On Tuesday, February 5, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died at home in the
Netherlands. Born some time between 1911 and 1918, Maharishi was the
founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and is most
famous for working with ‘60s luminaries like The Beatles and The Beach
Boys, along with ‘60s goobers like Donovan. He taught Andy Kaufman,
who is the real-life version of that guy whose wife Courtney Love
played in Man on the Moon. Even David Lynch became a
believer. In 1958, Maharishi introduced TM technique, which simply
involves devoting 20 minutes every day to closed-eye meditation while
reciting a mantra. The Indian-born guru established several schools
for teaching meditation, bringing in several million dollars. After
his hippie heyday, he became somewhat controversial when several of
his students accused him of fraud for claiming he could teach them how
to fly. Since the 1990s, Maharishi lived in relative seclusion in the Dutch village of Vlodrop due to poor health.
