Transcendental Meditation, a practice of mantra meditation twice a day, was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This gained a lot of popularity in the 70s and 80s of the twentieth century.
Profile
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was born as Mahad Prasad Varma on 18th October 1911 and another account says he was born on 12th January 1917. Some push it to 1918. Place of birth is claimed to be in Uttar Pradesh and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. All these confusions and the fact that there is no other information about his family, goes to say that he did not want to reveal much of his life before sanyasa. It is known that he graduated in Physics from the Allahabad University in 1942 and he worked in Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur. He then became the administrative secretary of Swami BrahmanandaSaraswathi whom he called Gurudev. He took the name of BalBrahmachari Mahesh. It is said that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had met his gurudev while in college but gurudev insisted that he complete his college education and get the permission of his parents before taking the formal initiation into sanyasa. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is said to have told that his real life began in 1940 at the feet of his gurudev. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s gurudev attained Samadhi in 1953 and he lived in the Himalayas for two years. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi did not become the successor of his gurudev but he was asked to travel all round the world and teach meditation. From then on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s life mission was this till his death on 5th February 2008. A week before his death he relinquished his post as the head of the organization and went into silence.
Philosophy Propounded
Meditation which is explained in the scriptures was tailor-made to the needs of the society and he called it the Transcendental Meditation (TM). The meditator was required to spend twenty minutes twice a day saying a mantra. Each student was assigned a specific mantra or sound and this selection was a much thought-out process. It could be any sound and it is for this reason that TM was not considered as religious or specific to Hinduism.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
It can be said that there could not have been a bigger movement in meditation than Transcendental Meditation. There were short term courses on TM. Another programme called TM Siddhi was formed in 1975 and this was to take the person into higher planes of consciousness. The body was completely under the control roof the mind and could do levitate, hop cross legged and more. The number of TM teachers increased to 40,000 in 2008. Many TM courses were introduced in colleges and Universities. Many books have been written as well. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was so popular that many celebrities were his followers of which the Beatles were the most prominent. From 1960s to 2000s TM was spoken about, all over the world.