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Home , Brahmananda Saraswati, Concert for George, David Lynch Foundation, Dhani Harrison, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, West Meets East

MUSICBY JENNIFER DAVIS-FLYNN Remembering the revolutionary sound that helped bring meditation to the West.

n October 1966, 18-year-old practitioners could achieve became the it theme in popular Prudence Farrow Bruns was “pure bliss consciousness” culture. Life magazine dubbed Ikneeling at the foot of the and live from a place of 1968 “The Year of the ,” Apparition Grotto in Lourdes, rather than in the prison of featuring the and his France, praying for a . their minds. famous disciples in a colorful She desperately wanted But it wasn’t all peace and eight-page spread. By the mid- to study Transcendental love at the compound. The 1970s, TM had an estimated Meditation (TM) with her guru Beatles famously left after 600,000 practitioners and was Maharishi Mahesh in two months amid rumors gaining up to 40,000 more , , but students of sexual misconduct by the per month. at his TM teacher training were Maharishi (no suits were ever “One of the things that the required to be at least 24 years filed and some of the attendees Maharishi started having us do old. When her older sister, later denied that anything was meditating in these large actress , was invited inappropriate had taken place) groups to put peace out into to the Maharishi’s ashram a but not before they penned the collective consciousness,” year later, the younger Farrow 48 songs, including the White says Farrow, who at 72 has only was desperate to join her. “It ’s “,” a nod recently retired from teaching was my dream!” she recalls. to the young Farrow’s reclusive TM after more than 51 years. As fate would have it, dedication to her meditation “From my perspective, today’s Prudence got her miracle, and practice while at the ashram. practitioners are my in January 1968, she traveled Even without the endorse- children and grandchildren and with her sister Mia to the ment of his star pupils, the great-grandchildren. You’re small Himalayan town where Maharishi and the TM move- the future of this revolution her guru made camp when ment were catching fire in in consciousness in the West. he was not traveling around the West. TM was a welcome It started with us, but you will the United States and Europe contrast against the backdrop carry it on.” lecturing about elevated of the turbulent 1960s. The In the famed words of consciousness and the joys of Vietnam War was taking hun- American psychologist and inner happiness. There were dreds of lives per week. A spate writer Timothy Leary, “Turn more than 60 people staying of high-profile assassinations on, tune in, drop out” as we at his ashram at the time, and violent protests rocked the travel back to the 20th-century including , Scottish evening news, and the specter music and counterculture pop star , and the of war with the Soviet Union that spawned a quest for Beach Boys’ —all and nuclear annihilation fright- self-inquiry and brought seeking enlightenment from ened the nation as the world Eastern spiritual practices a shaggy-haired pacifist whose watched. meditation West—setting the stage for battle cry was that with just and the Maharishi’s mes- the contemporary PHOTO: MIRRORPIX / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO PHOTO MIRRORPIX / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO: PHOTO: TKTKTK PHOTO: TKTKTK PHOTO: 20 minutes of TM a day, sage of love and world peace movement we have today.

82 YOGA JOURNAL YOGAJOURNAL.COM 83 IN TIME ’52 ’59 ’67 ’68 1950S ’55 ’68 ’65 MUSIC

JANUARY 1952 APRIL 1955 laughter, visited the US, Europe, Material World. “I’d never thought 1967 Yoga” thanks to its hundreds of CLASSICAL VIOLINIST YEHUDI and Asia to teach Westerners about them for the rest of my THE BEATLES MEET THE ashrams and temples and the flocks MENUHIN TOURS INDIA HITS AMERICA about Transcendental Meditation, life, but suddenly [they were] in MAHARISHI of seekers who sought to learn American-born , Classical sarod player Ali Akbar a type of mantra meditation he the back of my consciousness,” Harrison and the rest of the meditation and yoga at its source considered one of the greatest Khan traveled to America for the learned from his guru Harrison said. In 1965, the group Beatles traded LSD and other and bathe in the holy violinists of the 20th century, was first time for a series of concerts Brahmananda . was also introduced to Shankar’s mind-altering substances River that flows through the city. invited by the Indian government for the Living Arts of India Festival Calling 1959 “The Year of Global music while hanging out with for meditation. The Maharishi’s ashram, built with to play a series of concerts. at MoMA in New York. One of the Awakening,” Maharishi gave David Crosby of (and discovered TM in a newspaper funds donated by American heiress There, he was introduced to concert recordings became Music lectures on his technique in later Crosby, Stills & Nash) in Los ad, and the rest is history. When , was built on a cliff celebrated player Ravi of India: Morning and Evening community centers, private Angeles. Harrison met Shankar a the Maharishi visited London above the Ganges, surrounded Shankar and guru B.K.S. Ragas—the first Indian classical homes, and churches, catching year later while touring England later that year to give a lecture at by jungle. Despite the Maharishi’s Iyengar by then-Prime Minister recording released in the United the interest of Hollywood A-listers and began taking sitar lessons the Hilton hotel, Harrison, John recommendations to meditate for Jawaharlal Nehru. Menuhin States. (Akbar Khan also became such as Shirley MacLaine and from him. Shankar simultaneously Lennon, Paul McCartney, and their at least eight hours each day, music became a champion of Indian the first Indian musician to appear and socialites like nurtured Harrison’s interest in wives attended. The group was was everywhere at the ashram. classical music, recording the on US television that same year.) tobacco heiress and philanthropist Hindu tradition and . so entranced that they dropped Without other outside distractions, Grammy Award-winning album The concert received rave reviews Doris Duke, who called TM “life- “Ravi and the sitar were kind of everything to leave the following the Beatles were even more with Shankar from the New Yorker and the New changing.” Maharishi completed like an excuse trying to find this day for a 10-day spiritual productive than usual, reportedly and performing with Hindustani York Times. Its success set the 13 world tours by 1971. spiritual connection,” Harrison conference led by the Maharishi writing dozens of songs during classical musician Ali Akbar stage for ’s first US said in an interview with the BBC in Bangor, Wales to learn TM for their time in India, most of which Khan. He became a lifelong yoga tour, on which he played to small 1965–1966 World Service radio network. themselves. In a press conference, appeared on the White Album. practitioner, even inviting Iyengar but intrigued audiences. Shankar THE BEATLES GET SPIRITUAL Harrison and his then-wife, model they famously swore off drugs. to join him on a European tour would eventually connect with By the mid-’60s the Beatles Pattie Boyd, visited Shankar in NOVEMBER 22, 1968 in 1954 so he could learn directly producer Richard Bock of World had begun experimenting with India in 1966. Taking an interest THE BEATLES’ WHITE ALBUM IS from the master. The two would Pacific Records and release 12 psychedelics and integrating in Harrison’s spiritual journey, THE BEATLES TRAVEL TO THE RELEASED remain friends until Menuhin’s over the next decade. their experiences into their Shankar and his brother Rajendra MAHARISHI’S ASHRAM IN INDIA The second track on the seminal death in 1999, and Menuhin music. gave him certain books, including Together with their wives, the double album, “Dear Prudence,” eventually wrote the foreword for 1959 described dropping acid for Parahamsa Yogananda’s Beatles headed to Rishikesh, India had been written at the Maharishi’s Iyengar’s bestselling book Light THE MAHARISHI BEGINS HIS the first time in 1965 and Autobiography of a Yogi, which to study TM with a slew of other ashram and paid homage to on Yoga, which is still in print FIRST WORLD TOUR experiencing visions of Shankar claimed in a 2008 celebrities, including Hollywood Farrow’s day-and-night devotion to today and has sold more than , known in the in Martin interview “was where [Harrison’s] film stars and pop and folk her meditation practice. In a 1980 3 million copies worldwide. as the “The Giggling Guru” due Scorsese’s 2011 documentary interest in Vedic culture and musicians. Rishikesh had earned interview, recounted

to his penchant for spontaneous George Harrison: Living in the / CBW PHOTO, MIRRORPIX / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK COLLECTION EVERETT PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK CBW FROM LEFT: CLOCKWISE PHOTOS GETTY MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES / STRINGER/ PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK MARKA PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK ANTONYM PHOTO, ALAMY STOCK Indian-ness began.” the moniker “the Birthplace of the story behind the song:

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“[Prudence] had been locked in at Apple Records in February Things Must Pass, which featured since 1973, the foundation teaches for three weeks and was trying to 1968, and the pair became the hit single “” OCTOBER 20, 1998 NOVEMBER 29, 2001 TM to both children and adults reach quicker than anybody friends. Harrison was compelled (and included the Hare RAVI SHANKAR’S DAUGHTER, GEORGE HARRISON DIES and has provided scholarships else.” Farrow recalls that Lennon to help the Society for Krishna Mantra). The album topped the ANOUSHKA, RELEASES HER After a five-year battle with to nearly 150,000 schoolchildren recognized her singular dedication Consciousness set up a temple US Billboard 200 Chart for seven FIRST ALBUM throat, lung, and brain cancer, in the United States and South to expanding consciousness: “I and establish an organization in weeks, ultimately selling more After beginning to perform Harrison passed away at age 58. America. With a goal of raising was like George, dedicating my London. The two collaborated on than 1 million copies. sitar with her father in her In accordance with his wishes, $7 billion to spread TM, the life to this thing that most people 1971’s The Radha Krsna Temple early teens, his ashes were scattered at the foundation has hosted more couldn’t even feel or know existed, album, of which “The Hare AUGUST 1, 1971 (page 104) released her first convergence of the three holiest than a dozen star-studded she says. “There’s a certain purity Krishna Mantra” was a hit 1969 CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH album, Anoushka, at age 17, rivers in the Hindu tradition: the events featuring performances to that. It’s a beautiful song. For single. For the track, Harrison Harrison and Shankar led two continuing her dad’s legacy of Ganges, , and Saraswati. from devotees such as Paul me, it’s the only song [on the joined in and played concerts at New York City’s popularizing Indian classical McCartney, , Katy White Album] that truly captures harmonium with devotees—the Madison Square Garden to raise music in the West. Recalling NOVEMBER 29, 2002 Perry, , , Sheryl the flavor of Rishikesh, India.” chant ultimately peaked money for refugees following the her father’s devotion to music, THE IS Crow, , and . at number 12 on the UK charts, Bangladesh Liberation War, which Anoushka Shankar says, “I HELD AT THE ROYAL ALBERT AUGUST 1969 introducing scores of Beatles caused massive civilian casualties. grew up with someone who HALL IN LONDON 2020 HARRISON’S VERSION OF fans to this revered mantra. Other headliners for the concert was deeply, deeply immersed Harrison’s son, , CENTENNIAL OF RAVI SHANKAR THE MANTRA included Ringo Starr, , in Indian music and in Hindu and Anoushka Shankar performed KICKS OFF CHARTS IN THE UK 1970 , , and philosophy . . . he was a person on sitar. Other featured artists To honor the legend’s 100th After experiencing kirtan in THE BEATLES BREAK UP . The concert, a who went deeply into one included Paul McCartney, Ringo birthday (April 7), a series of India in 1966 while visiting the After a final recording session subsequent live triple album, truth. He used to tell a story Starr, Eric Clapton, concerts featuring Shankar’s city of Vrindavan with Shankar, for in August 1969, and a film ultimately raised $12 about what his guru said: ‘If and the Heartbreakers, and all of daughters Anoushka Shankar Harrison fell in love with chanting, the Beatles quietly went their million, and the recording earned you learn one thing, you’ll learn the surviving members of Monty and , Dhani in particular the Hare Krishna separate ways, although news of a Grammy for Album of the Year. everything. And if you learn Python (Harrison was a producer Harrison, classical composer Mantra, which he later credited the split wasn’t publicized until Bob Geldof would later credit everything, you might not learn on the comedy troupe’s 1979 film Philip Glass, and many of with protecting him when his McCartney announced it in a the Concert for Bangladesh as anything.’ That’s the thing The Life of Brian, among others). Shankar’s disciples will be plane was struck by lightning press release promoting his first his inspiration for Live Aid, which about my dad, he was curious held in London, New York during an electrical storm on the solo album, McCartney. In the raised $127 million for African about the world. But, he was 2005 City, San Diego, Los Angeles, way to New York to organize early ’70s, Harrison embarked famine relief in 1984. deeply focused and rooted in THE FOUNDATION Chicago, and New Delhi. (At the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. on a solo career that showcased something—there was a real IS FORMED press time, no cancellations Harrison met Hare Krishna his spirituality and , dedication to the practice of Started by American film director had been reported.) PHOTOS TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: MARTIN WAHLBORG/ISTOCK, CBW / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, SJVINYL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, SJVINYL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, WHITE HOUSE WHITE HOUSE PHOTO, SJVINYL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, SJVINYL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK CBW WAHLBORG/ISTOCK, MARTIN RIGHT: LEFT TO ROW TOP PHOTOS / PUBLIC DOMAIN HUME KENNERLY DAVID LIBRARY/PHOTOGRAPHER: GERALD R. FORD COURTESY PHOTOGRAPH Shyamasundar Das by chance beginning with his triple album All / ALAMY STOCK MENON, PHILIPPE GRAS ANOUSHKA FAZON1/ISTOCK, PHOTO, GRIEVE / ALAMY STOCK JACK PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK DPA RIGHT: LEFT TO ROW BOTTOM PHOTOS / PUBLIC DOMAIN GAURA PHOTO, music as something spiritual.” David Lynch, a TM practitioner

86 YOGA JOURNAL YOGAJOURNAL.COM 87 GURU INFLUENCERS

From Viniyoga creator, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, to the founder of the GURU GURU GURU International Society of Krishna Consciousness, Swami Prabhupada, it seems like there was a gold SWAMI PARAHAMSA MAHARISHI rush of from India to the West in the 20th century. Some of these Hindu monks were more VIVIKENANDA YOGANANDA MAHESH YOGI influential than others, though, thanks to celebrity support and unprecedented media publicity—even though many, including some of those mentioned below, later faced allegations of sexual abuse. It started with Swami Vivikenanda, the man SARAH BERNHARDT GEORGE HARRISON DAVID LYNCH credited with bringing yoga to the West. Born in Calcutta in 1863, he laid the groundwork for Considered by many to be the Upon seeing Yogananda on the cover In 2001, the director spent $1 million Eastern spirituality in the United States when he greatest stage actress who’s ever of Autobiography of a Yogi for the to study with Maharishi in the traveled to Chicago in 1893 to introduce lived, Bernhardt hosted influential first time, he said, “I just looked at the for a month and then to the Parliament of World’s . After he salons in the United States and cover, and he just zapped me with began working on plans for the David founded the Society in New York in Europe at which Vivikenanda was his eyes…it just gave meaning to life.” Lynch Foundation for Consciousness- 1894, thought leaders and celebrities such as a frequent guest. Harrison kept a stack of copies of the Based Education and World Peace philosopher and psychologist , book in his house and would give one upon return to the US. actress Sarah Bernhardt, and inventor Nikola Tesla out to every visitor. became fans. These centers, established in major cities throughout the United States, would spawn more influential devotees, such as writers Aldous Huxley, J.D. Salinger, and Joseph Campbell. Scan the cover of the iconic Sargent Pepper’s NIKOLA TESLA ELVIS PRESLEY OPRAH WINFREY Lonely Hearts Club Band album, and you’ll find no fewer than four Indian gurus. Surprisingly, The famed inventor credited the guru Presley’s hairdresser Larry Gellar The former talk show host and media Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is absent. In his place, with helping him integrate Vedantic introduced him to the teachings mogul was so devoted to her TM there’s the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, principles of energy into his own of Yogananda in 1964, and the practice that her entire company has Parahamsa Yogananda, and three other gurus in groundbreaking research singer developed a close personal been known to meditate twice a day, his lineage. George Harrison was given the book on electricity. relationship with Yogananda’s at 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. by Ravi Shankar when he was visiting India in 1966, and it transformed his life. The same was said successor, Sri , whom he by Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple. Yogananda affectionately referred to as “Ma.” founded the Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920, and multiple locations subsequently sprouted up in California, attracting a dedicated celebrity fan base with followers like Henry Ford and Elvis Presley. J.D. SALINGER STEVE JOBS But nobody can match the influence of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the father of Despite going into seclusion in the The cofounder of Apple was so The radio personality has been Transcendental Meditation. Along with being “The late ’60s, the world-famous author deeply transformed by Yogananda’s meditating every day since his Beatles’ Guru,” Maharishi dominated Western of The Catcher in the Rye regularly Autobiography of a Yogi that he mother took him to a Transcendental media, appearing on the cover of Time and Post magazines and on two hour-long episodes of the visited the -Vivekananda reread the book every year and asked Meditation center at 18. He popular Show. He also sold out arenas Center in New York City. that a copy be given to everyone interviewed Maharishi on his show such as Madison Square Garden and the Royal who attended his funeral. twice in 2008. Albert Hall in London for his lectures. Here, we look at some of the culture’s most prominent spiritual

leaders and their celebrity devotees. PHOTO / ALAMY STOCK COLLECTION CSU ARCHIVES / EVERETT PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK ALPHA STOCK PHOTO, / ALAMY STOCK DBTRAVEL PHOTOS:

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