Product Review

Inside Maharishi’s Ashram is a personal account of one woman’s spiritual journey, her experiences of being close to and working with the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with the Transcendental Meditation organization and movement, including her twenty years as a faculty member at Maharishi International University (MIU). In a lively, down-to-earth, often humorous voice the author tells the story of her interactions with Maharishi, his guidance and influence in her life, and all in the context of family, friends, and global affairs. She begins with her skeptical entry into the world of meditation in El Paso, Texas, and details her growth of consciousness from there to becoming a TM teacher in Fiuggi Fonte, Italy, her four years in France and Switzerland in the movement headquarters, and her trips to South Africa, Armenia, and India on behalf of the TM movement. She includes her firsthand account of Apartheid, the devastating consequences of the earthquake in Armenia in 1990, and her various stays in India learning about Ayurveda, Vedic Science, the Indian science of jyotish (Indian astrology), and other Vedic programs and techniques. Rhoda’s story offers an inside view of the biggest spiritual movement of the twentieth century, and an inside look at how one of the greatest figures of the modern age worked to influence the trends of time while he simultaneously directed the evolution of his closest disciples.