Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru to the Beatles who introduced transcendental meditation and yogic flying to the West and became an icon of 1960s counterculture, died at his Dutch retreat last night.

He was thought to be 91.

Born in central India, the Maharishi began studying meditation after completing a degree in physics in 1940, and started to teach his techniques around the world in 1959, starting with the United States.

He shot to fame when the Beatles visited him in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1968 and were filmed, sitting cross-legged and covered in flower garlands, learning his transcendental meditation techniques.

They were soon followed by other celebrities, including Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Donovan, the British singer, and Mia Farrow, the American actress.

The Maharishi – “great seer” in Hindi – fell out with many of the rock stars after rumors emerged that he made inappropriate advances towards Ms Farrow, inspiring John Lennon to write “Sexy Sadie”.

But by the 1970s, the Maharishi was said to have more than five million people practising transcendental meditation – or TM – which is based on the ancient Hindu practice of mind control.

Practitioners spend 20 minutes every morning and evening reciting a single sound, or mantra, to help them reduce stress and improve concentration. The Maharishi also taught “yogic flying” -– or bouncing in the air in the lotus position.

By the 1980s, he had set up schools across the world, founded the Natural Law Party, and built a multi-million pound business empire including a property dealership and a company selling ayurvedic medicine and cosmetics.

Most were financed by donations and a $2,500 fee to learn TM.

In 1990, he moved his headquarters to the forested grounds of a former Fransiscan monastry in the small southern Dutch village of Vlodrop, from where he controlled his Global Country of World Peace movement.

Since then, he had lived as a recluse, secluded in two rooms of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound and communicating only through video link, even with his closest advisers.

He was widely ridiculed in 2002 when he announced that he could combat world terrorism and war if he could raise $1 billion to train 40,000 expert meditators.

Sceptics also scoffed at his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries.

But despite his increasingly bizarre behaviour, he maintained a loyal following including celebrities such as David Lynch, the American film director and Clint Eastwood, the Hollywood film star.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, another Indian spiritual guru, said in a statement that he would never forget the time he spent with Maharishi.

“Maharishi laid the foundation for a new world based on the knowledge of Vedas and spirituality,” he said.

“There was none like him and none shall ever be again.”

Last month, the Maharishi stepped down as head of his organisation and said he would be "retiring into silence".

A spokesman said that a memorial service would be held in Vlodrop tomorrow before his body is flown back to India for an expected funeral on the River Ganges.

"His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ... passed away peacefully," his movement said in a statement.

"Maharishi's work is complete. He has done what he set out to do in 1957 - to lay the foundation for a peaceful world. Now, Maharishi is being welcomed with open arms into heaven."