Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Mahesh Prasad Varma) was the founder of Transcendental Meditation — the mantra-based practice that, from the 1960s, carried meditation further into global popular culture than any single teacher before him.
Life
A disciple in the Shankaracharya tradition of Jyotirmath (associated with Guru Dev, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati), he began teaching his technique in India in the 1950s and toured the West from 1959. The Beatles’ 1968 stay at his Rishikesh ashram made the movement a global phenomenon; TM centers, the Maharishi’s universities (Maharishi International University, Fairfield, Iowa), and the research program (the “TM research” corpus of studies) followed. He died in 2008.
Teachings/Works
The Science of Being and Art of Living (1963) and the TM technique’s structure — a personally selected? — a standardized, individually given mantra, practiced twenty minutes twice daily — defined the movement. His later “Vedic science” and yagya programs extended the framework.
Legacy
TM’s research corpus (hundreds of studies, with continuing debate about their quality) made meditation a subject of medical science; the movement’s institutions remain global.
Verification notes
- Biographical outline is documented; his birth year is given variously (1918 or 1911-1917 range in some sources).
- Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).