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The Death of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi international |
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 Friday February 08, 2008 01:03 by obit
 "& so the TM mantra will pass out of copyright within 50 years & the secret of well-being will be free..." Mahesh Prasad Varma (Srivastava) died on February 5, 2008, at approximately 7:00 p.m. less than month after he retired from public life on the 11th of January 2008. He shall be remembered for being the first eastern guru to embrace pop culture in the form of "The Beatles" & extended sitar lessons to George Harrison. His influence on western culture can not be underestimated. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, spiritual leader and businessman, is thought to have been born on January 12 1917. He died on February 5, 2008, aged about 91. He invented TM or "transcendental meditation" & founded the "natural law party" famous for its regular demonstrations of yogic flying. His organisation spanned the globe & its real estate holdings include islands in Ireland. The Beatles made him famous, "The Doors" first met at one of his gigs. NASA sent the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" into space the same day he died. We hopefully will not see his like again. From his faltering first steps in the business of religion, the Maharishi seemed to have an entrepeneurial gift perhaps comparable to a previous subject of "obituary" attention - that of Tony Wilson of inviting the right people to his gigs at the right time. In his case it was "The Beatles". |
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Irish influence of the Maharishi
http://www.indymedia.ie/openwire?search_text=global+cou...0&y=0
Quite a few off shore and inland lake islands of Ireland were chosen through the 20th century up to our own time as homes for religious or mystical groups who quite probably bemused the locals yet exercised a global reach. Inishraher Island in Clew Bay, Ireland, was named a "Maharishi Capital of the Global Country of World Peace" after its purchase in 2005. Just as a full decade before ISKON (the international society for Krishna conscienceness) had declared Inisrath Island in Lough Erne "Govindadwipa". But by far my favourite has to be "the Atlantis Therapy Commune" who in In 1974 set up base on Innisfree & thanks to their fondness for "primal screaming" earned the nickname "the Screamers". The well known Mary Kelly in her younger days did a bit yelling on Innisfree.
But neither real estate nor the political efficacy of yogic flying are the yardsticks by which one should judge the legacy of the Maharishi.
Quite basically, no-one in the West meditated before he came along. Nor was the sitar a popular instrument. His presence opened the door for extended interest in Hinduism which through ISKON (the "hare krishnas") would abandon its ethnocentric prejudices to claim followers worldwide. The free-thinking social movements which emerged in post-war Europe and the USA were for the most part radicalised youth movements whose demands for equality or liberty as much as rejections of imperialist or capitalist order didn't really come with a funky sound track or nice smelling incense. The violence with which the hippy, digger & anti-vietnam movements such as the weathermen were met in their first phases coupled with the inability of contemporary European philosophy to simplify itself to a point of eliminating a long reading list provided fertile ground for a "peace & love - no hassle - no stress - stop eating meat & be cool approach" to inner rather than colective space.
The Maharishi's recipe of exotica was taken seriously as the above linked interview with Allen Ginsberg attests on an alternative circuit which genuinely railed against the post-war order & sought short cuts to a new tomorrow. But at end it was a business & nothing more. And like most businesses of the mind or soul it left viral damage in the collective psyche of the west. As another commentator might say - go to Easons & see how many books are sought in the section the Maharishi began.
After his first opening of the door, young peoples interest in the cultures of Asia or Vedic scriptures would outweigh any serious materialist concerns with such agenda or thinkers as Fanon. The word Karma has irrevocably entered our vernacular. At end, I leave this obituary nor for indulgence sake but rather because I believe & suspect many others do too - that the career of the Maharishi was an ironically apt revenge for centuries of Western Christian missionary attempts at prosletysation.
He came along, then the Krishnas, then the Yoga courses & last but certainly not least - the Dalai Lama became the absolute ruler by divine decree (allbeit in exile) to become a beloved household name.
Of all the aspects of Asian, (Hindu or otherwise) culture and wisdom we could have interacted with to our far reaching benefit - we got joss sticks & shutting your eyes chanting that SUV into your life.
I totally disagree with HMMMMMM statement
"Quite basically, no-one in the West meditated before he came along"
For that is not true because Mouni Sadhu published at least 9 books between 1947 and 1967 and his teacher was the late Sri Ramana Maharshi.
There were many who practised TM in the West long before Mouni wrote his series of nine books.
Didn't the Natural Law Party field a number of candidates in a couple of general elections in Eire during the 1990s? Some of them were college lecturers and they didn't campaign except to issue press statements saying why they were standing. They all got handfuls of votes and lost their deposits.
Thats a relief! For a moment I thought Yogi Bear had died. That would have been unbearable. The True Teacher lives on. He will not come to a grizzly end.
Yogi Lives! Bear With Him!
It is a universal human habit to go all quiet & have a think or reflection & I would have hoped my mixture of sarcasm & provocation to deeper consideration of our cultural roots had been explored more. In the mid-nineteenth century accounts of yogic masters which reached the west & Hindu practises spawned material for numerous paranoid books as well as introduced words to English such as juggernaut, thug & so on. Not until Blavatsky's theosophists & the preliminary interest in climbing the bloody big mountains of Tibet did westerners of the trendy sophisticated schmoozing class sit down of an evening & talk asanas, incense & nirvana. I don't think WB Yeats & co. were really sufficient in numbers to support a whole industry of fakery (forgive the pun) & self-development today seen in the West.
Why didn't humanism & enlightenment, libertarianism & blaa blaa become a good vibe, groovy karma, sort-you-out lfiestyle with all the answers & satelite dishes, science fiction, clotheslines, sweat shops, eating options & gurgle ribid?
nobody yet knows why people who don't believe in an afterlife want to be good .:. it might be a genetic flaw
If you're looking for meditation in the ancient west of Ireland style try the holy hermitage centre near Skreen, Co. Sligo, at the foot of the wild Ox Mountains. http://www.spirituallifeinstitute.org/Holy%20Hill.html
Yeats tried a few dotty things in his youth - Madam Blavatsky, the Golden Dawn and the fairies of course. He really believed in the fairies, y'know. Wrote some nice lyrical poems about them too. Come away, come away, o human child/to the waters and the wild/ with a fairy hand in hand...
Yep, away with the fairies he was.
The Vedic Farewell Ceremony for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is now being broadcast live from India over the Maharishi Channel, Channel 3.
This broadcasting started at 5.30 EST and 10.am US CT.
Future broadcasts of the celebrations will also be available on this Channel.
http://www.maharishichannel.org/
The live broadcast of the Ceremony from Prayag, India, will be on Monday, February 11, 2008 at 10:00 am, Prayag, India, Time 5:30 AM Central European Time Sunday February 10, 2008 at 10:30 pm US Central Time
Global Press Conference to be held in Allahabad, India, 10 February, 2008
A global press conference honouring the Vedic Farewell celebration of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi will take place on Sunday, 10 February, 2008, in Prayag, Allahabad, India.
The press conference will be held by the leaders of the Global Country of World Peace who are now in India for this Vedic farewell for Maharishi.
The conference will be broadcast over the Maharishi Channel and over the Internet at www.maharishichannel.org, Channel 3.
The press conference will begin at 3 pm in India, 9.30 am in the United Kingdom, 10.30 am in Holland, and 3.30 am US central time in Fairfield and Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, USA.
Upcoming broadcasts announced by the Maharishi Channel:
Live Broadcasts from Prayag, India
You know,
there has been a lot of stress released in the last few days with Maharishi's passing, but it is time for us to really understand what his knowledge means for humanity. I will not try to convince you but just say that now the prospect of a global conflagration is impossible.
From my own understanding of the TM technique, Yogic Flying, and the performance of Vedic Yagyas, the destructive powers of modern science and technology can and will be vanquished.
IMAGINE what it will mean to live in a world where all the resources currently expended in armaments are instead directed towards education. Think of what this will mean. Not just the end of WAR, but the beginning of invincibility. A state within which OUR society can create HEAVEN ON EARTH.
Maharishi has given us the knowledge to prevent war, and for this we must be eternally gratefull.
http://www.invincibledefence.org/
The person who wrote this article isn't with all the facts. George Harrison first encountered the sitar and indian music on the set of the move "Help" and was intrigued with it. He later knew of the great sitarist Ravi Shankar and Ravi heard of George. They met and became friends. Ravi gave George sitat lessons and George made both Ravi and the sitar more well known than before. Maharishi had nothing to do with the sitar, or George learning it. The Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism has roots over 5000 years in India and is actually "Vaishnava" Hindu. Swami Prabhupad came from India in 1965 not to create a new religion, but to transplant a common ancient one from India for the benefit of people in the west. This he did quite succesfully. While the Beatles did become attracted to Maharishi, that faded , but George embraced A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his "Hare Krishna movement" and became a lifelong devotee of Lord Sri Krishna. Hinduism is the world's oldest religion and through Swami Prabhupada now many in the west could benefit from this more than 5000 year old system of love for God, or Krishna, meaning "all attractive". Maharishi did have his enemies. Many of them could be considered from the Christian faith who have a low tolerance for other religions, due to prejudice, but his effect of spreading inner peace, easing stress, and propagating brotherhood is very real. Respect should be given and it is sad he is gone. Namaste to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi!
An alternative view of TM from an ex participant
http://www.suggestibility.org/index.htm
Whatever happened to the Natural Law Party that fielded devotees of TM as election candidates some years ago? They all lost their deposits.