Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1978
Religion	Hinduism
Founder of	Transcendental Meditation movement Global Country of World Peace
Philosophy	Transcendental Meditation
Personal
Nationality	Indian
Born	Mahesh Prasad Varma 12 January 1918 Jabalpur, India (now in Madhya Pradesh, India)
Died	5 February 2008(2008-02-05) (aged 90) Vlodrop, Limburg, Netherlands
Religious career
Guru	Brahmananda Saraswati
Disciple(s)	The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Ravi Shankar and others
Honors	Maharishi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (12 January 1918 – 5 February 2008) was born Mahesh Prasad Varma and became known as Maharishi (meaning "great seer") and Yogi as an adult. He developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of a worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a new religious movement and as non-religious.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became a disciple and assistant of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of Jyotirmath in the Indian Himalayas. The Maharishi credits Brahmananda Saraswati with inspiring his teachings. In 1955, the Maharishi began to introduce his Transcendental Deep Meditation (later renamed Transcendental Meditation) to India and the world. His first global tour began in 1958. His devotees referred to him as His Holiness, and because he often laughed in TV interviews he was sometimes referred to as the "giggling guru."

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Maharishi achieved fame as the guru to the Beatles, The Beach Boys and other celebrities. In the late 1970s, he started the TM-Sidhi programme that claimed to offer practitioners the ability to levitate and to create world peace. The Maharishi's Natural Law Party was founded in 1992, and ran campaigns in dozens of countries. He moved to near Vlodrop, the Netherlands, in the same year. In 2000, he created the Global Country of World Peace, a non-profit organization, and appointed its leaders. In 2008, the Maharishi announced his retirement from all administrative activities and went into silence until his death three weeks later.