The Beatles in Rishikesh – Me too
In 1968, the Beatles came to Rishikesh in India to live in an ashram, learn to meditate, and enlighten themselves with their guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the “guru of laughter.” He was the inventor of a meditation technique, which was and is incredibly popular with Westerners. Maharishi was also an excellent businessman and when he died in 2008, he left billions of dollars and millions of followers. He was criticized by many, including the Beatles themselves and his fellow gurus for being too focused on money and for not sharing his wisdom for the sake of doing good.
The Beatles fell in love with this man who taught them to meditate at a time when their lives were hectic, somewhat crazy, and drugs had started to be a problem for them. Maharishi promised world peace and yogic flight through his meditation technique. As we know, neither has been achieved so far, however the Beatles were ready, even desperate to believe it.
Of course, it seems that the Beatles liked to believe the incredible. There was a guy they called Magic Alex, the “Greek wizard.” The Beatles believed that he could deliver the most incredible futuristic inventions. It would seem that this Alex boy had promised them a new kind of paint that could make anything invisible, or a car that would change color when you flipped a switch. I was also working on some wallpaper speakers, which would actually be part of the wallpaper. The Beatles loved it and they told him many times “if you could do that, we would like one”. They invested a great deal of money in Magic Alex and even commissioned him to create an “artificial sun” that would light up the night sky. When it was time for Alex to produce his artificial sun, he claimed that there was not a strong enough power supply to power it. No matter.
However, when it comes to the yogi, the Beatles weren’t the only ones to believe. He had many famous people among his millions of followers. Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, the Beach Boys, and even Vidal Sassoon are said to have studied with the Maharishi. Some of them met their guru outside of India, but the Beatles went on the all-inclusive enlightenment tour to the holy “Valley of the Saints” in Rishikesh, where Maharishi’s ashram was located.
I myself have been to Rishikesh in India and stayed in an ashram. It only lasted one day though. The rooms were empty, with what I could occupy myself. However, the atmosphere was more like a prison than a place of spirituality. Silence prevailed for most of the day and even during hours of conversation, people only whispered. No one laughed or made a joke. There was an air of repression everywhere. The meal times and curfew were strict and ridiculously early. Who wants to have dinner at 6 in the afternoon and be locked in their cells at nine? Of course, smoking was prohibited, as were alcohol and meat. The food consisted mainly of light colored dhal with dark colored dhal and was served on a large metal tray. After each meal, I had to rinse the tray and take it to my room. At five thirty in the morning a bell rang and the prisoners, repentant spiritists, left their rooms rubbing their sleepy eyes as they carried their metal trays to the kitchen to refill themselves with dhal.
The Beatles had it a lot better than that. Although the ashrams are meant to be simple, you could call them primitive, the one the Beatles visited was of a different standard. His was designed with Westerners in mind – rich Westerners. It was described as luxurious, but also seedy. Even in 1968, its rooms had electric heaters, running water, bathrooms, and European-style furniture. Their meals were cooked by an English chef. They even had an Indian tailor on the premises. He was responsible for creating those multi-colored, Indian-inspired sequin outfits that the Beatles, and everyone else after them, wore ever since. The routine in their ashram was relaxed and they spent most of their time playing and composing music, that is, when they were not attending group meditation meetings and private lessons with their guru. What fun they had! It was Ringo Starr who called his ashram a Butlins holiday camp.
Today, Rishikesh is known as the yoga capital of the world. The yogi and his Beatles certainly helped draw the attention of the western world to this city, which was once just a small village in the foothills of the Himalayas. For Hindus, however, Rishikesh has always been a place of the greatest religious importance. According to legend, Lord Rama came here to do penance for killing Ravana, a demon king and it is said that his younger brother Lakshmana crossed the Ganges river exactly at the point where the famous ‘Lakshman Jhula’ bridge stands today. Hindus still come to Rishikesh to worship, but most visitors are now Westerners in search of enlightenment, a yoga vacation, or just to see what it’s all about.
When I arrived in Rishikesh, I was deeply disappointed. I blame the guides, who made it seem like there was peace, a quiet environment conducive to meditation, the sound of bells ringing in the valley at sunset. I think this is what it was, a quiet little town by the river, with monks and spiritists roaming the narrow streets in search of true happiness and enlightenment. I wonder if it was like this when the Beatles were there. It certainly is not so now.
The current city of Rishikesh is a large, bustling, noisy and quite dirty city that stretches for several kilometers. After forty years of international tourism, there are now a large number of guesthouses, hotels, yoga centers, and ashrams. Money has been earned and reinvested in the construction of more guesthouses, ashrams, tacky shops, and conventional restaurants. They still don’t serve alcohol within a 25 kilometer radius as I was told, but other than that there is nothing you can’t get here. It is impossible to get away from the deafening sound of motorcycles honking their horns constantly and for no obvious reason, interspersed with the sound of the engines of large trucks going up and down the hills to deliver building materials for more guesthouses, ashrams. .. you know, the lot.
Meditation and Rishikesh now seems like an odd combination, as it is impossible to find a quiet place in this bustling metropolis. I found no peace, no enlightenment, not even a decent yoga class. The second day I left the city in a hurry. Very similar to the Beatles, who stayed a bit longer but left before the scheduled release dates. Ringo and Paul left after two weeks because they didn’t like the food, I don’t blame them. Harrison and Lennon stayed a bit longer and had a good time, but after a few weeks they had a great fight with the Maharishi.
By now, the maharishi’s business sense was perceived as greed and calculation. John, in particular, began to criticize the money-oriented behavior and fame of the Maharishi. When in addition to that the rumor spread that the supposedly celibate guru had tried it on with the ladies of the group, the last remaining Beatles turned their backs on Rishikesh, the ashram and the yogi. Later, the Maharishi claimed that it was his wish that the group leave because he caught them using drugs, which was against the ashram rules.
1968 went down in history as the Indian Summer of the Beatles. They had been looking for something to stabilize them, to help them get off LSD and rekindle their creativity. In fact, the period in Rishikesh was one of the Beatles’ most creative and in just a few short weeks, they composed almost 48 songs, many of which appeared on their White Album. John Lennon took revenge by creating a song with the accusing and angry lyrics: “What have you done? You made a fool of everyone.” He called the song Maharishi, but then changed the title.
I was glad to have come to such an important place in modern religion and history. However, frankly: Rishikesh, India, didn’t do it for me.