Meditation originated in India and was a method of daily practice of ancient Indian monks. Maharishi, an Indian-born physicist, combined yoga, an ancient Indian fitness and nourishing technology, with the unified field theory in modern physics and created a brand-new meditation method-transcendental meditation. Since 1958, Maharishi began to spread this fitness method all over the world. Now millions of people are learning and using this easy-to-learn and easy-to-use fitness method in more than 40 countries and regions around the world. At the same time, many famous universities and scientific research institutions have studied this meditation method. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi On February 5th, 2008, all the major media in the world published a news: Maharishi Mahash, an Indian yoga master, died peacefully in a luxury apartment in the Netherlands at the age of 9 1. This legendary old man is an advocate of the "transcendental meditation" movement that has swept the world since the 1960s. Before his death, he founded a yoga empire with a market value of billions of dollars. But what he did was also controversial.

From Physics to Transcendental Meditation

There has always been controversy about Maharishi Mahashi's birth date and family, and he himself does not want to talk about his early experiences. According to records, he was born in a small mountain village in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India in June 19 17 12. His parents are both Hindus. From 65438 to 0940, Maha became interested in religion after obtaining a master's degree in physics from Allahabad University. He worships the Hindu master Smimi as his teacher. After 12 years of penance, he began to combine meditation with his own practice. Machat believes that ordinary people also have great potential, but only through some special methods can their potential be brought into play. The "transcendental meditation" initiated by him is such a cultivation method that can create inner peace and stimulate potential.

1955, Mahal began to spread his theory and practice methods to the outside world. 1957, he founded his first organization: spiritual movement. Mahath's theory has not caused much repercussions in India where yoga is prevalent. As a result, he quickly turned his attention to western society and made the United States his first goal.

From 65438 to 0959, Mahath came to the United States alone and established a new spiritual revival movement in California. This attempt failed again. Because in the United States in the fifties and sixties, people generally disliked religious movements. Five years later, Maha established another organization called "International Student Sit-in Association", which has not been recognized by Americans. So in 1969, Maha simply removed all religious factors, renamed the organization "Science Society of Innovative Wisdom" and continued to promote "Transcendental Meditation".

The effect of renaming is immediate. Maha began to attract the attention of mainstream American society. Many people are fresh and curious about his "scientific" yoga practice method, and many celebrities have joined the practice team. From 65438 to 0975, Mahas ushered in the first peak of development in the United States. He was interviewed by Merv Griffin, a famous TV presenter, and became the cover of Time magazine. Since then, "transcendental meditation" has penetrated into all walks of life in the United States, from senators to ordinary citizens, competing for meditation.

Maha is really famous in the world because of the Beatles.

India, India, take me into your heart and uncover your ancient mystery.

I'm looking for a mystery.

I know I will never find it here.

It will appear in the abyss of my consciousness.

India, India, please listen to my prayer.

I am sitting at your feet alone, please don't leave.

......

I want to fly with my heart.

I want to call at will.

I'll come back if I want.

This is a song written by John Lennon 1968 in Rishikesh. Rishikesh is a small town located at the foot of the Himalayas, the source of the Ganges River and the birthplace of Indian yoga. According to legend, the ascetic monks here have been practicing yoga for more than 2000 years. Forty years ago, this small town was little known. It was not until the Beetle came here to close its doors that Rishikesh became a pilgrimage site for yogis all over the world and a place pursued by countless Lennon fans.

1967, when machat strongly advocated "transcendental meditation", the Beatles, who had become the idol of western pop culture at that time, were in an unstable period. On the one hand, influenced by popular culture at that time, the Beatles began to contact drugs and hallucinogens from 1965; On the other hand, because Lennon, the core figure of the Beatles, said, "We are now more popular than Jesus Christ", the whole band suffered a huge impact. George harrison, the lead guitarist, was the first person in the band to contact Mahath. George became interested in his sermons, and Bahath was his spiritual mentor. Soon after, Lennon, depressed, followed machat and his band members to Rishikesh to practice "transcendental meditation".

In Rishikesh, Lennon once thought he had found the "Elysium". Under the guidance of Mahath, the band members learned to calmly face the external comments and re-explore their music career. In this context, Lennon wrote the above song.

Lennon studied with Maha in Rishikesh for eight weeks. There are two different versions about the reason why The Beatles left. In one version, Lennon and others inadvertently saw Mahas' crazy thoughts about a female follower and had doubts about Transcendental Meditation. Lennon also specially created a song called Sexy Sadie to satirize Mahas' behavior. In another version, Maha found that The Beatles was still addicted to drugs and finally broke up. But anyway, the Beatles' trip to India made Maha famous.

There are 200 rooms in this building.

Machat can be accepted by western society, and his physics education is very helpful. When he teaches transcendental meditation, he will explain the phenomenon of life from the perspective of physics, which brings a new perspective to meditation practice based on ancient Indian yoga.

After more than 40 years of painstaking efforts, Maha's Transcendental Meditation has more than 5 million followers all over the world. He himself created a huge training empire of transcendental meditation, which is reported to be worth billions of dollars. In his training empire, there is a global satellite TV channel, which is broadcast in 22 languages 24 hours a day to 144 countries around the world. In order to learn the method of transcendental meditation, people need to pay hundreds of dollars for training every day. The training process is 20 minutes of meditation twice a day.

Despite Mahath's success, controversy has always accompanied him. Many people think that. He has a strong desire for power and control, which is contrary to his "inner peace". Some Americans think that he just promoted religious practice methods under the guise of science and took him to court. The court also ruled that "transcendental meditation" is not science. Maha refused to accept the appeal and appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the original judgment was upheld.

Maha gradually lost power in the United States, moved to Sweden and Germany for development, and then went to the Philippines and other places in Asia. From 65438 to 0990, Mahas moved to a small village in the south of Holland. He built a building with 200 rooms there. It is reported that Maha himself only occupied two of the rooms, and the other rooms were arranged for some of his "consultants".

Even in his later years, Maha still made some moves from time to time to attract the attention of the world. In the 1990s, Mahas said that if 65,438+0% people in a certain group practiced transcendental meditation, the world would be more good and less evil. On the first American Independence Day after the "911"incident, he stood up and said that using love can stop terrorism. If he has 1 100 million dollars, he can train 40,000 professional thinkers who can have enough influence to save the world.

With his death, Maha's grand ideal no longer exists. His critics insist that his remarks are a show and a deception to the world. But it is undeniable that in the face of increasingly noisy life, more and more people in the world seek comfort through meditation.