Remembering Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the reason why The Beatles flew down to India in 1968
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was an Indian guru who developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and then introduced The Beatles to it — they attended a seminar on Transcendental Meditation conducted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in north-west Wales, upon George Harrisson's and his wife's insistence. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he achieved fame as the guru to the Beatles. He passed away on February 5, 2008
The Beatles traveled to Rishikesh, India in February 1968 to take part in a meditation course at the Maharishi's retreat, along with Donovan, Mia Farrow and Mike Love (Pic: Henry Grossman)
George and Pattie Harrison, her sister Jenny, and John and Cynthia Lennon arrived on 16 February; Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen followed three days later (Pic: Getty)
However, things did not go as smoothly as they had imagined. There were allegations that the Maharishi had made a pass at Mia Farrow (Pic: Pic: Getty Images)
On 15 June 1968, in London, the Beatles formally renounced their association with the Maharishi as a 'public mistake' (Pic: Wikimedia Commons)
'We went down to him and we’d stayed up all night discussing.. And when George started thinking it might be true, I thought, ‘there must be something in it' — John Lennon (Pic: Spud Murphy/ Yoko Ono
John Lennon later wrote the song Sexy Sadie, in response to this episode. The original title of the song was Maharishi and George Harrison had asked him to change it (Pic: The Beatles)
In 2000, he created the Global Country of World Peace in Netherlands, a non-profit organisation, and appointed its leaders (Pic: Wikimedia Commons)
In 2007, Paul McCartney visited the Maharishi in the Netherlands. He later said that Transcendental Meditation was a gift the Beatles had received (Pic:Pic: WireImages)
The Ashram where The Beatles stayed later became a popular tourist spot and came to be known as Beatles Ashram (Pic: Wikmedia Commons)
In 2008, the Maharishi announced his retirement from all administrative activities and went into silence until his death three weeks later (Pic: UMLAC)
