What Happened to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi After The Beatles Severed Ties With Him?
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi became the spiritual guru of The Beatles in 1967. The following year, he invited the Fab Four to his ashram in India to learn Transcendental Meditation. However, their stay didn’t end well, and the group’s relationship with the guru soured. Here’s what happened to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi after he severed ties with The Beatles.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his involvement with The Beatles
According to Rolling Stone, George Harrison’s then-wife, Pattie Boyd, saw Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s advertisement for Transcendental Meditation classes. She signed up and told her husband about it. Then, Boyd, George, and the rest of The Beatles went to see the guru speak in London in 1967.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi invited The Beatles to a retreat in Bangor, Wales. However, the group’s time there was cut short by the untimely death of their manager, Brian Epstein. Paul McCartney claimed the guru helped the group recenter themselves. He also gave The Beatles a word or syllable as their personal mantra.
Later, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi invited The Beatles to learn more about his meditation technique at his ashram in Rishikesh, India. The point of going was to learn how to meditate, but The Beatles used the quiet of the ashram as an excuse to write tons of songs.
Then, John Lennon and George heard a horrible rumor that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had been inappropriate toward some of his female students. John felt like the guru had tried to fool them and promptly fled. His bandmates followed him shortly after.
Years later, John and George tried to mend their relationship with their spiritual adviser. However, none of their efforts paid off. According to Susan Shumsky’s The Inner Light, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ignored their calls and pretended not to know them.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi supported a political party years after The Beatles left India
According to Rolling Stone, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi abandoned his ashram in India sometime in the 1970s. However, the guru continued to teach students and form his large empire of Transcendentalism.
Into the 1990s, George must have repaired his relationship with the guru because he supported a political party formed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s followers, the Natural Law Party.
According to the LA Times, George played his first British concert in 23 years to help support the political party. The LA Times wrote that the platform includes “herbal gardens, Yogic flying, and government administration in harmony with the natural laws of the universe.”
They added, “Harrison’s appearance Monday night at the 5,500-seat Royal Albert Hall was to promote the Natural Law Party, which is fielding 310 regional candidates in Britain’s national elections on Thursday. Transcendental Meditation is a core feature of the Maharishi-supported party’s platform.”
The guru died in 2008
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died in 2008 in Vlodrop, Netherlands, at 91. Coincidentally, according to Beatles Bible, NASA broadcasted The Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” which has a mantra of “Jai Guru Deva om” in the chorus, into space.
In a statement about the guru’s death, Paul said, “I was asked for my thoughts on the passing yesterday 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.”
NPR wrote that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi isn’t just remembered for being the spiritual adviser of The Beatles. He was an “entrepreneur of enlightenment, who built an enterprise of spiritual centers and schools that today is estimated to have assets of about $300 million.”
Whatever happened between Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and The Beatles, the guru had a lasting effect on the Fab Four.
