Starting in 2002, about 150 wealthy devotees took Maharishi’s “Enlightenment Course,” forking over a cool million dollars per person to fly to Vlodrop, watch Maharishi on a video feed, and donate to the alleged permanent establishment of ten thousand pundit boys in India chanting day and night for world peace. Course graduates were bestowed golden medals and crowns and dubbed “Raja”(the Sanskrit word for “king”). They rode around in ostentatious royal white chariots drawn by white steeds, driven by formal coachmen in red uniforms and top hats, accompanied by marching bagpipers and flagbearers heralding their arrival—even when no one was there to greet them.
Hollywood director David Lynch was a graduate, though he didn’t accept the title or crown. He has continued to be a spokesperson for TM worldwide. The David Lynch Foundation has gained quite a foothold among the Hollywood elite supporting its meditation programs.
Near his death, Maharishi was in the public eye again. He conducted an aggressive worldwide publicity campaign and building project. Large ads appeared in the New York Times, newspaper articles about TM abounded, and “Maharishi Ayurveda Health Spas” cropped up everywhere. Sadly, nearly all closed a few years later.
Maharishi died February 5, 2008. On the same day, for the first time ever, NASA beamed a song, the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” directly into deep space toward Polaris, the North Star. Recorded exactly forty years previously, this song, written by John Lennon, quoted Maharishi’s oft-repeated Sanskrit phrase honoring his guru: Jai Guru Deva. As part of the celebration, people around the world simultaneously played the song at the same time it was transmitted by NASA.
February 10, 2008, Allahabad, India: Crowned Rajas led by Lebanese neuroscientist Tony Nader, whom Maharishi titled “Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam, First Sovereign Ruler of Global Country of World Peace.” He was named Maharishi’s official successor on October 12, 2000. Associated Press/Rajesh Kumar Singh
“The Global Consciousness Project” of Princeton University’s Engineering Anomalies Research Lab, which tracks meaningful correlations in random data, has found whenever great events synchronize feelings of millions of people, their network of seventy random number generators exhibits nonrandom patterns. On February 11, 2008, a striking U-shaped pattern occurred in morning and early afternoon hours, during Maharishi’s cremation in Allahabad, India.
In 1968, when filmmaker Alan Waite asked Maharishi what he would like to be remembered for, his answer was “Nothing.”296 But my hope is he will be remembered as a great spiritual master who played a leading role in an unparalleled revolution of consciousness. Right now the enigmatic guru might still be up to his old tricks—even from the beyond.
APPENDIX
WHO’S WHO IN TM
Here’s a surprising list of just a few celebrities who learned TM:
50 Cent (singer)
Paula Abdul (singer)
Sam Allardyce (England football manager)
Ron Altbach (musician, Beach Boys)
Jennifer Aniston (actress)
Judd Apatow (film producer)
Arthur Ashe (tennis player)
Jane Asher (actress)
Janet Attwood (author)
Michael Balzary (musician, Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Ed Beckley (infomercial king)
Beth Behrs (actress)
Kristen Bell (actress)
Itzhak Bentov (inventor, author)
Gabrielle Bernstein (speaker)
Leonard Bernstein (composer)
Richard Beymer (actor)
Buddy Biancalana (baseball)
Cilla Black (singer)
Harold Bloomfield (author)
Bronk Bond (baseball)
Matt Bomer (actor)
Larry Bowa (baseball)
Jenny Boyd (model)
Pattie Boyd (model)
Tom Brady (football)
Russell Brand (comedian)
Jeff Bridges (actor)
Jerry Brown (Governor of California)
Gisele Bündchen (fashion model)
Mark Bunn (Australian football)
Kersi S. Cambata (transportation magnate)
Steve Carlton (baseball)
Wes Carr (singer)
Jim Carrey (actor)
Deepak Chopra (author)
Ellen Corby (actress)
Sheryl Crow (singer)
Rivers Cuomo (singer, Weezer)
John Cusack (actor)
Ray Dalio (hedge fund manager)
Blythe Danner (actress)
Hunter Davies (Beatles biographer)
Barbara De Angelis (author)
Ellen DeGeneres (TV host)
Kat Dennings (actress)
John Denver (singer)
Laura Dern (actress)
Cameron Diaz (actress)
Novak Djokovic (tennis player)
Donovan (musician)
Doris Duke (tobacco heiress)
Lena Dunham (actress)
Clint Eastwood (film director)
Graeme Edge (musician, Moody Blues)
Mal Evans (Beatles road manager)
John Fahey (musician)
Marianne Faithfull (singer)
Colin Farrell (actor)
Mia Farrow (actress)
Prudence Farrow (film producer)
Marilyn Ferguson (author)
Timothy Ferriss (author)
Jane Fonda (actress)
Ben Foster (actor)
Michael J. Fox (actor)
Squire Fridell (actor)
Buckminster Fuller (inventor)
Greta Garbo (actress)
Jeff Garlin (comedian)
Adam Gaynor (musician, Matchbox 20)
Aileen Getty (heiress)
Billy Gibbons (musician, ZZ Top)
Philip Goldberg (author)
Jeff Goldblum (actor)
Heather Graham (actress)
John Gray (author)
Leroy F. Greene (California legislator)
Judy Greer (actress)
Merv Griffin (TV host)
John Hagelin (physicist)
George Hamilton (actor)
Tom Hanks (actor)
Ben Harper (musician)
Bob “The Bear” Hite (musician, Canned Heat)
George Harrison (musician)
Olivia Harrison (film producer)
Yukio Hatoyama (Prime Minister Japan)
Goldie Hawn (actress)
Louise Hay (publisher)
Justin Hayward (musician, Moody Blues)
Mariel Hemingway (actress)
Doug Henning (magician)
Jim Henson (puppeteer)
Bill Hicks (comedian)
Claire Hoffman (journalist)
Paul Horn (musician)
Steve Howe (musician)
Kate Hudson (actress)
Arianna Huffington (editor)
Hugh Jackman (actor)
Michael Jackson (singer)
Mick Jagger (singer)
Jewel (singer)
Jim James (musician, My Morning Jacket)
Al Jardine (musician, Beach Boys)
Brian Josephson (Nobel laureate)
Andy Kaufman (comedian)
Caroline Kennedy (Ambassador to Japan)
Miranda Kerr (model)
Kesha (singer)
Nicole Kidman (actress)
Larry King (TV host)
Lenny Kravitz (singer)
Robby Krieger (musician, The Doors)
Stanley Kubrick (film director)
Jared Kushner (presidential advisor)
Peggy Lee (singer)
John Lennon (musician)
Cynthia Lennon (author)
Sean Taro Ono Lennon (musician)
David Letterman (TV host)
Tinker Lindsay (screenwriter)
Charles Lloyd (musician, Beach Boys)
Lindsay Lohan (actress)
Shelley Long (actress)
Jennifer Lopez (singer)
Mike Love (musician, Beach Boys)
Daisy Lowe (mode
l)
George Lucas (film producer)
Steve Lukather (musician, Toto)
David Lynch (film director)
Kyle MacLachlan (actor)
Shirley MacLaine (actress)
Madonna (singer)
Ray Manzarek (musician, The Doors)
Pete Maravich (NBA player)
Cheech Marin (comedian)
Jim Marshall (NFL player)
Mary Martin (actress)
James McCartney (musician)
Paul McCartney (musician, Beatles)
Stella McCartney (fashion designer)
Willie McCovey (baseball)
Cynthia McFadden (TV journalist)
Marshall McLuhan (philosopher)
Peter McWilliams (author)
Eva Mendes (actress)
Alyssa Miller (model)
Moby (musician)
Mary Tyler Moore (actress)
Rupert Murdoch (media mogul)
Joe Namath (football player)
Martina Navratilova (tennis player)
Olivia Newton John (singer)
B.J. Novak (actor)
Denis O’Dell (film producer)
Rosie O’Donnell (actress)
Mike Oldfield (musician)
Maureen O’Sullivan (actress)
Mehmet Oz (TV host)
Gwyneth Paltrow (actress)
Mary-Louise Parker (actress)
Chuck Percy (US Senator)
Katy Perry (singer)
Tom Petty (musician)
Mike Pinder (musician, Moody Blues)
Gary Player (golfer)
Debra Poneman (author)
Priscilla Presley (actress)
John C. Reilly (actor)
Burt Reynolds (actor)
Emil Richards (percussionist)
Paul Rodgers (singer)
Robin Roberts (TV broadcaster)
Bill Robinson (baseball)
Smokey Robinson (singer)
Rick Rubin (record producer)
Peter Russell (author)
Tim Ryan (US congressman)
Paul Saltzman (producer)
Juan Manuel Santos (President of Colombia, Nobel laureate)
Susan Sarandon (actress)
Vidal Sassoon (hairdresser)
Amy Schumer (comedian)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (actor, politician)
Rusty Schweickart (Apollo 9 astronaut)
Martin Scorsese (film director)
Bill Scranton III (Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania)
Steven Seagal (actor)
Jerry Seinfeld (comedian)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (guru)
Rupert Sheldrake (scientist)
George Shapiro (talent manager)
Marci Shimoff (author)
Russell Simmons (entrepreneur)
Nikki Sixx (musician, Mötley Crüe)
Jeffrey M. Smith (activist)
Willie Stargell (baseball)
Ringo Starr (musician, Beatles)
John Steinbeck IV (journalist)
George Stephanopoulos (TV journalist)
Howard Stern (radio host)
Ali Stephens (model)
Cat Stevens (singer)
Patrick Stewart (actor)
Sting (musician)
Maya Stojan (actress)
Patrick Swayze (actor)
Elizabeth Taylor (actress)
Ray Thomas (musician, Moody Blues)
Eric Trump (businessman)
Ivanka Trump (businesswoman)
Liv Tyler (actress)
Usher (singer)
Steve Vai (musician)
Elizabeth Vargas (TV journalist)
Eddie Vedder (musician, Pearl Jam)
Kurt Vonnegut (author)
Bill Walton (basketball player)
Alice Walker (Pulitzer Prize winner)
Barbara Walters (TV journalist)
Naomi Watts (actress)
Florence Welch (singer, Florence and the Machine)
Marianne Williamson (author)
Bill Wilson (cofounder of AA)
Brian Wilson (musician, Beach Boys)
Carl Wilson (musician, Beach Boys)
Dennis Wilson (musician, Beach Boys)
Oprah Winfrey (TV mogul)
Stevie Wonder (singer)
C. V. Wood (developer, Disneyland)
Jim Wright (US Speaker of the House)
Ned Wynn (screenwriter)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (actor)
Raquel Zimmermann (model)
Barry Zito (baseball player)
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“On the Newsfronts of the World: The Beatles with their Guru,” Life. Sept. 8, 1967: 26
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INTERNET ARTICLES
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