At least one group called a “cult” has been the recipient of substantial government funds in the United States–and without President Bush’s “faith based initiative.”
Millions of taxpayer dollars have already flowed into the coffers of one guru’s pet projects.
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who supposedly created Transcendental Meditation (TM), has a university called, what else, “Maharishi U.” The school in Iowa has received “$20 million dollars in state and federal funding for TM-related research,” reports Canada’s National Post.
Maharishi’s town in Iowa known as “Vedic City” was also recently granted $29,000 by the state for a salaried consultant.
The consultant “will research and coordinate energy saving technology into new construction at Vedic City, as well as for older buildings on the Maharishi University of Management campus,” reports the Fairfield Ledger.
The clever guru also managed to make a lucrative land deal late last year in the Bush family home state of Texas.
The Texas Department of Transportation paid the “Maharishi Global Development Fund” $14 million for acreage necessary to complete a highway, reported the Coppell Gazette.
It’s interesting to note that a guru, who controls a vast financial empire worth billions, can rely upon state and federal agencies to help him out.
At 92 Maharishi is as astute about money as ever and he doesn’t need to stand in line like evangelist Pat Robertson for any presidential “faith based initiative” funding.
Maybe it’s the guru’s vaunted meditation discipline or some special money mantra that enables him to so successfully scoop up government cash?
no comment untill now