Photo By Rex Features GEORGE HARRISON AND RAVI SHANKAR VARIOUS BEATLES 1974
In February 1968, the Beatles traveled to Rishikesh, in northern India, to attend an advanced Transcendental Meditation (TM) training session at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Amid widespread media attention, their visit was one of the band’s most productive periods. Led by George Harrison’s commitment, the Beatles’ interest in the Maharishi changed Western attitudes about Indian spirituality and encouraged the study of Transcendental Meditation.
via Beatles in Rishikesh — Talk about Japan
This guest photo of the Beatles was taken in India when they were studying Transcendental Meditation and the development of consciousness with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the TM program.
The Beatles wrote many well-loved songs during this time. Below is a link to the song “Cosmically Consciousness,” which Paul McCartney performed at a fund-raising concert for the David Lynch Foundation, April 4, 2009, to benefit the “Change Begins Within” program. The “Change Begins Within” program provides funding for at-risk populations, such as inner-city high school students, war veterans, homeless people, and victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, to learn TM.
This exhilarating, star-studded benefit concert in New York City featured sets from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, each performing some of their best-known classics from The Beatles to Wings and beyond. The show also featured many other world-famous musicians who all united onstage for a rousing finale.
Click to order on DVD here – http://smarturl.it/CHANGEBEGINSWITHIN ” Music video by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Moby, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Sheryl Crow, Angelo Badalamenti, Bettye LaVette, Hartford TM Choir, Donovan, Jim James, Paul Horn performing Cosmically Conscious.
Below, David Lynch interviews Paul McCartney about meeting Maharishi and learning TM. He talks about the time the Beatles spent in Rishikesh with Maharishi and the productivity they felt in that atmosphere.
Paul McCartney talks about the work the David Lynch Foundation is doing to introduce TM free of charge to inner-city schoolchildren around the world.
Ravi Shankar teaches George Harrison how to play the sitar on the shores of the Ganga in 1968.
More footage of the Beatles talking about Transcendental Meditation and spending time with Maharishi in Rishikesh.
Colleen Chatterton 