Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Dead at 91
The famous guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died today at his home in the Netherlands. Apparently he was about 91 years of age, though the exact date of his birth has been cited differently by different sources. He just announced his retirement a month ago.
For the past 17 years he resided in Vlodrop Netherlands, but his Transcendental Meditation empire spans the globe. Originally made famous when The Beatles endorsed him in 1968, the movement attracted several Hollywood stars and was a prominent feature of the ‘counter culture’ of the 1970s.
In the U.S. the organization has a university at Fairfield Iowa, and local chapters across the country. Backed by scientific evidence that there can be biological benefits from the practice of meditation, the movement continues to attract followers. Some of the more controversial claims — such as the supposed ability of adepts to ‘hover’ in defiance of gravity — have never been supported by scientific evidence.