Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

This week's newsletter is a departure from my usual, in that I did not take any of the photos seen here.

Instead, I would like to honor my teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who passed away last week.

Maharishi spent the last 50 years tirelessly teaching meditation and reviving the ancient, Vedic tradition of wisdom and practical living.

The fact that meditation and Ayurveda are known in the West at all is due to Maharishi's work.

I learned Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation (TM) program at the age of six, and have enjoyed the clarity of mind and expansion of happiness that it cultivates with regular practice.

I also studied Maharishi's Science of Creative Intelligence and Vedic Science disciplines in graduate school,

and gained a very satisfying understanding of Maharishi's philosophy of life.

Maharishi had a way of making abstract, spiritual concepts easy to understand.

My favorite teaching of Maharishi is that each wave on the ocean is the whole ocean and nothing other.

If the wave settles down, it expands until, in its last flop, it can be seen to be the entire ocean.

Like that, when the mind settles during meditation, it expands.

And with this experience of expansion, the differences of daily life cease to overshadow the underlying unity of awareness.

The very heart of wisdom, compassion, appreciation (even good photography) lies in this experience of seeing oneself in others.

Thank you, Maharishi.

I will be forever grateful for your beautiful teachings.

Jai Guru Dev,
Todd

The last picture, right, is Maharishi's teacher, Brahmananda Saraswati (whom Maharishi affectionately called Guru Dev).