MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI PASSES AWAY AGED 91
By Parveen Chopra, New York, February 6, 2008 (IANS)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who made meditation a household word in the world after introducing it to the west 50 years ago, died Tuesday at his organisation's headquarters in Vlodrop, the Netherlands. The Jabalpur-born founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement "passed away peacefully" at the ripe old age of 91, a spokesperson for the organisation in the US confirmed to IANS.

Maharishi had publicly announced Jan 11 that he would be retiring into silence, saying he was "closing his designed duty" to his spiritual master. "I can only say, 'Live long the world in peace, happiness, prosperity, and freedom from suffering'," was Maharishi's last message, a press release said Tuesday.

While stepping down, Maharishi placed the administration of his global movement in the hands of "Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam" - the name given to neuroscientist Tony Nader by the yogi - and 48 other administrators. Said Rajaraam, "Maharishi's work is complete. He has done what he set out to do in 1957 - to lay the foundation for a peaceful world. Now, Maharishi is being welcomed with open arms into heaven."

While Maharishi promoted many branches of Vedic knowledge including Ayurveda, he had the most impact with TM. Over five million people, mostly in the western world, have learned this simple technique over the decades. The wide-ranging benefits of TM programme have been documented by over 600 scientific studies conducted at 250 independent universities and research institutes in 33 countries. For example, the US government's National Institutes of Health have provided $24 million to study the effects of TM for preventing cardiovascular disease, improving health and promoting optimal brain functioning.

The society-wide benefits of the TM programme along with its advanced techniques, including yogic flying, were also documented, according to John Hagelin, noted quantum physicist in charge of the movement in the US.

"Maharishi established the practice of group meditation and inspired research on its society-wide influence. This led to the groundbreaking discovery that consciousness is a field, and that by enlivening unity within this field, collective meditation effectively prevents crime and defuses social stress -including the acute religious, political and ethnic tensions that fuel violence and social conflict," Dr. Hagelin said in the press release.

To bring his Vedic knowledge, backed by science, to all areas of society, Maharishi founded thousands of schools, colleges and universities as well as medical centres and health clinics throughout the world. He also wrote a series of books on Vedic approaches to education, health, government, management and defence, as well as an acclaimed commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.

As a monument to Maharishi's achievements and contributions to world peace and harmony, the leaders of his global movement resolved to build "Maharishi Towers of Invincibility" in 48 countries. Each Tower will include a high school or university where students will practise yogic flying together in groups to create coherence and invincibility for the nation.

For his home country, too, Maharishi bequeathed a vision. In his farewell message on Jan 11, he announced the establishment of the Brahmananda Saraswati Trust, named in honour of his master, the Shankaracharya from 1941-53 of Jyotirmath in the Himalayas. The trust is to support large groups totalling more than 30,000 peace-creating Vedic pandits in perpetuity across India.

"The trust will ensure the glorification of life on earth on a permanent basis, for the individual and the nation. For all millennia to come, the world is going to be a peaceful, happy world. The future is bright - and that is my delight," Maharishi said.