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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies at home in the Netherlands

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced transcendental meditation to the West and gained fame in the 1960s as the spiritual guru to the Beatles, died on Tuesday at his home and headquarters in Vlodrop, the Netherlands. He is believed to have been in his 90s.

Steven Yellin, a spokesman for the organization, confirmed the Maharishi's death but did not give a cause.

On Jan. 11, the Maharishi announced that his public work was finished and that he would use his remaining time to complete a long-running series of published commentaries on the Veda, the oldest sacred Hindu text.

The Maharishi was both an entrepreneur and a monk, a spiritual man who sought a world stage from which to espouse the joys of inner happiness.

His critics called his organization a cult business enterprise. And in the press, in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often dismissed as a hippie mystic, the "Giggling Guru," recognizable in the familiar image of him laughing, sitting cross-legged in a lotus position on a deerskin, wearing a white silk dhoti with a garland of flowers around his neck beneath.

In Hindi, maha means great, and rishi means seer. "Maharishi" is a title traditionally bestowed on Brahmins.

Critics of the yogi say he presented himself with the name, which he was ineligible for because he was from a lower caste.

The Maharishi originated the transcendental meditation movement in 1957 and brought it to the US in 1959. Known as TM, a trademarked name, the technique consists of closing one's eyes twice a day for 20 minutes while silently repeating a mantra to gain deep relaxation, eliminate stress, promote good health and attain clear thinking and inner fulfillment. Classes today cost US$2,500 for a five-day session.

Mahesh Prasad Varma was born in northern India into a family of scribes. Called Mahesh, he studied physics at Allahabad University, and for the next 13 years, became a student and secretary to a holy man, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.

After the death of his master in 1953, Mahesh went into seclusion in the Himalayan foothills.

He emerged two years later and began teaching a system of belief, which grew into the worldwide TM movement.

Since 1990, the Maharishi had lived in Vlodrop with about 50 of his adherents, including his "minister of science and technology," John Hagelin, a Harvard-educated physicist, who is expected to oversee the organization in the US.
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