Last Updated on October 5, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org
Transcendental Meditation is the name of a “spiritual renewal movement” founded in 1957 by the Indian Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who attracted attention in the West particularly through its flight experiments, the so-called “yogic flying”.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains why he left the Himalayas to teach Transcendental Meditation
“In 1968, the Maharishi announced that he would stop his public activities and instead begin the training of TM teachers at his new global headquarters in Seelisberg, Switzerland.
What has been forgotten over the years is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s close connection with Switzerland. One of my assignments as a young journalist with the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation back in 1978 was to prepare a feature on Transcendental Meditation, which had chosen Seelisberg above the Lake of Lucerne as its world headquarters.
But the influx of so many hundreds of extra people into the small village – many looking out-of-place because of their exotic dress – led to suspicion and irritation among the locals – so much so that the authorities decided that the TM headquarters could stay, but Maharishi would have to limit his entourage to a small number of people during each period of residence. This was not acceptable to Maharishi, so he quietly left for The Netherlands, which became his new home and center of operations until his death.
An Indian guru and his disciples lived in a hotel complex near Lake Lucerne for eleven years. Then they left in a hurry.
It was love at first sight when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi came to Seelisberg for the first time in 1971. “The high mountains around Lake Lucerne reminded him of his time in the Himalayas.”
The yogis practiced the technique of flying on these mats. The TM movement experienced its heyday in Seelisberg. Most of the time, more than 300 yogis stayed in the hotel complex.
The exciting times and the boom in Seelisberg ended abruptly after eleven years. In 1983, the Maharishi went on a world tour with long stays in Africa, South America, the USA, the Philippines, Japan and above all India. Felix Kägi was always at his side, organizing the many trips. Seelisberg lost importance for the TM movement and in 1991 the guru moved the headquarters of his movement to Vlodrop in the Netherlands. In 2002, the Hotel Kulm was closed and all residents had to move.
Grand Hôtel Seelisberg (for sale)
In 1968, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru of Transcendental Meditation, stayed at the Grand Hôtel for the first time. The canonical master of so-called “yogic flying” bought the two hotels “Kulm” and “Sonnenberg” in 1972.[3] and founded the headquarters of his “World Government of the Age of Enlightenment” in the “Sonnenberg”. This headquarters was moved to Vlodrop in the Netherlands in 1992.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelanlage_Sonnenberg
Felix Kägi is hesitant to let the photographer and the journalist into the former Hotel Kulm. “I haven’t been in here for more than twenty years – and neither has practically anyone else. Be careful not to break through a rotten ceiling!” Kägi is the chairman of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement in Switzerland and a dozen other countries and takes us on a journey into his past. Into a world that he will say goodbye to these days.
After the first few steps through a hotel hallway littered with mattresses and building rubble, Kägi loses his reserve. “This is room K 223. I lived here in 1983 when the Maharishi led his movement from Seelisberg,” says the now 67-year-old, happy about the reunion. The memory of the eventful years is back. Back then, when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from Jabalpur in central India, his assistant Raja Felix Kägi from Stäfa and thousands of other yogis from the canton of Uri wanted to make the world a better place.
The Hotel Sonnenberg, opened in 1875, needs to be extensively renovated by its new owner. Costs 100 million Swiss Francs.
Sales video from Engels & Völkers:
Today, the Maharishi European Research University is still located in the former “Grand Hôtel Sonnenberg”.
meru.ch says:
The small village of Seelisberg, located about 800m above sea level on Lake Lucerne, is the place where Maharishi Mahesh Yogi worked from 1972 to 1983 – years that shaped the history of the TM movement.
on meru.ch events can be found such as.
Concert Classical Indian Music
Mayukh Gangopadhyay & Jyotirmoy Chakrabarty
26 – 27 October 2024
The Maharishi European Research University is still located in this buildings. But there is a sales video from Engels & Völkers. Eventually the building is for sale and nobody has bought it yet. Or is the price is so high that nobody ever will buy it? And all a decision of a Guru who is already dead? Or of a foundation without a chief?
Unfortunately, we do not have such a proment Indian Guru in Switzerland in 2024. We only have the Felsentor Retreat Center near Lucerne, but without proment Guru. And a neuroscientist who does research about Transcendental Meditation lives in the U.S.
So the combination of a prominent Guru with research about meditation seems to be very rare, or has not happened yet. The current Swiss Situation is that we have Lama Pema Wangyal (who does not want positive feedback from the Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS):
And Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org who has no fund for research:
So a main issue of meditation research projects seems their funding.