T. |isbn=0440060486 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tmdiscoveringinn00haro/page/32 32] |oclc=1047008}}</ref> Although Brahmachari Mahesh was a close disciple, he could not be the Shankaracharya's spiritual successor because he was not of the Brahmin [[Social:Caste|caste]].<ref name="Williamson84">Williamson, p. 84: "Guru Dev represented the tradition well, for he did not allow anyone who was not of the Brahmin varna, the caste of the priesthood, to teach. Since Mahesh was born into a scribe caste (kayastha), he was not allowed to join the order of monks. Thus when Saraswati died in Calcutta in 1953, Mahesh would not have been considered a candidate to replace him."</ref><ref>Coplin, p. 49: "Because he was not a brahmin, Mahesh could not become a member of the ''dandi sannyasi'' order and succeed  his master as Shankaracharya; the honor passed to Swami Shantanand Saraswati in June, 1953." (This from an interview by the author with the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Vishnudevananda Saraswati on 12 June 1983.)</ref>  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.<ref name="BBC Obit">{{Cite news |date=6 February 2008 |title=Obituary: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3747053.stm}}</ref><ref>Mason (1994), pp. 23–24</ref>

===Tour in India (1955–1957)===
In 1955,<ref name=Woo/><ref>{{Cite news |last=AP |date=5 February 2008 |title=Beatles guru dies in Netherlands |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-02-05-maharishi-obit_N.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Epstein |first=Edward |date=29 December 1995 |title=Politics and Transcendental Meditation |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1995/12/29/MN65432.DTL}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Bevan |year=1992 |title=Maharishi's Vedic Science and Technology: The Only Means to Create World Peace |url=http://www.mum.edu/pdf/msvs/v05/morris.pdf |journal=Journal of Modern Science and Vedic Science |volume=5 |page=200 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703193324/http://www.mum.edu/pdf/msvs/v05/morris.pdf |archive-date=2008-07-03 |number=1–2}}</ref> Brahmachari Mahesh left Uttarkashi and began publicly teaching what he stated was a traditional meditation technique<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rooney |first=Ben |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to Beatles, dies |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1577866/Maharishi-Mahesh-Yogi-guru-to-Beatles-dies.html}}</ref> learned from his master Brahmananda Saraswati, and that he called Transcendental Deep Meditation.<ref name="Williamson97-99">Williamson, pp. 97–99</ref> Later the technique was renamed Transcendental Meditation.<ref>Russell, p. 25</ref> 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.<ref name=American/><ref>Bajpai, R.S. (2002) Atlantic Publishers, The Splendours And Dimensions of Yoga 2 Vols. Set, page 554, "received the title Maharishi, from some Indian Pundits"</ref>

He traveled around India for two years<ref>Mason (1994) pp. 27–34</ref> interacting with his "Hindu audiences" in an "Indian context".<ref name="Melting Point">{{Cite book |last=Gablinger, Tamar |title=The Religious Melting Point: On Tolerance, Controversdial Religions and The State |publisher=Tectum Verlag Marburg |year=2010 |location=Germany |pages=76}}</ref>  At that time, he called his movement the Spiritual Development Movement,<ref name="Odd Gods" /> but renamed it the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in 1957, in Madras, India, on the concluding day of the Seminar of Spiritual Luminaries.<ref name="Woo">{{Cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |date=6 February 2006 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-maharishi6feb06,1,4208394.story}}</ref> According to Coplin, in his visits to southern India, the Maharishi spoke English rather than the [[Social:Hindi|Hindi]] spoken in his home area to avoid provoking resistance among those seeking linguistic self-determination, and to appeal to the "learned classes".<ref name="Coplin2">Coplin, Ch. 2, Socio-Historical Context for SRM's Emergence: "In South India Maharishi spoke in English because his Hindi would not only be little understood outside of the North, but it would provoke hostility among many who were fighting for linguistic self-determination in the period immediately following Independence. The use of English, however, had greater connotations, as it presumed an audience of Indians familiar with British administration and education. More significantly, it appealed to the 'learned classes', mostly brahmins, but also lower caste officials whose families had escaped their more humble backgrounds by means of acquiring an English education."</ref>

===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.<ref name="Jefferson" /> In 1959, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began his first world tour,<ref name=Woo/> writing: "I had one thing in mind, that I know something which is useful to every man".<ref name="bloomberg.com" />

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.<ref name="Mason" /><ref name="Jefferson" /> The first world tour began in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) and included the countries of Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and Hawaii.<ref name="Devi">{{Cite web |last=Devi |first=Priya |date=21 February 2008 |title=Naturally in Self; Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |url=http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/faith-mysticism/2008/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-profile-death.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725124423/http://living.oneindia.in/yoga-spirituality/faith-mysticism/2008/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-profile-death.html |archive-date=25 July 2011 |website=One India}}</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 237 "Summary 1958: The first countries he visited on his first world tour were Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA (Hawaii)."</ref><ref>Mason (1994), p. 34</ref> He arrived in Hawaii in the spring of 1959 <ref name="Odd Gods" /> 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."<ref>Mason (1994), p. 37: "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..."</ref> In 1959, the Maharishi lectured and taught the Transcendental Meditation technique in Honolulu, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and London.<ref name=Hudson/><ref name=Devi/><ref>Mason (1994), pp. 41–46</ref><ref name="iht1">{{Cite web |last=Blume |first=Mary |date=8 July 1995 |title=A Little Meditation on the Bottom Line |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/08/style/08iht-yoga.t.html |access-date=26 November 2013 |website=International New York Times}}</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 275 "Summary 1959: In January Maharishi travelled to the [mainland] USA for the first time, establishing the movement in Hawaii and then moving on to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Towards the end of the year, he once again visited Hawaii, then flew to the East Coast cities of Boston and New York"</ref> While in Los Angeles the Maharishi stayed at the home of author Helena Olson,<ref name=Devi/><ref>Olson, Helena, ''Hermit in the House'', p. 44, Los Angeles, 1967 {{Unreliable source?|date=August 2010}}</ref> and during this period he developed a three-year plan to propagate Transcendental Meditation to the whole world.<ref name="Odd Gods" /> 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.<ref name="American" />

[[File:MichaelCooper1967BenMerk.jpg|{{largethumb}}|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.<ref name="bloomberg.com" /> That same year he began the International Meditation Society and other organizations to propagate his teachings,<ref name="Hunt">{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0GuWbJhYIccC&pg=PA197 |title=Alternative religions: a sociological introduction |publisher=Ashgate |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7546-3410-2 |location=Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT |pages=197–198 |}}</ref> establishing centres in San Francisco and London.<ref name=Leigh/> For years, the sole teacher of Transcendental Meditation in America was a San Diego woman named Beulah Smith.<ref name="American" />

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.<ref>Mason (1994), pp. 52–54</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp. 318–320 Note: The source contains a 3-page itinerary of 40+ cities visited by the Maharishi with corresponding dates of visit ranging from 1/1/60 and 12/30/60, "Summary 1960: Maharishi brought TM to the countries of Europe and in his many lectures in England, Scotland, Norway, and Germany he...""In the first half of the year he visited France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany."  "...then travelled to the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Denmark and Sweden."</ref>

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''.<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 305 "In Manchester, Maharishi gave a television interview which reached millions of people in the north of England" "In Cambridge, the Daily News carried headline: 'Maharishi shows a simple method of meditation', while the Oxford Mail reporter who asked Maharishi ...."</ref> This was also the year in which the Maharishi trained Henry Nyburg to be the first Transcendental Meditation teacher in Europe.<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 302 "Maharishi made Henry Nyburg his personal representative for Europe and gave him the training and authority to teach Transcendental Meditation, thus making him the first European teacher."</ref><ref>Mason (1994), p. 52</ref>

In 1961, the Maharishi visited the United States,<ref name="Una Kroll" /> Austria, Sweden, France, Italy, Greece, India, Kenya, England, and Canada.<ref>Mason (1994), pp. 54–55</ref> 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 [[Biography:Leon MacLaren|Leon MacLaren]] of the [[Philosophy:School of Economic Science|School of Economic Science]].<ref>Mason (1994), p. 55</ref> In April 1961, the Maharishi conducted his first Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh, India, with sixty participants from various countries.<ref name=Hudson/><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp. 318–344 From Chapter Titled '1961' pg 328 "The following day, BBC Television interviewed Maharishi and chose as the setting for the interview the Acropolis, one of the glories of ancient Greece." "On 20 April Maharishi inaugurated... Maharishi then conducted the first international course to train teacher of TM" "The graduation ceremony of the course was held on 12 July and 60 new teachers of TM returned to their countries...."</ref> Teachers continued to be trained as time progressed.<ref>Wiliams, Martyn (2 October 2014)  [https://web.archive.org/web/20161005062737/http://enlightenmenthow.com/maharishi-and-the-7-step-teachers-program/ Maharishi and the 7 step Teachers Program]. enlightenmenthow.com</ref> 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 [[Religion:Bhagavad Gita|Bhagavad Gita]].<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 400  "...it was on this course that Maharishi started his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita – a commentary later to be published..."</ref><ref>Mason (1994), pp. 62, 69</ref>

His 1962 world tour included visits to Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}} In Britain, he founded a branch of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement.<ref name="Una Kroll" /> The year concluded in California where the Maharishi began dictating his book ''The Science of Being and Art of Living''.<ref>Mason (1994), p. 62</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp. 490–491 and 503: "And in the final days of 1962, in the silent surroundings of Lake Arrowhead, California, Maharishi brought out yet another gift for the world – The Science of Being and Art of Living – a treasury of pure knowledge to guide mankind in its evolution to perfection."</ref> 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".<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 414 "Chapter Titled "1962": On 20 April, Maharishi in the presence of His Holiness Swami Shantanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of northern India, inaugurated a special course" "In the Prospectus, this special 40-day course was announced for 'sadhus, sannyasis and brahmacharis, and retired persons of energetic calibre'."</ref>

The Maharishi toured cities in Europe, Asia, North America and India in 1963, and also addressed ministers of the Indian Parliament.<ref>Mason (1994), pp. 66–67</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp. 544–545 "Twenty one members of the parliament, representing each of the Indian states, issued a statement entitled a 'timely Call to the Leaders of Today and Tomorrow' for the speedy introduction of the system [of TM] into the daily routine of national life." NOTE: the text of the 3-page statement from the parliament is also included in the book on pages 504–507</ref> According to his memoirs, twenty-one members of parliament then issued a public statement endorsing the Maharishi's goals and meditation technique.<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 504-507 "Twenty one members of parliament, representing each of the Indian states, issued a statement entitled a 'timely Call to the Leaders of Today and Tomorrow' for the speedy introduction of the system [of TM] into the daily routine of national life." NOTE: the text of the 3-page statement from the parliament is also included in the book on pages 504–507</ref> His Canadian tour<ref>Mason (1994), p. 69</ref> was also well covered  by the press.<ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 530-536 "Tributes were later printed in the Canadian magazine, Enjoy"--"A front page news article in the local Daily Colonist newspaper" "The Calgary Herald reported an entertaining incident, which took place during an interview in Maharishi's hotel room". "The Albertan newspaper of Wednesday, 25 September quoted Maharishi as saying that there were now 1,000 TM meditators in Canada."</ref>

The Maharishi's fifth world tour, in 1964, consisted of visits to many cities in North America, Europe and India.<ref>Mason (1994), pp. 71–75</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp 587–588 "On his fifth world tour, Maharishi conducted a Meditation Guides Course in Norway, a course in London, where advanced techniques of TM were given for the first time, and Meditation Guides Courses in Austria, Canada, and Germany/"</ref> During his visit to England, he appeared with the [[Religion:Abbot|Abbot]] of Downside, Abbot Butler, on a BBC television show called ''The Viewpoint''.<ref>Mason (1994), p. 72</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 553 "But the highlight of this London visit was the popular BBC television interview with Robert Kee, featuring Maharishi and the Abbot of Downside, Abbot Butler."</ref> In October of that year, in California, the Maharishi began teaching the first Advanced Technique of Transcendental Meditation to some experienced meditators.<ref>Mason (1994), p. 75</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 572 "On his fifth world tour, Maharishi conducted a Meditation Guides Course in Norway, a course in London, where advanced techniques of TM were given for the first time, and Meditation Guides Courses in Austria, Canada, and Germany"</ref> While travelling in America, the Maharishi met with [[Biography:Robert Maynard Hutchins|Robert Maynard Hutchins]], the head of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, and U Thant, the Secretary General of the United Nations.<ref>Mason (1994), p. 79</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) pp 576–577 "On the 17th Maharishi went to Santa Barbara to meet with Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, head of the Centre for Democratic Studies. Maharishi left for NYC on 19 December to meet with U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations."</ref> 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.<ref name="van den Berg" />

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooke de Herrera, Nancy |title=BAll You Need Is Love: An Eyewitness Account of When Spirituality Spread from the East to the West |publisher=Jodere Group |year=2003 |isbn=978-1588720412 |pages=149–164 |}}</ref>

In addition, in 1966 the Maharishi founded the Students' International Meditation Society ("SIMS"), which ''The Los Angeles Times'' later characterised as a "phenomenal success".<ref name=Woo/><ref name=Times0882/> In the 1970s, SIMS centres were established at "over one thousand campuses",<ref name="Olson-Encyclopedia">Olson, Carl (1 January 2005) Transcendental Meditation, ''Encyclopedia of Religion''</ref> including [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]], Yale University, and UCLA.<ref name="American" />

In 1967, the Maharishi gave a lecture at Caxton Hall in London which was attended by [[Biography:Leon MacLaren|Leon MacLaren]], the founder and leader of the [[Philosophy:School of Economic Science|School of Economic Science]] (SES).<ref name="Mason22" /> He also lectured at UCLA, Harvard, Yale and Berkeley.<ref>Bainbridge, William Sims (1997 Routledge, ''The Sociology of Religious Movements'', page 188</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 October 1967 |title=Mystics: Soothsayer for Everyman |work=Time magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902143,00.html}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCloud |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X50EHT0eiEwC&pg=PA106 |title=Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subersives and Journalists, 1955–1993 |publisher=UNC Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8078-5496-9}}</ref> At the end of 1968, the Maharishi said that after ten years of teaching and world tours, he would return to India.<ref name="Needleman1">{{Cite book |last=Needleman |first=Jacob |url=https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse |title=The New Religions |publisher=Doubleday |year=1970 |edition=[1st ed.]. |location=Garden City N.Y. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse/page/139 139]–155 |chapter=Transcendental Meditation |url-access=limited}}</ref>

===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",<ref name="van den Berg">{{Cite news |last=van den Berg |first=Stephanie |date=5 February 2008 |title=Beatles Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |agency=AFP |url=http://news.smh.com.au/world/beatles-guru-maharishi-mahesh-yogi-dies-20080206-1qno.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829093212/http://news.smh.com.au/world/beatles-guru-maharishi-mahesh-yogi-dies-20080206-1qno.html |archive-date=29 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="Corder">{{Cite news |last=Corder |first=Mike |date=10 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; The Beatles' mentor had global empire |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |agency=Associated Press |url=http://sports.uniontrib.com/uniontrib/20080210/news_1c10yogi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717163436/http://sports.uniontrib.com/uniontrib/20080210/news_1c10yogi.html |archive-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Humes 2005 64">Humes, p. 64</ref> 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.<ref name="Needleman">{{Cite book |last=Needleman |first=Jacob |url=https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse |title=The New Religions |publisher=Doubleday |year=1970 |edition=[1st ed.]. |location=Garden City N.Y. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse/page/139 139] |chapter=Transcendental Meditation |url-access=limited}}</ref>  He gave lectures to capacity crowds at the Felt Forum in New York City and Harvard's Sanders Hall.<ref name="American" /> He also appeared on ''The Tonight Show'' and the ''Today'' TV shows.<ref name="American" />

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,<ref name="Una Kroll" /> in February 1968 to "devote themselves fully to his instruction".<ref name="MMB">{{Cite news |last=Kozinn |first=Allan |date=7 February 2008 |title=Meditation on the Man Who Saved the Beatles |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/arts/music/07yogi.html}}</ref> Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen left after ten days,<ref name=MMB/><ref name="Miles1998">{{Cite book |last=Barry Miles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eh8BedNtLgC&pg=PA412 |title=Paul McCartney: many years from now |publisher=Macmillan |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8050-5249-7 |pages=412–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 1968 |title=Ringo Starr Leaves India |url=http://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/03/01/ringo-starr-leaves-india/ |website=beatlesbible.com}}</ref> Paul McCartney and Jane Asher left after five weeks;<ref name="Miles2007">{{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Barry |title=The Beatles Diary: An Intimate Day by Day History |publisher=World Publications Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-57215-010-2 |location=East Bridgewater, MA |pages=262–63 |author-link=Barry Miles}}</ref><ref name="Barry">{{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkXNECitum0C |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now |publisher=Macmillan |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8050-5249-7 |page=427}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/284 |title=The Beatles Anthology |publisher=Chronicle Books |year=2000 |isbn=0-8118-2684-8 |location=San Francisco |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/284 284–85]}}</ref> the group's most dedicated students, Harrison and [[Biography:John Lennon|John Lennon]], departed with their wives sixteen days later.<ref name=Miles2007/>

During their stay, the Beatles heard that the Maharishi had allegedly made sexual advances towards Mia Farrow.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wenner |first=Jann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymjy06WZnd4C&pg=RA1-PA27 |title=Lennon Remembers |publisher=Verso, W.W. Norton & Co. |year=2000 |isbn=1-85984-376-X |page=27 |quote=Yeah, there was a big hullabaloo about him trying to rape Mia Farrow or trying to get off with Mia Farrow and a few other women, things like that. |orig-year=1971}}</ref> 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.<ref name=MMB/><ref name="Spitz">{{Cite book |last=Spitz |first=Bob |title=The Beatles: The Biography |date=1 November 2005 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=0-316-80352-9 |edition=1St |page=757}}</ref><ref name="MacDonald">{{Cite book |last=MacDonald |first=Ian |title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |title-link=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84413-828-9 |edition=3rd revised}}</ref> Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harry |first=Bill |title=The Book of Beatle Lists |publisher=Javelin |year=1985 |isbn=0-7137-1521-9 |author-link=Bill Harry}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/285 |title=The Beatles Anthology |publisher=Chronicle Books |year=2000 |isbn=0-8118-2684-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beatlesanthology0000unse/page/285 285–86]}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Leigh">{{Cite news |last=Leigh |first=Spencer |date=7 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Spiritual leader who introduced millions, including the Beatles, to transcendental meditation |work=Artistic Yoga |location=London |url=http://www.artistic-yoga.com/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-spiritual-leader-introduced-millions-including-beatles-transcendental-meditation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206062120/http://www.artistic-yoga.com/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-spiritual-leader-introduced-millions-including-beatles-transcendental-meditation |archive-date=6 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=MMB/> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nichols |first=Michelle |date=3 April 2009 |title=McCartney says meditation helped stabilize Beatles |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE53264920090403}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Russell">Russell, pp. 26–30</ref><ref name="Magee">{{Cite news |last=Magee |first=David |date=17 October 2009 |title=How the real 'Dear Prudence' in John Lennon's song inspired me |page=B.1 |work=Chattanooga Times Free Press}}</ref><ref name="Pop History">{{Cite web |last=Doyle |first=Jack |date=27 July 2009 |title=Dear Prudence, 1967–1968 |url=http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=beatles-prudence-farrow |access-date=15 May 2010 |website=PopHistoryDig.com}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 August 2018 |title=Beatles Indian hideaway – 50 years on |work=Live Mint |url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/EyPaee8GcEd0nVvZG0xagO/Beatles-Indian-hideaway-comes-together-50-years-on.html |access-date=13 August 2018}}</ref>

===Further growth of the TM movement (1968–1990)===
[[File:Picswiss UR-28-18.jpg|thumb|left|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.<ref name=Times0882/> In 1969, he inaugurated a course in his Science of Creative Intelligence at [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]], which was then offered at 25 other American universities.<ref name="Una Kroll" />

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sherlock |first=Pat |date=3 July 1970 |title=The Transcendental Gospel Solution to Life's Problems Says Guru at Poland Springs |work=Lewiston Evening Journal |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rqIgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3160,277023&dq=maharishi&hl=en}}</ref> In 1970, after having trouble with Indian tax authorities, he moved his headquarters to Italy, returning to India in the late 1970s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Constance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&q=mahesh+yogi |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |last2=Ryan |first2=James |publisher=Facts on File |year=2007 |isbn=9780816075645 |location=New York City |page=273 |quote=The Maharishi returned to India in the late 1970s and moved to the Netherlands in 1990.}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph7870">{{Cite news |date=7 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1577870/Maharishi-Mahesh-Yogi.html}}</ref> That same year, the City of Hope Foundation in Los Angeles gave the Maharishi their "Man of Hope" award.<ref>Goldhaber, Nat, Denniston, Denise, McWilliams, Peter, (1976). '' TM: an alphabetical guide to the transcendental meditation program'', p. 109. Ballantine, New York.  {{ISBN|0-345-24096-0}} Note: "It was in honor of his great contribution to humankind that Maharishi was named Man of Hope in 1970 by the City of Hope Foundation in Los Angeles".</ref>

By 1971, the Maharishi had completed 13 world tours, visited 50 countries, and held a press conference with American inventor [[Biography:Buckminster Fuller|Buckminster Fuller]] at his first International Symposium on SCI at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts.<ref name="Una Kroll" /><ref name="Williamson92">Williamson, p. 92</ref><ref>Walcott, James (15 September 2010) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110529201445/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2010/09/how-pleasing-and-inspiring-it.html Beam Me Up, Bucky]. ''Vanity Fair''</ref><ref>{{YouTube|6z8u313eY_c|Maharishi Channel}}</ref> 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, [[Biography:Marshall McLuhan|Marshall McLuhan]], and Jonas Salk.<ref name="American" />

The Maharishi announced his World Plan in 1972, the goal of which was to establish 3,600 TM centres around the world.<ref name="Una Kroll" /><ref name="Odd Gods" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 August 1972 |title=Maharishi tells Queen's student to continue short-hair culture |work=Montreal Gazette |agency=CP |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BQsyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3772,310478&dq=maharishi&hl=en}}</ref> He also persuaded the U.S. Army to offer courses in TM to its soldiers<ref name="Una Kroll" /> and made videotaped recordings of what was thought to be the West's first comprehensive recitation of the Rig Veda.<ref>Stark, Rodney and Bainbridge, William Sims (1985), ''The Future of Religion'', University of California Press. p. 288. {{ISBN|9780520057319}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Una Kroll" /><ref>[https://archive.today/20130115114017/http://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=kyIrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XZ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3743,2143748&dq=maharishi+illinois+legislature&hl=en "People"], ''Anchorage Daily News'', 14 March 1973. Note: "The Maharishi addressed the Illinois legislature Tuesday and made a few suggestions on how to handle fiscal problems. "The basis of a restful budget is no problems in society", he told legislators." Retrieved on 2010-12-01.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120713103217/http://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=kW8zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oTgHAAAAIBAJ&pg=3048,1889826&dq=maharishi+illinois+legislature&hl=en "The TM believers are expanding their universe"], ''Bangor Daily News'', 6 March 1973. Note: "The legislature in the State of Illinois passed a resolution this past year recommending the inclusion of SCI teaching in the public schools." Retrieved on 1 December 2010.</ref> Later that year he organized a world conference of mayors in Switzerland.<ref name="Una Kroll" /> 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.<ref name=" Dehsen"/>

In 1974, the Maharishi International University was founded. In October 1975, the Maharishi was pictured on the front cover of ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoffman |first=Claire |date=7 February 2008 |title=David Lynch's Guru and His Art |work={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2008/02/david_lynch_talks_about_the_de.html |access-date=1 May 2010}}</ref>

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".<ref name="news.google.com">{{Cite news |last=McPherson |first=Don |date=24 March 1975 |title=Maharishi Claims Meditation Push Can Help Canada |work=Montreal Gazette |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_woyAAAAIBAJ&pg=4101,1947773&dq=maharishi&hl=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Caffery |first=Bethia |date=27 March 1975 |title=Maharishi Carries Roses, Quiets World |work=The Evening Independent |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9tMjAAAAIBAJ&pg=6135,3689323&dq=maharishi&hl=en}}</ref> 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".<ref>[https://archive.today/20120713193148/http://news.google.ca/newspapers?id=3-BYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b1IMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4744,1878994&dq=trudeau+maharishi&hl=en "Maharishi says Trudeau 'Receptive'"], ''Canadian Press'', ''The Windsor Star'', 22 March 1975. Retrieved on 2010-10-21.</ref><ref>The Gazette, 22 March 1975, "PM and TM leader"</ref><ref>The Citizen, 22 March 1975, "Trudeau "intelligent man" Guru Says After Long Talk"</ref>  That same year, the Pittsburgh Press reported that "The Maharishi has been criticised by other Eastern yogis for simplifying their ancient art."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gigler |first=Rich |date=10 February 1975 |title=Transcendental Meditation can be relaxing hobby |work=Pittsburgh Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sAscAAAAIBAJ&pg=7353,3712907&dq=maharishi+criticized+hindus&hl=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name = Woo/><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Merv Griffin Show: December 14, 1977 |url=http://www.tv.com/the-merv-griffin-show/december-14-1977/episode/1141200/summary.html?tag=episode_header;next |access-date=30 December 2009 |website=TV.com web site}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Royko |first=Mike |date=13 September 1985 |title=Flighty Lawsuit Has Lousy Karma |page=3 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref><ref name="MG & DB 177">Merv: making the good life last, Merv Griffin, David Bender, page 177</ref>
[[File:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during a 1979 visit to MUM.jpg|thumb|200px|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.<ref name="bloomberg.com" /> 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 [[Finance:Multinational corporation|multinational corporation]].<ref name=Times0882/>

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).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bezalel |first=Mel |date=1 May 2009 |title=Trance 101 |page=14 |work=Jerusalem Post |url=https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Around-Israel/Trance-101}}</ref>

During the 1980s, the organisation continued to expand and his meditation technique continued to attract celebrities<ref name="bloomberg.com" /> despite its "outlandish claims" and accusations of fraud from disaffected former disciples.<ref name="Times0882">{{Cite news |date=7 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |work=The Times |location=London (UK) |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Times0882/> 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)".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maharishi Veda Land |url=http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/amenities/vedaland.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424114004/http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/amenities/vedaland.html |archive-date=24 April 2016 |access-date=2016-04-18 |website=maharishivediccity-iowa.gov}}</ref> 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.<ref>Ricciuto, Tony (8 February 2008)  [https://web.archive.org/web/20160412152707/http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2008/02/08/a-dreamland-by-the-qew A dreamland by the QEW]. ''Niagara Falls Review''</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Braun |first=Frank Dirceu |date=7 August 1999 |title=La Jolla resident involved with maharishi in plans for world's tallest high-rise, Brazil project expected to cost $1.6 billion |page=A.12 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune}}</ref>  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.<ref>Unknown author [http://www.e-gyan.net/mvvvv.jsp E-Gyan web site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017004830/http://www.e-gyan.net/mvvvv.jsp |date=17 October 2015 }} accessed 9 March 2013</ref><ref>Unknown author [http://www.maharishi-india.org/institutions/i6/index.html MVVVP Maharishi India web site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515200556/http://www.maharishi-india.org/institutions/i6/index.html |date=15 May 2013 }} accessed 9 March 2013</ref> In 1983, the Maharishi invited government leaders to interact with his organization called "World Government".<ref name="Odd Gods" />

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Bryan |date=1 March 1988 |title=India: 'Buried' holy man fosters skepticism |page=A.8 |work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> Reports on the value of stocks, fixed-deposit notes, cash and jewels confiscated, vary from source to source.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Waters |first=Shaun |date=11 April 1988 |title=Canadians urged to help build guru's heavenly housing |page=A.13 |work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ehmann |first=James |date=5 May 1988 |title=Ehmann's People |page=A2 |work=The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) |quote=Sub-head: We'll Transcend Our Mistake. "$60,000 in undeclared cash and jewelry were confiscated.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Speers |first=W. |date=24 December 1987 |title=Von Bulow Lawsuit is Settled |page=C02 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ehmann |first=James |date=5 May 1988 |title=Ehmann's People |page=A2 |work=The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) |quote=Sub-head: We'll Transcend Our Mistake. Section: Back in December, we repeated a wire service's assertion that offices in India of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had been raided and that $60,000 in undeclared cash and jewelry were confiscated. Recently, we heard from the Age of Enlightenment News Service in Livingston Manor, which asserted that, according to "official documents from the Indian government", nothing of value was confiscated in the raids.}}</ref> The Maharishi, who was "headquartered in Switzerland" at the time, reportedly moved to the Netherlands "after the Indian government accused him of tax fraud".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richardson |first=Mark |date=16 October 1993 |title=Natural Law confident its 'new knowledge' can solve the nation's problems |page=A.9 |work=The Ottawa Citizen.}}</ref>) Following an earthquake in Armenia, the Maharishi trained Russian TM teachers and set up a Maharishi Ayurveda training centre in the Urals region.<ref>Borden, Charles W. (8 Jul 2010) [https://web.archive.org/web/20160809143247/http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1846/ "Transcendental Meditation in Russia"]. ''Passport Magazine''</ref> Beginning in 1989, the Maharishi's movement began incorporating the term "Maharishi" into the names of their new and existing entities, concepts and programmes.<ref>Mason (1994), pp. 272–273</ref>

===Years in Vlodrop (1991–2008)===
[[File:20130723 MERU (Maharishi European Research University) in Vlodrop Holland - CC BY-NC-ND 1000x368.jpg|thumb|220px|left|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.<ref name="foxnews.com">{{Cite news |date=6 February 2008 |title=Beatles Meditation Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies |work=Fox News |agency=AP |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328965,00.html |access-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523132103/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328965,00.html |archive-date=23 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hodgson |first=Martin |date=6 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in peace |work=Guardian |location=UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/06/musicnews.india}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Times0882/>

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".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Naughton |first=Jim |date=16 December 1991 |title=Head for the Hills, Disciples!; TM's Maharishi Holds Out No Hope for D.C. |page=a.01 |work=The Washington Post |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74759258.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT}}</ref> The Maharishi is believed to have made his final public appearance in 1991, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.<ref name="Osborn">{{Cite news |last=Osborn |first=Andrew |date=4 December 2001 |title=Real lives: Holy man of Maastricht: Since George Harrison's death, the papers have been full of pictures of him with his Indian guru in the 60s. So what is the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi up to these days? Andrew Osborn tracks him down – to Holland |page=4 |work=The Guardian |location=Manchester (UK)}}</ref> [[Biography:Deepak Chopra|Deepak Chopra]], described as "one of the Maharishi's top assistants before he launched his own career",<ref name=Woo/> 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.<ref name="Chopra">{{Cite news |last=Chopra |first=Deepak |date=13 February 2008 |title=The Maharishi Years – The Untold Story: Recollections of a Former Disciple |work=Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-maharishi-years-the_b_86412.html}}</ref>

As part of a world plan for peace, the Maharishi inaugurated the Natural Law Party (NLP) and calling it a "natural government".<ref name=Telegraph7870/> His adherents founded the NLP in 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maier |first=Scott |date=22 September 1992 |title=Don't Take It Personal: Meditation Technique Advocates Bring You Natural Law Party |page=b.1 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer}}</ref> It was active in forty-two countries.<ref name="SCHULTE">{{Cite news |last=Schulte |first=Brigid |date=23 June 1996 |title=Imagine You Are Our Next President Meditation Is Key In Third-Party Bid. Series: Another in an occasional series of profiles of long-shot candidates for president. |page=32 |work=The Record |location=Bergen County, N.J.}}</ref> [[Biography:John Hagelin|John Hagelin]], the NLP's three-time candidate for U.S. president, denied any formal connection between the Maharishi and the party.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Howard |first=Phoebe Wall |date=8 January 1996 |title=New laid-back national party calls philosophy only natural |page=A.1 |work=The Fresno Bee |location=Fresno, Calif.}}</ref> According to spokesman Bob Roth, "The Maharishi has said the party has to grow to encompass everyone".<ref name=SCHULTE/> Critics charged that the party was an effort to recruit people for Transcendental Meditation,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cobb |first=Chris |date=30 October 1993 |title=Party of the flying yogics gets a free ride from the taxpayers |page=A.10 |work=The Vancouver Sun}}</ref> and that it resembled "the political arm of an international corporation" more than a "home-grown political creation".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kapica |first=Jack |date=27 November 1993 |title=Veda Land: The New Incarnation of the Maharishi: Rejection by the voters only serves to make the Natural Law Party's appeals more urgent, its plans more grandiose, its claims more strident |page=D.3 |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ont.}}</ref> The Indian arm of the NLP, the Ajeya Bharat Party, achieved electoral success, winning one seat in a state assembly in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Madhya Pradesh: State Election Of 25 November 1998 |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/i/india/states/madh1.txt |access-date=31 December 2009 |website=Psephos}}</ref> The Maharishi shut down the political effort in 2004, saying, "I had to get into politics to know what is wrong there."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Keller |first=James |date=17 October 2005 |title=Indian guru who taught the Beatles sets sights on Canada |page=A.8 |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto, Ont.}}</ref>

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".<ref name=Telegraph7870/> In 1993 and 2003, he decided to raise the fees for learning the TM technique.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Naedele |first=Walter Jr. |date=30 August 1994 |title=Meditation program goes from 'Om' to 'Ouch' |page=B.2 |work=Philadelphia Inquirer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Overton |first=Penelope |date=15 September 2003 |title=Group promotes meditation therapy in schools |page=B1 |work=Hartford Courant}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Greening |first=Benedict |date=16 August 2003 |title=TM courses halted as fees soar |work=Royal Gazette |location=Bermuda}}</ref>

In 1997 the Maharishi's organization built the largest wooden structure in the Netherlands without using any nails.<ref name=Times0882/><ref name=Osborn/> 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.<ref name="Koppel2006">{{Cite news |last=Koppel |first=Lily |date=8 October 2006 |title=Encounter: Outer Peace |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08wwln_essay.html?_r=1&oref=slogin}}</ref> He used videoconferencing to communicate with the world and with his advisors.<ref name=Koppel2006/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Honigsbaum |first=Mark |date=15 August 2005 |title=All you need is love and peace – but not in destructive Britain, so maharishi pulls out: Followers split as 95-year-old guru ends meditation teaching in 'scorpion nation' |page=3 |work=The Guardian, London (UK) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/15/health.healthandwellbeing}}</ref> 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".<ref name="GGN">{{Cite press release |title=Global Reconstruction will provide fortunate living conditions for everyone |date=5 June 2007 |publisher=Global Good News Service |url=http://www.globalgoodnews.com/health-news-a.html?art=1181073654230287}}</ref><ref>Williamson</ref>

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".<ref name=Koppel/><ref name="Official Web Site">{{Cite web |title=Global Country of World Peace: Welcome |url=http://globalcountryofworldpeace.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526021844/http://globalcountryofworldpeace.org/ |archive-date=26 May 2010 |website=globalcountryofworldpeace.org}}</ref> The Maharishi crowned Tony Nader, a physician and MIT-trained neuroscientist,<ref name=Williamson81/> as the king or Maharaja of the GCWP in 2000.<ref name="globalcountry">{{Cite web |title=Global Organization |url=http://www.globalcountry.org/wp/full-width/global-administration/ |website=globalcountry.org}}</ref> The GCWP unsuccessfully attempted to establish a sovereign [[Social:Micronation|micronation]] when it offered US$1.3 [[Billion|billion]] to the President of Suriname for a 200-year lease of {{convert|3500|acre|km2}} of land and in 2002, attempted to choose a king for the Talamanca, a "remote Indian reservation" in Costa Rica.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 July 2002 |title=Costa Rica: Secta divide a indígenas |language=es |work=La Fogata |url=http://www.lafogata.org/02latino/6latinoamerica/indigenas.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727013442/http://www.lafogata.org/02latino/6latinoamerica/indigenas.htm |archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=18 July 2002 |title=Costa Rica expels foreigners for naming king of remote Indian reservation |work=AP World Politics |url=http://groups.google.com/group/alt.meditation.transcendental/msg/ac69445750efc3a2 |quote=It was obvious that they were promoting an independent state within Costa Rica, and we can't tolerate that" said the Central American nation's security minister Rogelio Ramos.}} Shorter version at [https://web.archive.org/web/20160617164345/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2002-07-19/news/0207190107_1_rica-indian-reservation-unrest Costa Rica Expels Foreign Group]. ''Orlando Sentinel''. 19 July 2002</ref>

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".<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 February 2008 |title=Beatles Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dies |work=News vine |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/02/05/1280564-beatles-guru-maharishi-mahesh-yogi-dies}}</ref>

[[File:MaharishiMaheshYogi-06.jpg|thumb|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".<ref name="van den Berg" /> It was occasioned by the reissue of the Maharishi's book ''The Science of Being and Art of Living''.<ref name="Easterling">{{Cite book |last=Easterling |first=Keller |title=Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades |date=31 October 2007 |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-55065-9}}</ref> That same year, the Maharishi Global Financing Research Foundation issued the "Raam" as a currency "dedicated to financing peace promoting projects".<ref name=Times0882/>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Borger |first=Julian |date=10 December 2003 |title=Peace Man |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/dec/10/davidlynch}}</ref>

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.<ref name=Honigsbaum/> The Maharishi said that he did not want to waste the "beautiful nectar" of TM on a "scorpion nation".<ref name=Honigsbaum/><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 May 2005 |title=Press Conference Highlights |url=http://www.press-conference.globalgoodnews.com/archive/may/05.05.11.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711101155/http://www.press-conference.globalgoodnews.com/archive/may/05.05.11.html |archive-date=11 July 2011 |website=globalgoodnews.com}}</ref> He lifted the ban after Blair's resignation in 2007.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lackey |first=Richard |date=8 August 2007 |title=Skelmersdale's yogic flyers |work=Champion |location=Southport, UK |url=http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory.asp?id=5943 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708134730/http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory.asp?id=5943 |archive-date=8 July 2011}}</ref> During this period, skeptics were critical of some of the Maharishi's programmes, such as a US$10 [[Trillion|trillion]] plan to end poverty through organic farming in poor countries and a US$1 billion plan to use meditation groups to end conflict.<ref name="foxnews.com" />

===Death===
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, concerned about his health,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Max |first=Arthur |date=19 February 2006 |title=A Yogi's Plan for Today's Troubled World |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/19/news/adfg-yogi19}}</ref> became increasingly secluded in two rooms of his residence.<ref name="foxnews.com" /> During this period he rarely had in-person meetings and instead communicated with his followers almost exclusively by closed-circuit television.<ref name=Koppel/>

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.'"<ref name="GGN2008">{{Cite news |date=12 January 2008 |title=Inauguration of Maharishi's Year of Invincibility – Global Raam Raj: Rejoicing in the supreme fulfilment of Invincibility for the world – Global Country of World Peace celebrates the dawn of administration of eternal silence |work=Global Good News |url=http://www.globalgoodnews.com/world-peace-a.html?art=12006132879728764 |access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 January 2008 |title=Historic address of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on 11 January 2008 |work=Global Good News |url=http://www.globalgoodnews.com/world-peace-a.html?art=12005179678680766}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=Dear Fellow Governors, Sidhas and Meditators of America |date=8 January 2008 |publisher=invincibleamerica.org |url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2008-01/JaiGuruDev.html |last1=Hagelin |first1=John |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105134330/http://www.randi.org/jr/2008-01/JaiGuruDev.html |archive-date=5 November 2010}}</ref>

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".<ref name="van den Berg" /><ref name=Corder/> The Maharishi died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes on 5 February 2008 at his residence in Vlodrop, Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 February 2008 |title=Indian guru Maharishi Yogi dies |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7229597.stm}}</ref> The cremation and funeral rites were conducted at the Maharishi's Prayagraj ashram in India, overlooking the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.<ref>[http://www.indiaenews.com/religion/20080211/96901.htm India eNews, Madhusree Chatterjee, 11 February 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310150553/http://www.indiaenews.com/religion/20080211/96901.htm |date=10 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>[http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-31869420080211 "The Beatles' guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi cremated", Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, 11 February 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180848/http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-31869420080211 |date=3 March 2016 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Williamson80">Williamson, p. 80</ref> 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.<ref name="Brier">{{Cite book |last=Brier |first=Soren |title=Mentality and Thought: North, South, East and West |publisher=Copenhagen Business School Press |year=2010 |editor-last=Durst-Anderson |editor-first=Per |location=Copenhagen |pages=53–86 |chapter=The Conflict between Indian Vedic Mentality and Western Modernity |editor-last2=Lange |editor-first2=Elsebeth}}</ref> Also in attendance were thirty-five rajas of the Global Country of World Peace, one-time disciple [[Biography:Ravi Shankar (spiritual leader)|Sri Sri Ravi Shankar]], and David Lynch.<ref name=Hindustan/> A troop of uniformed policemen lowered their arms in salute.<ref name="Hindustan">{{Cite news |date=11 February 2008 |title=Mahesh Yogi cremated with state honours |work=The Hindustan Times |location=New Delhi}}</ref> The funeral received its status as a state funeral because the Maharishi was a recognised master in the tradition of [[Philosophy:Advaita Vedanta|Advaita Vedanta]] founded by Shankara.<ref name=Brier/>

The Maharishi is survived by a brother and "a number of nephews".<ref name="Indian Muslim News">{{Cite news |last1=Pradhanl |first1=Sharat |last2=Chatterjee |first2=Madhusree |title=Mahesh Yogi cremated as large gathering pays tribute |work=IANS |url=http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/feb/11/mahesh_yogi_cremated_large_gathering_pays_tribute.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601002812/http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/feb/11/mahesh_yogi_cremated_large_gathering_pays_tribute.html |archive-date=1 June 2011}}</ref> One nephew, Girish Chandra Varma,<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 February 2008 |title=Veneration marks 'Shodashi Sanskar' |work=The Hindustan Times |location=New Delhi}}</ref> is chairman of the Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools Group<ref name="Varma Bio">[http://maharishividyamandir.com/chairmanDesk.jsp Brahmachari Girish (Dr Girish Chandra Varma)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728074740/http://maharishividyamandir.com/chairmanDesk.jsp |date=28 July 2011 }}, accessed 22 April 2013</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 November 2009 |title=Maharishi National Cultural Celebration – 2009 |work=E-Gyan |issue=5 |url=http://www.e-gyan.net/November09/picture/E-GyanNovember.pdf |access-date=1 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723104407/http://www.e-gyan.net/November09/picture/E-GyanNovember.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref>  and a "senior functionary of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement in India."<ref name="Indian Muslim News" /> Other nephews include Prakash Shrivastav,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pradhan |first=Sharat |date=10 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to be cremated in grand ceremony |work=Rediff.com |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/10look.htm |access-date=6 April 2010}}</ref> president of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Chairman |url=http://www.mvmpslko.com/chairman.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901083720/http://www.mvmpslko.com/chairman.html |archive-date=1 September 2009 |access-date=6 April 2010 |website=Maharishi Vidya Mandir public school}}</ref>  and Anand Shrivastava,<ref name="Nephews">{{Cite news |last=Chopra |first=Deepak |date=13 February 2008 |title=The Maharishi Years – The Untold Story: Recollections of a Former Disciple |work=Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-maharishi-years-the-u_b_86412.html?page=2&show_comment_id=11483686#comment_11483686 |access-date=5 April 2010}}</ref> chairman of the Maharishi Group.<ref name="Human Dimension: Anand Shrivastava">{{Cite web |title=Human Dimension: Anand Shrivastava |url=http://www.rrcap.unep.org/uneptg05/resource/anand.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718201432/http://www.rrcap.unep.org/uneptg05/resource/anand.htm |archive-date=18 July 2011 |access-date=5 April 2010 |website=UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development}}</ref>

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".<ref name="BBC Obit" /> 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."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130429223746/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gRZCe-4LSHJgdhhiNS3N5ltwglNA "Beatles pay tribute to late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi"], ''AFP'' (7 February 2008)</ref>

===Legacy===
[[File:Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 2019 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|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.<ref name="Greenberg">{{Cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Jerrold S. |title=Comprehensive Stress Management |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2006}}</ref> He is considered  responsible for the popularisation of meditation in the west,<ref name="Hindustan Times">{{Cite news |date=8 February 2008 |title=Mantras that made Maharishi's mission successful |work=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref>James Dalen, James and Devries, Stephen (2011) Oxford University Press (New York) ''Integrative Cardiology,'' The Integrative Approach to Hypertension, Ch. 11, page 237</ref> something he accomplished by teaching Transcendental Meditation worldwide through a highly effective organization of his own development.<ref name="Greenberg" /> 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.<ref name="The prime mover of life">Wagger, Lane (16 June 2011) [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/The-prime-mover-of-life/articleshow/7310685.cms The prime mover of life] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017004829/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/The-prime-mover-of-life/articleshow/7310685.cms |date=17 October 2015 }}, ''Times of India''</ref><ref name="Goldberg173">{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Philip |title=American Veda |publisher=Harmony Books |year=2011 |page=173}}</ref><ref>Rosenthal, Norman (2011) ''Transcendence'', Tarcher Books. p. 4. {{ISBN|978-1-58542-873-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jevning |first1=Ronald |title=Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives |last2=Walsh |first2=Deane H |publisher=Aldine Publishing Company |others=Roger Walsh |year=1984 |isbn=0-202-25136-5 |editor-last=Shapiro |editor-first=Deane H |location=Hawthorne, New York |page=470 |chapter=Chapter 33: Metabolic Effects of Transcendental Meditation: Toward a New Paradigm of Neurobiology}}</ref> Partly because of this, ''Newsweek'' credited him with helping to launch "a legitimate new field of neuroscience".<ref>Begley, Sharon (18 February 2008). "His Magical Mystery Tour". Newsweek: 18. "Whatever you think of the 'White Album', give the Maharishi credit for helping launch what's become a legitimate new field of neuroscience."</ref><ref name=Goldberg154-5/> According to the ''Times of India'' his "unique and enduring contribution to humankind was his deep understanding of – and mechanics of experiencing – pure consciousness".<ref name="The prime mover of life" />  A memorial building, the Maharishi Smarak, was inaugurated at Prayagraj in February 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2013 |title=Maharishi Smarak Inaugurated |url=http://www.maharishivastu.org/newsletter/owning-vastu-2013_03.html |access-date=2015-09-04 |website=maharishivastu.org}}</ref><ref name="Indiapost">{{Cite news |date=10 April 2013 |title=Maharishi Smarak inaugurated during Kumbh Mela |work=India Post |url=http://www.indiapost.com/maharishi-smarak-inaugurated-during-kumbh-mela/ |access-date=27 November 2013}}</ref>

==Philosophy and teaching==
{{Hindu philosophy}} 
The Maharishi had come out to teach with the "avowed intention" to change "the course of human history".<ref name=Needleman1/> 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.<ref name="Goldberg154-5">Goldberg, (2010) ''American Veda'',  New York, Harmony Books pp154-155.</ref> 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".<ref name="van den Berg" /> His philosophy featured the concept that "within everyone is an unlimited reservoir of energy, intelligence, and happiness".<ref name=Hudson/> He emphasised the naturalness of his meditation technique as a simple way of developing this potential.<ref name="Olson">{{Cite book |last=Olsen |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC |title=The many colors of Hinduism |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9 |pages=338–341}}</ref>

Beginning in 1962, the Maharishi began to recommend the daily practice of yoga exercises or asanas to further accelerate growth.<ref>Mason (1994), p. 59</ref>

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.<ref name="van den Berg" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 November 2009 |title=Maharishi's Programme to Create World Peace led to fall of Berlin Wall: Rising coherence in national and world consciousness |url=http://www.globalgoodnews.com/world-peace-a.html?art=12578119332103873 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724122036/http://www.globalgoodnews.com/world-peace-a.html?art=12578119332103873 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |access-date=29 August 2010 |website=Global Good News}}</ref><ref name="Gardner">{{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Martin |title=Weird water & fuzzy logic: more notes of a fringe watcher |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1996 |isbn=1573920967 |page=142}}</ref><ref name="Sun">{{Cite news |last=Cummins |first=Ken |date=3 November 1990 |title=U.s. Meditation Believers Seek To Give Peace A Chant |work=Sun Sentinel |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-11-03/news/9002230201_1_transcendental-meditation-mass-meditation-maharishi-mahesh-yogi |access-date=9 May 2013}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite book |last=York |first=Michael |title=Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8122-1971-5 |editor-last=Barger |editor-first=Helen A. |page=16 |chapter=New Age and Magic |access-date=5 December 2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nng-dAooleAC&q=Maharishi+millennialism&pg=PA17}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Olson/>

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.<ref name="Forem">{{Cite book |last=Forem |first=Jack |title=Transcendental Meditation-The classic text revised and updated |publisher=Hay House, Inc. |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4019-3156-8 |edition=2nd |page=250}}</ref>

Some religious studies scholars have further said that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is one of a number of Indian [[Biography:Guru|guru]]s who brought neo-Hindu adaptations of Vedantic Hinduism to the west.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Larson |first=Gerald James |title=World Religions in America: An Introduction |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-664-23320-4 |editor-last=Neusner |editor-first=Jacob |page=192 |chapter=Hinduism in India and in America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alper |first=Harvey P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8Upy4ApG_oC&pg=PA442 |title=Understanding mantras |date=December 1991 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0746-4 |page=442}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Raj |first1=Selva J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov2oltTLinkC&pg=PA129 |title=Dealing With Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia |last2=William P. Harman |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7914-6708-4 |page=129}}</ref> Author [[Biography:Meera Nanda|Meera Nanda]] calls neo-Hinduism "the brand of Hinduism that is taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Deepak Chopra, and their clones".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nanda |first=Meera |title=Prophets facing backward: postmodern critiques of science and Hindu nationalism in India |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8135-3357-5 |location=Piscataway N.J.; London |page=46}}</ref> 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".<ref name=Coplin3/>

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".<ref name=Needleman1/><ref name=Barry/>

===Transcendental Meditation===
{{Main|Unsolved: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".<ref name="van den Berg" /> His movement offered in-residence style TM advanced courses.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=More than 1200 Yogic Flyers Assemble in Washington, D.C., and Iowa to Promote Invincibility in America and Permanent World Peace |date=25 July 2006 |publisher=Invincible America |url=http://www.invincibleamerica.org/press/2006_07_25.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017004829/http://www.invincibleamerica.org/press/2006_07_25.html |archive-date=17 October 2015}}</ref> By the time of his death, there were nearly 1,000 TM training centres around the world.<ref name=Times0882/>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Phiilip |url=https://archive.org/details/americanvedafrom00gold/page/163 |title=American Veda |publisher=Harmony Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-385-52134-5 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanvedafrom00gold/page/163 163]}}</ref>

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.<ref>Coplin, p. 71</ref> This new programme gave rise to a new principle called the ''[[Unsolved:Transcendental Meditation#Maharishi effect|Maharishi Effect]]'', which is said to "create coherence in the collective consciousness" and to suppress crime, violence, and accidents.<ref>{{Cite news |last=WAGER |first=GREGG |date=11 December 1987 |title=Musicians Spread the Maharishi's Message of Peace |page=12 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

===Maharishi Vedic Science===
[[File:Maharishi Vedic University in Holland.JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="Humes 2005 66">Humes, p. 66</ref> MVS aims to   put forward traditional Vedic literature in the light of Western traditions of knowledge and understanding.<ref name="Meyer-Dinkgräfe">{{Cite book |last=Meyer-Dinkgräfe |first=Daniel |title=Theatre And Consciousness: Explanatory Scope And Future Potential |publisher=Intellect Books |year=2005 |isbn=1841501301 |pages=appendix p1}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Ascott">{{Cite book |last=Ascott |first=Roy |title=Reframing Consciousness : Art, Mind and Technology |publisher=Intellect Books |year=2000 |isbn=1841508152 |pages=285–290}}</ref> Once this state is fully established an individual is no longer influenced by  outer aspects of existence and perceives pure consciousness in everything.<ref name="Ascott" />  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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bonshek |first1=Anna |title=The Big Fish: Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space |last2=Bonshek |first2=Corrina |last3=Fergusson |first3=Lee C. |publisher=Rodopi |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-420-2172-3 |series=Consciousness, literature & the arts |pages=6–9}}</ref> These applications include programmes in: [[Chemistry:Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health|Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health]] (MVAH);<ref name="Sharma&Clark">{{Cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=H. |title=Contemporary Ayurveda, Medicine and Research in Maharishi Ayur-Veda |last2=Clark |first2=Christopher |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-443-05594-2 |pages=143–145 |chapter=Chapter 13: Maharishi's Vedic Approach to Health}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Robert H. |url=https://archive.org/details/totalhearthealth00robe |title=Total Heart Health: How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease with the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health |last2=Fields |first2=Jeremy Z. |publisher=Basic Health Publications, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59120-087-1}}</ref> Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, a mathematical system for the design and construction of buildings;<ref name="Argus">[http://download.tmnews.org/2005_08_05_RockIsArgus_ltr.pdf  Welvaert, Brandy, "Vedic homes seek better living through architecture", ''Rock Island Argus'', (5 August 2005)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202354/http://download.tmnews.org/2005_08_05_RockIsArgus_ltr.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }}</ref><ref name="Spivack">{{Cite news |last=Spivack |first=Miranda |date=12 September 2008 |title=Bricks Mortar and Serenity |work={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103497.html}}</ref> Maharishi Gandharva Veda,<ref>Wallace, pp. 99–102</ref> a form of classical Indian music; Maharishi Jyotish (also known as Maharishi Vedic Astrology),<ref name=Sharma&Clark/><ref>Wallace, pp. 107–109</ref> 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.<ref name="RomeNewsTribune">{{Cite news |last=Ingram |first=Jeanne |date=24 February 1984 |title=Meditation: Is it Really a Cure-all? Believers Include a Physician who Claims it Works Wonders |work=Rome News-Tribune |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19840224&id=NWdMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6149,856508 |access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="TheVictoriaAdvocate">{{Cite news |last=Condon |first=Patrick |date=6 November 2004 |title=Transcendental Meditation Advocates Point to its Success at Private Iowa Academy |page=3D |work=The Victoria Advocate |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20041106&id=LQJZAAAAIBAJ&pg=6710,1153970 |access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_jaYF-iyp0C |title=The university in transformation: global perspectives on the futures of the university |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2000 |isbn=9780897897181 |editor-last=Inayatullah |editor-first=Sohail |page=209 |chapter=Consciousness-based Education: A Future of Higher Education in the New Millennium |editor-last2=Gidley |editor-first2=Jennifer}}</ref>

===Publications===
The Maharishi wrote more than twenty books on the Transcendental Meditation technique and Maharishi Vedic Science.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maharishi's Books: Enlightenment for Everyone and Every Nation |url=http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/publications/books.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525221029/http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/publications/books.html |archive-date=25 May 2010 |website=globalgoodnews.com}}</ref>

====''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.<ref name="paulmason.info">{{Cite book |last=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |url=http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/sources/pdf/Beacon%20Light%20of%20the%20HImalayas.pdf |title=Beacon Light of the Himalayas |year=1955}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chryssides |first=George D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxIxPBpGMwgC |title=Exploring New Religions |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8264-5959-6 |page=293}}</ref><ref name="Humes 2005 77">Humes, p. 77</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&q=beacon+light+of+the+himalayas&pg=PA193 |title=America's Alternative Religions |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-7914-2397-4 |page=193}}</ref><ref>Russell, p. 75</ref> 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 [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]].<ref name="paulmason.info" />

====''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.<ref name="van den Berg" /><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1986) p. 459, "There was not much time for writing a book, so Maharishi said, 'I'll speak it out on tape, and then you'll get it printed'."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediareli00jone |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=Macmillan Reference |year=2005 |isbn=0-02-865981-3 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |location=Detroit |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediareli00jone/page/n95 3] |url-access=limited}}</ref> 
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.<ref name=" Dehsen"/> 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.<ref name="Caveat">{{Cite book |last=Bono |first=Joseph |title=Caveat Emptor, Let the Buyer Beware: A Consumers Guide To Mental Health Services [Paperback] |date=11 September 2006 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1425945633 |page=118}}</ref> 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.<ref name="OlsonC">{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&q=the+science+of+being+and+the+art+of+living |title=The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-Historical Introduction |date=15 August 2007 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=9780813540689}}</ref> 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.<ref name="OlsonC" />

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.<ref name="Caveat" /><ref name="Science">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Peter |title=From Science to God: A Physicist's Journey Into the Mystery of Consciousness |publisher=New World Library |year=2011 |isbn=9781577319917 |page=73}}</ref> This was the first full systematic description of the principles underlying the Maharishi's teachings.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dagmar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&q=The+science+of+Being+and+art+of+living |title=Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms |last2=Smith |first2=Frederick M. |date=10 July 2008 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791478165 |page=288}}</ref>

====''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."<ref name="gita20-21">{{Cite book |last=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita : A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1–6 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1969 |isbn=978-0-14-019247-6 |location=New York |pages=20–21}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Russel">Russell, p. 134</ref> 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."<ref name="gita17">Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh (1969) page 17</ref>

A second concept, that of freedom, presented as the antithesis of fear, is also prevalent in the book, according to Jack Forem.<ref>Forem, p. 274 (2012)</ref> 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.<ref>Forem, p. 275 (2012)</ref>

==Characterizations and Criticism==
The Maharishi was reported to be a vegetarian,<ref name="Una Kroll" /> an entrepreneur, a monk and "a spiritual man who sought a world stage from which to espouse the joys of inner happiness".<ref name=Koppel/> He was described as an abstemious man with tremendous energy who took a weekly day of silence while sleeping only two hours per night.<ref name="Una Kroll" /> 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"<ref name="Humes 2005 61" /> and paid tribute to him by placing a picture of Saraswati behind him when he spoke.<ref name="Una Kroll" />  He was on a mission to bring the ancient techniques of TM to the world.<ref name="Hunt" />  Scientist and futurist [[Biography:Buckminster Fuller|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."<ref>Mason (1994), p. 221: "What makes Maharishi beloved and understood is that he has manifest love. You could not meet with Maharishi without recognizing instantly his integrity. You look in his eyes and there it is."</ref> Authors Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley write that the Maharishi did not claim any "special divine revelation nor supernatural personal qualities".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=Douglas E. |title=Cults and New Religions: A Brief History |last2=Bromley |first2=David G. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4051-6128-2 |page=68}}</ref> Still others said he helped to "inspire the anti-materialism of the late 60s" and received good publicity because he "opposed drugs".<ref name=Hudson/><ref name="Religion in Amer">{{Cite book |last=Allitt |first=Patrick |title=Religion in America Since 1945: A History |date=20 September 2005 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-12155-2 |page=141}}</ref> According to author Chryssides, "The Maharishi tended to emphasize the positive aspects of humanity, focusing on the good that exists in everyone."<ref name="Chryssides">{{Cite book |last=Chryssides |first=George D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxIxPBpGMwgC&pg=PA293 |title=Exploring new religions |publisher=Cassell |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8264-5959-6 |location=London |pages=293–296}}</ref>

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.<ref name=Times0882/> A reporter for ''[[Finance:The Economist|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. "<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru and tycoon, died on February 5th, aged 91 (probably) |work=The Economist |url=http://www.economist.com/node/10683705?story_id=10683705}}</ref><ref>Mason (1994), p. 221: "Other popular misconceptions are that he amassed a huge fleet of Rolls Royce cars and private aeroplanes, but, people easily confuse him with other Indian teachers, such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Guru Maharaj Ji."</ref> 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."<ref name="Times obituary">.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Guru of transcendental meditation who used his association with the Beatles to create a hugely profitable global movement] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524223404/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece |date=24 May 2010 }}, ''The Times'',  7 February 2008</ref>
However, when the Maharishi died in 2008, he left behind an estate worth an estimated $300 million (U.S.). He was survived by four nephews, who inherited 12,000 acres of land in India, and Tony Nader, a Lebanese neuroscientist whom he had anointed as his successor in the movement.[https://www.vanmag.com/head-case-transcendental-meditation-cracked]. Since his death, several memoirs have been written by former followers and their children who described the Maharishi as a cult leader who could be controlling, and his Centers a financial business.[https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/how-a-new-book-exposes-the-dark-side-of-transcendental-meditation-54282/] [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cult-maharishi-mahesh-yogi_uk_5bc5e04de4b0d38b5871a8c3]

He was often referred to as the "Giggling Guru" because of his habit of laughing during television interviews.<ref name="Guru-Vy">{{Cite news |last=Tresniowski |first=Alex |year=1998 |title=Feeling Guru-Vy |work=People  |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20126074,00.html |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Honigsbaum">{{Cite news |last=Honigsbaum |first=Mark |date=15 August 2005 |title=All you need is love and peace – but not in destructive Britain, so maharishi pulls out: Followers split as 95-year-old guru ends meditation teaching in 'scorpion nation' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/15/health.healthandwellbeing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227202958/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/aug/15/health.healthandwellbeing |archive-date=27 February 2010}}</ref> Diminutive at a little over five feet tall, the Maharishi often wore a traditional cotton or silk, white dhoti while carrying or wearing flowers.<ref name=Koppel/> He often sat cross-legged on a deerskin and had a "grayish-white beard, mustache and long, dark, stringy hair".<ref name=Koppel/><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 November 1967 |title=Invitation to Instant bliss |page=26 |work=Life}}</ref> Barry Miles described the Maharishi as having "liquid eyes, twinkling but inscrutable with the wisdom from the East".<ref name="Barry2">{{Cite book |last=Miles |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkXNECitum0C |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now |publisher=Macmillan |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8050-5249-7 |page=401}}</ref> Miles said the Maharishi in his seventies looked much younger than his age.<ref name="Friend">{{Cite news |last1=Friend |first1=David |last2=Mehta |first2=Dilip |date=November 1990 |title=The return of Mister Bliss |page=82 |work=Life}}</ref>  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".<ref name="MG & DB 177" /><ref name=Friend/>

Biographer Paul Mason's web site says that Swami Swaroopananda, one of three claimants to the title Shankaracharya of [[Organization:Jyotir Math|Jyotir Math]],  is "an outspoken critic" of the Maharishi.  According to Swaroopananda, the Maharishi "was responsible for the [[Organization:Jyotir Math#1954 to present|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.<ref>Mason, Paul.   [https://archive.today/20120905202522/http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/TheLastInstruction.html The Last Instruction], paulmason.info</ref>  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".<ref name="Simon">{{Cite news |last=Simon |first=Alyssa |date=14 February 2010 |title=David Wants to Fly |work=Variety |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942181.html?categoryid=31&cs=1}} [Swami Swaroopanand, successor to Guru Dev, in a village near Tibet. The swami tells Sieveking that the Maharishi, from a trader caste, was merely Guru Dev's bookkeeper and, besides, he notes, "Gurus don't sell their knowledge, they share it."]</ref> According to religious scholar Cynthia Humes, enlightened individuals of any caste may "teach brahmavidya"<ref name="Humes 2005 57">Humes, p. 57</ref>  and author Patricia Drake writes that "when Guru Dev was about to die he charged Maharishi with teaching laymen ... to meditate".<ref>Drake, Patricia Hemingway(1975) ''The Transcendental Meditation Primer''. David Mckay Company. p. 17. {{ISBN|9780679505549}}</ref>  Mason says Shantanand "publicly commended the practice of the Maharishi's meditation"<ref>Mason (1994), p. 57: "On Tuesday, 30 May 1961, eight years to the day after his master's death, the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Shantanand Saraswati graced the teacher training course with his presence and was received with all due ceremony. Arriving at the site where the new Academy was being built, he addressed the Maharishi and the gathered meditators . . . . He commended the practice of the Maharishi's meditation, describing it as a 'master key to the knowledge of Vedanta' and added, 'There are other keys, but a master key is enough to open all the locks.'"</ref> and sociologist J.R. Coplin says that Shantanand's successor, Swami Vishnudevanand, also "speaks highly of the Maharishi".<ref name="Kalambakal">{{Cite news |last=Kalambakal |first=Jupiter |date=6 February 2008 |title=Transcendental Meditation Founder Maharishi Dies |work=All Headline News |url=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009948300 |access-date=2010-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317075710/http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009948300 |archive-date=17 March 2008}}</ref><ref>Coplin, pp. 61–63: "Maharishi, though a devoted and favored disciple, was not eligible to become Shankarachaharya due to his caste background (non-brahmin). Nonetheless, he shares with the last two Shankaracharyas of Jyotir Math (who succeeded Brahmanand Saraswati) a brotherly relationship, known as "guru-bhais". Even today, Swami Vishnudevanand (the current Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math) speaks very highly of Maharishi and sees his teaching as a reflection of their master's. Both he and Swami Shantanand (his immediate predecessor) are frequent guests of Maharishi's both in India and abroad, personally endorsing his mission.".... "When Maharishi began teaching during his South Indian tour in the mid-1950s, he arrived as an informal representative of the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, being a 'great disciple of Shri Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (former Shankaracharya)'".</ref>

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.<ref name=Koppel/>

===In popular culture===
The British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'' ridiculed him as "Veririchi Lotsamoney Yogi Bear".<ref name=Leigh/> The Maharishi was also parodied by comedians Bill Dana and Joey Forman in the 1968 comedy album ''The Mashuganishi Yogi'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kamdar |first=Mira |date=20 June 2008 |title=Between Yogis and Gurus, It May be Time to Get Smart |url=http://asiasociety.org/style-living/between-yogis-and-gurus-it-may-be-time-get-smart |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621080336/http://asiasociety.org/style-living/between-yogis-and-gurus-it-may-be-time-get-smart |archive-date=21 June 2010 |access-date=27 August 2010 |website=Asia Society}}</ref> by actor Cash Oshman in the film Man on the Moon, by comedian Mike Myers in the film ''The Love Guru'',{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} and in the BBC sketch show ''Goodness Gracious Me''.<ref>Dunphy, Grahme & Emiq, Rainer, Rodopi (2009) [https://books.google.com/books?id=EfU0YNqcR8IC&pg=PA184 Hybrid Humor: Comedy in Transnational Perspectives]. p. 184. {{ISBN|978-9042028234}}</ref> 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 which John Lennon characterized him as a fraud.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wenner |first=Jann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymjy06WZnd4C&q=%22lennon+remembers%22+maharishi&pg=RA1-PA27 |title=''Lennon Remembers'' |publisher=Verso, W.W. Norton & Co. |year=2000 |isbn=1-85984-376-X |page=27 |orig-year=1971}}</ref> 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, [[Biography:Uri Geller|Uri Geller]] and "that man The Beatles went to see..."

==Other initiatives, projects and programmes==
{{Main|Organization:Transcendental Meditation movement}}
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 [[Unsolved:Transcendental Meditation#Science of Creative Intelligence|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,<ref>[http://www.mum.edu/Customized/Uploads/ByDate/2012/October_2012/October_5th_2012/2012-201338310.pdf MUM Catalog of courses 2012–2013 (Page 23)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606141547/http://www.mum.edu/Customized/Uploads/ByDate/2012/October_2012/October_5th_2012/2012-201338310.pdf |date=6 June 2013 }}</ref> the course also defines certain higher states of consciousness, and gives guidance on how to attain these states.<ref name="King">{{Cite thesis |last=King |first=Jeams Lynwood |title=Fundamentals of Maharishi Vedic Science |publisher=Maharishi University of Management |url=http://www.mum.edu/dissertations/kingj.html |year=2007 |pages=14–15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527235123/https://www.mum.edu/dissertations/kingj.html |archive-date=27 May 2010}}</ref> Though the university claims to grant PhDs, including in neuroscience and psychology, the university is not accredited by either the America Psychological Association (APA)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APA-Accredited Programs |url=http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/programs/index.aspx |website=www.apa.org}}</ref> or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ACGME – Accreditation Data System (ADS) |url=https://apps.acgme.org/ads/public/ |website=apps.acgme.org}}</ref>

[[File:Maharishi Centre for Educational Excellence, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India..jpg|thumb|right|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maharishi Institute of Management: Introduction |url=http://www.maharishiinstituteofmanagement.com/introduction.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804014346/http://www.maharishiinstituteofmanagement.com/introduction.jsp |archive-date=4 August 2010 |website=Maharishi Institute of Management}}</ref> It has 148 branches in 118 cities with 90,000 to 100,000 students and 5,500 teaching and support staff.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maharishi Vidya Mandir |url=http://ekikrat.in/Maharishi-Vidya-Mandir |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814100250/http://ekikrat.in/Maharishi-Vidya-Mandir |archive-date=14 August 2010 |access-date=30 August 2010 |website=Ekikrat.in}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Owens |first=Nancy K. |date=26 October 2005 |title=Man Fails to Fly, Sues Camelot Owner |work=Greater Tulsa Reporter |url=http://www.gtrnews.com/greater-tulsa-reporter/753/once-grand-camelot-hotel-had-a-quick-demise}}</ref><ref name="WilliamsP">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Patrick Gresham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4t0GfHFPbQC&pg=PA261 |title=The Spiritual Recovery Manual: Vedic Knowledge and Yogic Techniques to Accelerate Recovery |publisher=Incandescent Press |year=2002 |isbn=9780970907813 |pages=136, 228, 230}}</ref>

The Maharishi also introduced theories of management, defence, and government<ref name=King/> programmes designed to alleviate poverty, and introduced a new economic development currency called the Raam.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Helman |first=Christopher |date=8 July 2002 |title=Queer as a three-raam bill |work=Forbes |url=http://members.forbes.com/global/2002/0708/025a.html}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Hamill/> 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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161021222214/http://maharishiinstitute.org/the-institute/about-the-institute/ About the Institute]. Maharishi Institute</ref><ref>Anderson, Alistair (26 March 2012)  [https://archive.today/20120723105102/http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=168179 "CIDA Institute may become, self funded university"], ''Business Day''</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Das |first=Subhamoy |date=7 February 2008 |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Passes Away |url=http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaints/a/maharishi_obit.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123175332/http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaints/a/maharishi_obit.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 January 2012 |website=About.com}}</ref> The Patron of the Brahmanand Saraswati Trust is the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math.<ref name=GGN2008/>

===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  {{USD}}2 to {{USD}}5 billion. The real estate alone was valued in 2003 at between $3.6 and $5 billion.<ref name="Harris">{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Chris |date=13 November 2003 |title=The Maharishi's Hotel of Emptiness:Will the Beatles' former guru leave Hartford with a permanent blemish, or is there hope for the Clarion Hotel? |work=Hartford Advocate |url=https://culteducation.com/group/1195-transcendental-meditation-movement/20636-the-maharishis-hotel-of-emptiness.html}}</ref> Holdings in the United States, estimated at $250 million in 2008, include dozens of hotels, commercial buildings and undeveloped land.<ref name="Hamill">{{Cite news |last=Hamill |first=Sean D. |date=22 February 2008 |title=Sites for 'Maharishi Effect' (Welcome to Parma) Spread Across U.S. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/us/22peace.html?_r=2}}</ref> The Maharishi "amassed a personal fortune that his spokesman told one reporter may exceed $1 billion".<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2008 |title=The 'Beatles' Yogi Became a Billionaire |work=Day to Day |url=http://www.npr.mobi/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=87890203}}</ref> According to a 2008 article in ''The Times'', the Maharishi "was reported to have an income of six million pounds".<ref name=Times0882/> The Maharishi's movement is said to be funded through donations, course fees for Transcendental Meditation and various real estate transactions.<ref>Aspan, Maria (2 July 2007), [https://web.archive.org/web/20151017004829/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/business/worldbusiness/02maharishi.html?_r=1&ref=maharishimaheshyogi  Maharishi's Minions Come to Wall Street],  ''NY Times''</ref>

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.<ref name="Jefferson" />

==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'', [[Company:Allied Publishers|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'', [[Unsolved:Arkana Publishing|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

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Cited sources==
*{{Cite thesis |last=Coplin |first=J.R. |title=Text and Context in the Communication of a Social Movement's Charisma, Ideology, and Consciousness: TM for India and the West |degree=PhD |publisher=University of California, San Diego |ref=Coplin |year=1990}}
*{{Cite book |last=Humes |first=C.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugSb7mArJlYC |title=Gurus in America |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-7914-6573-X |editor-last=Forsthoefel |editor-first=Thomas A. |chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the T.M. Technique |ref=Humes |editor-last2=Humes |editor-first2=Cynthia Ann}}
*{{Cite book |last=Mason |first=Paul |title=The Maharishi – The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World |publisher=Element Books Ltd. |year=1994 |isbn=1-85230-571-1 |location=Shaftsbury, Dorset |ref=Mason}}
*{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Peter |title=The T.M. Technique: An Introduction to Transcendental Meditation and the Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |publisher=Routledge |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-7100-8539-9 |ref=Russell}}
*{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Robert Keith |title=The Physiology of Consciousness |publisher=Maharishi International University Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-923569-02-0 |ref=Wallace}}
*{{Cite book |last=Williamson |first=Lola |title=Transcendent in America |publisher=New York University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8147-9449-4 |ref=Williamson}}

==External links==
*[http://www.tm.org/maharishi Transcendental Meditation/Maharishi]
*[http://www.maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/achievements/Maharishi-Achievements/02.html Official List of Lifetime Achievements]
*[http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/12/lklw.00.html Larry King interview with Maharishi 12 May 2002]
*[http://www.maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/publications/books.html List of books by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]
*{{Curlie|Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Hinduism/Gurus_and_Saints/Maharshi_Mahesh_Yogi/}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi}}

{{philosophy of religion}}
{{Religious pluralism}} 

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi}}
[[Category:Spiritual practice]]

{{Sourceattribution|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|1}}