Maharshi Mahesh Yogi birth anniversary: Inspirational messages by yoga guru

New Delhi: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, also known as Mahesh Prasad Varma, was an Indian yoga guru who was born on January 12, 1918. He is best known for creating and popularising Transcendental Meditation (TM) and for serving as the founder and guru of a global organisation that has been variously described as a new religious movement and as non-religious. He earned the names Maharishi, which translates to “great seer“, and Yogi.

In 1942, after graduating from Allahabad University with a degree in physics, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi joined the Jyotir Math in the Indian Himalayas as Swami Brahmananda Saraswati’s assistant and apprentice. The Maharishi attributes his teachings to Brahmananda Saraswati. The Maharishi started spreading his Transcendental Deep Meditation, subsequently known as Transcendental Meditation, throughout India and the rest of the world in 1955. He started his first world tour in 1958. Because he laughed more frequently in early TV interviews, he was sometimes described to as the “giggling guru” by his followers, who addressed him as His Holiness.

Though he was already well-known among young people in the UK and had already made numerous public appearances that brought him to the band’s attention, Maharishi’s renown expanded and his movement received greater recognition in 1967 when he was named the “spiritual counsellor to the Beatles”. Following the Beatles’ endorsement of TM, the Maharishi was featured on the covers of numerous American magazines in 1967 and 1968, including Life, Newsweek, Time, and many more. At Harvard’s Sanders Hall and the Felt Forum in New York City, he delivered talks to packed houses. Additionally, he made TV appearances on Today and The Tonight Show.

In this article, we will have a look at some of his inspirational messages.

Sayings by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

• “Do not fight the darkness, let the light in and the darkness will disappear.”
• “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”
• “Outside is the joy of the drop. Inside is the joy of the ocean.”
• “The kingdom of heaven is like electricity. You don’t see it. It is within you.”
• “Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you.”
• “The philosophy of life is this: Life is not a struggle, not a tension… Life is bliss. It is eternal wisdom, eternal existence.”
• “Whatever we put our attention on will grow stronger in our life.”
• “Just think of any negativity that comes at you as a raindrop falling into the ocean of your bliss.”
• “The highest state is laughter.”
• “Experience shows that Being is the essential, basic nature of the mind; but, since It commonly remains in tune with the senses projecting outwards toward the manifested realms of creation, the mind misses or fails to appreciate its essential nature, just as the eyes are unable to see themselves.”