Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The constitution of the universe is total natural law. 'Natural law,' we say from the field of science. 'Will of God,' we say from the field of religion. It's the same thing.Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (12 January 1918 – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new religious movement and as non-religious. His devotees referred to him as His Holiness, and because he laughed more frequently in early TV interviews, he was sometimes referred to as the “giggling guru.”

The Maharishi 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, while TM websites report that tens of thousands have learned the TM-Sidhi programme.

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. In 2008, the Maharishi announced his retirement from all administrative activities and went into silence until his death three weeks later.