Maharishi, My Giggling Guru

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who gave Transcendental Meditation to the world, is no more. On his 91st birthday, in a small town in Holland, he announced his retirement and went into silence. A few days later on 5th February 2008 he attained mahasamadhi. In the 60s, I followed this flying Guru's international celebrity hood with amusement and skepticism. For a Yogi he made an odd companion to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Hippies, Flower Children and Ravi Shankar. Everything Indian was suddenly becoming a matter of serious curiosity. 'Seekers' were streaming into India and generally heading for the Himalayas and other ashrams. Till then for me, in spite of my Indian upbringing, meditation and body-contorting postures of Yoga were nothing but mumbo jumbo. Then suddenly, I discovered that Scientific American had published, 'Physiology of Meditation', the world's first ever scientific study of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and its benefits. I was curious, as to how such an otherworldly thing like meditation could be studied by science. These studies were conducted by Dr. Robert Keith Wallace and Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School. Finally I got down to reading copies of these articles, obtained from local teachers of TM. The studies showed that by a simple procedure of sitting down for twenty minutes, with one's eyes closed and mentally repeating a simple mono- or a duo-syllable, one could obtain deep levels of rest. The attendant benefits were: clinically measurable lower anxiety levels, slower and deeper breath, lower blood pressure, etc. and all in all a profound sense of peace. What struck me was that, it did not ask for renunciation of one's worldly life, converting to a new religion, mastering mystical Sanskrit shlokas or esoteric philosophies. 'The Nature of Life is Bliss'. The more relaxed you are, so much closer you are to that Bliss. It made you more proficient in dealing with the various stresses of daily living at home and at the workplace. My skepticism was now turning into serious desire to experiment with this technique and its claims. Studies and discussions with the local teachers led to a surprising and extremely welcome turn of events.

In 1974 my wife and I received a personal invitation from Maharishi to be his guests for three months, at his Maharishi International University in Switzerland. So we found ourselves at Arosa, one of the fashionable ski-resorts, where the organizers had taken over two hotels for the winter months. After reaching there, we found that about hundred people like us from different walks of life had also been invited, from all over the world - to study meditation and related aspects. In the evening we would listen to Marharishi on the blissful nature of existence and how TM helps effortlessly towards that goal. Along with his message of 'Nature supports', he was giggling all the time. During the day we would do bob sledging in the snow, meditate or do some serious research. During our stay in Switzerland my wife cooked for Maharishi, for he was a fellow Kayastha and he was missing that sort of cooking, much to scorn of his high caste Brahmin cooks. Luckily I ran into one Dr. Paul Levin, who along with an American friend was setting up a computerized lab for studying different aspects of effects of meditation on Body and Mind. It was during this association that I realized that meditation does give clinically measurable benefits to both the body and mind and makes a tangible difference in one's life. This was at the objective level, but continued practice does show that even at the subjective level, one is more and more at peace with oneself and with the outside world. The world appears a friendlier place to live and one does find a boost to one's creativity.

No man in his lifetime has done so much to make the world more open to meditation, yoga and Ayurveda, with their attendant benefits. Irrespective of what form of meditation people 'round the world may be practicing today, in great measure its acceptability is Maharishi's contribution to a suffering world. Every time I sit down to meditate, I will giggle to myself, as my tribute to my Giggling Guru - who demystified spirituality for the common man. He did not ask him to be an ascetic to reach that state.