Beatles' guru Maharishi Yogi dead | Pics: Guru cool

Amsterdam: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced transcendental meditation to the West, died at his Dutch home on Tuesday night, a spokesman said. He was said to be 91.

After teaching the Beatles and other 1960s and 70s icons to meditate, the Indian mystic gained a worldwide following with six million people taking his courses.

The reclusive guru with a flowing white beard moved his headquarters to the small southern Dutch village of Vlodrop in 1990.

He periodically emerged to appeal for funds to promote world peace, building a business empire ranging from real estate dealing to a company selling ayurvedic medicine and cosmetics.

The Maharishi set up universities and schools all over the world and his Natural Law Party – which promotes yogic flying, a practice that involves sitting in the lotus position and bouncing into the air – has campaigned in dozens of countries.

Transcendental meditation, known as TM by its followers, involves reciting a mantra that practitioners say helps the mind stay calm even under pressure.

It has gradually gained medical respect. Last month the Maharishi stepped down as head of his organisation to concentrate on what an aide called "the field of silence".

Born in India, the Maharishi rarely spoke about his early life, saying the past held little interest for him. He first visited the United States in 1959 as part of a global tour to introduce transcendental meditation to the world, and from 1961 he began to train teachers.

The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – visited him in India in 1968, making him a household name around the world.

According to the TM organisation, the Maharishi's message remained constant: “Life is bliss. Man is born to enjoy. Within everyone is an unlimited reservoir of energy, intelligence, and happiness.”

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Maharishi Yogi: The guru cool

• Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in Madhya Pradesh, reportedly on January 12, 1917, though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his early life.
• He studied Physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary to a well-known Hindu godman. After the death of his teacher, Maharishi went into a nomadic two-year retreat of silence in the Himalayan foothills.
• With his background in Physics, he brought his message to the West in a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of college campuses. He described TM as “the unified field of all the laws of nature.”
• Maharishi began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles attended one of his lectures in 1967 and visited his ashram in India in 1968, bringing along such famous friends as Donovan.
• Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control known as transcendental meditation gradually gained medical respectability. It also gained a large following in Iowa, where Maharishi followers founded a town and a 272-acre university based on TM principles.
• The Maharishi retreated last month into silence at his home on the grounds of a former Franciscan monastery close to the German border, saying he wanted to dedicate his remaining days to studying the ancient Indian texts that underpin his movement.
• With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire. His roster of famous meditators ran from Mike Love of the Beach Boys to Clint Eastwood and Deepak Chopra.
• After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world peace and mobilise his devotees to banish poverty.
• In 1974, Maharishi founded the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. The school taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias.
• In 2001, followers of the Maharishi founded Maharishi Vedic City, a town of about 200 people a few miles north of Fairfield. The city requires the construction of buildings according to design principles set by the Maharishi for optimum harmony with nature. Vedic City became the first all-organic city in 2005, banning the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers within the city limits.
• Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.
• Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic shock troops, can end conflict.
• In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the US by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to award punitive damages.
• Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils who claim he failed to teach them to fly. “Yogic flying,” showcased as the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and bouncing across spongy mats.