“Rishikesh, being up in the hills, was in a remote area, close to the jungle. “Poor thing, she had a lot of problems,” says Bose. And his wife Maureen was terrified of flying insects. He carried a suitcase full of Heinz baked beans. Ringo Starr’s stomach could not stand Indian food and its spices. Pot was smuggled in.” They also got to spend rare quality time with their wives and girlfriends, long sidelined by their music.īut it wasn’t all a party. They could sit around, eat nice vegetarian food. “And what they really went to with Maharishi was essentially a spa with not too much discipline,” says Norman. The group was worn out by year after year of relentless hard work, touring and ego clashes. Rock historian Philip Norman, who spoke about the Beatles at the Jaipur Literature Festival this year, says India probably “saved their sanity” and helped them stay together a little longer than they would have otherwise. Some say the India trip marked the beginning of the end of the Beatles. The band attended his seminar in Wales but had to leave after the sudden death of their manager and mentor, Brian Epstein, in 1967. The Maharishi came along speaking words of wisdom and soon the Beatles came to find themselves in India. He writes that the Beatles first met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London in 1967. They felt that by becoming George Harrison’s guru he had “sold out Indian culture and become a hippie,” says Bose.īose believes destiny probably brought the Beatles to India. The Communists felt that they were CIA spies,” says Ajoy Bose, a political journalist who has just written the book “ Across the Universe,” which is about the Beatles in India. Maharishi’s meditation compound, known as Chaurasi Kutia, was built using money given to him by the American heiress Doris Duke on land leased by the Uttar Pradesh forest department.Ĭultural purists were angry with sitar musician Ravi Shankar as well. “There was strong opposition in parliament to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram and these international celebrities coming.

Of course, when the Beatles actually came in 1968, the Indian government was far warier.

There are plans for a Beatles Museum and what’s left of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram, a 14-acre compound where the Beatles stayed, has been spruced up for tourists. A tribute band from England, the Fab Four, is supposed to perform there. Now 50 years later India is rediscovering the Beatles - or at least the tourism potential of the world’s most famous rock band seeking salvation in the country.Ī yoga festival in Rishikesh is having a Beatles special this month.

In February 1968, the Beatles embarked on their famous discovery of India to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Beatles guru maharishi mahesh yogi