Maharishi dies; was Beatles' guru

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died yesterday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old.

Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually gained medical respectability.

He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat.

With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi - a Hindi-language title for Great Seer - parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire.

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 to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth.

Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra.

Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.

Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on Jan. 12, 1917. He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary to a Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher, Maharishi went into a two-year retreat of silence. *