Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Srivastava January 12, 1917) is the founder of the TM Movement. He brought Transcendental Meditation to the western world. Maharishi is believed to have been born near Jabalpur, India and graduated from Allahabad University with a degree in physics. He was secretary to Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, for thirteen years. In 1955, after spending two years in silence in UttarKashi, in the Himalayan foothills, he began teaching a basic meditation technique which he later dubbed "Transcendental Meditation". He set up an "Asharam" (Hermitage)- called "Shankaracharaya Nagar" in Rishikesh, Northern India on the bank of the river Ganges. In 1957 he founded The Spiritual Regeneration Movement, the first of several organizations collectively known as the TM Movement, and began the first of many tours to teach the Transcendental Meditation technique around the world.
The Beatles were among his students, as were the Beach Boys (singer Mike Love in particular), who recorded an album at his Maharishi International University in the 1970s. Singer-songwriter Donovan befriended the Maharishi, who appeared with him on the back cover of A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. Comedian Andy Kaufman and magician Doug Henning were also Maharishi students, while Clint Eastwood and David Lynch are two notable directors who practice TM.
The official website for Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation program reports that Transcendental Meditation has been taught worldwide to over 5 million people. Maharishi has written a number of books on Vedic wisdom and the Vedas as the science of consciousness. He uses modern technology to spread his teachings—he has created the Maharishi Open University as an online teaching outlet, holds a weekly video press conference, and uses satellite and the Internet for his Maharishi Broadcasting. He has also started numerous centers of what he calls "Consciousness Based Education" including the Maharishi University of Management and the Maharishi School for the Age of Enlightenment.
As of 2006, he lives in Vlodrop, the Netherlands.
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