Transcendental News, Vol 24. No 2, September 2020

The Maharishi Interviews
Les Crane: Autumn 1967, Los Angeles, part 1
Les Crane was an innovative
1960s television chat show host
in the USA, the forerunner of
such high-profile personalities
as Johnny Carson and Phil
Donahue. He interviewed
newsmakers as diverse as Bob
Dylan, Martin Luther King, and
Robert Kennedy.
LC: Just about ten years ago, a chap
strolled out of India, owning nothing
but his robe and a pair of sandals,
and a picture of his teacher. That’s
all. And he came to teach. In the
space of just ten years, he is revered,
followed, by several millions of people
in every single country in the world.
Very bravely, I say, I attempt to wrestle
with things I don’t entirely understand
on this programme, and bring you
insights into situations that are going
on. I will confess to you tonight
complete and total ignorance – the
only thing I know about my first guest
is that he’s a lovely and charming man,
whom I’ve met in person, and he’s
apparently, in important ways, moving
the world. And so, it’s going to be
my pleasure to find out about him,
and hopefully yours at the same time.
Welcome him now with me: Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi.
(Audience rises to its feet and
applauds)
LC: They’ve never stood up before,
for any of my guests. This is the first
time in all the years I’ve been doing
television programmes!
Maharishi: It’s your charm of this
evening!
LC: I think you’re my special charm this
evening. What can I say, except that
I’m very grateful to have you here, and
I’m delighted that you could work it in
to your very busy schedule.
Maharishi: I’m delighted to be here.
LC: You were born in India, is that
correct?
Maharishi: Yes.
LC: And I assume that at a very early
age you developed a curiosity about
things spiritual?
Maharishi: A sincere desire, rather
than a surface curiosity.
LC: And you found your teacher at an
early age?
Maharishi: I was fortunate in that.
He was a very great teacher, who not
only satisfied me, for the fulfilment of
my life, but gave something of great
importance for the whole world for all
times to come.
LC: You were a youngster at that time;
and you spent quite a long time…
Maharishi: Thirteen years with my
master. And that was a very happy
time of my life. He was great!
LC: From having met you briefly
before we started this, and looking at
you now, I can’t imagine a time in your
life which is not happy. Is there such a
time?
Maharishi: No, I don’t remember
unhappiness, because it doesn’t
belong to life anyway.
LC: Unhappiness does not belong to
life?
Maharishi: It’s opposed to life. Just
as darkness doesn’t belong to light.
Misery and suffering do not belong to
life. Only, not able to live full value of
life, people fall in suffering and misery.
LC: Unhappiness is therefore an
accident?
Maharishi: Not an accident, I would
say, it’s willingly brought about by
one who does not rise to full strength
of life. Weakness is the basis of all
sorrows and suffering.
LC: And you feel as though, in your
teaching, you bring strength, is that
right?
Maharishi: Yes. Transcendental
Meditation is a simple, natural way to
make a man develop his full potential.
LC: Transcendental Meditation – is it a
religion as we understand the term?
Maharishi: No, it’s a technique.
And a technique, as we know, is
something that accomplishes the work
more quickly, more easily and more
profoundly.
LC: Well, when we use the term
‘technique,’ it brings to my mind
something mechanical.
Maharishi: Exactly. Just mechanical.
And that alone is natural to life. To
go to a field of greater happiness is
mechanical to everyone. One doesn’t
have to think much and plan much, just
one is drifted on to a field of greater
happiness. That is the tendency of
outer life. The mind is always drawn
towards greater happiness, and it is
drawn mechanically, automatically, as
mechanically as water flows down the
slope.
LC: You have devoted your entire
life to teaching the mechanics of
Transcendental Meditation, is that
right?
Maharishi: That’s it, yes. And that
unfolds the entire mechanics of life.
Because in Transcendental Meditation,
the mind goes in, and then it comes
out.
LC: I just wanted to find out a bit
about who you are, and where you’re
from.
Maharishi: I’m a very simple, natural
man (laughter)
LC: And you’ve been a monk all your
life?
Maharishi: Yes. And I am very old in
every country now, there is nothing
new about me in any country.
LC: And you’re a lifelong celibate, is
that right?
Maharishi: Yes, I am a life celibate. As
a monk.
LC: Is celibacy part of Transcendental
Meditation?
12 • Transcendental Meditation News • September 2020 • Vol. 24 • No. 2