by Tom Ball
The New York Times article, "The Man Who Saved the Beatles," written in response to the passing of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (February 5, 2008), is a good starting point in retelling one of the epic stories of our time.
The New York Times article, "The Man Who Saved the Beatles," written in response to the passing of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (February 5, 2008), is a good starting point in retelling one of the epic stories of our time.
The Beatles first met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1967, while the meditation teacher was on a lecture tour in England. They learned his Transcendental Meditation technique and over the following months spent several weeks personally studying with him in Rishikesh, India.
Maharishi died on February 5, 2008, almost 40 years after the Beatles left Rishikesh.
Much has been made in the news media and blogosphere of the Beatles' association with Maharishi and the rise in popularity over the next decades of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation. On Maharishi’s passing, the New York Times published a reassessment of the Beatles' involvement with Maharishi ("The Man Who Saved the Beatles"). The Times article suggests that Maharishi may have had a greater affect on the Beatles than they had on him and his worldwide movement.
How meditation resuscitated the Beatles—for a while...
The India experience and the Beatles' meditation practice opened a floodgate of creativity for the band—“and got them out of what threatened to be a creative rut,” says the Times.
Describing the Beatles' time with Maharishi as the most productive period in the band's career, the article notes:
"That may seem an odd assertion, given that the group had only recently released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But part of the point of that album was to overcome the inertia imposed by the stress of being the Beatles by posing as someone else: the Sgt. Pepper band. And although it includes some of the Beatles’ most extraordinary music ('A Day in the Life,' for starters), it had been a struggle to fill it. Lennon, after all, had based one song on the text of a circus poster ('Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite') and another on a corn flakes commercial ('Good Morning, Good Morning'), simply, he later said, as a way of fulfilling his quota. But after Rishikesh, the group found itself with more new songs than it knew what to do with."
Beatles connoisseurs, audiophiles and music writers typically hold the White Album as the Beatles' masterpiece. But fewer fans have connected the musical achievement of the White Album with the Beatles' India experience or recognized the influence of "turning within" on renewing the band's creative and lyrical power.The process of meditation, as taught by Maharishi, is an effortless way of accessing "the infinite field of energy, creativity and intelligence that resides within everyone," as Maharishi explains. Now, four decades after the Beatles discovered the creativity-enhancing effect of transcending, hundreds of scientific research studies have verified that the practice can stimulate creativity and intelligence and benefit virtually all aspects of life.
In the past, unfortunately, most media attention concerning the Beatles' experience in India dwelt on the sensational episode surrounding John Lennon's abrupt departure from Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Academy.
What really happened?
Most press accounts claimed that the Beatles left because they became disenchanted. The Beatles themselves each told varying accounts about why they left. A recent Times of India article quotes George Harrison as saying that Maharishi asked the Beatles to leave because of their drug use during the meditation course. But Maharishi refrained from ever publicly shaming the Beatles.There's no question that John's experience turned sour (not only with Maharishi, but toward the Beatles, too, and toward his wife, Cynthia, as well). In the original lyrics of the White Album song "Sexy Sadie," Lennon overtly criticized Maharishi. By all accounts, John's accusations, ballyhooed by the press, turned out to be baseless.
After Lennon’s death (in 1980), Harrison and McCartney publicly commented on Lennon's accusations. McCartney notes that the rumors of impropriety were raised by Alexis Mardas, who, says the Times, was "a supposed inventor and charlatan who had become a Beatles insider."
“Magic Alex,” as he was known, apparently had agendas of his own (which included wanting to be known as "the Beatles' guru"). According to many sources, Mardas flat out fabricated a story of Maharishi's wrongdoing; evidently, Lennon believed the rumors. Cynthia Lennon states in her biography that she believed Mardas to have invented the tale to undermine Maharishi's influence on the Beatles.
George Harrison commented: "Now, historically, there's the story that something went on that shouldn't have. But nothing did... There were some flaky people around back then and we were four of them."
McCartney, in his biography, reaffirms that he did not believe the allegations and that he attributes them to Mardas. In a statement released at the time of Maharishi's passing, McCartney said: "I was asked for my thoughts on the passing of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and I can only say that whilst I am deeply saddened by his passing, my memories of him will only be joyful ones. He was a great man who worked tirelessly for the people of the world and the cause of unity. I will never forget the dedication that he wrote inside a book he once gave me, which read, 'Radiate bliss consciousness,' and that to me says it all. I will miss him but will always think of him with a smile."
Ringo wrote about his experience with Maharishi in his book Postcards from the Boys, stating that he still meditates with the mantra Maharishi gave him and that his time in Rishikesh was "one of the best experiences of his life." In February 2008, Ringo said of Maharishi, "One of the wisest men I met in my life was the Maharishi. I always was impressed by his joy and I truly believe he knows where he is going."
THE HISTORY CHANNEL: Setting the Record Straight on
Maharishi and the Beatles
Who influenced whom?
Were the Beatles responsible for Maharishi's great fame and success as a meditation teacher, or were Maharishi's achievements due to the real, positive effects of TM practice in people's lives? After 50 years of the Transcendental Meditation program being taught to millions of people around the world, with more than 600 scientific studies verifying its benefits, it appears improbably that the success of the TM program has been due merely to a rock band. The National Institutes of Health has funded over $28 million for scientists to further research the effects of the TM technique on brain function and cardiovascular health.
It's true that the Beatles involvement brought much attention to Maharishi and to meditation in general, and many people did learn the Transcendental Meditation technique when they first heard about the practice through publicity surrounding the Beatles.
But one problem with claiming that the Beatles spawned Maharishi's fame and success is that the publicity surrounding the Beatles' involvement was mostly negative, focusing almost entirely on Lennon's short-lived, much publicized scorning rather than the benefits of meditation.
It now seems evident that Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation were not "made" by the Beatles.
Yoko Ono was also there—in the audience. She told Rolling Stone: "John would have been the first one now, if he had been here, to recognize and acknowledge what Maharishi has done for the world and appreciate it."
"Maharishi did good for us"
"I still practice TM," said George Harrison in his later years. "Maharishi only ever did good for us, and though I have not been with him physically, I never left him." In 1992, Harrison organized and performed a benefit concert to support Transcendental Meditation and other of Maharishi's "consciousness-based" programs in the United Kingdom.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr also maintained their connection with meditation and re-established association with Maharishi’s non-profit organization. Paul's musician son James McCarthy is also a dedicated TM practitioner, and often lends his support to the David Lynch Foundation's efforts to bring the TM technique to people in need.
John Lennon would never again see Maharishi in person, but years later Lennon telephoned Maharishi and apologized for falsely accusing his meditation teacher of wrongdoing.
Who was "Sexy Sadie" really about?
Singer/songwriter Donovan was in Rishikesh with Maharishi when the Beatles came and went. He remarks in his autobiographical documentary, "The Journey of Donovan," that John's writing of the song was really about the Beatles and who they were at the time, and not at about Maharishi. As a 40-year meditator and lover of Beatle music, here's my personal take on "Sexy Sadie": If Maharishi can be said to have made fools of everyone, it is because, compared to Maharishi's immense, practical wisdom, the rest of us human beings can indeed look flaky—especially considering humankind's historical and ongoing blunders.
"Angels on earth"
Maharishi never harbored ill will towards the Beatles. Harrison's trip to visit Maharishi in the Netherlands in 1991, described in the Times of India article, adds another facet to the story.
According to Beatles lore, when the band made their first American TV appearance, on the Ed Sullivan show, there was said to be virtually no crime in the U.S. for that entire hour. "When I heard this," Maharishi told Harrison during this visit, "I thought of the Beatles as angels on earth. They created such music for the world. It doesn't matter what John said or did. I could never be angry with them. I could never be upset with angels." On hearing this response from Maharishi, Harrison wept, says the article.Maharishi expounded for over 50 years on the true nature of life from the perspective of Vedic knowledge. Often referred to as “the Einstein of consciousness,” Maharishi revived a lost meditation technique and established the life-transforming benefits of effective meditation on the empirical ground of science, opening the doors to higher states of consciousness for the scientific age and generations to come. Never in recorded history has one meditation technique been learned by 6 million people during the teacher's lifetime—and with such demonstrable results.
Maharishi opened the Beatles' minds and hearts to a reality much greater than Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. And it changed their lives forever.
Who was Maharishi—what is his role in TM?
Paul McCartney on Transcendental Meditation: Interview with David Lynch
Maharishi on the experience of transcendence and meeting the Beatles
