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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Srivastava in 1917) is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement.

History

Early Life

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Srivastava in 1917) is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Movement. He brought Transcendental Meditation to the western world. Maharishi is believed to have been born near Jabalpur, India and graduated from Allahabad University with a degree in physics. He was secretary to Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, for thirteen years. In 1955, after spending two years in silence in UttarKashi, in the Himalayan foothills, he began teaching a basic meditation technique which he later dubbed "Transcendental Meditation". He set up an "Asharam" (Hermitage)- called "Shankaracharaya Nagar" in Rishikesh, Northern India on the bank of the river Ganges. In 1957 he founded The Spiritual Regeneration Movement, the first of several organizations collectively known as the TM Movement, and began the first of many tours to teach the Transcendental Meditation technique around the world.

The Transcendental Meditation Movement

The official website for Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation program claims that Transcendental Meditation has been taught worldwide to over 5 million people. Maharishi has written a number of books on Vedic wisdom and the Vedas as the science of consciousness. He uses modern technology to spread his teachings—he has created the Maharishi Open University as an online teaching outlet, holds a weekly video press conference, and uses satellite and the Internet for his Maharishi Broadcasting. He has also started numerous centers of what he calls "Consciousness Based Education" including the Maharishi University of Management and the Maharishi School for the Age of Enlightenment.

Celebrity students include the Beach Boys (singer Mike Love in particular), who recorded an album at his Maharishi International University in the 1970s, and singer-songwriter Donovan who befriended the Maharishi and appeared with him on the back cover of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. Comedian Andy Kaufman and magician Doug Henning were also Maharishi students, while Clint Eastwood and David Lynch are two notable directors who practice TM.

As of 2006, His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi resides in Vlodrop, [[the Netherlands]].

Official History

Meditation Programs

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his TM Movement offers fee-based courses to the general public.

Transcendental Meditation

During the practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, it is claimed the mind and body settle down to experience a unique state of restful alertness called Transcendental Consciousness TC. The purpose of the Transcendental Meditation Program is to establish TC permanentally together with the three other states of normal human consciousness acknowledged by TM: waking, dream and dream-less sleep. This fifth state of consciousness was dubbed Cosmic Consciousness.

Part of the theory of consiousness underpinning TM Movement are three further refined, discrete, states of consciousness: God Consciousness; Unity Consciousness; and Brahman Consciousness.

A body of scientific research has indicated that the experience of Transcendental Consciousness is correlated with greater creativity, improved learning, higher IQ, better grades, higher moral reasoning, increased brainwave coherence, and improved neurological functioning of the body. [1]

The TM-Sidhi program

The TM-Sidhi program is an extension of the TM program i.e. involving mental techniques to "activate" or "enliven" the Trancendental Consiousness established during the TM-phase of this program.

The claimed medium- to long-term effect of the TM-Sidhi program is an accelerated spiritual progress for the practitioner (i.e. faster development of Cosmic Conciousness with a view toward Unity Conciousness). A claimed short-term effect is a beneficial influence on the surroundings (cf. Yogic Flying and The Maharishi Effect).

Maharishi Purusha Program

An extendable one year fulltime experience for single men marketed as a "24-hours Bliss Progam to Men Offering Enlightenment and Fulfillment for the Individual, for the Nation and for the World" [2] (cf. The Mother Divine Program)

The Mother Divine Program

Maharishi's Mother Divine program, inaugurated in 1981, was created for the stated dual purpose of allowing women to deepen their experiences of their TM and TM-Sidhi programs while simultaneously "radiate a powerful influence of harmony and bliss throughout the whole world."[3] (cf. Maharishi Purusha Program)

The 'Maharishi Effect'

The 'Maharishi Effect' establishes the principle that individual consciousness affects collective consciousness, in particular that when one percent of a population is doing the Transcendental Meditation program this has a trend breaking effect (in a positive direction) for the whole population. In 1976, with the introduction of the TM-Sidhi Program (including Yogic Flying), a radically improved effect was found, which indicated that now only the square root of one percent of a population is required to create the same effect[4].

The phenomenon has been verified by a body scientific research, much of it sponsored and/or inspired by the TM Movement itself [5].

Vedic Science

In the summer of 1980, at the so-called Vedic Science course held in Delhi, India. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced his movement to an array of ancient vedic systems of knowledge, which sincen have been refined. The systems i.a. include Maharishi Ayurveda (preventive healthcare) and Maharishi Jyotish (predictive astrology, used on the principle of "preventing the danger that has not yet arisen").

In recent years there has been a strong focus on Maharishi Vastu, or Sthapathya Veda, which deal with architecture, and then most importantly the correct alignement of buildings with the points of the compass)[6].

Research

A large body of scientific research exists on Transcendental Meditation and other programs created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi[7]. The size of this body suggests that the decision to have the effects of TM verified in a scientific manner was a decision of strategic decision taken by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi early on in the growth of his movement.

This research suggests a number of beneficial effects from the practice of TM and the TM-Sidhi programs not only for the individual, but for society as a whole. [8]

Criticism

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has been accused by critics^{[citation needed]} of selling traditional Hindu-based Vedic practices, charging high prices for knowledge gleaned from Hindu sacred books such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

The basis of the Transcendental Meditation technique are mantras which are given to students. Maharishi claims that they are "meaningless sounds". However, un-official ^{[citation needed]} Maharishi biographer Paul Mason claims that the TM mantras are related to bija mantras, which are each specifically related to a different Hindu God or Goddess. [9]. He also quotes the Maharishi as saying, "For our practice we select only the suitable mantras of personal Gods. Such mantras fetch to us the grace of personal Gods and make us happier in every walk of life." [10] These meanings though, are not used and taught in TM practice today. ^{[citation needed]}

Some of The Beatles, who visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India, are reported to have become disillusioned with him^{[citation needed]}. Reportedly after an alleged pass at a female member of their entourage, Mia Farrow,^{[citation needed]} ("Sexy Sadie", written by John Lennon, dealt with this disappointment).

Books by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is given as author to a dussin or so books[11], of which the two most important one to practitioners of his TM and TM-Sidhi program appear to be:

As far as his translation and commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, a work consisting of eighteen chapters, the remaining 12 chapters are rumored to have be translated and commented a long time, but for unclear reasons held back from publishing.

Official TM Sites

Misc external links