The Maharishi is dead

[jingle_jangle]

Maybe "Flying" was inspired by "Yogic Flying." They composed it during the height of their Maharishi immersion, in between trips to see him in Wales and India.

Ha ha!!! "Yogic Flying", aka, "hopping while sitting cross-legged with a rug stuck to your a**", was one of the funniest demonstrations I ever witnessed. Grown men acting like five-year-olds...

[junglejem]

Paul...that's one of the finest photos I've ever seen on a forum. Is that a Rickenbacker sitar?

[jingle_jangle]

If it could be, it would be.

It does have a bit of fret buzz. Much worse than my WB360/12, in fact.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

I don't know the particulars of the Maharishi's romantic activities, but I do know that John fully believed it to be true. The song "Sexy Sadie" was originally called "Maharishi"...he changed the title and lyric so as not to be sued, and the line "the latest and the greatest of them all" stemmed from the Maharishi's personal claims of yogic amazingness, reincarnated from a selection of only the very best yogis of the past.

Lennon went to India searching for inner peace and spiritual fulfillment. But he came back angrier than ever. Just listen to the scathing music he wrote in the next few years. I think the Maharishi thing represented Betrayal with a capital B for him. Here was a guy whose father never bothered to say boo to him until he was rich and famous, and whose mother was too free-spirited to raise him herself. He loved her and she was always great fun, then she gets killed by a bus when he's 15 or so. It's not far-fetched to imagine he had some strong feelings about abandonment and/or betrayal. But for sure, when he came to believe the Maharishi was a lecherous fraud, Lennon was angry as hell.

Heroin came into his life right after that ordeal. Sometimes I wonder if there was any connection...when he went to India he was interested in clean living and bliss. When he came back...

[studiotwosession]

Lennon's recollections on India, mainly I believe, were a dozen years after the fact. The other's simply don't remember it that way. He certainly had some issues and none of them suffered fools gladly. But the genius of that band was whenever they did something, they were through with it and onto something else in a matter of months. Much ado is made about the cover of Sgt. Pepper's. But little is said about the massive departure the cover of the White Album represented the following year, a compete departure from what they were into in '67, even though a lot of bands were into psyche musically and otherwise years later. Perhaps, in their minds, the Maharishi simply went out with the psychedelic Rolls, afghans, black oyster pearl drum kits and the finishes on their guitars. Heroin didn't help for sure but maybe when he was in India, Lennon read about primal scream therapy. So he called their travel agent and that was that.

[studiotwosession]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooX8nHa5rrc

[nattiep]

I wonder who is managing his multi million dollar empire now?

"Adopt the standard of perfection for yourself, Winston, for ours is a perfect universe..."[/quote]
ROFL!

[brammy]

>>>I think Lennon even admitted he heard it indirectly.

Lennon heard about it from Magic Alex. Whether it was true or not, we may never know. But it's just as well that the Fabs got a dose of reality as that fat guru was a fraud.... just one of many who took advantage of the Beatles.