Because of his association with the Beatles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became not only iconic of the Western fascination with Indian spirituality in the 60s and 70s, but also the prototype for how hugely lucrative spiritual organizations could be built around charismatic holy men,

promising esoteric and exotic enlightenment, paranormal powers, and even world peace

to practitioners ready to devote their lives and bank accounts to the purported mission of the

guru. At just over five feet tall, he was tiny with twinkling

eyes and the long hair and full beard that appealed to the emerging hippie counterculture

that would embrace him at that time.

Motivated by this natural tendency of life to give out knowledge, I came out of the Himalayas. I couldn't rest there.

He wore loose-fitting white robes and malabedes.

The media called him the giggling guru

because of how he often responded to interview questions.

Did you envision it growing as rapidly and becoming as big as it has? I expected this growth about six years ago.

I thought that in the West all the people are scientifically advanced and technologically grown up,

very widely intelligent.

As such, Mahesh is a fascinating figure in what I refer to as the roots of conspirituality,

illustrating how stigmatized knowledge, contrarian truth claims, and charismatic influence

can draw huge numbers of idealistic people into a cultural vortex of outlandish

beliefs that become central to their most consequential life decisions, often to their

detriment. Yes, there is a shadow side to the giggling guru and what he represents. We'll explore

his story today in another stand-alone episode that nonetheless

belongs to my roots of conspirituality series, which you can access after joining our Patreon

via the collections tab at the very top of the home page. I believe this is episode 12 in that

series, but not to worry, you can follow along just fine

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