Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, RIP

He inspired a zany American political party and a decent Beatles song, managed to keep the Beach Boys' mercurial Mike Love in some sort of spiritual calm, and was all-around an interesting character in one of the late 20th century's more interesting stories: the increasing number of religious and spiritual options and technologies available in the cornucopian West. Transcendental Meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi finally transcended the physical world.