Снова Махариши: Beatles guru turns mind to Tillydrone

Beatles guru turns mind to Tillydrone

Frank Urquhart and William Lyons


HE WAS the guru to the stars, the Eastern mystic who had a profound
influence on The BeatlesТ late career and won admirers the world over.

When the Fab Four met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his spiritual retreat in
Rishikesh, India, in 1968 - with Jane Asher, Mia Farrow and Donovan in tow -
his global fame was assured.

Now, disciples of the Maharishi have set up a new base to pass on the wisdom
of his teachings on transcendental meditation - on a rundown housing estate
in Aberdeen.

Tillydrone, one of the most deprived schemes in the city, is a world away
from the idyllic surroundings of Rishikesh, in the state of Uttar Pradesh,
where the Maharishi set George Harrison on the way to spiritual
enlightenment.

Yet followers of the guru - immortalised in Sexy Sadie on The BeatlesТ White
Album - have used his teachings to pinpoint an overgrown garden in the heart
of Tillydrone as the perfect place to practise yogic flying, one of the most
advanced forms of transcendental meditation (TM).

There, one of their guruТs "Palaces of Peace" will be built for his
disciples to discover the path to personal peace and harmony through TM
techniques.

Down the road from the local bookies, on a street filled with boarded-up
council houses, they are planning to turn the site in Hayton Road into the
organisationТs first purpose-built meditation centre in Britain.

And the MaharishiТs disciples yesterday claimed their presence in the
community will help combat crime and bring peace to the troubled housing
estate.

Anna Edwards and her husband, Colin, who have been followers of the
Maharishi for more than 20 years, made the unlikely choice of Tillydrone
while searching for a home for their spiritual community under a set of
special criteria laid down by the Maharishi.

Mrs Edwards said she came across the site after picking up details about the
sale of an old farmhouse and the adjoining piece of land in Hayton Road in a
local estate agentТs.

Ten years ago, the Maharishi, who is now based in Holland, had urged his
followers to search the globe for suitable sites which could be used to
build "lighthouses of coherence" to help in the promotion of world peace.
And he set out a series of criteria, based on the ancient Vedic teachings.

The Maharishi succinctly explains the theory on his organisationТs website:
"Because the individual is Cosmic, everything about individual life should
be in full harmony with Cosmic Life. Maharishi Sthapatya Veda gives
dimensions, formulas, and orientations to the buildings that will provide
Cosmic harmony and Support to the individual for his peace, prosperity, and
good health - daily life in accord with Natural Law, daily life in the
evolutionary direction."

Mrs Edwards, 57, a former personal assistant in London, said: "We have found
the perfect site and it happens to be in Tillydrone.

"If it had been in the Western Isles, we would have gone there. It is to do
with the lay of the land, the slope of the land, and its proximity to rivers
and water and the sea."

She added: "We are now trying to raise the г150,000 we will need for what
will be the first purpose-built centre for teaching TM in the UK, according
to these principles. It will be open to the MaharishiТs followers from all
over the world who want to come to Aberdeen, and local people too.

"Local people may not feel they want to become part of transcendental
meditation. But the fact that people will be meditating and practising yogic
flying in that building will have a very uplifting effect on the whole area.

"A whole series of studies have been conducted into the effects of group
yogic flying. And, if you have the square root of 1 per cent of any
population - whether it is Tillydrone, or wherever - practising yogic flying
together in one place, twice a day, the crime rate, accident rates and
suicide rates all drop. All negative trends just spontaneously drop."

Asked about the reaction of local residents, she said: "It is a totally new
concept for most people, but the people that we have spoken to about it so
far have been absolutely brilliant. They nod and they smile.

"Tillydrone is a brilliant place and the people here are doing a lot for
themselves. They are good people and we want to be a part of this community
for a long, long time."

George Lennie, the chairman of Tillydrone Community Council, said: "I am in
favour of anything that will help the community. I have heard that these
people can cut down crime and that sort of thing.

"Tillydrone is exactly the same as anywhere else and has the same problems
as any other housing scheme. Our problems just seem to be advertised more
than anywhere else. These people might bring some good to the community.
They certainly canТt do any harm."

The Beatles boarded the Mystical Express at Paddington station in 1967 for
Bangor, to meet the giggling Indian guru with the flowing white beard and
impish grin. The spectacle of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dispensing flowers
to the adoring popstars became one of the defining images of the 1960s.

George Harrison was particularly influenced and the MaharishiТs teachings
were there for all to hear in his music - especially in the post-Beatles My
Sweet Lord phase of his career. He remained a disciple until he died last
year.

The town that lost its guru
This week, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ordered his disciples to stop teaching in Britain. But where does that leave the little bit of Lancashire where meditation ruled? Stephen Khan reports from Skelmersdale
Published: 17 August 2005

With eyes tight shut, legs crossed and mind meandering, I briefly flirt with inner peace. Beneath a golden dome that is the British centre for the teachings of a mystical guru from the East, the time has come to dabble with the power of meditation. For a moment it seems like paradise. Then my eyes flicker, the faith fades and I remember that I am in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

Strange though it may seem, this new town of a thousand roundabouts is the European home to the followers of the man whose cosmic notions so entranced The Beatles in the 1960s: the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Here they came to deploy the force of transcendental meditation (TM), to find personal happiness and to make the world a better place.

Now, though, a dark cloud casts its shadow over the Maharishi's British flock. The UK, the 95-year-old sage claims, has become a "Scorpion nation", and meditative teachings merely serve to "feed the destroyer of the world". The Maharishi, it seems, is rather ticked off about the Iraq War and the arms trade.

Teaching TM must cease in the UK immediately, he has ordered. "We are rejecting one nation - Britain - which has proven to be a poisonous, divisive influence in the world family," the leader blasts in a memo issued to his Global Country of World Peace recently.

It all seems slightly hard on his followers in Skelmersdale, who set up base here 25 years ago and have built up a 400-strong community. Some of the people here wonder why their home country has been singled out and the US left alone, and a few have even mooted the previously unthinkable: disobeying the legendary figure and carrying on teaching.

"He is deeply upset about the arms trade," says David Hughes, one of the founder members of the community, explaining that Britain, per head of population, actually has a worse record than anywhere else in the world. "This is an issue we are all very concerned about." Teaching meditation in the UK, it seems, could foster energies that make the situation worse. If the community has to cease such activities, then it will be for the greater good. But the rest of Skelmersdale is slightly nervous too, for they've grown rather fond of the Yogic fliers over the years.

With meditation has come an award-winning school, a gym, a business centre and new houses. The Maharishi's men and women have injected cash into the local economy and some even claim their presence has revitalised it. Now the Yogics are being urged to flee for larger, better-funded settlements abroad. "When we first came in 1980 things were really bleak," explains Hughes, a Lancashire man by birth. Hughes and a handful of other devotees opted for Skelmersdale over other new towns because the rents were cheap and it was near the heart of Britain, offering easy access from Scotland and the South-east. At the time, very few other operations viewed it as a viable centre. "Now you can hardly find any spare business space. If you want to set up here you have to build from scratch."

It has even been suggested that their communal meditation reversed the crime rate in the nearby Merseyside area from being one of the worst in the UK to being among the best - although Hughes concedes that he still doesn't leave his car unattended in Liverpool at night.

He admits that the general upturn is not entirely down to the power of meditation, but believes that it has been a significant force. And the economy certainly needed a boost. In the 1960s, Skem - as it is affectionately known locally - survived the decline of the mining industry only to be turned into a concrete jungle. Its reward was to be used as an overspill town to resettle crowded Merseyside. Industrial employers proceeded to leave the town en masse, and the only growth figures related to crime, drug abuse and poverty.

But, as Hughes points out, things have been looking a little better of late. We depart the dome for a tour of the town. "It was originally proposed that it should have a population of 80,000," he says. "But it's only really got up to 40,000."

Similarly, the meditation community needs to have 800 members to affect the way the country lives, claims Hughes. With it languishing at just 400 it could not possibly oust the Blair government and move the UK towards the goal the Maharishi sets for all his communities - bringing peace to the world. So now they face the prospect that their teachers will heed the guru's order to depart to the likes of South Africa and the United States.

But Hughes says that does not mean the end of the road for Skelmersdale. "Just because we cannot teach TM for the moment, does not mean that we will go away. It is like riding a bike: once you've had your four lessons you can keep doing it. Maharishi hasn't told us to stop meditating, only to stop teaching it."

Hughes, who first learnt TM as a student in the 1970s, maintains that the community will remain and thrive. But as we stop off at the school, attended by 100 pupils, the headmaster admits that the guru's advice concerned him. "I was a bit worried," says Dave Cassells, perched in front of a chart akin to a periodic table, which shows how the positive power of the individual can be displaced for the greater good. He now hopes people will remain in Skem, and opt to learn meditation on weekend trips to Dublin (peace-loving Ireland has also escaped the Maharishi's wrath).

Hughes and I head back out to the roundabouts, and he shows me the fabulous new gym, "with a great swimming pool", the huge Asda and the extended and refurbished Concourse shopping centre. Inside, shoppers admit they'd be sad to lose the Yogic fliers, although few seem to know who they are or what they do. Pensioner Jean Birtles admits that she "doesn't know too much about what goes on up there. But they don't seem to do anyone any harm. I guess it would be a shame if they left."

And for a council that has seen the town through dark periods, the Maharishi mediators are seen as providing a positive vibe. Indeed, council leader Geoff Roberts would be deeply upset if there was an existential exodus. "This community has been very beneficial to the Skelmersdale area," he explains. "I know people involved and it does seem to have had a calming influence on views there.

Not everyone is quite so enthusiastic, though. "I don't think they bring anything to Skem, like. It seems to be a bit of an enclosed community. I'd be more upset if Heron Foods left," says Concourse security guard Eddie, pointing to a discount food store that is typical of the centre.

And even some of those who have followed the words of the Maharishi in the past are deeply concerned about what one describes as his "latest ramblings". Hughes will follow the guru's path, but he admits that there have been mutterings of dissent from within the Skelmersdale settlement. "I won't say that everyone has been happy about the advice given," he says.

That does not come as a surprise to Paul Mason, a biographer of the Maharishi. He hopes that many meditators will ignore the Maharishi's latest ramblings. He explains that the meditation craze took hold in Britain in the 1960s, and had at one point reached a stage where hundreds of thousands were crossing their legs and willing calm on the world. But in more recent years the power has ebbed somewhat. And this, he suggests, is at least partly due to the great man's tinkering.

The Maharishi's introduction of Yogic flying (known as the Sidhi technique), explains Mason - himself an avid meditator - has been of little practical use and has merely served to fragment the organisation. The decline, Mason suggests, could be traced to the beginnings of the bounce. "Diversification is the reason for the downturn. I'm sure of that," says Mason. "Meditation was a verifiable technique. There was a huge swell of interest. But when the Sidhi techniques were introduced a lot of people dropped out of courses. Many teachers went independent."

He goes on to describe the Maharishi who, over 50 years, has trained about 40,000 people to teach his technique, as an elderly man whose hopes for the world have "not come true". And that is why, according to Mason, he is coming up with wild ideas. "There may be some people who still follow his every word, but if the Maharishi told me to jump I'd park myself firmly on the seat. This man is not my teacher. He is not a bona fide guru."

Thousands, however, remain convinced. Hughes is confident that they won't all flee Skelmersdale, although he admits that he knows a few teachers who are already planning to resettle in the US, where a community more than 1,000-strong is flourishing in Iowa. "It's a fantastic place," he says. "They've got a university, but they still need more people. Anyone going from here will be warmly welcomed and find exciting new projects." He tells me that previous Stateside endeavours have included cutting the crime rate in Washington DC. The war on crime is something they are much more comfortable with than the war on terror.

But Skelmersdale need not panic, Hughes assures me, as we head back to the dome. The community is not about to go the same way as the mines and heavy industry. "All that is happening is that the teaching has stopped. Meditation carries on and we will still live here. People have jobs and everyday lives to continue with. And, anyway, who knows? Maybe someday the teaching will be allowed to begin again."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article306473.ece

Indian guru who taught the Beatles sets sights on Canada
Monday, October 17, 2005

HALIFAX -- The spiritual guru who taught the Beatles the art of transcendental meditation is planning an international peace palace on two islands off Nova Scotia, where followers will practice yogic flying to promote global peace.

Supporters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the India-born spiritual leader whose teachings also inspired the Natural Law Party in Canada's 1993 federal election, dedicated the two islands in a ceremony last week.

They bought the islands near the town of Canso last year for about $350,000, and plan a $1.2-million development that includes a peace tower, conference centre and school.

The islands will be part of the Community of Global Peace, and along with six other sites around the world will form the community's so-called parliament.

Maharishi followers believe that if enough people around the world practising yogic flying -- achieved by hopping in the air while sitting cross-legged -- it will create world peace.

"The constitution of the universe will radiate from these islands of Canada," the Maharishi said in an interview from the Netherlands.

"The new parliament of world peace will be from the peace-loving people . . . who are simple, sincere, innocent."

The Maharishi, who is nearly 90 years old, said the world cannot rely on government alliances such as the United Nations.

"The shop is a flop -- the United Nations is a flop," he said. "The constitution of every government, because made by human beings, it has human weaknesses and human failings."

The teachings of the Maharishi have inspired a global movement, along with a multibillion-dollar industry that includes schools and businesses across Canada.

It is largely based on Hindu texts called the Vedas, but the group vehemently denies it is a religion, even taking the issue to court -- and losing -- in the United States.

Instead, followers claim their beliefs are based on science, embracing theories such as quantum physics.

The transcendental meditation movement shot into popularity in Canada during the 1993 federal election.

The Canadian wing of the Natural Law Party ran a multimillion-dollar campaign with candidates in 136 ridings, but none came close to winning any seats.

"I had to get into politics to know what is wrong there," the Maharishi said.

There was also a plan in the mid-1990s to build a $900-million theme park in Niagara Falls, Ont., but those plans stalled.

A sociology professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax said the Maharishi is appealing to a secular, Western audience.

"It is supposed to provide you with some sort of tool that's supposed to help people benefit in this world," said Christopher Helland, who teaches religion and contemporary culture.

Prof. Helland said that is why, instead of growing as a Hindu movement, Maharishi followers built up a global business empire and entered politics.

In Nova Scotia, the group is waiting on local officials to approve its building plans before building on the islands next year.

The plans came as a surprise to Canso, a small town of about 900 people.

Mayor Ray White said he first heard the news just days before last week's inauguration.

"I think anyone would accept that it is a very noble goal to promote peace," Mr. White said.

But he said local residents are waiting to hear more information about the group and their plans.

The islands will become the North American capital of the movement, attracting followers from around the continent to learn and to practice.

It will also offer courses on transcendental meditation and yogic flying. Tuition at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, tops $30,000.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051017/GURU17/TPNation...

When Maharishi threw Beatles out

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1415230.cms

Да уж, теперь не разберешь, кто прав, кто виноват.....

Maharishi’s “spin doctor” Deepak

http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/02/16/maharishis-spin-doctor-deepak/

2Primal Scream:

>Можно ли написать в 2-х словах о чем речь?

2Kamch:

Этот товарищ Дипак Чопра, видимо, имеет карт-бланш на высказывания от имени Махариши. Он утверждает, что Махариши сам расстался с "Битлз", а не наоборот, потому что ему надоела их злоупотребление наркотиками. Также он опровергает историю о том, что Махариши домогался Мии Фэрроу - у них якобы были взаимные полюбовные отношения. Ну и все такое.
Вот недавняя новость с нашего сайта примерно в том же ключе https://www.beatles.ru/news/news.asp?news_id=2527

Да может так все и было.
Не следует забывать, что основную роль в "разоблачении" Махариши сыграл Мэджик Алекс, личность весьма темная. Можно конечно сказать, что два перихлебателя передрались за "место у Трона", однако положительное влияние Махариши на Битлз (особенно на Леннона) несомненно - они бросили (ну или почти бросили) наркотики, и - главное для нас - испытали огромный творческий подъем. Почти весь Белый альбом написан в Индии.
Положительного же влияния Алекса Мардаса на Битлз не отмечено.

Maharishi to build World Capital of Peace in Kansas
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/14260866.htm

Maharishi meets the Bible Belt

The land is flat, roads are straight and churches are plentiful in this town of 1,800 near the geographic center of the USA's lower 48 states. So here in traditional Kansas, the recent purchase of land by representatives of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to build what they're calling a World Capital of Peace - just outside town - where meditators will send "waves of coherence" across the country - has many residents riled. The group plans to spend at least $15 million to erect 12-15 buildings for a retreat, training center and residences. "Some people call them a cult, and some little old ladies are locking their doors," says farmer Bryce Wiehl, 50. "You're in the Bible Belt, and this is a Hindu-based religion. People don't like that idea." The maharishi's followers practice transcendental meditation, silently focusing on a mantra to achieve what they call a state of pure consciousness. They believe TM has the power to reduce stress and crime, help end poverty and create peace. Positive energy or a 'cult'? Those beliefs are "not compatible with Christianity," says Greg Judy of Faith Community Bible Church. He's one of nine pastors who wrote to the editor of the Smith County Pioneer warning that they will compete with what everyone here calls "the TMers" for residents' "eternal souls."


Not everyone is upset. Mayor Randy Archer says the town is "very divided ... but we're looking at it with open eyes, open minds."

Archer says he doesn't know enough about the TMers "to really make any judgments." People around town, he says, "are going to make their own conclusions, and so be it." Burke Phelps, president of First National Bank, says, "Sometimes people forget that this country is based on freedom of religion. If what they want is peace and understanding, I'm all for it. We need to wait and give these people a chance. I don't see anything scary."

Eric Michener, 54, who is helping coordinate the TM project, says all his group wants is a chance.

"The community has reacted perhaps in a traditional way to any outside idea: with apprehension, some fear but basically not out of any knowledge," he says. "I've heard people say we are some type of satanic cult. I would love to meet with anyone who is concerned about what we are really about."

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the transcendental meditation movement, became famous in the 1960s, when his followers included celebrities such as the Beatles. He's now somewhere between 89 and 95 and living in Holland. In 1971, he conceived a university now called the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. In 2001, his followers incorporated Vedic City just outside Fairfield. The maharishi also is building "peace palaces" around the world where meditators try to reduce crime and conflict. They are planned for New York City, Minneapolis and Denver; they're already open in Houston, Bethesda, Md., and Lexington, Ky. Maharishi supporters founded the Natural Law Party in 1992. Its leader, John Hagelin, has run for president three times and heads the U.S. Peace Government that will be headquartered here.

The World Capital of Peace won't be a traditional government. Instead, it will include buildings for training and meditating and a broadcast center, according to its website. Michener says Smith Center was chosen because it's close to the USA's center. Construction will begin later this year, but plans and the final price tag are fluid, he says. The TMers originally bought 480 acres here, but problems acquiring water rights prompted them to recently buy an additional 600 acres. Michener says 300 meditators will use the retreat facility to "create waves of coherence that will benefit everybody in society." The site's central location will allow those waves to spread across the USA, he says.

The current plans probably wouldn't be a big economic boon for Smith Center, Michener says. Eventually, local farmers might want to grow organic produce to market with crops produced by the TMers, he says, and a biodiesel plant might be built someday. Smith Center's population is shrinking and aging. It has lost more than 100 residents since 2000, 5% of its population. The biggest employer is an RV manufacturer with about 150 workers. Archer doesn't know if the newcomers will help the economy. "We hope so, but there's no way of knowing," he says.

Praying it won't happen

Opponents of the TMers' plans organized a community meeting a few weeks ago. Several hundred people showed up to hear critics of the group from Fairfield, including Kai Druhl, a former professor at the maharishi's university who has left the TM movement, and Greg Crawford, pastor of Jubilee International Ministries.

"People in Smith Center need to be cautious," Crawford says in an interview. The presence of the maharishi's followers, he says, "is going to have an effect on the spiritual climate. The churches need to organize and pray and really believe that God isn't going to allow these people to move in."

But Dian Gilmore of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce says TMers have started businesses and created jobs in her town of about 10,000. Fairfield "would die if we didn't have them," she says. Judy, the pastor here, says there's talk of new zoning regulations to prevent the TMers from building and a petition drive to ask the maharishi to stay away. Maybe water-rights issues will stop their construction plans, he says. Michener says the TMers who move here will prove they're not a cult, not against Christianity and can be good neighbors. "This is a traditional, conservative community," he says, "and fear is probably their first self-defense."

Maharishi Retreats Into Silence
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gNhPP8fc6ihLJrM2zkU-u_vLTOyQD8UFNF7G0

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steps down as head of meditation empire
http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-31636820080128

<-- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is seen on a video screen during an AP interview in Vlodrop, Netherlands in this Feb. 1, 2006 file photo. After more than 50 years at the helm of his Transcendental Meditation movement, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the ageing Indian guru to stars like the Beatles, has retreated into near silence and turned over the day-to-day running of his global network to senior aides, a close adviser said Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, has died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said Tuesday. He was thought to be 91 years old.

"He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."

Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually gained medical respectability.

He began teaching transcendental meditation in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat.

With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi — a Hindi-language title for Great Seer — parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire.