Gurus
Author- Bhavdeep Kang
Publisher- Westland, Rs295
BHAVDEEP KANG’s book Gurus presents an insight into the bittersweet association between the most loved pop band of the 1960s, The Beatles, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. An excerpt:
The Beatles, at the vanguard of pop music — the engine of the technology-enabled popular culture revolution — had found a radical new sound in hallucinogenic highs (Revolver, 1966). At a time when liberation was the leitmotif and mainstream religion had given way to non-denominational spiritual seeking, the Beatles thrilled to the prospect of alternative states of consciousness. Enter Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles were already drawn to Indian philosophy and culture by the time they encountered him.
The plot of their second feature film, Help! (1965), revolved around a Hindu cult intent on recovering a sacred artefact and accordingly, the soundtrack had a surfeit of Indian instruments. George Harrison had already begun experimenting with the sitar under the tutelage of maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. The Indian influence was apparent in many of his songs including, ‘love You To’ (Revolver) and ‘Within You Without You’ (Sgt. Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band). Harrison’s musical capers were, perhaps, inspired by his obsession with Swami Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), which he promptly recommended to other members of the group. On June 25, 1967, when they performed ‘All You Need Is love’ for the world’s very first live satellite TV production, Ringo Starr was dressed in what resembled a shimmering purple kurta.
The Beatles were by no means the only pop group enamoured with drugs and higher states of consciousness. The future drummer of The Doors, John Densmore and keyboardist Ray Manzarek met at a TM session in 1965 and decided to put the band together there and then. They borrowed the name from a book by Aldous Huxley (who was closely associated with the Vedanta Society of southern California and its head, Swami Prabhavananda) titled, The Doors of Perception, published in 1954.
The Beatles, prepped for an encounter with a real, live guru, found one in their own backyard. Patti Boyd, George Harrison’s wife of the time, who had attended Maharishi’s lecture in london, persuaded the band to attend his address at the Hilton. John lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison attended; Ringo Starr couldn’t because he’d just had another son. Harrison later said, ‘I knew I needed a mantra — a password to get through to the other world. And, as we always seemed to do everything together, John and Paul came with me.’
John embraced TM enthusiastically. Ringo Starr received an over-the-top phone message from him saying they were all going to Wales to see the swami. A 90-minute audience with him, a TM seminar in Bangor at which they were given mantras and the world’s most popular rockstars were hooked. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull joined them. At a press conference, they proclaimed that lSD was over and meditation was their new fix.
On August 27, 1967, while the “Fab Four” were still in Bangor, they received news that their business manager, Brian Epstein had died of a drug overdose. They were devastated — Brian had been a friend and confidante — and turned to their new-found guru for comfort.
“F***ing idiot” — was John lennon’s description of Maharishi to Rolling Stones’ Jann Wenner, many years later. ‘I was stunned. We all were. And the Maharishi — we went into him, “He’s dead,” and all that. And he was sort of saying, “Oh, forget it. Be happy”.’
lennon’s outrage at Maharishi’s vapid response took a long time brewing. At the time the Beatles were deeply enamoured, with John and George appearing on the Frost Report to endorse meditation. Even so, they soon found it necessary to tell the Maharishi — first through a representative and then in person — that he couldn’t use their names to advance his business interests. George put the guru’s attempts to parley his proximity to the Beatles into promoting TM, down to his “unworldliness”. However, in terms of business acumen, Maharishi was anything but unworldly — UK’s satirical current affairs magazine, Private Eye, referred to him as “Veririchi lotsamoney Yogi Bear” as early as 1967.
By January 1968, John lennon had begun work on ‘Across the Universe’, one of Beatles’ most popular tracks of all time, with the refrain “Jai Guru Deva...Om”. The following month, George, John and their wives headed for Rishikesh and were soon joined by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. Scottish musician Donovan, Mike love of the Beach Boys, Mia Farrow — on the brink of a divorce from Frank Sinatra — and her sister, Prudence, were already there. Fifteen sherpa-loads of Heinz baked beans were said to have preceded their arrival. There, on a hill overlooking the town and the Ganga, they listened to the Maharishi’s lectures and practiced meditation seriously — after they had gotten rid of the press, which turned up at the ashram gates in droves.
Apart from spiritual gymnastics aimed at self realisation under the guidance of their guru, the musicians had a lot of fun — Mike love and George celebrated their birthdays at the ashram; the Beatles and their partners dressed in Indian clothes, gorgeous kurtas and saris; they produced great music with Donovan penning a number for George’s sister-in-law, Jennifer Juniper and John for Mia’s sister, Dear Prudence. He also wrote Bungalow Bill, mocking a young American called Rik de Herrera, who’d come to visit his mother at the ashram.
And then the spiritual bubble burst. The member of the group least enamoured of the Maharishi, Ringo Starr, who had missed the guru’s first lecture, also happened to be the first amongst the four to leave the ashram. Paul McCartney left a few weeks later. Finally, it was the arrival of electronics wizard “Magic Alex” — Yanni Alexis Mardas — a close friend and business associate of the Beatles, which signalled the end of the idyll. Not only did he break the rules of the ashram by smuggling in alcohol, he alleged that the Maharishi had made advances towards his American girlfriend. This was to precipitate the departure of George and John and dent the latter’s faith permanently. To this day, the incident at the ashram is subject to various interpretations.
Edited excerpt from Gurus by Bhavdeep Kang, published by Westland, Rs295