Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation or TM program, the Science of Creative Intelligence plus many educational and health institutions and organizations.

Although some of his work is commercial of nature, most is done for the love and pursuit of a better world.

Everything is possible through knowledge...

It's best to visit one of the many Maharishi websites on the internet to find more information -- just as Everything2 the Maharishi organization believes that sharing a wealth of knowledge will benefit all.

Maharishi's credibility is highly questionable.

He claims to have been Guru Dev's favourite student, the sole heir to his divine knowledge, but this is highly unlikely, according to Dev's other students, as Maharishi is/was not a Swami. This doesn't mean that he wasn't taught by Dev, but he would not reveal the knowledge unique to Shankaracharyas to Maharishi, because Maharishi could never hold the seat. And it was Swami Satchinand Swaroop who ended up getting this position. Swaroop insists that Maharishi was nothing more than a servant who received no instruction from Guru Dev and that he thinks he may have even been involved in the Guru's death.¹

Vedic law forbids the Maharishi from giving out mantras and this transgression is further compounded by charging money for the service. The bija mantras he gave out, which are supposed to be meaningless, were not meaningless at all; as one website about TM says, "When is a Meaningless Sound not Meaningless? When it's the Tantric Name of a Hindu God."

The more I learn about Indian culture, Hindu, Hindi, Sanskrit and TM, the more I think Maharishi was either having a good laugh over the trusting westerners lining up to pay him for this and/or was simply interested in financial gain.

However, this doesn't mean that nothing positive came out of TM! There's even contradiction between my own parents who both studied with Maharishi and were TM teachers.. my mother heartily considers TM a cult, and my father thinks it was an immensely positive experience (which, he reports, greatly helped him kick the junk habit he had as a young adult.) There have also been studies which I consider trustworthy that indicate that doing TM raises one's IQ significantly; however, i consider these things to be the benefits of meditation, which perhaps was hindered by Maharishi's style of teaching rather than helped by it.


¹ Hey, I'm not accusing anyone, that's just what he thinks.

Maharish Mahesh Yogi - or Yogi Bear as I call him - is a fraud. I'm sure he's having a great time at his castle in Sweden or Switzerland (I forget which) enjoying the fruits of his con job. I'm sure he spends a few seconds a day in his garden where he grows the "intelligent" herbs and spices that are required, at a hefty price, to ensure that ones' doshas are in balance.
He might even take a break to feel someone's pulse and tell them of the evil imbalance of doshas that is coming their way, and what they might have to buy off him to ensure this does not happen.

No other guru/yogi have recognized Yogi Bear as legitimate, they do in fact denounce him. The only claim to being a Yogi is his word and apparently this is all he needs.
Over his younger years he was implicated in numerous scams, make money quick deals, pyramid schemes, and was even arrested on a few occasions because of these, as well as other reasons. His word stands for nothing in my books.

You have to admire the guy though (not really - it's just a linking sentence), he finally made one of his money making scams work - A strange combination of Transcendental Meditation, Hinduism, Hypnotism, diet, stars, pulse feeling, brain washing, and countless other stolen ideas.
By combining a diet more appropriate to India, consisting of mostly beans/lentils with "intelligent" spices, and mind manipulation Yogi Bear has created a worldwide CULT with campuses all over the place. They buy up land and build large campuses where people can pay to come along and learn some very simple lessons about how to get along with people, how to feel pulses, plant a garden that is one with cosmos, and other such classes. This poses as the front of the organization - a semi-legitimate school for semi-sensible information.
These classrooms are where people are recruited to further "improve" themselves, by undergoing intensive meditation sessions and inadvertently submitting themselves to post-hypnotic suggestions.

The aim of such activities is to eventually produce a brainwashed individual to carry out the internal work of the organization such as becoming teachers, meditating in the local garden, etc. Of course, you can only do this if you have gone to the correct classes that are, of course, not free. To become a teacher (or pulse reader ..) costs several thousand dollars and the advanced and final courses are only available to those who have been groomed and are ready to travel to see Yogi Bear in his home keep. Travel expenses not included.

The Mantras are Yogi Bear reading out Sanskrit, a long dead language, on tape so that you can listen to them over and over again. I can guarantee that no one who is listening to the tapes has the slightest idea what is being read to them - I have a sneaking suspicion that Yogi Bear is having a good laugh as he sells 6 hours of himself telling people they are fools. A monotonous, monotonal and irritating sound with very well timed silence gaps. This sound is engineered to relax the mind and bring it to a manipulateable state so that discussions after the meditation will bear a greater effect. Post-Hypnotic Suggestion.

Such an organization bears all the marks of a cult. I can't convince myself of anything else. They do teach some fairly practical lessons in their schools, but they also teach absolute crud. You must pay to advance in the organization, and you must pay the yogi for the produce to keep you healthy. You must maintain a rigid daily schedule which includes when you get up, when you go to sleep, when you meditate, and eat. Don't want to unbalance the doshas! - A Jail. A Cult.

Give me back my sister.