Thousands Join Maharishi's Funeral

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ

ALLAHABAD, India (AP) — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the iconic guru who
sought to blend Eastern spirituality and Western science to harness
the mind's power and heal the world, was cremated Monday in a
tumultuous ceremony at one of Hinduism's holiest sites.

Befitting the man who spent more than five decades establishing a
meditation empire in the West with dozens of celebrity followers, the
funeral was a mix of ancient Vedic tradition, modern Indian chaos and
a touch of Hollywood-style theatrics.

It was anything but contemplative and peaceful.

Thousands of flag-waving followers beating drums, clanging cymbals
and chanting hymns carried the flower-covered body from the
Maharishi's ashram to a hilltop overlooking the confluence of the
sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers.

Baton-wielding police couldn't stop a surge of followers who broke
through their cordon while the body was being carried. They rushed
the site in this northern Indian city where several hundred of the
Maharishi's Western disciples and a group of Indian holy men were
seated.

Adding to the drama, a helicopter swooped in low, stirring up huge
dust clouds and scattering posters of the guru as it dropped a
scarlet cloud of rose petals on the funeral procession.

It repeated the dive five times despite frantic attempts by the
Maharishi's successors to wave it away.

The Maharishi created the global Transcendental Meditation movement,
or TM, in which he taught the West the ancient Hindu practice of mind
control.

He gained medical respectability for meditation, with scores of
studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure
and improves concentration. Skeptics, however, scoffed at his notion
that group meditation could harness the power of the universe to end
all conflicts and cure world hunger.

The Maharishi won international prominence for himself and his
meditation techniques when the Beatles attended one of his lectures
in Wales in 1967, and then visited his ashram in India in 1968. His
beaming, bearded face became a symbol of 1960s hippie mysticism.
Today, TM has more than 5 million practitioners.

The body was placed on a pyre built by the Maharishi's relatives out
of sandalwood logs, bails of straw and dried cow dung. An Indian
military unit honored the holy man, but out of deference to his
pacifist views, the soldiers lowered their weapons to the ground
instead of firing a traditional salute.

The family finished the ceremony by removing the white shroud from
the Maharishi, anointing the body with ghee, or clarified butter, and
covering it with saffron-colored powder. They then set it ablaze,
sending plumes of white smoke into the air.

Contrary to Hindu tradition, the Maharishi's ashes were not immersed
in the Ganges. In accordance with his wishes, a memorial will be
built over them at the cremation site, said Bob Roth, a spokesman for
the movement.

The Maharishi died, apparently of natural causes, last week at his
headquarters in the Netherlands. He was believed to be 91.

About 2,000 followers from around the world came for the funeral but
only men were allowed to attend the ceremony. Women watched a
televised version from the ashram.

In attendance were Indian meditation guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and
Hollywood film director David Lynch.

"He was such a great teacher. He opened the fullness of life to me.
He allowed me to experience the eternity and infinity within myself,"
said Royal Lillge, 58, a TM teacher from Boise, Idaho.

After the ceremony, his Western followers, most wearing cream-colored
clothes, circled the pyre along with the movement's leaders, who were
clad in ceremonial robes with gold medallions and crowns.

A group of 48 leaders of the TM movement, known as ministers and
rajas led by Maharaja — or Great King — Adhiraj Rajaram, who
succeeded the Maharishi, vowed to continue to strive for the
Maharishi's goals.

Rajaram announced that dozens of schools or universities teaching TM
and "Yogic flying," showcased as the ultimate level of transcendence,
would be built to continue the Maharishi's teachings as a memorial to
him.

Rajaram's "royal proclamation" was read out by John Heglin, another
senior leader of the movement. Rajaram does not speak in public
because he believes he can better lead by silence.



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