Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi was born in central India circa 1917. He studied physics
at Allahabad University and after receiving his degree he became a disciple
of the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, in the Himalayas.
Maharishi rarely speaks about his early life - he says the past holds little interest for him, and more importantly, he is always concerned that interest in himself does not get in the way of his message. In 1975, while being interviewed, he said, "Don't waste the people's time with a lot of words about my life. The facts of a monk's biography are not important. They do not help the people. Encourage the people to meditate. This is how we can help bring a better time for everyone in the world."
Maharishi refers to his teacher as "Guru Dev" which means
"Divine Master". Guru Dev was one of the most influential teachers
in India's recent history. His title in India was Swami Brahmananda
Saraswati, and he sat in the seat of the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, a
position of spiritual leadership for all of northern India. He was the first
man deemed worthy of holding this seat in one hundred and fifty years. For
the thirteen years that Guru Dev was Shankaracharya, from 1949 until his
death in 1953, Maharishi was both his student and his close aide. It was at
this time that Maharishi learned the ancient knowledge that he now teaches
to the world.
After Guru Dev's death in 1953, Maharishi retired to Uttar Kashi, the "Valley of the Saints" in the upper reaches of the Ganges. After two years, however, he felt an inner urge to travel to Rameshvaram, a well known temple in the southern tip of India.
It was while he was in the south of India that he was approached by a stranger in the street and asked to give some lectures. He agreed and soon after began teaching the system of Transcendental Meditation taught to him by his master. Within a short time he was talking to capacity crowds and teaching thousands.
In October 1955, in Kerala, a prominent advocate from Palghat expressed his admiration for Maharishi:
"The more I questioned Swamiji (Maharishi), the more I became convinced of his greatness. I was impressed not only by his learning, but also by his kindness, tolerance, equanimity, his helpful attitude to real aspirants, and his readiness to impart knowledge to them."
At the end of 1957, in Madras, at a three-day "Seminar of Spiritual Luminaries" attended by thousands, he announced that he would take his technique to the whole world. He went east to Burma, Japan and California. Then to New York, Germany and London. In November 1960 he gave his first lecture in Scotland.
In the years
that followed, Maharishi travelled ceaselessly around the world teaching
Transcendental Meditation to all who asked. Realising that he couldn't
fulfil the demand himself, he started training teachers of TM in 1960 and
built a special Meditation Academy in Rishikesh in the Himalayas. He
initiated a plan to open TM Centres in every major city in the world. He
encouraged scientific research in to the technique, and held conferences
with educators, administrators, businessmen - anyone who he felt could help
him get TM accepted and publicised.
Maharishi's message has always been simple and down-to-earth:
"Meditation we don't do just for the sake of meditation, we want some positive effects in life. The contentment of man through this meditation is not only contentment. Along with the contentment wisdom grows, creativity grows, peace grows, with the greater ability of action. That is why it is not something which will make a man static, it is something that will make a man dynamic in the field of activity." (Edinburgh 1960)
He has always emphasized that the ultimate "goal" of meditation is to bring the meditator to enlightenment, which he defines, from personal experience, as living life at its full potential, a state where life is free from suffering, where every thought and action is spontaneously correct.
Due to his unceasing efforts, TM is now practised in schools and colleges, in prisons, by the military and police, and in the workplace. TM is taught in over 140 countries of the world and it is estimated that 4 million people have learnt.
In 1976 he introduced the TM-Sidhi course - advanced techniques for those who have meditated for over six months. In the early 80s he founded Maharishi University of Management in Iowa, USA, and other educational and research institutes. Maharishi has authored a number of books, including On the Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation and Commentary, The Science of Being and Art of Living, and Love and God.
During the last twenty years, Maharishi has systematically revived other aspects of Vedic knowledge: Ayurveda - natural healthcare; Sthapatya Veda - vedic architecture; Gandharva Veda - vedic music; Jyotish - vedic astrology. His intention has been to return each of these disciplines to its original form where development of consciousness, leading to enlightenment, is its primary aim.
Currently,
Maharishi's focus is on creating world peace.
Scientists long ago confirmed his predictions that large groups of people
meditating together have a calming, peaceful effect on society as a whole,
decreasing negative trends and increasing positive trends. Maharishi is now
working hard to establish large groups of vedic pandits in India whose
primary purpose will be to create coherence and peace in the collective
world consciousness.
Maharishi now lives and has his headquarters in Vlodrop, The Netherlands.
Since he first started teaching his technique of Transcendental Meditation in India in 1955, Maharishi's achievements (only a few of which have been mentioned here) have been so extraordinary that it seems impossible that one man could achieve so much in one lifetime.