Image: And The Trees Danced

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The hippy guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died at his home in Holland on this date in 2008. He was 91 years old.

Looking back with perfect hindsight, it is clear he was an influential figure; not for what he was (an easy target of parody who allowed his PR to equate TM with drugs and exotic locales), but for the openness to novelty that was so perfectly epitomized by the Indian episodes of the Beatles and their clans. It somehow legitimized the tens of thousands of journeys that we now-boomers took on the world’s roads in those years, looking for whatever it was we were looking for. And, if nothing else, it gave our parents one more thing to laugh at and complain about.

May he enjoy the rest of his journey.