The TM-Sidhi programme, 1977 onwards: magic and mind power
Mahesh Yogi's adherents were impressed by and enthusiastic about the World Government, but outside the movement it received limited attention and success. Apparently he soon came to feel a need to devise a new focus of interest and a new source of publicity and funding.

His solution was to launch the TM-Sidhi programme in spring 1977. Siddhi is a Sanskrit word for (extraordinary or magic) abilities and is always written with two "d"s in Indian contexts. Mahesh Yogi chose to spell it with one "d" in order to make the TM-Sidhi programme a registered trademark of the TM movement.
The programme consisted of a series of courses in new and purportedly extra powerful meditation techniques. People were to master supernatural skills such as flying by their own power, making themselves invisible, moving through walls and achieving perfect health. The actual techniques built on repeating in one's thoughts various verses from old Indian texts (Yoga Sutras). Different sutras are associated with different abilities. Frequently, the wording is open to multiple interpretations.

Flying involved three stages: first jumping, secondly floating, and thirdly flying around freely, "just like Peter Pan", as one adherent told an American newspaper. Aspiring flyers sat on innersprung mattresses with legs crossed, jumping up and down in this position. This feat requires suppleness and flexibility, but with a certain amount of training many can accomplish it without the aid of meditation. The movement published pictures of people sitting with crossed legs a little above the ground as "proof" that they could fly. Stories proliferated about trick photography, and many of those who had taken such courses later described them as a sham.

At the Sixth World Congress of Psychiatry in Hawaii in 1977, the TM movement distributed a thick brochure entitled Enlightenment in World Psychiatry, which set out the Sidhi programme. It was claimed that some devotees had already achieved extremely sharp hearing, early stages of invisibility and levitation, and the ability to see the body's inner organs as well as hidden objects with closed eyes.

In Norway, the consumers' ombudsman objected to the TM movement's advertising and asked them to substantiate their claims about supernatural abilities. Since they could not do this, the ombudsman demanded that in all future internal and external publicity they abstain from stating that TM-Sidhi courses could teach flying or levitation. From time to time, the movement chose to contravene this directive. Even today, its official Norwegian web site talks about "... the TM-Sidhi programme (Yogic Flying), which is a further development of TM". With regard to other supernatural powers, the movement's lawyer wrote in a letter to the consumers' ombudsman on June 19 1979 (ref. 239.79):

I can inform you that my client will not in the future claim that the TM-SIDHI programme develops perfect health, can [help to] achieve omniscience or make one invisible... I further confirm that one will not in the marketing of the TM-SIDHI programme use claims that this programme will enable people to walk through walls, see all inner organs and illnesses in the body and materialise all wishes.

The 1980s and later
We have glimpsed some of Mahesh Yogi's activities in the 1970s. What happened subsequently? Gradually, interest in the TM movement's meditation courses waned. Probably in order to maintain income, prices rose considerably, and learning to meditate became extremely expensive. The recent cost of a TM movement beginner's course was 14,500 kroner in Norway, 2,500 dollars in the US. The same price applied to advanced techniques, such as a changed mantra, which can be obtained every six months, according to the Norwegian web site. Fees for the Sidhi courses were even higher, and the cost of becoming a meditation teacher escalated.

The goals of the World Plan were not reached. Nations never became "invincible", but Mahesh Yogi continued to feel that he could save the world. In his efforts to sell himself to governments, over the years he placed numerous large advertisements in major journals and newspapers. One of these appeared in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet on October 7 1983:

GOVERNMENTS ARE INVITED TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS
The World Government of the Age of Enlightenment hereby announces that it is prepared to solve any government's problems, regardless of the kind or size of the problem - political, economic, social or religious; and independently of the nation's regime - capitalism, communism, socialism, democracy or dictatorship. Governments are invited to sign a contract with the World Government of the Age of Enlightenment in order to solve their problems. The contract will be based on each government refunding the expenses of the World Government when the agreed goal has been reached. 1983 may become the year of fulfilment for every government.

The text further declares that "the contract is to be drawn up by an international law firm in collaboration with an international bank that is acceptable to both parties". And, finally: "... life on earth now stands on the threshold of lasting sunshine in the Age of Enlightenment".

The official English-language web site currently reproduces a similar advertisement which was posted in the International Herald Tribune in 2005.

Flying yogis cure all
Only a few years after their launch in 1977, the external advertisements for the Sidhi courses were toned down. It is unwise to make startling claims about learning to fly by the power of the mind or becoming invisible without substantiating evidence, and even some thirty years on the movement is unable to produce such evidence. The courses still run, but with a new emphasis on creating peace and the invincibility of nations. This allows Sidhi participants - still known as Yogic flyers - and others in the movement to see themselves as part of a grand, life-saving scheme.

At the outset, the intention behind the World Plan was to teach TM to the entire global population within a short time. Later Mahesh Yogi said that one per cent of the population would suffice to influence the collective consciousness of humankind, enabling a positive phase shift in society. With the introduction of the Sidhi programme he further lowered his goals, claiming that the techniques were so much stronger that no more than the square root of one per cent of the population needed to practise them for world peace and invincibility to be attained. Thus, for a large nation with 100 million inhabitants, 1000 persons practising the Sidhi techniques would suffice. And with 7000 people, the effects would be global and would change the world.
Mahesh Yogi sent out teams of people who had followed the Sidhi courses to meditate in the vicinity of trouble spots around the world. According to the movement's own reports, things immediately became more peaceful when these people started their meditation. When they left, unrest flared up again.

The TM movement's current web site includes a page on "Maharishi's Initiatives for World Peace" which includes the following list:

1974: The "one-percent effect" or Maharishi Effect, predicted by Maharishi in 1957, is verified by significant crime reductions in cities where one percent of the population has learned the Transcendental Meditation technique.

1978: Maharishi's World Peace Project sends 1400 Yogic Flyers to the five most troubled areas of the world to calm the violence through their group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.

1983: During a two-month period, 2000 Yogic Flyers gather in the Middle East, reducing war intensity and fatalities in the region.

1988: 7000 students from the Vedic families of India are assembled at Maharishi Nagar near New Delhi to practice Yogic Flying and perform Vedic Yagyas for peace. During this time, the Berlin Wall falls and the Cold War ends. But when the group cannot be maintained financially, new tensions arise in the world.

1999: Maharishi Universities of World Peace are founded for every time zone to maintain a wave of coherence circling the globe.

2001: Maharishi warns the U.S. government against taking the "path of failure" by responding to terrorism with violence, and offers permanent world peace to every nation through 40,000 Yogic Flying Vedic Pandits in India.

The exaggerated nature of these assertions is clear. As to the item dated 2001, this too is misleading. The 40,000 pandits were not ready and waiting to go. What Mahesh Yogi actually had in mind was for the world's governments to donate huge sums of money to the TM movement in order to train 40,000 people in yogic flying and pay for them to gather in India and meditate.