Paul and Jane leave Rishikesh

In February 1968, The Beatles embarked on their visit to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India to take part in a Transcendental Meditation training course. The Beatles travelled in separate groups both to depart and return. Paul McCartney and his girlfriend, Jane Asher, departed from London on February 19, 1968,

On this day, March 24, they left Rishikesh to return to London, along with Neil Aspinall. They departed India on Qantas flight QF 763 at 23:45 and arrived in Tehran at 02:10. They spent a day in Tehran and left on March 26, departing at 02:55 and arriving in London at 08:15.

Jane Asher and Paul had to leave the last week in March, after six tranquil weeks. Jane had a theatrical commitment she could not break. It was a heartwarming scene when they said their goodbyes. Paul got on his knees and said, “Maharishi, you will never fathom what these days have meant to us. To have the unbroken peace and quiet and all your loving attention — only a Beatle could know the value of this. You kept your word to us, you protected us from the press and all outsiders. This has been the ultimate luxury. We will never forget you. When John and George get back, we’ll work on the plans we’ve made here.’’

As Rik and I walked to the upper gate with them, Paul gave Rik his tripod. He said to me, “I’m going away a new man.” Jane beamed with happiness. John stood by the gate and, strumming his guitar, bid them a fond farewell. John almost seemed like a different person from the white, pinched-faced man who had arrived. He posed happily for me as I took a picture of him with his foot on a rock, playing his guitar.

Nancy Cooke de Herrera – From “All you need is love : an eyewitness account of when spirituality spread from the East to the West“, 2003 – She worked as a publicist for the Mararishi in the 60s and was the liaison for the Mararishi and The Beatles during their stay in Rishikesh

I came back after four or five weeks knowing that was like my allotted period, thinking, No, well, no, I won’t go out and become a monk but it was really very interesting and I will continue to meditate and certainly feel it was a very rewarding experience.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

Being fairly practical, I had set a period for staying in Rishikesh. To start with, I thought, ‘Whoa, this could be it, man. I could never come back if this works.’ Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I’ll go for a month. Even if it’s incredible, I’ll still come back after a month.’ If it had turned out to be something we really had to go back for, I would have gone back. But at the end of my month, I was quite happy to leave. Nobody got any blinding enlightenment. I thought: ‘This will do me. If I want to get into it heavily, I can do it anywhere.’ That’s one of the nice things about meditation — you don’t have to go to church to do it.

By saying I was only going to be there a month, I had to risk that the others would say that I wasn’t into it. And George did, he was quite strict. I remember talking about the next album and he would say: ‘We’re not here to talk music – we’re here to meditate.’ Oh yeah, all right Georgie Boy. Calm down, man. Sense of humour needed here, you know. In fact, I loved it there.

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

Paul just came and went. I don’t think he got much out of the trip because there’s a bit of footage from Let It Be where he’s grinning, and saying to John, ‘Oh, and it was like being at school, you know: “Oh tell me, oh master”.’ Retrospectively, twenty years later, he may think back and the penny might have dropped as to what it was about, but I don’t think it did at the time.

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

I visited them out in Rishikesh, but only to stop them making a movie, really. There was a suggestion they would make a movie with the Maharishi. I’m not quite sure what it was supposed to consist of, but they did have a three-picture deal with United Artists and they’d only made Help! and A Hard Day’s Night.

I went in with Denis O’Dell. I stayed for a week, then I came home with Paul and Jane Asher, leaving John and George and their wives in Rishikesh. They came back later.

Neil Aspinall – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

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