Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Born October 18, 1911
Uttar Pradesh, India

Spiritual teacher in Hinduism

"Through transcendental meditation, the mind unfolds its potential for unlimited awareness, transcendental awareness, unity consciousness—a lively field of all potential, where every possibility is naturally available to the conscious mind. The conscious mind becomes aware of its own … infinite potential."

—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had a very successful career following his own spiritual path. His teachings are based on a mixture of Vedic science, the Hindu religion, and the ancient practice of meditation. Vedic science is drawn from ancient Hindu culture. During the 1960s, Maharishi's philosophies spoke of a higher consciousness and daily spiritualism. His teachings attracted many Americans who felt that these aspects were missing from traditional Western religions and lifestyles. Maharishi also supported nonviolence as a means to social unity, a crucial concept for many rebelling groups during the 1960s. As the United States was fighting the unpopular Vietnam War (1954–75), many people called for peace. Transcendental meditation promised a new world order without conflict, based on supposedly scientific theories. Maharishi's transcendental meditation movement gained approximately four million followers from the 1960s through the early 2000s, forming a worldwide organization.

Studying the Vedic texts

He was born Mahad Prasad Varna on October 18, 1911, in northern India's state of Uttar Pradesh. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi grew up surrounded by the Hindu religion. He graduated from Allahabad University with a degree in physics and spent thirteen years being taught by Swami Brahmananda Saraswati Maharij, also known as Guru Dev. His teacher taught him the Vedic science of consciousness, based on the most ancient of Hindu texts. The Vedic hymns are religious songs that describe the various fire sacrifices made to more than thirty-three Hindu gods and the meditations that occur before these ceremonies. Maharishi and his mentor played an important role in restoring these ancient Vedic texts. After Guru Dev's death in 1953, Maharishi took a vow of silence for two years in the Himalayan mountains. During that time, he improved his meditation skills and understanding of transcendental philosophy.

In 1957 Maharishi started his mission in Madras, India. He aimed to create a "Heaven on Earth" by easing human suffering, according to the Maharishi Vedic University Web site. This mission was also called the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. Finding happiness, according to Maharishi, included learning about the seven states of consciousness, which could be found by meditating two times a day, twenty minutes at a time. Meditation allowed people to settle their minds and look inward. While doing so, stress and fatigue faded and were replaced by a feeling of well-being. Maharishi believed that the act of meditation could bring about great healing.

Maharishi explained the power of meditation to interviewer Kathy Juline in Science of Mind. He observed that: "Scientific experiments with people who practice transcendental meditation indicate that it tends to produce normalization in all areas of life. It reduces stress, improves health, enriches mental functioning, enhances personal relationships, and increases job productivity and job satisfaction." He believed that these benefits extend from the body outward to the surrounding community. Meditation could heal social and political rifts and even reduce crime rates, according to Maharishi. It was this community-wide idea that he sought to spread around the world.

Followers in the United States

Maharishi first traveled to the United States on January 29, 1959. He visited San Francisco, California, for two months and shared his philosophy with hundreds of Americans. The San Francisco Chronicle described his visit that winter in the first article on transcendental philosophy published in the United States. Maharishi brought his message to Los Angeles and New York before taking his message to the rest of the world. His second world tour took place in 1967, when he spoke at major American universities such as Yale and the University of California at Berkeley. By the late 1960s Maharishi had gained a large following, including such celebrities as The Beatles, philosopher Marshall McLuhan, actors Jane Fonda and Mia Farrow, and football star Joe Namath. Many of Maharishi's famous and wealthy followers visited him at his ashram, or center for yoga, in Rishikesh, India.

The Beatles and transcendental meditation

George Harrison (1943–2001), guitarist for The Beatles, was especially touched by the ideas of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Already interested in Eastern religions, Harrison had learned how to play a sitar, a stringed instrument native to India, from musician Ravi Shankar. The instrument was first heard in The Beatles' song Norwegian Wood. The sitar sound was soon copied by other popular bands of the 1960s. Harrison's interest in Indian music then opened his mind to the teachings of Maharishi, who played a large role in The Beatles's philosophy from 1967 to 1968. The Beatles even visited Maharishi's ashram in India, but the spiritual link was short lived.

After claims surfaced in 1968 that Maharishi had molested a female student, The Beatles distanced themselves from the guru. Only Harrison remained interested in his teachings. According to Beatle Paul McCartney, quoted by Paul Saltzman in The Beatles in Rishikesh: "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was. He's human. We thought at first that he wasn't." Maharishi's alleged sexual misconduct, and the hint that he expected monetary compensation from The Beatles, soured the relationship. Yet Harrison, ever a believer in transcendental meditation, produced a record by the Hari Krishna Temple group of London and donated a mansion in England for use by followers of the Hindu religion. He also gave many concerts to benefit the Natural Law party, which followed Vedic science, and to support survivors of the 1971 Bangladesh flood.

The Beatles, one of the most influential bands of the 1960s, gained inspiration from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and transcendental philosophy. At the same time, Maharishi's theories of transcendental meditation gained increased publicity through his association with the band. However, Maharishi's popularity in mainstream culture waned shortly after The Beatles lost interest in his teachings. He moved back to India in 1970.

Scientific studies support
transcendental meditation

The first scientific study of transcendental meditation took place in 1968 at the University of California at Los Angeles. It was conducted by physiology graduate student Robert Keith Wallace. The findings of his doctoral study, titled "The Physiological Effects of Transcendental Meditation: A Proposed Fourth Major State of Consciousness," were published in Science magazine and Scientific American in 1970 and 1972, respectively. Wallace's study supported the theories that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had been teaching for more than a decade. Wallace found that daily meditation created a positive physical effect on the human body.

Eastern Religion in American Thought during the 1960s

During the 1960s many youths turned from mainstream Protestant or Catholic religions to Eastern mystic religions such as Zen Buddhism and the practice of transcendental meditation. San Francisco and its Haight-Ashbury neighborhood was a hotbed of social and religious change and was also Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's starting point in the United States.

Most of Maharishi's followers in the United States could be characterized as hip-pies. They were mostly young adults who rebelled against U.S. involvement in Vietnam, authority figures, blindly accepting traditional values, and greed and materialism. They embraced new lifestyles that were very different than those of their parents. This included living in communes, places where groups of young people attempted to live together and be self-sufficient through farming the land and sharing worldly goods. Whole communities, especially of hippie students, organized around the practice of the Hindu religion, such as the Hari Krishna groups. Vegetarianism, environmentalism, incense (especially patchouli), and meditation meetings also became popular, as did the use of mind-altering psychedelic drugs.

Some believed that the use of drugs helped them experience a form of religious enlightenment, especially when the drugs were used in combination with transcendental meditation techniques. But many felt that Eastern religions were very powerful without drugs. Some elements of Eastern religions persisted into the early 2000s in American culture. These included the popular practice of yoga, holistic medicine, and the idea of a living world, or "Gaia," that needs environmental stewardship.

Maharishi was looking for a more effective way to get his message to people during the 1970s. Thus, he created a new philosophy called the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI). He trained teachers to spread his views of the world. SCI classes were provided at major universities around the United States beginning in 1971. Maharishi International University opened its doors in 1974 in Fairfield, Iowa, its sole aim being to teach the Science of Creative Intelligence.

The 1970s saw several advances in Maharishi's plan for worldwide enlightenment. In 1976 he created the World Government for the Age of Enlightenment. He also introduced the concept of Yogic Flying. According to believers, Yogic Flying occurs when a person meditates and achieves a certain level of consciousness that allows the body to lift briefly off the ground. This intense form of meditation supposedly provided a positive influence on society as a whole. Called the Maharishi Effect, it was supposed to decrease the severity of conflict worldwide. In 1984 a group of seven thousand Yogic Flyers gathered in Fairfield, Iowa, to test the Maharishi Effect. Seven thousand was symbolic as it was the square root of 1 percent of the world's population at that time. The amount was supposedly the mathematical number needed to have an effect. Believers reported that their group activity significantly decreased the number of international conflicts. However, critics disagreed.

Maharishi's activities continued into the twenty-first century. On July 21, 2001, he incorporated his own city near Fairfield, Iowa, called Maharishi Vedic City. On February 24, 2002, he released his own currency, the Raam Mudra, for use in his city and universities. Institutions supported by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi included Maharishi International University, Maharishi University of Management, Maharishi Global Construction Company, Maharishi Global Development Fund, The Maharishi Channel, Maharishi Open University, and Maharishi Vedic University. On his Web site, he addresses issues such as global terrorism and war.

For More Information

Books

Campbell, Anthony. Seven States of Consciousness: A Vision of Possibilities Suggested by the Teaching of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. London: Gollancz, 1973.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Science of Being and Art of Living. New York: Allied Publishers, 1963.

Nidich, Sanford I., and Randi Jeanne. Growing Up Enlightened: How Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment Is Awakening the Creative Geniusof Students and Creating Heaven on Earth. Fairfield, IA: Maharishi International University Press, 1990.

Olson, Helena, and Ronald Olson. His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: A Living Saint for the New Millennium: Stories of His First Visit to the USA. Herndon, VA: Samhita Publications, 2001.

Saltzman, Paul. The Beatles in Rishikesh. New York: Viking Press, 2000.

Periodicals

Wallace, R. K. "Physiological Effects of Transcendental Meditation." Science 167 (1970): pp. 1751–54.

Wallace, R. K., et al. "The Physiology of Meditation." Scientific American 226 (1972): pp. 84–90.

Web Sites

Creating Heaven on Earth: Reviewed Links Promoting the Knowledge of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.http://www.alltm.org/index.html (accessed August 2004).

Juline, Kathy. "Settled Mind, Silent Mind: An Interview with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi." Science of Mind: The Transcendental Meditation Program.http://www.tm.org/news/science_mind.html (accessed August 2004).

Maharishi Vedic University.http://www.maharishi.org/ (accessed August 2004).