Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

(b. Mahesh Prasad Verma, 1911) Hindu
teacher and founder of the religious
technique known as Transcendental
Meditation (TM). The Maharishi (“Great
Sage”) was trained as an engineer, but
eventually renounced the world after
meeting one of the Shankaracharyas, a
name given to the most important modern Hindu religious leaders. He stayed
with Shankaracharya for the next twelve
years, in pursuit of spiritual knowledge.
He established an ashram at Rishikesh
but was relatively unknown until his
association with the Beatles, the British
musical group who came to India with
him on pilgrimage. In the early 1970s, TM
instructors traveled throughout
American college campuses, touting the
407
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
physiological and spiritual benefits of
meditation and providing people (for a
fee) with a mantra or sacred sound that
would bring them these benefits.
According to TM proponents, meditation
is also supposed to have pacific effects
on the larger environment, and result in
reduced crime, tension, and hatred.
During this period Maharishi
International University was established
at the former Parsons College in
Fairfield, Iowa, as a center to teach TM. In
the late 1970s, Maharishi University
instituted a program training people to
develop the six classical superhuman
powers (siddhis). Since then several disappointed patrons have won lawsuits
against the organization.