Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, who taught the Beatles

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, who taught the Beatles to meditate, made "mantra" a household word in the 1970s and built a multimillion-dollar empire on a promise of inner harmony and world peace, died Tuesday in Vlodrop, the Netherlands. He was believed to have been 91.


By the mid-1970s, TM had an estimated 600,000 practitioners, including actresses Shirley MacLaine and Mia Farrow; football star Joe Namath and pop singer Donovan. TM how-to books rose on bestseller lists, close behind the decade's iconic blockbuster, "The Joy of Sex."
The philosophy of life is this: Life is not a struggle, not a tension . . . . Life is bliss. It is eternal wisdom, eternal existence," the Maharishi once said.