Obituary: The Maharishi (A “Benign” ex-Guru of Beatles)
I was a Beatles’ fan in my teens. A few years after the famous British pop group had visited their Guru’s ashram, I undertook a journey to Rishikesh in India. Situated on the banks of the mighty/holy river Ganga/Ganges when it enters the plains (with the Himalayas providing a picturesqe backdrop), the ashram became our abode for a few days in the early 1970s. Our co-blogger at the TMV, Brij Khindaria, who was then with the Reuters, accompanied us.
It was a fascinating experience. Although I ‘crashlanded’ learning the Maharishi’s ‘flying yogic’ technique, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay for a couple of days there…
“Crank? Crackpot? Charlatan? Maybe all three. Yet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who died on February 5th (in his ‘home’ in the Netherlands), was generally benign,” says The Economist. “He did not use his money for sinister ends. He neither drank, nor smoked, nor took drugs. Indeed, he is credited with weaning the Beatles off dope (for a while). He did not accumulate scores of Rolls-Royces, like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; his biggest self-indulgence was a helicopter.
“Nor was he ever accused of molesting choirboys; his greatest sexual impropriety, it was said, was to make a pass at Mia Farrow…After the 1960s he seldom appeared in public.
“Moreover, his message was entirely laudable. He did not promote a cult or even a mainstream religion preaching original sin, purgatory and the likelihood of eternal damnation. He just wanted to end poverty, teach people how to achieve personal fulfilment and help them to discover ‘Heaven on Earth in this generation’. And yogic flying, of course…”
