IANS

Allahabad, Feb 11: This quiet Uttar Pradesh town at the confluence of the holy Ganga, the historic Yamuna and the mythological Saraswati is suddenly hot on the global map as thousands of devotees from across 100 countries have gathered here to see the place from where Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began his journey as a physics student to become a world famous spiritual leader.

The guru of transcendental meditation (TM) passed away at his retreat in the Netherlands on February 5, 2008. His body was brought to Allahabad and kept in an embalmed state at the Maharishi Vidyapeeth, a Vedic school that the seer founded at Arail, a quiet neighbourhood on the outer banks of the Ganga at Prayag, nearly 15 km from Allahabad.

It is perhaps one of the most unlikely funerals that a world leader can have. On Sunday evening, Guru Deva, as the seer was known to his devotees, sat in calm repose on a podium bedecked with heaps of roses, night queens and marigolds as nearly 20,000 devotees filed past him with folded hands. Some sprinkled rose petals and some flung marigold wreaths at his feet and were rewarded with a grin. Or was it just the imagination of the faithful?

The Maharishi was dressed in robes of shimmering white silk. A faint smile played on his lips and his eyes were shut, like everyday, as a group of nine young priests chanted mantras from the Vedas, the ancient Indian scriptures.

The pathway to the hall, where he sat in state, was lined with silk saffron flags and bright lights. It was a party in progress with laughter, banter and exchange of news about TM. For most of the foreign devotees, it was a reunion.

"The Maharishi has just completed his chores after a long journey of 50 years. In 1858, he had addressed a gathering in Madras (now Chennai), where he unveiled his simple meditation technique and outlined his vision for the future. It received incredible response. That was the takeoff point for his movement," said Stan Lamothe, a senior member of the TM movement at Voldrop, the Maharishi's retreat in the Netherlands.

Stan, along with his friend Paul Morehead, a teacher at the Maharishi University of Management at Fairfield in Iowa in the US, kept smiling throughout.

"Don't mistake this smile for anything else. When I heard that the Maharishi had passed away, I was sad. But then I went to see him at his abode and it was bliss. He had just taken break and had passed on to the next world. There was nothing to cry about, he had prepared the blueprint for the future," the slim man with a receding hairline said.

"I am so thrilled to be in India, there are so many faces that I can recognise. It feels good to meet old friends again," said Morehead.

The seer had apparently drawn up a map for his foundation for the next 100 years almost a year before his death, when he announced his retirement. He had appointed a 48-member governing council and a five-member governing body led by the Maharajadhiraja (his royal highness, king of kings) Ram aka Tony Nader, a neuroscientist from Lebanon, to steer the TM movement globally and expand the ambit of the organisation's activity.

Nader or the Maharaja, as the Mahesh Yogi had crowned him a year ago, had retreated into silence two years ago.

"That was the way the Maharishi wanted him to oversee the matters of the organisation. He will conduct the affairs in silence, transmitting his thoughts in transcendence to the five-member governing council," said Yugantar Saxena, the publicity head of TM's India chapter and the operational head of the Maharishi Television channel in the country.

The Maharishi had also formed the Brahmanand Swaraswati Trust before his death to fund the movement of the organisation. The seer, who believed in Vedic monarchy of ancient India, had formed a hierarchy of maharaja (the chief kings), 35 country rajas (kings or the nation heads) and global ministers to lead the movement. 

He named his transcendent kingdom the Global Country of World Peace. All the 35 kings, attired in their white silk ceremonial robes and golden crowns, assembled at Arail over the weekend and mingled freely with the devotees in a rather "democratic spirit".

India figured high in the Maharishi's scheme of things. Led by the king, Harris Kaplan, in-charge of India operations and the principal donor to the seer's peace and Vedic revival programmes across the country, the Maharishi planned to form a permanent group 7,000 to 8,000 Vedic priests who would be trained in advance meditation techniques.

This group would act as a buffer in times of crisis, mitigate tension and promote communal harmony and global peace through yagnas (ancient rituals) and group meditation sessions.

The project, said a senior member of the movement, was gaining momentum with Kaplan giving it a definite shape.

Amid all the hype and fervour, Allahabad is ready to take the giant spiritual leap into the future.

"So what if Guru Deva's mortal remains are consigned to flames, his spirit will always guide us," said Saxena.

And nothing better could be a better tribute to a man, who taught the world how to tune inwards and listen to the voice of nature and consciousness, than a regal cremation on Monday on the banks of the Ganges on the auspicious day of Basant Panchami, when India invokes goddess Swaraswati, the deity of knowledge.

Lebanese disciple named Mahesh Yogi's successor
 
Sharat Pradhan/Rediff

Allahabad, Feb 11: Tony Abu Ali Dan Nadar, a Lebanese disciple of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, has been named successor to the spiritual 'guru', who died at the age of 91 at his Transcendental Meditation headquarters in Netherlands last week.

Nadar, renamed Maharaja Dhiraaj Raja Ram, was presented before the local media in Allahabad on Sunday evening.

A 48-member council of administrators, nominated earlier by the Maharishi himself, elevated Ram to the highest chair of the Maharishi Global Country of World Peace.

These included the 35 'rajas' and 13 ministers named by the Maharishi to oversee the functioning of his organization, spread across 130 nations. All of them have been followers of Maharishi since three to four decades.

'Rajas' are 'in charge' of different countries and are easily discernable because of their distinct regalia, which included white brocade 'sherwani', golden medallion and a golden crown.