There's been a lot said that Maharishi didn't change. What he was with Guru Dev he was later on. I agree. The Indian merchant class makes the guys who brought down the world economy with their over leveraged shenanigans look like a bunch of honor scouts. It's been said repeatedly that it all came apart when the sidhis were introduced. It's been said that Maharishi had a good marketing scheme going until the sidhis came out. The fact is, Maharishi's Merv wave sputtered out. There were just so many people drawn to TM. Initiations for money were way down and would stay way down. Maharishi might have developed the sidhis to bring us to the next step, to jump start us to enlightenment. Then again, $5,000 or more for the preparatory courses then the 8 weeks of in residence sidhi instructions then $3,000 for CIC (when I learned the sidhis) had a lot more punch to the pocketbook than part of a hundred dollars/pounds/marks going to the TMO for instruction in TM. The sidhis were a matter of shear economic necessity if Maharishi & al. were going to live in the style they'd become accustomed to. The $5,000 or whatever you now pay for CIC amazingly does not include room and board for the flying block nor did it include, when I went on the flying block, the price of the mandala books and tapes. It's that much all about money. It's always been about money.
Each new craziness Maharishi brought out just so happened to also be a source of income for the TMO. Build an official Maharishi vastu house, pay a cut to the TMO. It was ever about money. I practice what I was taught and achieve great benefit from it but hey, you ought to throw a little back at those who are shoveling money at you.
