The Maharishi's search for Heaven on Earth pays off
By Damian Thompson Religious Affairs Correspondent
EVERYONE who grew up in the Sixties has heard of Transcendental Meditation and its founder the Maharishi, the giggling Indian guru who guided the Beatles through their flower power phase.
In Britain, his followers are well known for their ownership of Mentmore Towers, the palatial former home of the Earls of Rosebery.
But it has taken the extraordinary campaign of the Natural Law Party to bring home the sheer size and wealth of the movement, 25 years after it first made headlines.
The party is not a motley collection of ageing hippies, but an arm of a wealthy and complex organisation.
In the Sixties, it all seemed simple enough.
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a slickly-packaged Indian guru with a message tailored to the times.
He taught that states of mystical ecstasy could be achieved effortlessly  and without recourse to psychedelic drugs.
Loosely based on the Hindu scriptures, Transcendental Meditation rejects belief in a personal God in favour of ' cosmic consciousness'.
An important part of the process towards self-realisation is a programme which teaches levitation.
Convincing public demonstrations of this are, however, rare.
After the Beatles lost interest in him, the Maharishi made only occasional appearances in the headlines, most of them connected with the large sums of money his organisation was spending.
In fact, it was growing steadily.
Transcendental Meditation now has three and a half million followers worldwide.
The Maharishi has made it clear that his promises of Heaven on Earth are to be taken literally.
' Cities of the Immortals' will be set up by California-based company called the Heaven on Earth Corporation, many of them providing low-cost housing for the Third World.
There are also plans for a theme park next to Disneyland.
Transcendental Meditation has never acquired the reputation of a sinister cult, but doubts are sometimes voiced about it.
Dr Paul Booth, of the Government-funded cult information service Inform, describes it as' nowhere near the top of our list of problem organisations'.
' But the course isn't cheap, and we do deal with cases of people who get in over their heads financially. '
Rachel Storm, author of a study of the New Age movements, adds: ' Like many New Age movements, it fails to put newcomers entirely in the picture. '
