The 1960s were archetypical. Following the enormous destruction and inhumanity of two world wars in the first half of the 20th century, and the reactive focus on creating personal wealth for safety in the 1950s, the 60s quickly became a time of tremendous change in society, marked by a world wide upheaval between the generations
Flying at 32,000 feet, heading for India, I was excited, and scared. I knew I was searching for something. I was looking for a different ‘me’. But, who was that? And, how do I find him? And, what if ‘he’ didn’t exist? What then? Landing in the early dawn’s dust and heat of Bombay on
The Maharishi had moved to England in 1959, just about the time the Beatles were starting to come together. After graduating as a physicist, from Allahbad University in India, he worked for a short time before leaving his more worldly path behind, for the life of a neophyte Indian holy man, or ‘sadhu’. Apparently, he
I waited for eight days. Then one day, in the early morning mist, Raghvendra came through the gate. He said I could come in now and learn to meditate, and I could spend my days in the ashram, take my meals with them and continue to sleep in the tent at night. My initiation into
The ashram sat on a small plateau among wooded hills. A narrow dirt road ran from the front gate to the back of the property, and a barbed-wire fence surrounded the property, ensuring the ashram’s privacy. Along the road, away from the cliff, behind a low chain link fence were six long, whitewashed bungalows each
In the morning, as I finished meditating, Raghvendra came and said it was time for me to meet the Maharishi. I followed him out into the intense Indian sun and walked to the Maharishi’s whitewashed bungalow. His house sat in a grove of trees at the edge of the cliff. We walked up the stone
The next day, I sat with the Beatles overlooking the Ganges. After chai, everyone left except George and me. Sitting alone with him I felt shy, awkward. George was quiet and intense, but friendly. He was then just a few days away from his twenty-fifth birthday. I told him I loved Norwegian Wood and asked
As George and I sat down alone in his small meditation room, he picked up his sitar and began to play. I was struck by the exquisite beauty of the instrument. Traditionally, sitars have been the dominant force in the music of India and Pakistan. It’s a long-necked, ancient South Asian stringed instrument, with a
The day after George invited me to sit with him, the Maharishi organized a group photo of all those attending the training course. Everyone dressed up, with beautiful garlands of red and saffron marigolds around their necks. While everyone was being seated, the Maharishi sat in the shade while the photographer finished setting up. He’d
In his songs “The Inner Light” and “Within You, Without You” George Harrison was, I believe, talking about the inner journey to wholeness and true maturity, in all its multi-faceted and multi-dimensional grandeur. For me, it’s living true to the inner Self on this physical plane, this emotional plane and this spiritual plane. It’s also
A couple of days later, late in the afternoon, I heard guitars and the sound of Paul’s and John’s voices. They were sitting with Ringo among the potted plants on the steps of their bungalow. I got my camera and after taking a few pictures through the chain link fence, opened the gate and joined
Walking toward Raghvendra’s quarters, I met Prudence and Mia Farrow out for a stroll. We greeted each other. Prudence stopped. Then Mia. “You’re the fellow from the hotel in Delhi, aren’t you? You came to our room.” Prudence turned to her sister. “Mia, this is the guy who brought you that lovely, big yellow mum.”
Mia’s marriage to super-star crooner and actor Frank Sinatra had ended some months before she came to India. Mia had married Sinatra when she was 19. It was her first marriage, and at the age of 42, it was his third. If the reports were accurate, Mia was a somewhat innocent and naive girl-woman, and
Before arriving in India, I felt I had an ‘ego’ problem. For several years, I found that I had two motivating forces when deciding what I wanted to do, whether in my work, or in my relations with others. One was the desire to be constructive in society, to do ‘good’. The other was my
I first met Donovan Leitch sitting with Mal at the table by the cliff. He was twenty-one, soft-spoken and friendly. He had an interesting face, long and rectangular, with a shy, almost internal smile. He told me he’d always been a quiet and introspective person. At fourteen, he read about Zen in Jack Kerouac’s On
By the time the Beatles arrived at the ashram, the feature films they’d been in, A hard Days Night and Help, had been major successes, along with their soundtrack albums. Dennis O’Dell had been hired by the Beatles to head-up Apple Films, their new film company, after being one of the producers of A Hard
Meeting Paul, I found him to be a truly welcoming man. I later read that he had a greater need to be liked than the other Beatles. If true, Paul needn’t have worried, having a very naturally warm, likeable character and disposition. Jane Asher was the warmest, most emotionally open of any of the ‘famous
Mal was the Beatles ‘roadie’ and right hand man at the ashram, and I liked him enormously. He was a lovely, caring man. He was also talented, playing Hammond organ, piano and tambourine as well as singing on various Beatles record tracks. The day I left the ashram for New Delhi with Mal, Ringo, Maureen,
The days at the ashram passed slowly for me, in that sensuous way time unfolds when staying present in the moment. Mal joined me at the long table overlooking the Ganges as I was writing a letter. He said he was going to Delhi the next day, that Maureen, Ringo’s wife, was missing home and
After almost 6 years of exciting, high energy, at times drug-filled, touring and recording, constantly hounded by the press and screaming fans, the closed ashram gave John, Paul, George and Ringo the private, quiet retreat they needed. The Beatles’ time at the ashram was unusually productive. In all, they wrote 48 songs in Rishikesh, including 17 songs
The last time I saw John was on September 13, 1969, at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. It was the world debut of the Plastic Ono Band and they were part of a stellar rock ‘n’ roll revival with Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, the Doors, and Alice Cooper. John
To my great relief and joy, on that first trip to India, I began to ‘find myself’—to make my own dream. When I returned home to Toronto, I wrote a short magazine article about meditation and my time with the Beatles and published a few of my photographs. Then I put the original transparencies away
(If you want to visit India with Paul, here is the detailed itinerary PDF.. Also see below.) India surprised me. On my first trip there in 1968 I learned that India is a remarkably rich country, rich in abundant minerals, timber, oil and manufacturing. India has the 10th largest GDP and the 3rd largest PPP in the