Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steps down as head of meditation empire

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who became a guru to the Beatles, stepped down as the head of the organisation that brought transcendental meditation to the West.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who became a guru to the Beatles, stepped down this month as the head of the organisation that brought transcendental meditation to the West, an aide said on Monday.

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"His work is done and now he'll be concentrating on the field of silence and dedicating himself more to pure knowledge rather than administrative matters," Benjamin Feldman, finance minister for the Global Country of World Peace, told Reuters.

After teaching the Beatles and other 1960s and 70s icons to meditate, the Indian mystic gained a worldwide following with six million people taking his courses. He moved his headquarters to the small southern Dutch village of Vlodrop in 1990.