Stories about His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

This post is a collection of stories of Maharishi and his close connection to the greatest saints of India over the last 50 years, as well as their high regard and affection for him in return

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The Shankaracharya’s Welcome to Maharishi

Jyotir Math, India, 1975

From the tradition of Shri Shankaracharya

He is the disciple just like the Master:

Destroyer of tamas of the inner Self, King of Rishis,

And from the darkness of the people He is the bestower of light.

Greatest of the great, greater than greatness,

He is indeed the reason for the welfare of the tradition.

Bestower of the calmness in the three layers of existence,

Incarnation of Yoga, indeed of Shankara,

Whose speech is true speech, Whose demeanor is precise,

Whose actions are compassionate, Whose fame is compelling,

In the world of all men He is the inner Self.

The course of His speech is the incarnate form of Indra. the Creator.

O Mahesh Yogi, let Your benevolence be extended unto me,

Great Rishi, King of Rishis, Rishi of Gods.

From the light of the Himalayas to the level of the plains

He resides in the midst of Shankaracharya Nagar.

 

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Shri Anandamayi Ma

In 1981 during the Vedic Science course in Delhi, Maharishi sent a large group to the Taj Mahal for a visit. While in Agra, the group heard that the great saint Sri Anandamayi Ma was at her place in Vrindavan, which was on the route back to Delhi from Agra. Maharishi enthusiastically said the group should visit her and to take shawls, saris, fruits, garlands, sweets — masses of them — as our gift.

The group arrived at twilight and meditated in a group outside her house while waiting for their chance to go up to the roof of the house where she gave darshan. While the group was waiting two giant white birds flew low over her house — the celestial quality of the sight made everyone gasp.

Dr. Bevan Morris asked the receptionist to inform Sri Anandamayi Ma that we were from Maharishi. But the group had to go up in sections of ten as the space was limited. Dr. Morris went up in the last group, and found that Sri Anandamayi Ma was sitting deeply withdrawn not paying attention to the people coming and going, and the pile of cloth, flowers, fruit etc. that had been placed in front of her. At that stage she was very elderly, and near the end of her Earth days.

It was immediately obvious to Dr. Morris that she had not been told that this was Maharishi’s group. He asked the administrator again to please tell Sri Anandamayi Ma that these people were sent by Maharishi to see her. The administrator began to speak to her in Bengali and at the point where he said “Maharishi Mahesh Yogi” Sri Anandamayi Ma suddenly sat bolt upright and folded her palms together, and then started grabbing fruits and flowers and wrapping them up in packages, and giving them to us to deliver to Maharishi.

Then she gave a sublime message of devoted greeting and love to convey to Maharishi. The group upon reaching Delhi delivered this message to Maharishi’s great joy.

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On another occasion Maharishi was doing Puja with Sri Anandamayi Ma at her ashram in Haridwar, but finally Maharishi had to go. He told Sri Anandamayi Ma , Ma you stay here and continue, and I will go. She seemed to agree and let him go, but after a few moments got up and followed Maharishi out to the car, walking a little behind him with the sweetness of a small child.

There was a mala wala — a garland salesman — with a basket full to the brim with marigold garlands on the street there, and Sri Anandamayi Ma pointed to him so that her assistant purchased the whole basket. Then Sri Anandamayi Ma took the whole basket to where Maharishi was now sitting in the car, and she tipped the whole basket of garlands through the window into his lap.

Anandamayi Ma is considered the greatest lady saint of modern India, enlightened from a young girl, an expression of Mother Divine. She left the world in 1982. It was her custom to send westerners who visited to Maharishi to learn Transcendental Meditation — for example, Peter Wallace, the brother of Keith. Her devotion to Maharishi shows again that we have grasped very little of the grandeur of Maharishi’s personality and status, and his role in the universe.

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Tat Wala Baba

During the Teacher Training Course with Maharishi in the Academy of Meditation Shankaracharya Nagar in Rishikesh at the end of 1969, a course that included many of the greatest luminaries of the Movement, the course participants asked Maharishi if the famous recluse saint Tat Wala Baba could come to visit the course, as had happened in previous courses.

Tat Wala Baba was living in a cave about three miles up in the hills behind our Academy. It was his custom to only come out once a day for one hour to let visitors enjoy his darshan. There was a lean-to just below his cave for this purpose.

He was a very powerful man, very muscular like a wrestler, with matted hair that fell all the way to the ground. Maharishi said of him that he seemed to be in a good state of Unity Consciousness.

Maharishi agreed to invite Tat Wala Baba to come to speak to the course, and sent Brahmachari Shankerlalji, a very elderly and blissful Brahmachari, who had been Maharishi’s Guru Bhai when Maharishi was Guru Dev’s Brahmachari, and who lived out all his final years in Maharishi’s Academy of Meditation in Rishikesh (except for one time in 1970 when Maharishi sent him to Japan for a trip to see the Movement there). Maharishi also sent Bevan to accompany Shankerlalji to go to the cave and invite Tat Wala Babaji.

They drove as far as the could into the forest down a narrow track, and then climbed the final section up the hill. They found Tat Wala Baba had just come out for his daily Darshan and was sitting listening to a Pandit who was chanting slokas from a big book that was open in front of him.

Shankerlalji and Bevan respectfully greeted Tat Wala Babaji, and then Shankerlalji conveyed Maharishi’s invitation to come to speak to the course. Tat Wala Babaji immediately stood up, saying to the Pandit and the others who had come to see him: “Maharishiji is calling I have to go,” and put on his sandals and started walking down the hill.

He came in the car through the forest to the Academy, pulling up outside the lecture hall where the course was meeting with Maharishi. The lecture hall was approached from the back down a ramp, and as Tat Wala Babaji entered the ramp the course participants could see him coming, and indicated to Maharishi that he had arrived.

Maharishi came immediately from his seat, and as he turned the corner up the ramp, at the moment he first saw Tat Wala Babaji, Maharishi’s face lit up like the sun from the joy.

 

There followed a beautiful session of questions and answers with the course with Maharishi and Tat Wala Babaji sitting hand in hand — an experience that no one there will ever forget.

 

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On another occasion a visitor to the Academy went up to see Tat Wala Babaji. When he arrived, he found another visitor there, a businessman from Delhi, who asked where our meditator was coming from. He said he came from Maharishi. The businessman scoffed, saying he should study some Indian philosopher from Oxford instead. So our meditator said, “Why not ask Tat Wala Babaji his opinion of Maharishi,” to which the businessman agreed.

Tat Wala Babaji responded to the question, speaking very rapidly in Hindi, going on for about 15-20 minutes. As he continued, the businessman looked increasingly crestfallen. At the end, our meditator asked, “What did Tat Wala Babaji say?” The businessman replied, “He said, ‘Maharishi knows everything.'”

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Swami Muktananda

In the late 1970’s during Muktananda’s visit to Australia, a group of Governors and Sidhas in Melbourne were requested by Maharishi to go and pay their respect to Muktananda. Maharishi instructed them to take flowers and garlands and present these to Muktananda and give him Maharishi’s regards. It was said that the two Masters came from the same Tradition; the Shankaracharya Tradition of Jyotir Math.

Muktananda showed them great respect as a group and received the delegation at a private meeting. A lady present at this meeting remembers with joy and reverence Baba Muktananda’s beautiful words.

During this private meeting, Muktananda told the TM group, “Maharishi and I are very different”. He continued, “I am here to offer a small group of people (my devotees) the path of liberation through devotion (the path of Bhakti). I come and give my people darhan (shaktipat), I soak up their stress (karma) and process that stress (karma) for them.”

Muktananda explained that the illness he suffered from during his visit to Melbourne and for which he had to be rushed to hospital, was due to the stress (karma) he takes on from his devotees. It was a question about this event which gave birth to the following discourse:    

“Maharishi is here for the world. You may never see Maharishi yourself, but what Maharishi has given you is a technique to clean your own self. My disciples have to be physically with me (in my presence). Maharishi has given you a technique to cleanse and purify yourselves and it is not just for yourselves, it is a technique to cleanse the whole world (collective consciousness).

Your path (TM and TM-Sidhis etc) may be somewhat lonely, because you are doing the work (evolution) yourselves and you are self sufficient. You are responsible for your own path whereas my followers come to me and I do the work for them.

I am full of admiration for anyone on your path. It is a path of great responsibility. What I am doing is personally taking care of a small group of people, but what Maharishi is doing is giving the world a path to move to a new level, a higher level. I have full admiration for Maharishi and for each of you.

Some of you may never see your Master but this does not matter because he has given you the Supreme Gift, which is self sufficiency. It takes strength and determination to pursue this path on a daily basis. But you have the path of SelfSufficiency and it saves you and others also. It affects the whole world.”

Muktananda was very insistent on this point, that he was only here for a small group of people whereas Maharishi was here for the good of Mankind.

“My path is more nurturing because my devotees have me. It is easier because I am here for them. What you have from Maharishi is fully comprehensive and you need only to do your practice. I congratulate each of you for being so courageous, for being responsible for your own personal growth and that of the world.”

Muktananda emphasised again that he was only here in the world for his group of devotees but Maharishi was here for the world.

“Maharishi’s path is unique. You only need to do what he has asked you to practise. It is glorious but it is not easy to be self sufficient Devotion must be in the heart rather than physically sitting at the foot of the Master. Devotion must be in your heart. This is because Maharishi is here for the whole world.”

Devraha Baba

Devraha Baba was a great saint of India who passed away in 1991. So elderly was he that the President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, more than fifty years ago said that his father had sat at the feet of Devraha Baba as a child — that is, in the middle of the nineteenth century — and Devraha Baba was already elderly at that time. An Allahabad High Court Barrister told Purusha visiting there that seven generations of his family had sat at the feet of Devraha Baba.

In 1982, a group of Purusha visited Devraha Baba at the Aardh Kumbha Mela, in Hardwar. In front of all the people attending his talk, the Purusha introduced themselves as being from Maharishi.

Devraha Baba replied, “Maharishi is very dear to me.” After saying some other very nice things about Maharishi, he started throwing fruit to the Purusha. That was his way of giving blessings. He did three rounds of fruit-throws to them, which they were told was very special.

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In 1989, another group of Purusha visited Devraha Baba at the Kumbha Mehla in Allahabad, where he was residing on a raised platform above the sand banks near the Sangam. The Purusha were with Devraha Baba, when he saw a long line of yellow-clad young Vedic Pandits coming across the sands towards him chanting the Veda, sent by Maharishi to greet India’s eldest saint.

When he saw them, Devraha Baba suddenly put his hands across his heart and said passionately, “Maharishi has revived the whole Vedic tradition!”

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At the Kumbha Mela in 2001, the devotees of Devraha Baba told our Purusha how Devraha Baba would often say that there is a Gyan Yuga coming in the midst of Kali Yuga, starting from a transition period from 2000 to 2020, and that His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the one creating it!

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Sadguru Sant Keshava Das

Sadguru Sant Keshava Das was a saint from south India, who was considered a great exponent of Bakti Yoga. He primarily composed and sang Bhajans and expounded on the Bhagavad Gita and Lord Krishna’s teachings.

In 1996, a group of Purusha, local representatives of Maharishi’s Indian organizations, and a local real estate agent were out looking for land for building Vedic Pandit schools. The realtor was a devotee of Keshava Das and took the group to his main ashram, close to the land they were looking at, for his Darshan.

Keshava Das was very gracious to the group. And when they introduced themselves as being from Maharishi, Keshava Das said,

“Maharishi is single-handedly reviving the Vedic tradition.”

This was a great compliment to Maharishi from a revered saint, as he himself was also trying to revive the Vedic knowledge.

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Swami Lakshmanju

Swami Lakshmanju (1907–1991) was the last Acharya of the Kashmir Shaiva Siddhanta tradition. Written accounts of conversations with Swami Lakshmanju include the following comments about Maharishi:

“If you ask me, Maharishi’s teaching starts where mine ends and it goes from there to Infinity.” Then he added, “Maharishi is the greatest saint to walk the Earth in ten thousand years!”

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Raj Mata of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

(as told by Dr. Neil Patterson)

“In 1976, the Raj Mata of Lucknow, U. P., came to visit Maharishi in Switzerland. She had been a great devotee of Guru Dev when he was Shankaracharya and Guru Dev used to stay at the Royal Palace whenever he would visit Lucknow. Raj Mata told me that she remembers Maharishi when he was a brahmachari serving Guru Dev, but she really didn’t pay much attention to him at the time.

However, she was very surprised years later, after Guru Dev had left this earth, when people would come to her…people who had known Guru Dev and who had recently seen Maharishi. They would tell Raj Mata that Maharishi is just like Guru Dev. At first, Raj Mata said she didn’t believe this.

But throughout the sixties and early seventies, people kept telling her that Maharishi was just like Guru Dev and that she should go and see him. So, finally, she decided that before the end of her life, she had to come and see for herself. She stayed with us for about three months.

On the day she was leaving, I escorted her to Maharishi’s meeting room where she was to see him for the last time and with my assistance she sat on the floor. I protested that Maharishi would not want her to sit on the floor but she said to me in a very heartful tone,

‘Oh no, you do not understand. When all those people told me that Maharishi was just like Guru Dev, I came to see for myself. But having been with Maharishi these past few months, I can see that they were wrong.

Maharishi is not like Guru Dev, He is Guru Dev. There is no difference between the two. Maharishi got completely absorbed in Guru Dev’s Being and became That. Maharishi is not only the disciple who is just like the Master. He is the Master. He is Guru Dev and therefore I have to sit at his feet.'”

Jai Guru Dev

Evolution finds ultimate fulfilment in God-consciousness, and once this is gained the goal of yagya has been attained. That is why ‘the remains of the yagya’ in its highest sense refers to the state of God-consciousness.’

‘Transcendental consciousness being the remains of the fundamental yagya, transcendental meditation is the most important of the yagyas.’

– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Bhagavad-Gītā: A New Translation and Commentary

Chapters 1–6, Chapter III, Verse 13, Page 146

First Published 1967

When the media is making you mad and sad with news of some tragedy, don’t forget:

“There is one world, created by Natural Law, and there is one Government of Natural Law to govern the world and the universe around it.

Everything in our world and our universe is governed in a perfectly orderly manner with such precision and perfection that it is obvious that the administering intelligence of the universe, which conducts this orderly evolution of everyone and everything, is a perfect administrator.

The secret of this perfection in administration of the vast, ever-expanding universe is in automation, evolution, and the action-independent, self-referral, self-sufficient, spontaneous functioning of Cosmic Creative Intelligence–the infinite organizing power of Natural Law.

The absolute order of this administration is eternally secured in its purity because it is located in the transcendental field of life–Unity–where in its absolute purity, beyond the reach of anything, nothing can disturb it, nothing can pollute it, nothing can corrupt it. It is safely secured in its own absolute, invincible, self-sufficient state. It is established in the absolute state of defence.”

—Maharishi

Jai Guru Dev