Centre of Silence is golden at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s home The
late Indian mystic Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lived out his final
years in a golden yellow wooden residence on a secluded site of
a former monastery. His house was surrounded by a well-tended
garden dotted with animal figures that lit up at night. Two blue
elephant statues with raised trunks flanked the front gate.
Visitors removed their shoes when entering the building
constructed in a traditional Vedic architectural style in
harmony with natural law patterns of orientation, placement,
proportion and materials. Nearby was a tent decorated with pots
of roses, daffodils and orchids. Rajas in white robes and golden
crowns sat on red velvet seats, sometimes drifting off into deep
contemplation. India? Nepal? No, the Netherlands. The former
Beatles guru, the man who brought Indian mysticism to the West
and attracted westerners to his ashram in India, lived his last
years in the Dutch countryside, close to the small town of
Vlodrop near the German border.