Jun 10, 2014

WikiLeaks: Transcendental Meditation financial statements and legal, 2004-2005


Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a meditation/stress relief technique and the trade mark used by series of globe-spanning organizations introduced into Western culture by founder "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" (MMY, 1917-2008). MMY gained fame in the 1960s as the spiritual guru to the Beatles. Currently the singer Donovan and the film maker David Lynch are TM's most recognizable proponents.

Some former TM teachers have described the TM organizations as operating at the upper level as a cult or Vedic sect. Upper level training includes levitation, group mental action at a distance and similar claims not recognized by science. Five day meditation classes cost upto $2,500 and TM has become a big business, with its own University and town in Iowa, and branches in Lower Manhattan ("Global Financial Capital of New York") and elsewhere around the world.

These files are financial and legal documents pertaining to the "Global Country of World Peace," the Iowa non-profit corporation which, among other things, teaches the Transcendental Meditation program. Included are financial statements for 2004 and 2005, and the organization's Articles of Incorporation.