Word: yogi
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Nine years ago, he was an anonymous yoga teacher who owned little but a suitcase full of beads. Today he earns over $100,000 a year in lecture fees as Yogi Bhajan, the "Supreme Religious and Administrative Authority of the Sikh Religion in the Western Hemisphere." Thousands of American disciples in his Healthy-Happy-Holy Organization ("3HO") revere the robust, bearded Bhajan as the holiest man of this era. With equal fervor, opponents denounce him as a charlatan and a heretic...
Undeniably, Bhajan has struck some kind of chord. There are now 110 ashrams of various sizes in the U.S., Canada, and overseas. The yogi claims to have won some 250,000 followers, but a more realistic estimate would place the number of zealots at several thousand, although many more flock to his meetings. Bhajan's base is a well-groomed 40-acre ranch near Espanola, N. Mex., where his quarters are said to feature a domed bedroom and a sunken bath. Neighbors are nervous about 3HO's expensive land purchases in the area...
Bhajan has important backers in India. High Priest Guruchuran Singh Tohra, president of the management committee for northern India's Sikh temples, confirms that his council has given "full approval" to 3HO and recognizes the yogi as a preacher. Tohra, however, says that this does not mean Bhajan is the Sikh leader of the Western Hemisphere, as he claims. The Sikhs do not create such offices. Nor, Tohra adds, has the committee given Bhajan the rarely bestowed title, Siri Singh Sahib (the equivalent of saying "Sir" three times), which he uses...
What is a maharishi to do when sales start to grow sluggish? One answer: announce a shiny new product. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder and guru of Transcendental Meditation (TIME cover, Oct. 13, 1975), has done just that. TM monthly enrollment slid from its 1975 peak of 40,000 trainees a month to a low of 4,000 this year, partly because the Maharishi invited several thousand of his teachers to TM headquarters in Switzerland to acquaint them with the organization's new wares. The teachers have now brought those wares to the American market: lessons that will lead...
...enjoyed his most beautiful day yet. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame, only the eighth player to be named in his first year of eligibility (five years after retirement). Even Joe DiMaggio did not make it until his third year on the ballot, and Yogi Berra until his second. Grinned "Mr. Cub": "It's the greatest moment of my life...