Octogenarian guru and holdover from the sixties Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, now has what seems like his own megalomania-money called the “Raam,” reports the Indian Times.
The founder of “Transcendental Meditation” (TM) was once guru to the Beatles, until they dumped him. But that rejection didn’t stop him. He kept on working and created a financial empire some say is worth more than a billion dollars.
Maharishi’s spiritual kingdom now includes both a “Vedic City” and University in Iowa.
But what’s an empire without its own money?
Now comes the Indian guru’s own “Raam,” which is worth ten Euros when presented at one bank. The Raam is also used in the US. That is, to buy goods within Vedic City, though it doesn’t seem to be worth much outside of the guru’s domain.
Public announcements about the Raam are part of a new grandiose global plan proposed by Maharishi that includes “peace palaces” and other “developmental projects.”
However, the Dallas Daily News observed that Maharishi’s “big plans often come to little ends.” They listed many of his past failures, despite their initial fanfare and intense promotion.
Maharishi’s TM devotees seem to live an odd life in Iowa, based upon a report by the DesMoines Register. Their lifestyle includes ingesting herbal concoctions, measuring fences for “cosmic forces” and gargling with sesame oil daily. Their guru suggests this, and Maharishi’s suggestions are typically followed religiously by his followers. There are 3,000 TMers now living in Iowa.
The guru’s Iowa devotees often pay $150.00 per month to meditate at his domed facility in Vedic City. They must shell out a minimum architectural consultation fee of $7,500.00 to begin construction on a home there and then 3% of the total cost upon completion. Homes at Vedic City range from $200,00 to $800,000, which is quite steep by Iowa standards. And then there is School tuition–$10,000 annually.
One Des Moines Area Community College physics professor researched Maharishi and his claims. Professor Frank Trumpy concluded, “I think it’s nonsense. It’s religion masquerading as science. They are selling the program because they make money off it.”
Is Iowa the prototype of what the old guru has in mind when he touts “global development”? It sounds more like a moneymaking scheme than a spiritual pursuit to save the planet.
Why would such a rich man near the end of his life need or want more money? Well, one rather obvious answer sadly doesn’t reflect the profound enlightenment Maharishi supposedly possesses through decades of meditation and spiritual development—GREED and EGO.
Apparently, the Beatles once sang cryptically and somewhat tellingly about Maharishi in their song “Fool on the Hill.” However, in the current scenario it seems the saying, “there’s no fool like an old fool,” has been turned on its head.
If Maharishi is a “fool,” he is one that has grown richer with age, through what appears to be the foolishness of others.
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