Read Faith Central on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Barack Obama and the Beatles

VLODROP Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the spiritual guru whose pupils included the Beatles and Clint Eastwood, has died. The founder of transcendental meditation, a mind control technique using chanting, died at about 6pm GMT at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop. He was thought to be 91, although his exact birth date is unclear.

A Transcendantal Meditation movement spokesman said that the cause of death was unconfirmed, but appeared to be natural causes. The spiritualist, whose birth name was Mahesh Prasad Varma, attracted his most famous pupils in 1967, when the Beatles travelled to Bangor, North Wales, to enrol in a course. The band later travelled to India, but the trip was soured when John Lennon left early. The Beatle wrote about his experience in the song Sexy Sadie, which contained the lyrics “What have you done? You made a fool out of everyone.”

Other followers included the Beach Boys and David Lynch, the film director best known for Blue Velvet.