The Beatles in India

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Life at the ashram

Life at the ashram

I learnt how to meditate. I don’t meditate as much now, but I say to my kids that it’s not a bad thing to learn, because if you’re stuck somewhere or if you’re a bit disturbed, it is a great thing to do.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

An average day there was very much like a summer camp. You would get up in the morning and go down to a communal breakfast. Food was vegetarian (which is good for me now) and I think we probably had cornflakes for breakfast. After breakfast you would go back to your chalet, meditate for a little while, have a bit of lunch and then there might be a talk or a little musical event. Basically it was just eating, sleeping, and meditating–with the occasional little lecture from Maharishi thrown in.

There were probably about a hundred of us. There would be a lot of flowers on the stage and then Maharishi would come in. It was almost magical. He would say, ‘This is only a system of meditation. I’m not asking you to believe in any great God or any great myth. It’s merely a system to help you to be calmer in your own life.’

I still think it’s good for that exact reason. I don’t buy any of those other stories about flying and levitation, although it interests me now because you can actually take courses where you learn these ‘siddhis’, as they call them, and you fly – you bounce off the ground a bit. I well remember a little chat we had with Maharishi when we asked him if levitation was possible. Fde said, ‘Well, I can’t do it, but I know a fellow in the next village who can.’ And we said, ‘Can we get him here? We’d love to see it.’ That would have been something to write home about, but we never did get to meet him.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

We had breakfast outside and monkeys used to come and steal the bread. After breakfast, we’d usually have a morning of meditation in groups, on the roof. Then after lunch we’d do the same.We did a lot of shopping. We all had Indian clothes made because they could do it right there: huge silly pants with very tight legs and a big body that you’d tie up tight, Nehru collars. We got right into it.

Ringo Starr – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

Maharishi was very up with modern technology because he thought it would help him get round the world and get his message over quicker. Once he had to get into New Delhi, and a helicopter came to the camp and landed on the beach down by the river. We all traipsed down in our kaftans and then it was: “One of you can go up for a quick ride with Maharishi. Who’s it going to be?” And, of course, it was John. I asked him later, “Why were you so keen to get up with Maharishi?” “To tell you the truth,” he said, “I thought he might slip me the Answer.” That was very John!

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

February 25, 1968 – George Harrison’s birthday

We had a big party for George’s birthday. It was crowded with people and we all got dressed up and had red and yellow paint on our foreheads.

Ringo Starr – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

I had my twenty-fifth birthday in Rishikesh (a lot of people had birthdays while we were there), and they had lots of flowers and garlands and things like that. Maharishi made me play my sitar.

George Harrison – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

March 1, 1968 – Ringo and Maureen leave India

March 15, 1968 – Holi, the festival of color

March 17, 1968 – Pattie Harrison’s 24th birthday

Writing songs

Songs written during the Beatles’ stay in Rishikesh

We wrote about thirty new songs between us. Paul must have done about a dozen. George says he’s got six, and I wrote fifteen. And look what meditation did for Ringo – after all this time he wrote his first song.

John Lennon

We ate breakfast outside, with lots of crows vying for our food. I was sitting there one day when Paul came to the table with his acoustic guitar, saying, “Hey, listen to this, Mike: ‘Flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C., didn’t get to bed last night…’” He was writing “Back in the U.S.S.R.” I told him, “You should sing about all the girls around the Soviet Union: the Ukraine girls, the Moscow girls, Georgia on my mind.”

We all had so much fun playing music for each other. For my birthday, the Beatles wrote a song called “Spiritual Regeneration” that ended with “Happy birthday, Michael Love.” It sounded just like the Beach Boys, the same rhythms, the same harmonies.

Mike Love, of the Beach Boys – From Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com), January 2018

The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill’ was written about a guy who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim, and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It’s a sort of teenage social-comment song and a bit of a joke.

John Lenlnon – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

[…] As for me, once I got down the ladder and saw the tiger up close. I felt sick. There wasn’t a blemish on his coat: he’d been shot down in the prime of his life — what a terrible thing to kill such a magnificent young animal. I would never go hunting again.

The next day, on returning to the ashram, we went directly to see Maharishi. John Lennon. Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and George Harrison were there with him. Rik was worried about his killing the tiger. “Is that bad karma for me, Maharishi?”

The answer was, “You had a desire, and now you have satisfied it and will no longer have the desire.” (Maharishi must have been right, for Rik hasn’t been hunting since.)

“But wouldn’t you call that slightly life-destructive?” sneered John.

“Well, it was the tiger or us,” I volunteered, getting into the act.

Paul, with Jane sitting alongside, her head on his shoulder, asked, “Tell us the details, man — what an experience.” He always went out of his way to be friendly to everyone.

Later on, John wrote the song, “Bungalow Bill” — its lyrics telling the story of the tiger hunt: “Hey, Bungalow Bill, what did you kill?” It described Rik as “an all-American, bullet-headed (his crew cut). Saxon mother’s son (who always dragged his mom along)…” Everything was grist for John’s writing.

Nancy Cooke de Herrera – Mother of Rik, who killed the tiger – From “All you need is love : an eyewitness account of when spirituality spread from the East to the West”

Regardless of what I was supposed to be doing, I did write some of my best songs while I was there. It was a nice scene. Nice and secure and everyone was always smiling. The experience was worth it if only for the songs that came out, but it could have been the desert or Ben Nevis.

The funny thing about the camp was that although it was very beautiful and I was meditating about eight hours a day, I was writing the most miserable songs on earth. In ‘Yer Blues’, when I wrote, ‘I’m so lonely I want to die,’ I’m not kidding. That’s how I felt.7’ Up there trying to reach God and feeling suicidal.

John Lennon – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

Mike Love was in Rishikesh. Donovan was there. I can remember people like that. Mia Farrow was there, and her sister, Prudence. John wrote the song ‘Dear Prudence’ for her because she had a panic attack and couldn’t come out of her chalet.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

I wrote a couple of little things while I was there. I had a song called ‘I Will’, but I didn’t have any words for it. And I wrote a bit of ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. We went to a cinema show in a village where a guy put up a mobile screen and all the villagers came along and loved it. I remember walking down a little jungle path with my guitar to get to the village from the camp. I was playing: ‘Desmond has a barrow in the market place…’

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

About 30 songs were written during the Beatles’ stay in Rishikesh. Most of them became part of the White Album, released in November 1968.

Songs released on the “The Beatles”, November 1968:

• Back in the U.S.S.R.
• Blackbird
• The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
• Cry Baby Cry
• Dear Prudence
• Don’t Pass Me By
• Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
• I Will
• I’m So Tired
• Julia
• Long, Long, Long
• Mother Nature’s Son
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• Revolution
• Rocky Raccoon
• Sexy Sadie (originally titled “Maharishi”)
• Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
• Wild Honey Pie
• Yer Blues

Songs released on “Abbey Road”:

• Mean Mr. Mustard
• Polythene Pam

Paul McCartney’s songs released on solo albums:

• Junk
• Teddy Boy
• Cosmically Conscious

Fall out with Maharishi

I was quite happy. I was wondering how the others were going to get out of it, though, and then they arrived back with a story that Maharishi had made a pass at an attractive blonde American girl with short hair (not Mia Farrow).

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

There was a big hullabaloo about him trying to get off with Mia Farrow and a few other women, things like that. We’d stayed up all night discussing was it true or not true. And when George started thinking it might be true, I thought it must be true because if George is doubting him there must be something in it.

John Lennon – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

Someone started the nasty rumour about Maharishi, a rumour that swept the media for years. There were many stories about how Maharishi was not on the level or whatever, but that was just jealousy about Maharishi. We’d need analysts to get into it. I don’t know what goes through these people’s minds, but this whole piece of bullshit was invented. It’s probably even in the history books that Maharishi ‘tried to attack Mia Farrow’ – but it’s bullshit, total bullshit. Just go and ask Mia Farrow.

George Harrison – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

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

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

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

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

Beatles begin their career as ‘sages’

In the Himalayan foothills above Rishikesh, the Hindu place of pilgrimage, John Lennon and George Harrison, here on a course of instant mysticism, are being “fed high-level philosophy in simple words” in an atmosphere of coloured bunting, taped Indian music, and man-made meditation caves.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were due to arrive here today to join their colleagues and the 70 or more Americans, Britons, and Europeans at the spiritual retreat overlooking the Ganges and situated in one of the most sacred areas of Hindu mythology.

The Beatles, Mia Farrow and other meditators less prominent will spend the next three months learning the finer points under their guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, president of the academy of transcendental meditation.

The course, the guru says, is designed exclusively for foreigners. Within three months he promises to turn Harrison, Lennon, McCartney and Starr into fully qualified teachers or semi-gurus of Hindu meditation.

While the sadhus (holy men) and professional hippies inhabiting the temples below the academy are slightly sceptical about the Maharishi’s wonder course, the guru is confident that the Beatles will return to Britain as Hindu sages — with diplomas to prove it.

Behind barbed wire

“George and John have progressed fantastically in the few days since they arrived here. I am not pushing them too hard at first; only a few hours of meditation a day. I am feeding them high-level philosophy in simple words”, the bearded guru says during one of his frequent press statements outside the barbed wire fence surrounding his retreat.

While the guru is forthcoming with the press on his thesis of transcendental meditation, he is reluctant to present his four pupils to the photographers and reporters.

Mr. Malcolm Evans, the Beatles’ manager, says they are here with only one thought in mind — to meditate. “They do not want publicity, fans or press. They want to be left alone to meditate and take a holy dip in the Ganges.”

The academy is set on a quiet wooded hillside overlooking the Ganges and the colourful temples where devout Hindus flock in their thousands to take a purifying bathe in the river. High above the banks where the lepers, beggars, and ascetic sadhus live on the offerings from passing pilgrims, the school for canned meditation functions as a modern hotel catering for spiritual tourism.

The ashram, or retreat, offers ultramodern apartments tastefully furnished and with hot and cold water. Dominating the ashram is the residence of the jet-age guru, who designed the £35,000 building himself. From the magnificently decorated underground lecture hall the pupils stroll through wooded gardens to the Sat Hangh hall, or private meditation caves. The hall consists of 84 caves — some are still under construction — where the disciples can meditate in private 6ft. by 4ft. compartments.

Accommodation and the course costs each disciple one week’s salary, which should put the academy on a sound financial footing when one reviews the lists of celebrities and businessmen attending the winter course. The academy has its own telephone system, printing press, and post office, which the Government installed for the benefit of the guru’s foreign disciples. On the outskirts the reception office issues entrance permits to those allowed beyond the barbed wire “outer holy gate”.

Puzzled onlookers

Crowding the perimeter fence. Indians, including sadhus, watch the ashram with slight bewilderment Bearded youths in the correct cross-legged postures sit for hours staring profoundly at the Ganges. A score or so of middle-aged western women trip awkwardly through the gardens fumbling with their now saris.

But if the silent gods watching over the Ganges are slightly perplexed with their new disciples, they are to be startled next week by the roar of the academy’s new helicopter. It has been hired to ferry the guru’s followers across the river for short journeys away from the spiritual world of the Ashram.

The Beatles’ daily routine begins with a private meditation. The guru explains that he has given each of his pupils a basic word, or at least a sound, on which to meditate. At the end of each private session the Beatles are asked to review their contemplation of their sound and to discuss their findings with the guru.

The Maharishi is unwilling to divulge the sound allocated to each pupil. “It is a secret between the guru and the disciple, similar to the privilege enjoyed between doctor and patient.”

After a vegetarian breakfast, prepared in a special European kitchen, the pupils congregate with flowers for the mass puja, or prayers, led by the guru. Lectures on transcendental meditation follow.

Malcolm Evans is quite convinced that Harrison, Starr, Lennon and McCartney will not end up as spiritual drop-outs before the course is completed. “They are here to meditate for three months and there is no doubt that they will remain here until the end of the course. The boys, I repeat, are keen on meditating.”

Rishikesh, Feb. 20. — George Harrison and John Lennon today made a pilgrimage to the banks of the Ganges. Squatting cross-legged in silent meditation, they dipped their hands into the icy river and sprinkled water on their eyes and faces. — Associated Press.

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

As well as peace, there were also times of joy and celebration. George, Pattie, and musicians, Paul Horn and Beach Boy Mike Love, all celebrated their birthdays within a few days of each other. On Pattie and Paul Horn’s birthday we all watched Paul playing the horn with an Indian musician called Shah Jahan. Donovan, who had recently arrived, played and sang a Beach Boys-inspired song, along with Paul and George, for Mike Love’s birthday celebration. Whether it was a special occasion, I can’t remember, but there was one day when we all traipsed down to the Ganges in our colorful Indian kurta shirts and loose fitting cotton pajamas, made by the tailor who sat cross-legged in a tent at the ashram, ready for our special outing. We sat with Maharishi beside the Holy River; George, John, and Paul playing their guitars with Donovan while everyone else sang some of the better-known songs.

Jenny Boyd – From “Jennifer Juniper – A journey beyond the muse” by Jenny Boyd, 2023

The beat started. Suddenly, I was aware of a movement in the underbrush. I saw Avi point. As I kicked Rik to look, we heard a furious roar — Rik said it startled him so much that he almost pulled the trigger right then. A second later, the tiger broke in front and like a streak of lightning leaped at us. Rik’s gun went off instantaneously, hitting the animal’s head and stopping its charge. At almost the same instant, Avi fired, hitting it also near the ear and killing it. For a second, all was quiet and there was a tiger lying two feet from our ladder.

“Rik, I’m so proud of you!”

“Mom, I’ve never shot so fast in my life. That was real luck. I’m sure glad Avi had that big gun, or that animal could have recovered and been up in the machand with us!”

The elephants returned; everyone was shouting and congratulating Rik. After the initial excitement was over. Avi said to us. “Cool it, unless you want to pay $7,000. You don’t want the Burkes to get uptight.” Against the real tradition of the hunt, they claimed the skin, saying it was just a fluke they were not in the machand at the time. Rik didn’t care, he had had the thrill of shooting the tiger.

As for me, once I got down the ladder and saw the tiger up close, I felt sick. There wasn’t a blemish on his coat; he’d been shot down in the prime of his life — what a terrible thing to kill such a magnificent young animal. I would never go hunting again.

The next day, on returning to the ashram, we went directly to see Maharishi. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and George Harrison were there with him. Rik was worried about his killing the tiger. “Is that bad karma for me, Maharishi?”

The answer was, “You had a desire, and now you have satisfied it and will no longer have the desire.” (Maharishi must have been right, for Rik hasn’t been hunting since.)

“But wouldn’t you call that slightly life-destructive?” sneered John.

“Well, it was the tiger or us,” I volunteered, getting into the act.

Paul, with Jane sitting alongside, her head on his shoulder, asked, “Tell us the details, man — what an experience.” He always went out of his way to be friendly to everyone.

Nancy Cooke de Herrera – From “All you need is love : an eyewitness account of when spirituality spread from the East to the West” by Nancy Cooke de Herrera, 2003

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