Nigel Britto
Aug 14, 2010
The Beatles weren't exactly religious.In 1966,when a journalist asked
John Lennon what he thought of Christianity,the Beatle showed scant
respect for the world's biggest religion.
--
"We're more popular than Jesus now;I don't know which will go
first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity," he said,in what would later
become his most famous remark.That quip went largely unnoticed at the
time,though some radio stations in a few countries did ban the
group.It was when the comment was republished in an American magazine
later that year,out of context,that all hell broke loose,and the
Beatles were condemned as being 'anti-Christ'.
The Fab Four are as well known for their rejection of mainstream
religion as they are for their interest in eastern spirituality and
India.That interest was fired in 1965,when they were filming
Help!.There were Indian musicians playing on the sets,and George
Harrison thought the sitar sounded "funny".He later bought one,and
quite by chance used it to great effect in Norwegian Wood (This bird
has flown).It was the first of three Beatles' songs with a classical
Eastern sound,the other two being Love you too (Revolver) and The
inner light,which was recorded in Mumbai,where Harrison was producing
the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall in 1968.
India,which introduced itself to the Beatles through its music,then
captivated the Fab Four with its spirituality.It all began in August
1967,when they attended a lecture by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the
Hilton in London.Thoroughly entranced,they travelled with him to
Bangor,Wales,to attend a series of seminars for 10 days.The Beatles
left the series mid-way,after hearing of the death of Brian
Epstein,the rock on which the group was founded.But the Welsh outing
had sown a seed that was soon to blossom.
On Feb 16,1968,Lennon and Harrison,with their wives Cynthia and
Pattie Boyd,arrived in New Delhi.They made the 227-km taxi trip to
the Maharishi's academy of transcendental meditation in the foothills
of the Himalayas at Rishikesh.Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr arrived
with their wives four days later.Once inside,it wasn't all smooth
sailing.For one,the meditation sessions were very long,and McCartney
later recalled in his biography Many Years From Now,by Barry Miles:
"The difficulty,of course,is keeping your mind clear,because the
minute you clear it,a thought comes in and says,'What are we gonna do
about our next record?' 'Go away!' Meditate,mantra mantra mantra.'I
still want to know what we're doing on this next record.' 'Please go
away,I'm meditating,can't you see?' There's inevitably all sorts of
little conversations you can't help getting into."
Life in the ashram was remarkably quiet for the four most popular men
on the planet.A few photo ops were provided,but that was all.They
were joined by Beach Boys' lead singerMike Love and actress Mia
Farrow,along with her siblings.Meals were in a
glass-walled,open-roofed room,where monkeys sometimes joined
them.Lennon and Harrison were vegetarians,but Starr found the food
spicy,and had to be fed eggs.Some accounts say that cheap hooch
(which tasted like petrol) was also smuggled in for the
celebrities.Accounts of people who attended the ashram suggest the
four were friendly,affable and humourous.
The days in the camp were some of the best for the Beatles as
songwriters.They wrote so many songs,they wouldn't fit on one
album.What resulted was the double album The Beatles,popularly known
as The White Album.Even that couldn't accommodate all;the left-over
songs were included in the Abbey Road setlist in 1969.Lennon wrote
Dear Prudence for Mia Farrow's 19-year-old sister
Prudence,who,suffering from depression,spent long periods of time
meditating,which the Maharishi had warned against.
Ringo and wife left the camp within a fortnight,Ringo's problem with
Indian food being the main culprit.Also,they missed their
children,and his wife Maureen Starkey didn't like the insects.On
March 26,Paul McCartney and Jane Asher left the camp,leaving only
Lennon and Harrison,who left two weeks later.What exactly happened in
those weeks remains a mystery to this day.Lennon alleged that the
Maharishi misbehaved with Mia Farrow,and Harrison (the most 'Indian'
of the four) apparently became disillusioned with the holy man's
behaviour.The Beatles also thought he was too interested in fame and
money,and accused him of making passes at women.The song Sexy Sadie
(Sexy Sadie,what have you done/you made a fool of everyone) made
their feelings public - Sexy Sadie probably being a euphemism for the
Maharishi.
This was the accepted theory until 2006,when new-age thinker Deepak
Chopra put the guilt ball firmly in the Beatles' court.He exploded
the 'myth' of the Maharishi's promiscuity,saying that the guru asked
the Beatles to leave after he found that they were doing drugs in his
camp.Chopra also said he arranged a meeting between Harrison and the
Maharishi in 1991,where the Transcendental Meditation guru forgave
his former pupil.Harrison was the only Beatle who,till his death,kept
in touch with Indian culture and spirituality.According to Chopra,the
Maharishi said,"I knew the Beatles were angels on earth… I could
never be upset with angels".Suspiciously,this revelation came after
Harrison's death in 2001,so we will never know his side of the story.
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