What is Maharishi's Natural Law Party?

According to the Natural Law Party (U.S.) "50-Point Action Plan to Revitalize America," "there are simple, humane, cost-effective, scientifically proven solutions to all of America’s problems. The Natural Law Party was founded to implement these solutions immediately in government."

"50-Point Action Plan to Revitalize America"

Nowhere in the literature the Natural Law Party mails to prospective members do they mention that all of these "solutions" are based on products of one controversial group.

When you request an "Information Packet" from the Natural Law Party web site you receive: a warm welcoming letter from Kingsley Brooks, Party Chair; a 12-page, glossy brochure for John Hagelin's bid to become Reform Party and Natural Law Party candidate for President; a 4-page invitation to the Natural Law Party Convention 2000; a 4-page "Natural Law Party News"; a 2-sided brochure selling Robert Roth's A Reason to Vote (it doesn't mention Roth's better known book, TM -- Transcendental Meditation : A New Introduction to Maharishi's Easy, Effective and Scientifically Proven Technique for Promoting Better Health; a two-sided request for donations and volunteers; an order form for Natural Law Party promotional materials ($15 for paperback books, $2 for campaign buttons, $2 for bumper stickers). Nowhere in all this material does John Hagelin or the Natural Law Party mention Transcendental Meditation (TM) or other Maharishi products -- even though they originally touted TM as the only "scientific" answer to crime, war, education, health, and social problems when the party was founded in 1992 (or 1988, depending on which TM source you trust).

The fact is, the Natural Law Party has gradually mentioned TM and the Maharishi less and less each succeeding campaign cycle since 1992.

But in actuality the Natural Law Party is a global "political" front -- with organizations in 80 countries -- for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation movement.

All parties from the 80 countries are coordinated by "The Maharishi International Council of Natural Law Parties," Markt 1, 6063 AC Vlodrop, The Netherlands, Tel.: +31-475-404111, Fax: +31-475-403642 , E-mail: nlp@euronet.nl.

Vlodrop, NL, houses the permanent home of the Maharishi, his innumerable international organizations, and "Purusha" -- his group of celibate TM monks. (See also, Maharishi Open University, Station 24, 6063 NP Vlodrop, The Netherlands.)

The Maharishi is a Hindu monk who began teaching TM in the 1950s. The public best knows him for his association with the Beatles, who learned TM from him in the late 1960s.

The Maharishi was a clerk for a renowned Indian religious leader, Brahmananda Saraswati, Shankarcharya (a kind of Hindu Pope) of northwestern India. Later the Maharishi would claim to be his favorite disciple and the only heir to secret teachings that have been hidden from the public for thousands of years. Other disciples of Brahmananda Saraswati have said that it would have been impossible for the Maharishi to have been appointed to teach meditation: Only members of the Brahmin caste are allowed to give out mantras; the Maharishi is a member of a lower caste. According to Swaroopanand Saraswati, the legal successor to Brahmananda Saraswati, the Maharishi made up his meditation (http://www.minet.org/Documents shank-1 through 5). "In the ashram he was doing the work of typing and writing and translation.... He himself does not know or practice yoga. He does not know anything about those things.... He made them [the mantras] up."

For those interested in further detail on the Maharishi's checkered past, read " The Jyotirmath Sankaracharya Lineage in the 20th Century," on his controversial role in picking a successor to his dead master, from the Indology web site.

It's interesting to note that in 1957, the Maharishi claimed he would bring the world to enlightenment within 10 years -- and would then retire to the caves of the Himalayas to spend the remainder of his days in quiet meditation. Yet, today he governs a world-wide spiritual empire worth over $3.5 billion dollars.

In fact, in 1967 the Maharishi announced his retirement (Life magazine). It was on his "final" world tour, admitting defeat in achieving his goals, that he was introduced to the truly world-famous Beatles. When his tiny religious movement garnered extraordinary growth following an appearance on the then immensely popular David Frost show as well as articles in Life and other international publications, the Maharishi canned his plans for retirement. Far from leading the life of a simple monk, today the Maharishi is the Bill Gates of the spiritual world, with an empire reportedly worth over $3.5 billion -- including his personal palatial digs in Vlodrop, Netherlands.