twilight yoga, which included elements of the I
Ching, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and
SHAIVISM. In 1978 he established an East-West
tantric order, the Arcane Magickal Order of the
Knights of Shambhala/AMOOKOS. As a sannyasi,
Mahendranath traveled to Sri Lanka, Southeast
Asia, and Australia. He died at his ashram near
the Vatrak River in the state of Gujarat on August
30, 1991.
Further reading: Lokanath Maharaj, “The Guru of
Twilight Yoga,” Yoga Today 6, no. 10 (February 1982):
10–12; Sri Gurudev Mahendranath, The Amoral Way
of Wizardry (Oxford: Mandrake, n.d.); Muz Mur-
ray, Seeking the Master: A Guide to the Ashrams of
India (Spearman Jersey, the Channel Isles: Spearman,
1980).
Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi (b. 1911 or
1917) founder of Transcendental Meditation
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi played an important
role in spreading the theory and practice of MEDI-
TATION in the West. During the height of the West-
ern “counterculture,” he acquired a large degree of
fame and notoriety.
Little is known about the Maharishi’s early
life. Mahesh is his family name, and Maharishi in
Sanskrit means “great sage or saint.” His date of
birth has been variously given as either October
18, 1911, or January 12, 1917. Acquaintances
in India claim that he is a native of Uttarkashi, a
small town in the HIMALAYAS, and the son of a local
income tax collector. According to his official
biography, he received a degree in physics from
Allahabad University in 1942 and then worked
in a factory before studying SANSKRIT and Indian
philosophy.
According to his biography, the Maharishi
studied ADVAITA (non-dual) VEDANTA for 13 years
under Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, Jagadguru
and Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Himalayas
(1870–1953). Upon the death of Brahmananda,
he withdrew to a cave near Uttarkashi for two
years. On a visit to South India in 1955, he gave
his first talks and became a popular lecturer on
the wisdom of Hinduism.
In 1958 at a lecture in Madras (Chennai), the
Maharishi spoke of his vision for the “spiritual
regeneration of all mankind,” which received a five-
minute ovation. The next evening he announced
the formation of the Spiritual Regeneration move-
ment, dedicated to the accomplishment of that
goal. Soon after, he began the first of more than 12
world tours. He first left India to settle in London,
where he established the International Meditation
Society. He taught primarily out of a small apart-
ment in London’s Knightsbridge section, as well as
private homes and hotels.
He arrived in the United States in 1959 teach-
ing a technique called TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION
(T.M.), a practice that draws from Vedic science
and employs a MANTRA, or chant, that is given to
each student in an initiatory ritual. Each person’s
mantra is meant to saturate the mind and allow a
peaceful state of mind, absent of thought. Initiates
are encouraged to practice at least a half-hour in
the morning and a half-hour in the evening. T.M.
is well suited to life in the secular, technological
West, as the practice does not require devotion or
faith and claims a scientific rather than religious
basis. In the 1960s the Beatles were his most cel-
ebrated followers.
In addition to the Spiritual Regeneration move-
ment founded in 1958, the Maharishi formed the
Students International Meditation Society and the
International Meditation Society in the 1960s.
In 1971, Maharishi International University was
founded by the Maharishi in Iowa to train teach-
ers of T.M.
The Maharishi returned to India in the late
1970s and moved to the Netherlands in 1990. His
organization includes ashrams, clinics, schools,
universities, and Vedic study centers. His teach-
ings have stimulated a broad array of interest in
Vedic literature. With over 5 million initiates,
T.M. has expanded the reach of traditional yoga
and Vedic philosophy.Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi 273 J