Haunting Images Offer A Glimpse Inside The Abandoned Ashram Left Behind By The Beatles

Echoes rebound inside the deserted rooms, but the graffiti-covered domes still reach towards the sky... Some 150 feet above the Ganges river in India lies an extraordinary piece of history. Built into the side of a cliff is an opulent 14-acre monastery, or ashram, whose hallowed halls once pulsed with peace, love and the creative energies of the most important band the world has ever seen. Now, though, it lies in ruin, its decaying walls covered in vegetation and the voices of its former inhabitants nothing but a whisper on the wind. So how did it get this way?

Shift in consciousness

In the late 1960s the Beatles were largely responsible for bringing Eastern beliefs to the attention of Western society. At the time, the Fab Four were icons, and when they began expounding the virtues of yoga and meditation, the planet listened. It’d all begun in 1965 when the band were shooting their movie Help! in the Bahamas.

Rise of Eastern philosophy

It was here that the band encountered Swami Vishnu-Devananda, who introduced them to the concept of yoga. Guitarist George Harrison was clearly taken by the idea, and he began to look into Eastern philosophies. Wanting to learn to play the sitar, he then visited India and became dedicated to Hinduism. So much so, in fact, that Harrison’s ashes would be put in the waters of the Ganges following his death.

Incorporating into songs

These Eastern teachings, often founded on ideas of peace and love, were also incorporated into the lyrics of many Beatles songs. In the second half of the 1960s this saw the band became an important part of the counterculture movement, which was famous for preaching free love and flower power. In essence, the Beatles introduced millions of Westerners to a new kind of spirituality.

Down the rabbit hole

Interestingly, the band’s interest in Eastern philosophy saved them from disappearing further down the rabbit hole of drugs. Harrison and John Lennon, in particular, had been exploring the use of LSD in the hope of accessing a higher plane of consciousness, thinking it would aid creativity. But the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi would give them a method of doing this that didn’t involve taking narcotics.

Transcending space and time

It was Harrison’s partner Pattie Boyd who’d initially expressed enthusiasm for transcendental meditation, a practice originated by the Maharishi. With Harrison already dabbling in Eastern philosophies, he and his wife convinced his band-mates to go to one of the guru’s talks. In her memoir Wonderful Tonight, Boyd wrote, “Maharishi was every bit as impressive as I thought he would be, and we were spellbound.”

Cold turkey

The band, along with Mick Jagger and his partner Marianne Faithfull, then went to a week-long spiritual convention in Wales. And they were so moved by what they experienced that they decided to stop taking narcotics then and there. At this conference they met the Maharishi in person, and he told the band that they were welcome to visit his spiritual retreat, or ashram, in India.

Welcome to Rishikesh

The ashram had been constructed during the early 1960s in the Himalayan town of Rishikesh. A huge complex, it was made possible thanks to a $100,000 grant by billionaire U.S. benefactor Doris Duke. There were numerous residences, which all had a minimum of five double rooms, as well as beautiful gardens and a lecture hall. The development even had its own pool and post office.

At the center of it all

But how had the Maharishi ended up in charge of the center? Well, he started teaching transcendental meditation during 1955 in his native India. And three years later, he embarked upon a world tour. In the 1960s his teachings began to catch on in North America and Europe, against the backdrop of Vietnam and the threat of nuclear war. Many Americans wanted to believe in his championing of peace, love and harmony.

"Year of the Guru"

In 1968 the spiritual guru and his meditation program were profiled in a long article in Life. In fact, the publication even called it “The Year of the Guru.” After his association with the Beatles put transcendental meditation in front of even more eyes, the program grew and grew. Come the midpoint of the following decade, it had more than half a million followers, with thousands signing on every week.

Off to India

Flashing back to early 1968, Harrison and John Lennon traveled to the ashram, closely followed by band-mates Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. They saw their stay as an opportunity to get away from the constant media spotlight that came with being in the biggest band in the world. But the four men had also become disillusioned with fame and were seeking some kind of spiritual enlightenment, as well as a creative recharge.

Creative oasis

Paul Saltzman, a photographer who stayed with the band in Rishikesh, later penned a book about the experience entitled The Beatles in India. He wrote, “The weeks the Beatles spent at the ashram were a uniquely calm and creative oasis for them: meditation, vegetarian food and the gentle beauty of the foothills of the Himalayas. There were no fans, no press, no rushing around with busy schedules.”

Summer camp for adults

When interviewed for The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney likened the ashram to some kind of summer camp for adults. “You would get up in the morning and go down to a communal breakfast,” he said. “Food was vegetarian, and I think we probably had cornflakes for breakfast. After breakfast, you would go back to your chalet, meditate for a little while, have a bit of lunch and then there might be a talk or a little musical event.”

Five day meditation

While McCartney may have viewed the ashram with his tongue at least partially in cheek, Lennon and Harrison took their stay very seriously. “I was in a room for five days meditating,” Lennon recalled. “I wrote hundreds of songs. I couldn’t sleep and I was hallucinating like crazy, having dreams where you could smell.”

Staying focused

And Harrison was even more dedicated than Lennon. So much so, in fact, that it angered him if the other band members even brought up the idea of writing songs. McCartney revealed that Harrison told him, “We’re not here to talk about music. We’re here to meditate.” Harrison reportedly believed he’d a way of connecting to God through meditation.

Diving in

All in all, then, Harrison and Lennon threw themselves headlong into the Maharishi’s teachings. McCartney, on the other hand, enjoyed himself but kept a somewhat ironic distance from proceedings. But what about Ringo Starr? Well, he and wife Maureen only stayed at the ashram for 10 days because of a combination of missing their kids, struggling to enjoy Indian food and hating the insects that would invade their room.

Celebrity lineup

Interestingly, the Beatles weren’t the only celebrities who stayed at the ashram during that fateful few weeks in 1968. In fact, Beach Boys singer Mike Love had the room right next to McCartney. He’d met the Maharishi after performing at a charity concert in Paris.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

And Love was apparently instrumental in McCartney writing the Beatles’ “Back in the U.S.S.R.” McCartney was already in the process of honing the track, which by coincidence took inspiration from the Beach Boys, when the two met. Love reportedly suggested that McCartney write about Russian girls in the song’s mid-section, because a similar approach had paid dividends for his own band on “California Girls.”

Mainstream popularity

The Maharishi’s famous guests also included Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan, jazz musician Paul Horn and Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow. Along with the Beatles, their collective interest in his teachings helped fuel a global fascination with Eastern culture. Soon people everywhere were wearing Indian garments and practicing meditation.

Special sanctuary

Unfortunately, though, the Beatles’ time at the ashram ended under a cloud. They’d agreed to come to the Maharishi’s sanctuary to get away from the pressures of fame. But it soon became clear that he was much more plugged in to the media world that they’d anticipated. For instance, before the band traveled, he reportedly tried to set up a deal with a U.S. network to shoot a television special at the ashram.

Management speaks out

Peter Brown, a member of the Beatles’ management team, told the Maharishi that this TV show wouldn’t go ahead. But the guru didn’t listen. In Brown’s book The Love You Make, he revealed that the Maharishi simply continued to negotiate with ABC’s legal team until Brown asked Harrison to talk him down.

"Not a modern man"

Brown revealed that Harrison tried to excuse the guru, saying, “He’s not a modern man. He just doesn’t understand these things.” Still, even though the TV show was abandoned, it was a warning that the Maharishi wasn’t quite what he made himself out to be. Some of the Beatles still attended the ashram, of course, but the writing was perhaps on the wall.

Recording in a memoir

Lewis Lapham, a reporter for The Saturday Evening Post, also stayed at the ashram while the Beatles were there. His memoir With The Beatles describes the day the guru arranged for all the residents to be photographed with him. He even had a set built and was very specific about where everyone sat. Then, before the picture was taken, he apparently said, “Now come on everybody, cosmic smiles. And all into the lens.”

The final straw

The final straw came when Harrison and Lennon were the only two Beatles remaining at the ashram. They got wind of a rumor that the Maharishi had acted inappropriately towards one of his female students. In The Beatles Anthology, it was revealed that Lennon told the Maharishi they were leaving and, when the guru asked why, he shot back, “Well, if you’re so cosmic, you’ll know why.”

Official statement released

The band never made any kind of official statement about what exactly had caused them to abandon the Maharishi’s retreat. But in 2017 Alex Mardas, a member of the band’s inner circle who was staying at the ashram with them, told The New York Times that the rumors about the guru had stemmed from him. He’d allegedly seen the Maharishi in an intimate embrace with one of the tutors.

Full of flakes

Intriguingly, during the 1990s Harrison and McCartney expressed regret to the Maharishi for their relationship ending the way it did. In The Beatles Anthology, Harrison indicated that he now believed the allegations weren’t true, before reflecting that, “There were a lot of flakes there. The whole place was full of flaky people. Some of them were us.”

Pushing back

And the Maharishi himself staunchly refuted any wrongdoing. In fact, he claimed that he actually told the band to leave the ashram because alcohol and drugs were being taken on the grounds. This was backed up by Cynthia Lennon, John’s first wife, who admitted that some members of their group secretly brought booze into the retreat.

Sad state of affairs

Just a few years after this falling out with the Fab Four, the Maharishi also left the ashram. The compound, known as “Chaurasi Kutia,” which translates as “84 huts,” was left without its spiritual leader. It was a sad state of affairs for a place that’d once been so vibrant.

Supreme court ruling

Fast-forward nearly three decades and, at the start of the 2000s, India’s Supreme Court made the few remaining people who still used the ashram depart for good. According to the Maharishi’s nephew Anand Srivastava, the political landscape in India no longer jived with the guru’s teachings. He told ABC News, “No one can feel happy about having to leave the place where an entire movement took shape.”

Government move

Following this move by the government, which declared that the ashram belonged to the nearby Rajaji Tiger Reserve, it fell into ruin. The only people who’d enter its walls with pure intent would be Beatles fans on a pilgrimage to the place where the band had sought enlightenment. More common were the vandals who’d regularly deface and wreck the buildings, which had already been mostly reclaimed by overgrown jungle.

Period of closure

Rishikesh’s forestry department assumed control of the land in 2003, though, and by 2015 had begun to welcome visitors again. The department saw the value in the ashram as a tourist attraction. It made a lot of sense, as the walls of many buildings and the main meditation room were still covered in Beatles-related graffiti and murals.

Small opening

All things considered, though, the forestry department didn’t exactly go all out to create a tourist mecca. In February 2018 it opened two small exhibits. One was centered on transcendental meditation, with another spotlighting Saltzman’s photography of the Beatles at the ashram. A yoga hall was also decorated with murals by Pan Trinity Das, a local street artist.

State of disrepair

But aside from these minor developments, the site’s still mostly in a state of disrepair. Rohan Ranjan, a local musician, told ABC News, “It’s not at all maintained. They have all these meditation rooms and private residences and if they had been maintained a lot of people would have come and stayed here.”

Abandoned for decades

Indeed, it’s haunting to look through images of the abandoned sanctuary. This picture, of the entrance to the ashram, is representative of what lies inside – a curious mix of beauty and disrepair. It’s easy to imagine how gorgeous this would’ve looked in the compound’s heyday. Perhaps with a renovation it could reclaim that glory again, but it seems unlikely.

Reclaimed by nature

Nature has almost completely reclaimed this area of the complex. This is the principal hall in which the Beatles studied transcendental meditation. The building’s architecture is strikingly unique, and again it’s tempting to wonder what it would’ve looked like back in 1968. It’s hard to feel anything but sad at the state the room has fallen into.

Something from sci-fi

In another image that looks like it came from another world, we see a selection of the ashram’s meditation rooms. These intricate stone huts were used by the Beatles in 1968 to attempt to achieve inner peace, away from the roar of the modern world. Sadly, the overgrown trees and foliage are now seemingly trying to hide the chambers from view.

Overgrown and silent

In this shot, taken in one of those rooms, a sense of claustrophobia can be felt. With all the dead leaves on the ground, dirt on the walls and a view of even more overgrown greenery in the courtyard outside, it seems oppressive. How many people meditated within these walls? And how many would be appalled by what’s become of their place of peace?

Exposed to the elements

This interior shot of one of the yoga chambers contains some striking contradictions. It has the trappings of modernity because of the various pieces of beautiful artwork on the walls, which pay tribute to “Let It Be,” one of the Beatles’ most famous songs. But the roof is half gone, meaning the building is constantly exposed to the elements. How was this allowed to happen?

Like an ancient being

Finally, this image of an amazing mural of the Maharishi is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the state of the ashram today. A little boy stands in front of it, gazing up in awe, as the guru’s followers may well have done in 1968. The guru, who was in his 80s when the mural was painted, looks otherworldly, like some kind of ancient being.

Only ruins remain...

Unfortunately, though, the mural was created on a rotten foundation. The wall is crumbling and broken, with the trees behind threatening to swallow it whole. Perhaps it’s a fitting metaphor for the Maharishi, at least as he related to the Beatles. The spiritual leader promised them enlightenment, but his motives allegedly weren’t so pure, which led to the band’s hopes being ruined in the end.