The Beatles in India

The Beatles In India – The question they all ask is – have they gone off their heads?

THERE’S not a more loyal legion of fans than those who fall in line behind the Beatles. Through every chapter and trend of the Beatle story the fans have solely marched. But how do they feel now? Are they hesitating over meditating? Or have they ruled that this is one trip they can’t make with John, George, Paul and Ringo? I wonder.

For when the Beatles set out to meditate with their spiritual leader, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a fortnight ago — the question I was instantly asked was: “Have they really gone off their heads?”

The answer, simply, is No. For the trend-setting Liverpool foursome believe, and very firmly believe, that a trend to transcendental meditation could mean the solution to all of today’s world problems. George Harrison, the crowned mystic of the group, explained: “Its ultimate message is love — love one another.”

Meditation, they claim, means in its progression the bad things of life—like smoking, drinking, drugs, promiscuity, jealousy and selfishness—drop out one. Just by meditating and until a sheer state is reached.

Does that want to make you laugh? Some it will. It is surprising how soon you become curious, but when you come to realise just how sincere John, George, Paul and Ringo feel about it. I hope it helps to explain their pilgrimage to the Himalayas where they are meditating within the peace and tranquillity of the bearded Maharishi’s ashram.

George joked on the way over “that it will probably turn out like a Billy Butlin holiday camp.” And from a physical and architectural standpoint he was not far wrong. The meditation academy is built in circular camp fashion with a chain of whitewashed chalets for the pupils to live in, a meditation hall, a post office, a laundry and a dining hall. But its location could not be more breathtaking. Buried in the forest-clad foothills of the Himalayas and overlooking the Ganges—the river which most of India’s religious creeds say is holy.

Across the river is the shanty town of Rishikesh, where 10,000 monks live among its 12,000 people.
It takes five hours to drive the 140 miles from the capital New Delhi to the ashram and when the Beatles got here, in two instalments, they found that 60 other converts were already meditating with the guru.

So since their arrival, Paul, with his actress girlfriend Jane Asher, and John, George and Ringo, with their wives, have been having long private sessions with the Maharishi in order to catch up with the studies.

At the moment they are undertaking a “philosophy in action” course. For the Maharishi predicts that when the Beatles leave the academy “they will become the practical philosophers of their age.” Well, I suppose, they’ve come pretty close to that already.

There are no hard bound rules at the academy. But the schedule is tight and every hour usefully schemed.

Mornings and afternoons there are lessons at the open air amphitheatre conducted by the Maharishi or one of his senior disciples. They last a total of six hours a day, but as time goes on the studies grow less and meditation itself increases.

“Soon,” says the Maharishi, “the students will reach 30-hour sessions of meditation without eating, drinking or sleeping.”

Almost perpetually, this Indian holy man faces an inquisition on how genuine his cause is. And I am asked over and over again: “Is he taking them all for a ride?” I want to say here and now that I am not prepared to give an answer to that question, for I do not know enough about the Maharishi or his background to commit myself. But I will say this. The Maharishi is a character with a great sense of humour and a deep degree of sincerity. I liked him instantly and he has the knack of creating a human bondship which cannot be broken or harmed by what others may think.

There is one thing more to consider, too. If, as his enemies say, “he’s only in it for the bread” — then he is certainly showing no visual signs of enjoying the fortunes he is claimed to be pocket-

John Lennon says: “They had to kill Jesus Christ first — before they proved he was Jesus Christ. And even if the Maharishi vanished now we would still say that how far we had gone with him was worthwhile.”

And George: “The Maharishi is the kind of person the knockers are bound to knock. But one day they will all wonder why they did.”

Ringo and Paul also share the same views. But at the same time meditation does not mean the foursome are giving up their music. Said Paul: “We feel that through our music we will be shown the way we are really going. And others, we hope, will follow us.”

The Maharishi is sure the Beatles will have a great deal of influence in preaching his message when they leave Rishikesh. But will fans still hesitate before they meditate? A new era is about to dawn.

From Melody Maker – March 9, 1968

Beatles laugh at spy accusations

Rishikesh — The Beatles laughed yesterday at communist allegations in the Indian Parliament that Rishikesh, in the Himalayan foothills, where the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has his spiritual retreat, had become a “centre for espionage”. Paul McCartney was quoted by Reuter as saying: “Do you think England is coming back to take over India and we have come to spy for it?”

From The Times London – March 18, 1968

The Beatles fail Guru’s test for meditation

THE Beatles, MBE, have failed to make the charts with their latest craze — transcendental meditation.

The Maharishi — the Indian guru, or spiritual leader — has said that the pop stars will NOT be awarded certificates as student teachers of meditation.

Speaking in Rishikesh, India, the Maharishi said: “They didn’t complete the three-month course. But I must say that while they were here, they were excellent pupils.”

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were first to leave the meditation centre in the Himalayas. John Lennon left last Thursday. And George Harrison has gone off to Madras to make a film. John said last night at his mansion in Weybridge, Surrey: “It doesn’t mean to say that we have given up meditation. We didn’t set out to India to get certificates or to become teachers of meditation.”

From The Daily Mirror – April 16, 1968

THUNDERSTORMS

The weather has been very hot while the Beatles have been in India. The Maharishi’s Meditation Centre is situated on a plateau about 150 feet above the River Ganges. The buildings are built amongst trees and there is a lot of wildlife around. Peacocks strut around the grounds and one guest even reported that monkeys picked food from his plate while he was eating.

George celebrated his 25th birthday whilst he was in India and the Maharishi gave him a special gift to honour the occasion.

From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°57, April 1968

No Smoking with Guru

None of the Maharishi’s students, which include Mia Farrow, her sister Prudence, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Donovan, the Beatles and some forty other people smoke during the Maharishi’s lectures. They refrain from doing so as a mark of respect to the guru. But apparently, it is quite all right to light up at any other time.

From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°57, April 1968

BEATLE BITS

In India JOHN, PAUL and RINGO shot rolls and rolls of movie film during their stay at Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation academy. Resulting film material may be made into a professional movie production for public showing but that’s something the four boys will decide when they’ve looked at it all ….

From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°57, April 1968

Yogi a mistake, say Beatles

Two of the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, said yesterday that their recent involvement
with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a mistake.

“He was human — for a while we thought he was not,” the pair told a New York Press conference.

The Maharishi is an Indian mystic whom the four Beatles visited in the Himalayas in February for a course in transcendental meditation. Lennon interpolated: “We’re human, too.”

Lennon said the Guru had proved not to be very impressive. “But he wasn’t a shocking disappointment either,” he added. Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr agreed with the verdict, they said.

From Liverpool Daily Post – May 15, 1968

CLIMBDOWN OVER THE BEATLES’ EX-MENTOR

POSTERS of the Beatles’ former spiritual leader, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, put up in public offices in the Punjab to help quell corruption, have now been taken down, according to press reports in Chandigarh.

The Maharishi was called in by the Punjab Government last month to help with an anti-corruption drive by giving lectures on transcendental meditation, and posters bearing his teachings and photograph appeared in Government offices. The press reports said it was not known who had ordered the “transcendental climbdown.”

In New York last week two of the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, said their recent involvement with the Maharishi had been a mistake. “He was human — for a while we thought he was not,” they told a news conference.

From The Guardian – May 20, 1968

India police visit Beatles’ retreat

Rishikesh, Feb. 22. — Police investigations today disturbed the transcendental calm of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s spiritual centre where the Beatles are studying. After a complaint lodged by an Indian photographer that he was assaulted yesterday by some of the Maharishi’s followers, police made inquiries at the ashram (retreat) by the sacred Ganges. They said they were looking into the whole position at the ashram sition at the ashram where about 70 foreigners, including the four Beatles—George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney—are learning to become teachers of the Maharishi’s
spiritual regeneration movement The Maharishi said tonight that he was “very sore at unwarranted police interference”. He said they disturbed the atmosphere of the ashram.—Reuter.

From The Times London – February 23, 1968