Hague, Netherlands (AHN)- The founder and spiritual leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, died in his sleep at his Netherland home in Vlodrop. He was estimated to be 91 years old.

Maharishi, known for his flowing beard and long graying hair, is a New Age icon of the 1960s' Woodstock generation. He is credited for Transcendental Meditation or TM, whose main characteristic is the chanting of the Hindu mantra "Om" in a lotus seated position.

He described TM as "the unified field of all the laws of nature", and through the years the practice gained medical respectability.

He was "guru" to leading celebrities such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Shirley MacLaine, Mia Farrow, Clint Eastwood, Director David Lynch, and Deepak Chopra, another New Age icon.

The roots of Maharishi's life remain unknown. He was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India sometime 1911 to 1918.

A son of a civil servant, he studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming the right hand of a well known Hindu holy man, Jagadguru Shankaracharya, who taught him TM. After Jagadguru's death, he continued the TM tradition.

Maharishi went into a two-year retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas before introducing TM to the West in the 1950s.

In January 2008, he announced his retirement in Vlodrop, and devoted his remaining days studying ancient Indian texts.