Holland The master of transcendental meditation, guru to the Beatles and the man who taught the world to levitate, 91-year-old Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, died in his home in the Netherlands late Tuesday night.
Born in Madhya Pradesh as Mahesh Srivastava, he trained as a physicist and then went to the US in the 50s to tap the market for spirituality.
“He turned meditation into an industry,” says Paul Mason.
It was his association with the Beatles in the 60s that was the turning point for the maharishi. He soon built a multi billion-dollar 'spiritual' empire with six million followers worldwide. However, he was soon faced with allegations of fraud and deception.
He had run out of steam. The new generation of gurus was smarter and had better marketing sense to package their version of spirituality. His time was over,” says PN Shreeniwas.
To salvage his failing fortunes, the Maharishi invested in real estate. In 2001 he built a Vedic city in Iowa and an Ayurvedic empire on the side. He even launched his own currency, the ‘Raam’.
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