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Are you still sleeping?

When do you wanna get up?

"Are you still sleeping?"

You don't ask someone sleeping: "Are you still sleeping?"

You ask, I don't know, something else,

but: "Are you still sleeping?" You treat me like a hamster.

"Are you still sleeping?"

I've asked you that before. -Yes, but not like that.

Marie had recently moved in with me. That was great, but not easy.

She was already working on her second novel.

While I was pretty lost after finishing film school.

My parents were still paying my rent.

It's running.

It's absurd.

It just makes it wet.

I wanted to make dark films like my idol David Lynch.

But I was lacking the darkness.

He was my age, when he completed his first masterpiece.

Then I discovered this ad on the internet.

A conference in America where David Lynch himself was supposed to speak about the source of creativity.

Was I going to find out where he got all of his ingenius ideas from?

Do you know where my sleeping bag is?

Marie didn’t want me to go, but there was no stopping me!

Are you crying because you feel sick or you're sad?

Both.

I traveled to the middle of nowhere. A place called Fairfield, Iowa, in America’s Mid-West

What in the world made David Lynch leave Hollywood for this?

Transcendental Meditation plays an important part in his life.

But he had never spoken about it in public.

Now he has invited his fans to the Maharishi University, which was founded by an Indian Guru.

And sure enough – there he was!

Hello, Mr. Lynch. I wanted to ask you, why after, why

exactly after meditating for 32 years in privacy,

why have you gone to the public now at this moment? And how does

the work for the foundation affect your work as a filmmaker?

It takes time away from filmmaking for sure.

And one of the things I liked about transcendental meditation is:

you learn this technique

and you just add it to your life and go about business.

I enjoy the doing more. I love the doing more.

And I think the intuition and the catching of ideas gets easier.

It’s money in the bank

to take that trip.

Every one of you. You sit in a chair, comfortably, you

close your eyes, you start a mantra, and you go within.

It’s so beautiful to dive within.

And it’s diving into the big Self.

David Lynch isn’t the only celebrity here this weekend.

Donovan, the 60ies superstar dedicates his

performance to the founder of the TM movement

Maharishi,

a mysterious figure, maybe to many of you here.

A true Yogi initiated me finally

in a house in Beverly Hills.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who Donovan is singing about and whose meditation

David Lynch is so fond of, became world famous for being the Beatles’ Guru.

What was it about Maharishi that fascinated these great artists?

Me and the Beatles,

we used to sit and talk about how we would learn, how to meditate,

because we were wishing to sing songs

for peace and brotherhood.

We knew that the Western philosophy and wisdom had been lost.

So we looked to the East and wondered where the answer to

this suffering of the 20th century was going to be found

And it was clear.

This was the answer.

Now we could give the millions of our fans

an alternative way to enter the inner world.

So when we came back from India, we gave this

meditation from Maharishi to millions of fans.

The conference climaxes with a phone call from

Maharishi from his headquarters in Holland.

The old Guru speaks to the public for the first time in many years

Young students!

I have only only one advice:

Go by the advice

that you have received by the artist

Dr. Lynch.

You read the papers, you watch TV, you listen to the radio, there’s nothing,

nothing but problems…

…and half-baked, ridiculous, absurd solutions.

You don’t have to believe that this peace creating group will bring peace to earth,

but why not give it a try?

I have got to meet David Lynch in person

to really understand Transcendental Meditation.

But getting to him is difficult.

Marie is my lucky charm!

A big German newspaper assigned her to interview David Lynch.

She made the trip although we were uncertain

if the great master would meet with us.

You're so stupid!

You scared the shit out of me.

I can't believe it.

How do you taste? How are you? How do you feel?

So, what's up?

Tomorrow at 11 a.m.

you'll be sitting with David Lynch

in a room with a fireplace

at an Ayurveda Hotel. We'll have 40 minutes.

You too? Both of us? -Yes.

Ok. I'm super prepared.

She was more than prepared to face the master director.

Should I sit here?

Yeah, that’s your place. Oh. You got a coin for luck. It’s fine.

No, I am gonna give it to you, ‘cause it was tails up.

So. That’s for you.

I sit down and I close my eyes and I start this mantra.

And as I say, it was as if I was in an elevator and they snipped the cables

and wooooo down, out, all over huge bliss,

and a feeling that is like so powerful.

And I said wow, what is going on?

All the different words that make up negativity, all those things start to melt away,

and I say, it’s like we are all, you know, you know, for one reason

or another in this suffocating rubber clown’s suit of negativity.

And it is real stinky rubber.

And why do we wanna be clowns?

And I say the main thing is the enjoyment of doing

the enjoyment of doing and the ability to focus more

and really get in.

And a kind of understanding grows.

And when you’re in your work, it just starts talking to you more.

And it’s blissful more.

It’s not like you dive in once and you say I am enlightened.

You dive in every day. Regular as clockwork. It's a real German thing.

And you just do it. And you watch things get better.

For a filmmaker you wanna get the best teacher you can get,

and for studying life and making life better,

you wanna get the best teacher you can get.

Ok, thank you David.

That’s it? Hey, well, good luck to you, David, on your film.

Be a strong proponent, and enjoy life, and enjoy your filmmaking

and you’re gonna zoom forward, you’ll see.

Wherever you are now, you may be fine, but you’ll just go quickly zzzzz.

Animated by David Lynch’s words, I want to take a closer look at the campus.

The heart of the Maharishi University is the Golden Dome.

Here the meditators meet for their daily routine.

First comes the standard meditation. Then something more advanced: Yogic Flying

It looks more like hopping. But it’s supposed to increase creativity and intuition.

I have to get into the mood.

The Maharishi University also runs a neurological lab.

What we find, their level of brain integration goes up,

their performance on tasks improves,

their moral, emotional stability goes up, their

moral reasoning goes up, anxiety goes down.

My brain wave reading isn’t very encouraging.

In fact it’s a total mess.

I’m light-years away from the consciousness of a Yogic Flyer.

I have to change something.

For my introductory course I’m directed to the German

Transcendental Meditation headquarters in Hanover

also known as the ‘Peace Palace’.

Here I’m assigned a TM teacher.

I bring along the prescribed offerings:

Six fresh flowers, sweet fruits, a white handkerchief and

two thousand-three-hundred-and-eighty Euros – in cash.

That is the tradition.

The river of knowledge runs

until it finally reaches Guru Dev.

He was the last keeper of this knowledge.

He passed it on to Maharishi who spread it around the world.

Everyone gets their personal mantra.

The mantra has no meaning. It is pure sound.

So the mind can let go.

The mantra helps the mind transcend

and go within.

It is very important that everyone has their correct mantra.

What are the criteria for choosing the mantra?

Well, as TM teachers,

we can't talk about it.

This morning I receive my personal mantra.

An Indian word in Sanskrit, that I may never

under any circumstance - tell anyone.

I am to repeat it silently for the rest of my life twice a day for twenty minutes.

We’re not permitted to film the initiation ceremony

This meditation increases health and decreases stress.

But there is more to it:

TM brings enlightenment.

We are very lucky to have a master in our times

who can give everyone this technique to enlightenment.

That is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

What have I gotten myself into?

Is TM really strictly scientific, non-religious as they claim?

Yet while meditating these questions fade away.

During the weekly group meditation at the Berlin TM center,

I feel deeply connected and self-assured.

It’s just as David Lynch had predicted.

My doubts and fears begin to dissipate.

With the help of my mantra, I learn to tame the

monkey in my head and delve into the tranquility

Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

But life goes on.

Marie is back in New York, where she grew up.

We are separated for months.

Why do you want me to write about you?

You don't have to write about me,

just spend some time with me.

OK. I will.

But I gotta run now.

When I meditate I feel wonderfully in tune with the world.

But afterwards I’m still alone in my apartment.

February 6th, two thousand-eight. I receive news of Maharsihi’s death.

I had always hoped to meet him.

I rush to India and get there just in time for Maharishi’s funeral.

It’s in Allahabad, the holiest place on the river Ganges.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims have come to pay their last tribute to the Guru.

In his final years Maharishi was a total recluse.

Only in death, can one be close to him again.

I never expected the TM movement to be this big!

Rose petals fall from the sky. And the cremation is conducted like a state funeral.

The VIP seats are given to the Rajas.

Crowned by Maharishi shortly before his death these are the governors of his empire.

The leader of the Rajas is the Maharaja – Maharishi’s official successor.

According to custom, Maharishi’s family overseas the cremation and collects his ashes.

His three nephews are especially important. They’re supposed to control TM’s finances.

Maharishi’s estate is estimated to be worth several billion dollars.

Can Maharishi’s successor keep the movement together?

His soul was limited in the body.

Now his body a universal body has become.

So here I was

in a most incredible ceremony

for, you know, his Holiness, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought so much

to the world, totality to the world.

And there I am in India.

And there I am the next day

in the little boots going to the Sang Gam

in this moment in time,

getting into the Ganges,

dipping three times after saying my prayers

at the same moment some of Maharishi’s ashes going into the Ganges.

I feel, you know, Maharishi is as lively and here and there as ever before.

And everything is beautiful.

If you deal with the truth, or with a real person

that lived and that is so admired like Maharishi,

don’t you think, that’s rather, I am a bit scared to deal with this?

Some people have different point of views, you know?

Yes, but so

you have to say that according to your level of truth, your take

And so you be true to yourself in being true to that person.

When you go about, stay alert.

And not forced staying alert. Stay alert

and things come and ideas come that will, you know,

show you the way.

Things are starting to pick up for me back in Berlin.

“It’s money in the bank”, David Lynch promised.

And sure enough, my movie finally got funding

My financial crisis is over. At least for now.

Marie has announced her return from New York.

And I want to surprise her by creating a home she’ll fall in love with.

My dark days are over.

It’s time for enlightenment.

From now on I’m going to trust my intuition and finally make my ideas into films.

Marie’s Romanian grandmother is ready to help.

Here is your position.

We want to use this curtain...

to hide you behind it...

and surprise Marie. -Exactly.

The idea is that you're sitting behind the curtain

and Marie doesn't know you're there.

What should I do next?

Marie doesn't know her grandma is behind the curtain

because it's closed.

David, what's going on?

What did you do? How amazing!

What a beautiful curtain!

That's your cue, that's when you say something...

What could you say?

You call her name. -I'll say Marie, just Marie.

Very loving and soft.

Outside it snows quietly.

Inside the fire burns.

Grandma!

What are you doing here?

Marie, look. I am giving you a magic key.

The beautiful prince

gives the beautiful princess the magic key.

This hair!

Come on in.

Grandma! How long have you been sitting in the dark?

Oh my God! -Why? I wanted to surprise you.

That's terrible.

How long have you been sitting here?

Now I can never leave again!

This vase? Did you buy a vase? -I bought a vase.

And flowers. How beautiful!

Everywhere little goblins and poems

and candles and a new lamp.

What did you do?

How beautiful!

You're so sweet!

But even though Marie likes the new apartment,

ten days later she’s gone. Back to New York.

At least now I can fully concentrate on Transcendental Meditation again.

Maharishi recommends abstinence anyway.

I travel to Holland, to the TM World Center, the Rajas’ headquarters.

I gained the trust of the TM leadership, while filming Maharishi’s funeral.

They permit me to film ‘Guru Purnima’. The Guru’s Festival.

This gathering is also the organization’s annual meeting.

It’s the first one since Maharishi passed away.

Until his death, Maharishi controlled his empire from here.

His favourite instrument is played in his honor.

As a promising new follower my camera team and I are allowed

unrestricted access to the nerve center of the organization.

We can even attend an internal presentation.

The other side is construction, if you’d calculate the amount of money to support ...

They are building a gigantic settlement in the center of India.

TM is collecting millions for it’s construction.

Even in total it’s about 400 million dollars that’s required,

and 200 million dollars we really have already,

probably about 65, 68 million dollars is already gone into the Brahmastan.

So again about half way there.

The huge colony is designed to be the capitol of world peace.

Thousands of Yogic Flyers will be settled here

to bring heaven on earth through meditation.

The project is financed by TM followers worldwide.

And when it’s done perpetual 8000

Yogic Flying Vedic Pundits doing that performance.

I’d like you all have you join us there.

Because that’s where my wife and I would like to be.

Heaven on earth.

Maharishi’s former palace. Today the Maharaja lives there.

The Lebanese Harvard graduate was Maharishi’s

personal doctor and one of his closest confidants.

Today he is his successor.

He’s making his first appearance on this holiest of days.

Will he be accepted as the new leader?

Guru Purnima, this is a very special day.

The fool moon in the middle of the year.

The fullest of the moons,

that is the day of the Guru.

This is the first one...

...without him.

How much we would have wanted to

offer to Maharishi

our achievements.

Before Maharishi left he said, “my work is done.”

And he gave us that responsibility

of upholding infinity

and creating heaven on earth.

And that is what we hope we can offer him

on January 12, or the next Guru Purnima.

The Rajas’ applause is deceiptive.

Less than one year after the Guru’s death, a power struggle shakes his empire.

The new leader’s authority is questioned by a close confidant of Maharishi’s.

I'm not saying anything new.

You already know about it.

I am just saying to just verify that I am saying to you correct things.

Maharishi’s old companion demands an equal role. On par with the Maharaja.

He says that it would have been the Guru’s will.

I support Maharishi to achieve his goals

and whatever directions he has given.

I will not support anything, which is going against his will.

You are going to lead the movement in which way, in

some direction, who is going to give you the direction?

When it’s apparent that the Indian is truly

challenging the Maharaja, he’s instantly cut off.

And we’re no longer allowed to film.

I’m told that I can´t use the footage we just shot

and that the finished film will have to be approved by the TM leadership.

Raja Emanuel takes me under his wing.

Should I take off my shoes?

The freshly crowned “King of Germany” wants me to

understand the basic idea behind Maharishi’s peace plan.

Invincibility means: No enemy is born

neither inside nor outside of a country.

So there's no negativity.

Only when everyone's your friend

and you have no enemies,

you are invincible.

Once you have to fight, you are no longer invincible.

All 80 million Germans will live in harmony,

if one thousand Yogic Flyers

meditate at the same time in one place in Germany.

That's unbelievable.

Maharishi has given us all the knowledge.

We don't need to develop anything new.

We simply need to use Maharishi's knowledge

and apply it to society.

Is this how TM imagines heaven on earth?

A bunch of kings who speak of world peace but silence critical voices?

Yogic Flyers making Germany invincible.

Where do these ideas come from?

The idea of invincibility came to Maharishi in Switzerland.

By the early seventies his movement had grown into a global organization.

The Guru purchased two luxury Hotels.

Here, he founded his world government and developed Yogic Flying,

a meditation technique which defies gravity

and allows one to float weightlessly in the air.

Maharishi always wanted to integrate silence into activity.

If you can keep this inner silence, no matter what you do,

you are enlightened.

And you can only float and fly,

once you have the inner silence present at all times,

no matter what happens.

Have you ever seen anyone fly?

I have not.

But we all have experienced moments

when you feel a sort of lifting and don't fall back right away.

Maharishi must have been enlightened and able to fly.

-Right. -Why didn't he demonstrate it?

Because he was a very humble man.

In the parliamentary hall of the former TM world government

Raja Felix conducts a ceremony for Swiss Independence Day

just like in Maharishi’s times.

At the time Switzerland was the richest country in the world.

It's success was attributed to the positive energy of the Yogic Flyers.

The most loyal and wealthiest of Maharishi’s followers

were chosen to be governors and ministers in his world parliament.

To become a Raja, you better have deep pockets.

I found a website, where I can register for the Raja training.

But I'd have to pay one million dollars.

How did you raise that kind of money?

Through a miracle.

I have a hardworking wife.

She was a very successful meditation teacher

but she didn't make enough.

One day she mentioned to a friend,

very subtly, in a restaurant

that she wanted to do it but didn't have enough.

Then her friend said:

"Why didn't you tell me this before?

I'm willing to pay the difference."

And so the registration was sent out

and both of us took off to the Raja training course.

I still enjoy meditating regularly.

But to me TM seems more like a clever business plan.

Some believe that enlightenment is for sale.

Germany is graced with royalty.

On his European TM tour David Lynch stops in Berlin

to present a new educational system to the public.

Thank you very much everybody.

Very good to be here in Berlin with you all.

And we’re here today establishing this invincible

Germany University.

This University will be different than other Universities with the addition

of this technique to open the door to the transcendent enlightenment.

I was crowned Raja of Germany

to crown Germany with invincibility.

Today we bought the 'Devil's Mountain',

where we will build the tower of invincibility for Germany!

But who's attacking us? Invincible against whom?

I'm a good German.

I'm a German who wants to make Germany invincible.

That's what Adolf Hitler wanted...

...but unfortunately he couldn't do it

because he didn't have the right technique.

You are a charlatan!

Pardon?

You're showing us very bad theatre!

And you wanna be our new king?

Pathetic fool!

Yeah really! Pathetic fool.

Words, we understand, trigger things in us.

You all have a history. And Raja Emanuel has triggered things,

but he is a great human being, doing something for Germany on the deepest level,

on the deepest level.

Inspite of everything, the corner stone ceremony

is held as planned on “Devil’s Mountain”

with Berlin’s TM community standing by.

Which direction is east, Raja Emanuel?

Over there.

For invincible Germany.

And then this one goes here.

Invincible Germany,

Invincible Germany.

I would rather say "strong Germany".

As part of his extensive campaign,

David Lynch has laid corner stones for TM universities in fifteen countries.

Nowhere has he gotten into such hot waters as here in Berlin.

The ‘Devil’s Mountain’ was built from the rubble of World War II.

During the Cold War the CIA used it as a monitoring station.

And now TM wants to build a University of invincibility here?

Does David Lynch really believe Yogic Flyers will bring heaven to Berlin?

I fly to New York to see Marie again.

We have grown apart by being separated for such a long time

and now I seem to have some competition.

Now she’s not so sure about us.

David Lynch is in town as well.

He is holding a press conference to present his new project:

Transcendental Meditation for school kids.

This David Lynch Foundation for consciousness based education and world peace

raises money to give transcendental education to

any student anywhere in the world who wants it.

If we can get this to one million kids, it’ll be huge.

Welcome now: Ringo Star, Paul McCartney.

It was a great gift that Maharishi gave us. For me it came at a time

when we were looking for something to kind of stabilize us

towards the end of the crazy 60ties.

And it is. It’s a life long gift, you know, it’s something that you can

call on at any time.

And I think, it’s a great thing. I think, it’s a particular

great thing, what David and the foundation is doing,

putting it in schools and allowing kids to experience something

that I don’t think they otherwise would have had the chance to experience.

While the stars are fund-raising, I meet with a former TM governor and renegade.

He says he’s given counseling to over two thousand TM dropouts.

Many of the people that I work with have been

struggling with depression for most of their life.

In the TM movement we were discouraged from getting medical help,

traditional western medical help or mental health…

Supposedly Maharishi exploited his followers

through overpriced courses and questionable herbal medicines

I have to get to David Lynch.

Ever since I refused to let the TM leadership censor my movie the wind has changed.

My interview requests are rejected by the David Lynch Foundation.

Finally, disguised as a Swiss TV crew we manage to get an appointment.

Unfortunately a TM assistant recognizes us.

I don’t know what you are expecting to get, there is no appointment for you.

It’s an interview. For sure. We’re here from Swiss television sent me over.

Oh my God.

Now we have to wait for his boss, the David Lynch Foundation PR manager

It's time to tell them

not to treat you like a film student anymore.

That's not the right strategy now.

You have to act with a certain degree of professionalism.

I don’t think we have ever met.

So the thing is, David is not interested in -

just to be perfectly blunt - in the story that people make up stuff

that says TM is a cult or a religion, because it’s not.

And there are people my age largely, in the US,

one or two people, we’re just being completely straight foreward here,

“oh, it’s a religion, it’s money making cult, Maharishi mind control.”

Here is the thing, I have to tell you

I’d like you to turn this off.

After some negotiation, I’m finally granted a ten-minute interview.

But only under the condition that I don’t ask critical questions.

How can I face my idol now?

Hey David, thank you for meeting you again.

You want some water or some coffee?

I am gonna get a Coca Cola soon. Thanks.

Shall we just start or do you want...

Start. Start. Start.

...To wait for the Coca Cola?

No, no, start, start.

as I am doing research, I come across many many strange stories. I feel like a

detective, a bit like in Blue Velvet, suddenly you hear something, you hear a sound...

Sure, sure, sure...

Or you find an ear in the grass and you wonder what’s it’s all about.

People come to me, and stories come to me a lot and

I, it’s hard to tell, what’s right and what’s wrong.

Also with Maharishi. It’s very controversial. You know.

What’s controversial? There’s nothing really controversial.

What would you say is controversial?

It’s strange to have a spiritual organization

to have so many business-oriented products.

So beautiful. You know, if you want to take a Vitamin called

Amarit, you better hope there’s a business behind it.

You better hope somebody is manufacturing it.

’Cause it does so much good for the body.

So you can go and you can order it, you can go to a store some places and get it.

And this is beautiful. Whereas before you couldn’t.

So to me, there is nothing out there as great as

the initial teaching of transcendental mediation.

That’s the number one thing. That’s what Maharishi started with,

effortless transcending.

The rest frosting on the cake. Frosting on the cake.

And an organization, so, if you wanna learn to meditate,

you can go somewhere and find a teacher, a legitimate teacher.

And it needs an organization. Somebody has to train these teachers,

and, and all this stuff has to be organized.

And now there is a beautiful bunch working 24/7 like Maharishi

to make peace in the world, to bring enlightenment, full potential to the individual.

Huge. Nobody did that. Nobody did what Maharishi did.

And some people come out and try to hurt that.

It’s like, you know, tell them to go far away, leave us alone.

I can understand Lynch. When he says...

I want people to leave us alone then I totally respect that. And I am gonna leave

him alone and I want them to leave me alone.

And that’s the end of the story.

But they don’t leave us alone.

What do you mean? Of course they leave you alone. They’re not like… They’re not like…

Imagine your child is going to a public school

where they introduce this system. Your father died

because he only took Ayurveda products.

No! That's not what it is. It's not the same for everyone.

-You pay for all these advanced courses...

-No, David, you're obsessed with this movement...

-No, I am not. -Yes, you are!

I think it's a little strange.

You are harassing a celebrity

for a movie you want to make

because you've decided to be obsessed with David Lynch.

But he wants nothing to do with you.

But he's not just David Lynch. He's become a promoter.

He's like an advertisement for an organization.

-So what?

Why is Lynch any of your business? -That's what I'm interested in.

But he is not the president. He’s not George Bush.

I wanted to talk to Marie about our relationship.

But there’s not much to say.

Her love for me seems to be on holiday.

And there is still that other guy.

Are you still in love?

I don't know.

I'm not sure.

It has nothing to do with that.

But you still think it's right?

Yes.

And you want to give up the apartment in Berlin?

Yes, I think that's the best.

After more than a year of daily meditation, my life is a complete disaster.

My girlfriend dumped me, David wants to Lynch me and TM is threatening to sue.

Are these the blissful effects of Transcendental Meditation?

I want to get to the bottom of things.

I discover a book by a TM dropout featuring a list of the top secret mantra syllables.

Someone has censored them.

The expensive TM mantras are not chosen for specific individuals.

Instead they are preassigned according to age groups.

The neurologist Michael Persinger has been studying meditation for years.

He can help me test the effects of my mantra.

My brainwaves are measured while I meditate with my TM mantra, a word in Sanskrit.

For the second measurement I choose a random word in German

and repeat it silently just like a mantra.

So his left temporal. Wow.

See, so most of the effect took place in your left temporal

which is the one involved with your actual thinking.

During the first one, you repeated the Sanskrit

which obviously did not have as much temporal lobe activation and relaxation effect.

The second mantra, which was your personal one,

shows a tremendous increase in power. It was much more beneficial for you

to use that German mantra, your personal mantra,

in terms of producing meditation effects.

The cult always has to present something new or people get bored.

So what starts as a simple meditational procedure may then,

it must go on to something more exotic otherwise

the novelty effect is not satisfied.

So what may start as simple relaxation

to most people becomes boring,

and then it has to be flying, invisibility, immortality.

Add those ideas with the feeling of being part of the group, a special group,

and you got the formula for a cult.

The incorporation of TM in the public schools is not new.

If I have the person’s belief by the time they

are 8 or 9, I have them the rest of their lives.

So the earlier you inculcate a person, a human being with a particular belief,

the more likely you have them for the rest of their lives.

Or they may deviate and rebel.

But ultimately they come back, and when it comes down to emotional decisions

like who I am going to marry, not (...) to say I am going to marry

who I am going to vote for that’s where religious beliefs become powerful.

In Fairfield at the Maharishi of Enlightenment,

TM was incorporated long before David lynch’s current campaign.

Waves of creation flowing

And ocean of knowingness

Ocean of consciousness

One unbounded ocean

of consciousness in motion

Waves of the Vedic flowing

And ocean of knowingness

Ocean of consciousness

One unbounded ocean

of consciousness in motion

Fully awake within yourself

Consciousness fully knows itself

Consciousness knows itself

According to TM one thousand Pandits have been settled in a camp on the outskirts of Fairfield.

These Pandits are specially trained Yogic Flyers brought here from India.

They are to create invincibility for America.

Every month millions of dollars are donated to the project,

promising US prosperity and security.

But what exactly are the Pandits doing?

They won’t let me in at the front gate.

So I try to sneak in through the fields.

But I’m not welcome there either.

The security guard tells me that the Pandits sing holy songs.

The fence is there to protect them.

And to make sure that they’re not corrupted by American society.

They wouldn’t want to leave the camp anyway.

The Pandits are taught by TM to recite holy verses.

Their ritual chanting is supposed to bring world peace.

But is that reason to fence them in?

Locals tell me about Pandits who escaped

but were captured immediately.

The more I research the more discrepancies I uncover.

I meet with former TM members. Afraid of reprisal they want to stay anonymous.

Many suffered psychological problems due to extremely long meditation programs.

Others were completely ruined financially.

How did Maharishi convince all these people of his lofty visions?

My research takes me to New Mexico.

I track down a man who was Maharishi’s personal assistant, his ‘Skin Boy’.

He wants to show me something extremely valuable that I’m not allowed to touch.

I can’t describe it really. But ehm.

It feels very alive.

So he wore these exclusively for years and years and years until they broke.

So, you know, there are some people who would probably pay a lot for these

But if they are so precious, and have so much

value for you, how can you think to sell them?

Oh, I can think to sell them.

I spent over a hundred thousand dollars of my own money working for the movement.

So you know, if I got some of that back I wouldn’t mind.

Actually, what was the duty of a skin boy? How did it work?

You had to carry, the name comes from carrying the dear skin.

The name comes from carrying the dear skin. And the name and the fame.

Because you know, we’d be walking into these

halls, with sometimes thousands of people

hundreds of people or however many.

The skin boy would walk in front of him.

It was like this divine air would come down

from heaven, and then we’d be breathing it.

Ah. And I got addicted to that.

You know, the world is a harsh place

and Maharishi could be very harsh. Believe me.

So for a while I had trouble putting the paradox together.

You know, how could he be so awful and so wonderful at the same time.

But he was. He was awful and wonderful at the same time.

That’s just how it was

Repeatedly I would see him, you know, use people and then just kick them out.

And often times he would discard them when they ran out of money.

You know, he would use people and then

he would brush them off like flies.

You know, how I told you he could get inside of you and then help you sleep?

He could also get inside of you and pulverize, pulverize you completely.

So that’s what he did.

He just pulverized me and told me to leave.

And I was devastated for two years after that

He wanted me to leave because

I had run out of money,

and because I wasn’t serving him as wholeheartedly as I had been before.

For example, he had me bring women into his room.

And he’d be in there with them.

I am not gonna name any names, but ehm, I, I,

there is no question in my mind that he had sex with the women.

To refrain from the worldly joys of life.

That is a monk's way of life.

Who wants to lead a spiritual life,

has to renounce the world.

I had the idea, I must renounce the world,

in order to be a really spiritual man, a yogi.

For the sake of spiritual progress, Maharishi

recommended sexual abstinence to his followers.

But it was always rumored that he wasn’t strict with his own celibacy.

Judith Bourque is the first who dares to speak on camera.

Today the former TM teacher works as a shamanic healer.

I just think, all the time I was in complete awe.

I felt so incredibly, I felt loved, I felt special.

I mean, he was amazing to be with.

So when I came to India for me, it was like,

oh, I am gonna get to meet, it’s like meeting Jesus.

Here and now. You know. And then to have someone,

who is almost like God, fall in love with you

or treat you in that special way, I mean,

it was really hard for me to grasp.

I was exceedingly happy.

I did not in any way feel invaded.

And I was never forced into any situation with him.

And he took me to this room in his house that was

down on the floor below. He called it, his cave.

Small room. His meditation cave.

So we were there and I think,

he must have spoken to me about something to do

with my meditation, if my meditation was good.

And then all of the sudden, he started to pet my hair.

He started to go like this. Stroking my hair.

And I was just, you know, what is this?

And em, he laughed, you know, it was so easy for him to laugh.

He giggled and he laughed. And he said, “don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell anyone.”

Oh, I haven’t opened it for some time.

So one day I went into his room and, and he wasn’t there, he had just left,

it’s kind of embarrassing, but I just went

over to his hairbrush and took out his hair.

This thing we do, we humans, if someone means something to us, we

want a piece of their hair, a lock of their hair.

So. I took it.

I asked him at one point, “so what would you do, if I became pregnant?”

And he said, “get married, quick.”

And he didn’t mean to him.

He meant that he would arrange some kind of marriage. For me. Quickly.

So I think, when I asked him that question and I got that answer,

I understood that this would never be a normal relationship in that way.

And then in time I also noticed that

he started to get interested in other young women.

So. In that period of two years, it was like

not as often. And then less often.

Toward the end it was clear to me that he was interested

in other women. At that time. So. I just decided to leave.

In Colorado I find Earl Kaplan, who was TM’s biggest financer.

He donated more than one-hundred-fifty million dollars to TM projects.

The successful publisher left the movement in 2004

and moved from Fairfield to The Rocky Mountains.

In the TM organization the whole idea was to sit and let it be.

You know, just not really do anything, you think a mechanical repetition of a mantra

and then good things come.

And in life you’re supposed to do less and accomplish more?

It doesn’t work. I have never met a successful person,

who had the idea that if they did less, they would accomplish more.

You know, people in business succeed, when they are very focused.

So I had donated all this money to help built a permanent ten thousand group of India

that Mahesh had always been saying would bring world peace.

So I believe in 2000 Neil Patterson showed me

some pictures of some buildings they had built,

and they were missing roofs. And he showed me the pictures of the groups

of people and they moved the different people around in the picture

to try to make me believe, they had more people than they had.

And I looked at that and I thought, what a joke?

And then another time, I was sitting with Mahesh

and we were talking about getting different groups together.

And there were a lot of discussions and I said,

“Maharishi, why don’t we just put a ten thousand

group in place? I have donated enough money

to support a group like that in India.

And with ten thousand people, you’ve been saying, there would be world peace,

right away.”

And he looked at me and he said,

“Earl, I have no idea, if a ten thousand group would create world peace.

We would have to create that group and see what effects it would have.”

And I was shocked.

Because Mahesh had done numerous fundraisers

and gotten so many thousands of people to donate money

with this idea that he was gonna build, create a permanent

ten thousand group that would usher in world peace.

And when we were in private, he told me, he had no idea.

That was amazing to me. Just amazing.

You have been the biggest donator in the history of TM.

As far as I know and I am not really proud of that fact either.

I did talk to a person, who says they saw the will.

Maheshe’s will.

You know, putting, you know certain large amounts

of money to different people in his family.

Rumor has it that that family became one of the wealthiest families in India.

You know, and it wasn’t until after I had left the TM movement,

or right at the end, when I was in that movement,

that I went to India for the first time.

And you know, things cost one 40th in India what they do here.

So. The money that my brother and I donated, should have

revolutionized the lives of tens of thousands of people.

I don't think much happened.

Meanwhile the David Lynch Foundation gets wind of my interviews with the TM dropouts.

Now Lynch himself wants to see the final cut of my movie.

Otherwise his lawyer is going to sue me.

Yet it was David Lynch who encouraged me to find my own truth.

And Maharishi’s truth.

I travel to India.

What has become of the huge project where thousand of

Pandits are supposed to be meditating for world peace?

I seek out two Pandits who have just left the movement.

They lead me to a remote valley where they were working until recently.

So this is the capital of world peace, the Brahmasthan of India?

TM claims that almost one-hundred million dollars have

been invested in the settlement of 8000 Yogic Flyers here.

Once again we’re not allowed to film.

Time for plan B.

My companions dress me up like a western Pandit.

I approach the gate without my camera team.

The security guard, flabbergasted by my appearance, lets me pass.

He even gives me a guided tour.

Most of the buildings are empty.

Only eight Pandits are reciting holy verses.

No trace of the eight thousand.

Heaven on earth is a bunch of stage props, a ghost town,

far from India’s vibrant spirituality.

After the heated situation in the Brahmastan, I try to cool off in the holy Ganges.

In Haridwar, a place of pilgrimage in North India, people have

gathered to celebrate Ganga Aarti, a Hindu ritual for the Mother Ganges.

I long to find the true core of Maharishi’s teachings.

Upstream I search for the source of his knowledge.

Where does the meditation that I learned come from?

High up in the Himalayan mountains near the border to Tibet, I reach Jyothir Math,

the monastery where Maharishi’s spiritual career began a long time ago.

In those days, Guru Dev led the monastery,

a well respected and admired Indian master.

They say that he was the one who told Maharishi to

spread his meditation technique around the world.

Another man served Guru Dev at that time. Swami Swaroopanand.

Today he is considered Guru Dev’s successor.

I was a disciple of Guru Dev.

He took me into his monastic order.

Someone not born in the priest caste

could not be part of this monastic order,

but serve in the monestary as a celibate.

Maharishi served as a bookkeeper for Guru Dev.

He was his secretary.

Guru Dev never educated him as Yogi or spiritual teacher.

Maharishi came from the writer caste.

He had no right to give mantras and teach meditation.

A true Guru

has no expectations from his disciple.

He never wants anything from him.

It is the disciple who offers his service to the Guru.

Gurus don't sell their knowledge.

They share it.

Guru Dev had a sign at his place:

"Donations are not allowed;

you can only sacrifice your sins here."

What you have learned from Maharishi,

will not bring you spiritual progress.

Now you should go to Gangotri in the Himalayas

to the source of the river Ganges.

Try to find the meditative art of living.

That's it.

I head further up the Himalayas, home of the gods,

to find the source of the river Ganges.

I befriend a Sadhu on my way up.

His name is Anah Baba.

A sadhu renounces the world

to dedicate himself entirely to meditation.

The cold and thinning air doesn’t seem to bother him

Baba G.

Man, how do you do that?

What is the secret?

What is in your mind?

My God Shiva.

At around four-thousand-five-hundred meters we meet other Sadhus.

Anah Baba is always meditating. Even when walking.

His footsteps are his mantra. The mountains are his gods.

I feel small and insignificant.

But he who can harmonize body and mind can grow beyond himself..

Down like this?

Straight. Always straight.

What’s straight?

No good smell.

Finally we reach the source of the Ganges.

The mountain lake reflects the clouds and I’m floating in heaven on earth

Someone who shows you the way can lead you astray.

Despite all my meditating, I’m still searching for the most important thing.

Back in Berlin, Marie comes to visit.

I show her my new favourite place.

We get along better than ever since we broke up.

Apparently she has taken a liking to me again.

I love your shoes, David.

This is where Lynch laid the cornerstone.

TM still hasn’t paid for the property on ‘Devil’s Mountain’.

There’ll never be a University of Invincibility here.

But Marie already has new plans…

Change nothing. Nothing. Maybe a window.

Imagine, these are your windows!

All of this is glass! And your bed is right here.

You wake up in the morning and this is your view.

That'd be so cool.

Entering the west wing...