This blog post is thanks to Ellen Metropole for telling me that Markus K, a busker I follow on YouTube, attended the 10,000 course in Hyderabad, India! I didn’t know he was a TM-er. He wrote a song about the course while he was there and premiered it when he went to Morocco. It’s a catchy tune and tells the story of why everyone from so many countries attended. He performed the song on Feb 21, 2024 in Casablanca at his first Moroccan busking session.
Enjoy ‘Consciousness is All there Is’ written by Markus Koehorst, aka, Markus K, during an international Peace Project in Hyderabad, India called Ten Thousand For World Peace.
In his notes, Markus mentioned a great article about the Peace Project in Hyderabad, India published in Pressenza India: Ten thousand people meditating for world peace. I posted more articles listed below.
He also mentions 10 000 For World Peace – Transcendental Meditation, a beautiful video with images from the course, to the music of ‘Across the Universe’ by John Lennon. Unfortunately, the video was later taken down.
John Lennon wrote the song in England before the Beatles left for India. He had had a disagreement with Cynthia and couldn’t sleep. So he went downstairs and wrote down the words as they came to him. Of all the songs he had ever written he said Across The Universe was his best. It wrote itself. I remember reading somewhere that John had sung it to Maharishi in India, especially the chorus, “nothing’s gonna change my world.” Maharishi had suggested that he sing, “meditation’s gonna change my world,” but he didn’t change it. The Beatles Bible describes a complete history of Across The Universe in two parts 1 & 2.
David Lynch gave his own take on John’s expression in the song, “Nothing’s gonna change my world.” He explained that “nothing” as “no-thing”, i.e., the transcendent, which Maharishi was discussing, would change his world. John must’ve loved the double entendre, and contradictory meaning of that word in the repeating expression of his song. David mentioned that as part of his message to a DLF event via Zoom. He concluded his call with his short prayer for peace. You can listen to it here.
Born in Holland, Markus K spent 30 years in England based in Liverpool, UK and now travels the world playing on the street and connecting with people. Main instruments: guitar, vocal, percussion. Looper Master. Mostly originals; some drastic reworks of classics. Main influences: blues and anything with real soul, warts and all. Passionate about inner peace and conscious living. We Are All In This Together. In this video, Markus K – blues fusionist (presentation) Dec 31, 2017, Markus talks about his music, his busking and his travels.
On December 7, 2024, I came across a new and very cool variation of Markus K’s song, when, on May 24, 2024, he posted MAGIC on the street in HAMBURG – Consciousness Is All There Is. He wrote: “This is why I love to jam with Dominic Dobernowsky. He always brings magic to the mix, like that opening theme of his from where the whole thing evolves. Magic happens on the street!” Enjoy this new version. He also posted it a year later On This Day 24 May 2024 on TikTok.
Do you remember The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill that John Lennon wrote and sang on the Beatles White Album? It was based on a real person who was on the same Transcendental Meditation Course the Beatles had attended in Rishikesh, India with Maharishi.
Richard Cooke III was there with his mother, Nancy Cooke de Herrera, who was a publicist for Maharishi at the time. Maharishi had assigned Nancy to look after the Beatles during the course.
I don’t know if Richard stayed for the whole TM training course, but he took time off to go on an elephant-riding tiger-hunting trip while he was in India. He killed a tiger and was proud of his accomplishment, as was his mother, who related the story to Maharishi. John happened to be in that meeting. Richard and his mother are referenced in the song’s lyrics.
A friend sent me this new article, which brings us up to date. Here is the continuing story of Richard “Rikki” Cooke III in his own words: My Last Hunt, published in Chasing the Light.
It’s interesting how Maharishi’s response and John’s song profoundly altered the trajectory of Richard’s life. He decided to trade in his gun for a camera and did a different kind of shooting from then on. Learn more about Richard A. Cooke III at rikkicooke.com and National Geographic.
This photo shows Nancy with the Beatles and other celebrities attending the course at the ashram in Rishikesh. She’s the tall blond woman behind John Lennon and next to Paul McCartney. Others in this photo are: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, George Harrison, Mia Farrow, John Farrow, (Mia and Prudence Farrow‘s brother) andDonovan Leitch. A larger photo shows Pattie Boyd in front of Nancy, and Jane Asher and Cynthia Lennon next to Donovan.
Meeting the Beatles in India film by Paul Saltzman
Update: Sept 9, 2020: Speaking of that time, a new film, Meeting The Beatles In India, about Paul Saltzman’s brief stay there, premieres tonight, 7pm, online at Gathr.com. Here’s an announcement about the film from the national TM Office of Communications with a message from the director. Here are a few film reviews: Cryptic Rock, NYS Music, and Variety. Paul’s website: https://thebeatlesinindia.com, and trailer.
I saw the film tonight. It was well done, personable, and revealing, as was the post‑screening discussion and Q&A with Emmy Award-winning director Paul Saltzman, and surprise guest Rikki Cooke III, aka “Bungalow Bill.” In the Q&A that followed, Rikki explained why he thought the remaining Beatles left the ashram abruptly. It made a lot more sense than the usual rumor mentioned in the article. I posted a comment (below) on the Variety article of what he said including related material.
International music journalist Jeff Slate wrote an article for The Daily Beast about the film: My Transformative Time With the Beatles in India. He contributed the usual rock history and interviewed Paul Saltzman, Jenny Boyd, Pattie’s sister, and Deepak Chopra, a close friend of George Harrison. In the Q&A that followed the premiere, Jeff heard Rikki Cooke’s explanation of why he thought the Beatles had left the ashram. Jeff appreciated this different perspective saying it was “one for the record.”
The documentary film, plus exclusively filmed Q&As moderated by Jeff Slate with Paul Saltzman, Jenny Boyd Levitt, Rikki Cooke, and Stephen Maycock from events in India, Germany and London are available on Gathr starting Friday, Sept 11, 2020. Total run time is 2hrs 20mins: movie, 1hr 20mins; Q&A Highlights, 1 hour.
CTV News anchor Angie Seth interviewed Paul Saltzman at his home in Oakville, Ontario about his film and what it was like Meeting the Beatles in India. You can see it here.
June 8, 2021, The Irish Times: Saltzman has been left with more than some priceless holiday photos. What memory does he still hold on to from that week? He replies, instantly: “Doing my first 30-minute meditation. It was fun meeting The Beatles, but that was secondary to the transformation of my inner life.” – Guardian
June 12, 2021, Paul Saltzman spoke to Mayank Chhaya about his story of meeting The Beatles in India. You can see this wonderful interview on Mayank Chhaya Reports YouTube channel.
In one incident, when Paul was in London, he describes how he was invited by a filmmaker friend to join him in a private first screening of a film they were working on. It turned out to be Yellow Submarine!
A surprised Mayank comments on this as another example of serendipity, things as if magically happening in Paul’s life. Paul then talks about the importance of listening to his soul, his intuition. That’s when unexpected things occurred.
Paul tells Mayank: “I do know that when we truly listen to our hearts, that’s the best guidance system on the planet. When we truly open ourselves to hear our own soul’s guidance, it never leads us wrong. It’s when we don’t listen to our inner guidance that we get …. (Mayank interrupts saying: “That’s when things go wrong.”) Maybe Paul was going to say that we get into trouble, i.e., we suffer.
It reminds me of what Maharishi said about being self-referral and enjoying the support of nature as a result of regular practice of Transcendental Meditation.
I saw the film tonight and enjoyed it. I stayed online for the Q&A that followed with director Paul Saltzman and surprise guest Richard “Rikki” Cooke III, aka, Bungalow Bill. One of the questions asked was why the Beatles had left the ashram, and did it have something to do with Maharishi supposedly making a pass at one of the female course participants. That story was a fabrication created by a jealous Magic Alex to draw John Lennon out of there. But Cooke had another explanation, and it had nothing to do with Alex, although he said he stirred up a lot of trouble while he was there. I had also read about this explanation in a book years ago. The Beatles had told Maharishi of their desire to make a documentary film about him and his message of TM to help create world peace. Maharishi was amenable and they were excited to do it. Unfortunately, Charlie Lutes, the leader of the TM movement at that time, had already signed a deal with Four Star Productions, and they had dispatched a film crew to Rishikesh, India. Cooke said when the Beatles found out, they were disappointed, upset, and decided to leave. Rikki said he saw them walk out the north gate at the same time the film crew were coming in through the south gate. He said it was an unfortunate misunderstanding. I had also heard that when John and George had gone to speak with Maharishi beforehand, most thought it was to ask about his making a pass at a girl. But the real reason may have been to verify the rumor of a Four Star film crew coming to make a documentary. If so, they would not want to be involved with it in any way, and would be leaving. With both John and George gone we may never know for sure, although it seems more plausible. Of course, John would write Sexy Sadie in retaliation. He had originally used Maharishi’s name, but George convinced him to change it to Sexy Sadie. Years later, George would visit Maharishi, with the help of Deepak Chopra, to apologize for John’s behavior at that time. Maharishi said he was not upset with John, regardless of what he had said, that he loved them. Deepak had told Maharishi that when The Beatles had played on the Ed Sullivan Show, there were no crimes committed in America. When Maharishi heard that, he called them angels, and said he could never be mad at them. Chopra said that George broke down, and was emotionally relieved with that karmic burden now off his heart. In separate interviews, both Paul and George said there was no truth to those accusations about Maharishi, which they felt were unfortunate.
(PS: I later noticed that all comments were removed in the archive of the Variety article. Thinking that might happen I saved and included it here.)
Paul Saltzman is a two-time Emmy Award winning Toronto-based film and television producer-director known for over 300 productions. In March 26, 2010, he spoke at TEDxWaterloo on My life in Art. His talk opens with his story of how he went to India to work on a film and received a letter from his girlfriend that she had left him for another. Brokenhearted he traveled to Rishikesh to find Maharishi’s ashram to learn Transcendental Meditation. He describes meeting the Beatles and them welcoming him into their fold. The latter part of his talk is about a film he made with Morgan Freeman, Prom Night in Mississippi, and his work with Moving Beyond Prejudice.
Paul concludes his talk sharing wise advice from his own life’s journey up to that point, to be open to receive what the universe is waiting to give us, and to be willing to look at ourselves, our prejudices, to talk about them openly, and to change. This reminds me of a poem by Kukai, Singing Image of Fire, “all things change when we do,” and this poem by Vaclav Havel, It Is I Who Must Begin. Change begins within, and it starts with me.
I emailed Paul about the documentary and he said that he’s still working on the DVD/BluRay and hopes to have it out for Christmas if lucky. Let’s hope he can. There may be extras. It would make for a great holiday gift!
January 25, 2024: Much to my surprise I discovered that YouTube Movies & TV had posted Meeting The Beatles in India. It’s Free with ads, and was apparently released by Shout Factory in 2022.
From December 14, 2018: Best Classic Bands posted Beatles in India: Photos From Pattie Boyd. A rare group of photographs documenting the Beatles’ historic visit to Rishikesh, India, in 1968 surfaced in a 2018 portfolio compiled by Pattie Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and the celebrated model of “Swinging Sixties” London. 12 of the 16 black-and-white photographs in Pattie Boyd and The Beatles in Rishikesh have never been exhibited. The photos were revealed 50 years later in December 2018.
On October 23, 2014, Sir Paul McCartney visited Rollins College at the invitation of Rollins Winter Park Institute Senior Distinguished Fellow Billy Collins. In this interview Paul shares some interesting stories from his life as a Beatle, how he wrote songs with John Lennon and by himself. He answered students’s questions and concluded by singing Blackbird.
Nancy Shevell’s son, Arlen, Paul’s stepson, was a student at Rollins at the time. The following year, at Arlen’s private graduation party in May 2015, Paul had asked to sing with the local band Nancy had hired. Josh Walther and The Phase5 Bandshared their amazement online!
Prudence Farrow Bruns, PhD, is the daughter of actress Maureen O’Sullivan and award-winning writer/director, John Farrow. She has been practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique for 48 years, and has been a teacher of the TM program for 46 years.
It all started so simply. It was 1966, and 18-year-old Prudence Farrow was sitting on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean at her brother’s home in Los Angeles. She was reading a book on meditation when she heard a voice say, “If you’re interested in meditation, I know just the meditation for you.”
The voice was that of Peter Wallace, a friend of her brother. Peter had spent six months traveling through India, where he met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and began the Transcendental Meditation technique. He told her how simple and effortless the technique was, and yet how profound the experience and benefits could be.
“It was the simplicity of the practice that struck me most,” Prudence said. “I’d been trying different methods of meditation for some time, but they had all been complicated and difficult. When Peter described a simple, natural practice of diving deep within, I knew he was truly onto something.”
So Prudence learned the TM technique at UCLA. After experiencing the positive effects of TM for herself, Prudence wanted more. She wanted to meet Maharishi and to study with him. “At that time Maharishi had courses in India,” says Prudence. “He brought people there, and they studied for three or four months with him. You meditated for long periods under his guidance.”
On January 23, 1968, three days after her 20th birthday, Prudence traveled with Maharishi from New York to Rishikesh, India to attend her TM teacher training course. And that’s when the “Dear Prudence” story really began.
The Beatles Make the Scene
One month after Prudence arrived in Rishikesh, The Beatles showed up to study with Maharishi. While they all spent some time there, John Lennon and George Harrison stayed the longest.
“The Beatles were all very nice, humble, modest, kind, and down-to-earth people,” Prudence remembers. “I was closest to John and George, since they were my ‘course buddies’ during our studies with Maharishi. We were supposed to look out for each other during the course.”
Prudence (left) sat next to Ringo in course photo.
Prudence soon became known for her tendency to keep to herself in her room, focused on her meditation practice. “I was deeply immersed in my studies and meditation, locked away in my quarters. John, as my course buddy, was concerned and wanted to bring me out of my room to enjoy the experience more.”
John and George would come over to her room and play their guitars, encouraging her to come out and sing with them. It was this experience that became the inspiration for their song “Dear Prudence” in which John sings, “Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?”
Before he left Rishikesh, George mentioned to Prudence that they had written a song about her, but she had no idea what it was. She didn’t hear the song until it came out on their 1968 album The Beatles, commonly known as the “White Album.”
Prudence’s dedication to her meditation practice did pay off. After four months, she graduated from the course and became one of the first and youngest teachers of the Transcendental Meditation technique at that time.
But that was just the beginning of the “Dear Prudence” story.
Prudence Comes out to Play
Once she completed her teacher training course in India, Prudence definitely did come out to play. Over the past 46 years, she’s instructed thousands of people in the TM technique throughout the United States and Canada. She married TM teacher Al Bruns in 1969, and they have three children and four grandchildren.
She’s produced Hollywood feature films and a play in Manhattan. She was an assistant to the curator of the “Theatre Collection” of the Museum of the City of New York. She has been a magazine writer. She’s written two books.
Prudence earned a BA, an MA, and a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. She received her doctoral degree in 2007, with a major in South Asian Studies and Sanskrit. She has made presentations to conferences at numerous universities, including Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Hawaii. She’s taught courses at UC Berkeley and Rutgers University.
TM and Yoga
Prudence continues to teach the TM program in Florida. In fact, she’s the most successful teacher in the U.S. at setting up Affiliate Programs in yoga studios. Maybe that’s not so surprising, considering that she’s a lifelong yoga practitioner, and she opened a yoga institute in Boston back in 1967.
Prudence attended India’s Kumbh Mela last year.
Maharishi Foundation created the Affiliate Program to bring TM to yoga studios and fitness centers. When a studio becomes an Affiliate, their members can learn TM at a reduced course fee, and the studio receives a share of the income. Everyone benefits—the new TM student, the yoga studio, and the local TM teachers.
Today most people think of yoga as a series of physical postures. But Maharishi has explained that in the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali identifies eight limbs of yoga, and the eighth limb is Samadhi or transcendental consciousness. Maharishi said that with the practice of TM, Samadhi is actually the easiest limb of yoga to achieve, since no effort is required. We simply tap into the natural tendency of the mind to go within, to transcend, and that transcendence nourishes and supports all the other limbs.
“I do think that Transcendental Meditation is—of the meditations that are available to us—the most direct, and the simplest,” says Prudence. “When you meditate, when you transcend, it allows your heart and mind to balance. And when they’re balanced, that’s when you are really healthy. You are happy. You’re happy mentally, happy emotionally, and happy spiritually. Those three are all components of what make a human being, so that connection to transcendence is absolutely necessary for health.”
Creating a Better World
Fortunately for us all, Prudence did come out to play.
“The years of meditating have enriched my life so much,” Prudence says. “And that’s why at this point in my life, I’m giving back. We need a better world. We need people to be more conscious, to be more evolved. And expanding the mind, like TM does, is absolutely vital to bring about stronger people. If you can strengthen people inside, you’ve changed the world.”
So even today, 48 years later, the “Dear Prudence” story continues.
[In July 2018, this article was updated and published in Enjoy TM News.]
Years later, The Beatles released many versions of their songs on the 50th Anniversary of The White Album, now out on Spotify, which include The Esher Tapes. There are 3 versions of Dear Prudence there: the Esher version of John Lennon singing on guitar; one of just vocal, guitar, and drums; and the 2018 mix.
Another beautiful song that John Lennon wrote about his experience with Transcendental Meditation was, Across the Universe. Spotify included John Lennon on guitar singing Across The Universe–Take 6.
NEW: Enjoy TM News posted this more recent discussion. Mario Orsatti, the host of TM Talks and Senior Teacher of the Center for Health and Wellness, a division of the David Lynch Foundation, interviewed Dr. Bruns on June 14, 2020. This popular episode was rebroadcast on September 4, 2022. Watch the interview with Dr. Prudence Farrow Bruns (55:17)
This wonderful interview is also available from Ted Henry & Jody Cleary on Vimeo. Retired TV journalist Ted Henry conducts interviews with spiritual people for Souljourns. Last month he interviewed Prudence Bruns Farrow. You can also see the interview on their Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/67166559. Here is their introduction to the video:
SOULJOURNS – PRUDENCE FARROW BRUNS, HER LIFE WITH TM AND MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI
From the very beginning Prudence Farrow Bruns recognized an added layer or texture to her life, a spiritual dimension that would take her deep within.
She was among the first in the West to become initiated into Transcendental Meditation and in the mid sixties she traveled to Rishikesh, India to learn to become a TM teacher. Her own teacher in India, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who is credited for bringing TM to the world.
In India with her at this time, her sister and acclaimed actress, Mia Farrow, The Beatles, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Donovan and others.
Prudence and her husband, Albert Bruns who is also a TM instructor, live in Seagrove along the Gulf of Mexico in Northwest Florida.
The interview was recorded in Seagrove, Florida in May, 2013.
Prudence Farrow says the Beatles were “real people”
The subject of a Beatles song is among the many foreign pilgrims visiting India’s Kumbh Mela festival.
Prudence Farrow, about whom John Lennon wrote the song Dear Prudence, is also sister of Hollywood actor Mia Farrow.
The Kumbh Mela, which is held every 12 years, is billed as the world’s biggest gathering of humanity.
Millions of Hindu ascetics and pilgrims take a dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in Allahabad city.
Ms Farrow says she waited for four decades to come to the Kumbh Mela.
She had first visited India in 1968 as a student of meditation and met the Beatles at Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s retreat in Rishikesh.
“I wanted to come to the Kumbh with the Maharishi, but that never happened,” she told the BBC. Her guru died in 2008.
This year Ms Farrow finally made it to the Kumbh Mela with her husband Albert Bruns.
‘Exotic’
“India has changed so much since I first came here,” says Ms Farrow, 65, sitting in the brightly-painted porch of her rented flat in Allahabad.
“Back then it was exotic. We were staying in the forest outside Rishikesh. Life was quite agricultural even in the cities.
“There were animals on the road, there were very few telephones and there was hardly any electricity where we were staying.”
Ms Farrow says she was in for a shock when she first arrived at the festival ground last month.
At first, she insisted on staying in one of the tens of thousands of tents that have been put up on the banks of the river.
Ms Farrow, who has a doctoral degree in South Asian studies and runs foundations to promote meditation, says she was in search of “an inner silence”.
But, ironically, the blare of three loudspeakers every morning at the festival grounds shattered her peace and she shifted into the city.
This was, she says, in sharp contrast to the peaceful times she spent with her sister Mia at her guru’s retreat in Rishikesh in 1968.
At the retreat, the Farrow sisters met the Beatles.
“Because of Mia there were too many people coming in and out of our block,” says Ms Farrow.
“And then in the evenings George Harrison would jam with John Lennon and others would join in. I wasn’t getting the silence.
“People said: ‘You are being too fanatical, you should come out.’ Yes, I was extreme because I thought it was a privileged time. I still think it was the most important time in my life.”
So while the rest of the students partied, Ms Farrow says she locked herself up in her room and practised meditation.
That is when, she says, Lennon, wrote the song Dear Prudence, which appears on the band’s White Album.
DEAR PRUDENCE
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Opening verses of Dear Prudence, written by John Lennon
The song’s hand-written lyrics, lined with doodles, sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1987 for $19,500 (£12,800).
“The reason he wrote I was beautiful – and there were much more beautiful people around – was because I was so much like George,” says Ms Farrow.
“George and I were there for very much the same reasons – we were both very spiritual and we wanted to find a solution for ourselves and the world. George would say that through his music he wanted to help people become more settled, more quiet and more sensitive.”
Ms Farrow says she did not want to meet the Beatles as “great people never lived up to their image”.
Did they disappoint her?
“What didn’t disappoint me was that they were still real people. They weren’t more important than anybody else,” says Ms Farrow.
“Fame has that quality – it corrupts you. You begin to feel that you’re separate from other people, you’re more powerful. But they didn’t have that.
“They were going through the same things as we were. That’s why they were the voice of the times.”
Published: Saturday November 14, 2009 in Cafesjian Center for the Arts
Yerevan – John Lennon and George Harrison were two of the four Beatles, one of the most iconic rock groups in history. Their former wives, Cynthia Lennon and Pattie Boyd, were in Yerevan for the grand opening of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts last week. They took part in a live interview with Michael De Marsche, the museum’s executive director, in the brand-new and beautifully appointed Special Events Auditorium, located at the top floor of the complex.
The first-time-ever joint appearance of Cynthia Lennon and Pattie Boyd, took place in Yerevan. Arranging for that to happen was no small feat, according to De Marsche, who recounted the many telephone calls and arrangements that the museum made to ensure their participation at the opening. Watching the interaction of these two phenomenal women on stage was like taking a trip down memory lane.
Those in attendance at the live interview at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts cut across a large swath of Armenian society, including Armenia’s deputy foreign minister Arman Kirakossian who was there with his family. Their nostalgia for the Beatles has a deeper meaning.
The music of the Beatles was repressed during the Soviet era but an underground culture was able to smuggle in and disseminate their music in innovative ways. Their influence was immense; some like the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, would say that the cultural, social, and musical revolution they inspired manifested itself years down the road. “More than any ideology, more than any religion, more than Vietnam or any war or nuclear bomb, the single most important reason for the diffusion of the Cold War was the Beatles,” Mr. Gorbachev has said.
For over an hour, Cynthia and Pattie disclosed intimate moments they shared with their husbands and each other, from fame to drug abuse, to alcoholism, and eventually to break-ups both marital and musical. Those turbulent early years when the Beatles were on the road to becoming one of the most legendary music groups of all times, the wives were along for the ride. However, as they recounted, the ride wasn’t always smooth. Pattie Boyd was very honest when recalling that tumultuous time of her life, “With a lot of help from a psychotherapist I have learned and am a much stronger person now. I am thankful to be free.”
“We have survived,” Cynthia Lennon said. “We have lost so many people along the way.” Indeed, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are the sole surviving members of the Beatles. John Lennon was shot and killed in front of his apartment building on December 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman. George Harrison died of lung cancer in his Hollywood Hills mansion on November 29, 2001.
Cynthia Lennon, nee Powell, met John Lennon at the Liverpool Art College in 1957. “We were young and very much in love,” she recalled. The two married in 1962, after Cynthia became pregnant with their son, Julian. Lennon left her shortly after their return from India in 1968 to be with Yoko Ono. In 1978, Cynthia wrote A Twist of Lennon, which included her own illustrations and poetry, and a later biography on the famous Beatle titled simply, John in 2005.
Pattie Boyd was a model and photographer. In the 60s she modeled in London, New York, and Paris and appeared on the UK and Italian covers of Vogue. She met George Harrison in 1964 when she was cast in The Beatles film “A Hard Day’s Night.” She said at the time that Harrison was “the most beautiful man I had ever seen.” They were married in 1966; Paul McCartney was the best man. They divorced in 1974, after which Boyd married Eric Clapton. One of the audience members asked her how she came to be with Clapton. “Eric kept coming over [to the house she shared with Harrison] and began declaring his love and passion for me,” she said. “Because I was being ignored by my husband and being young, I found it irresistible. Maybe if we weren’t so young, maybe we could have made it work.”
Boyd’s book, Wonderful Today: George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Me, which came out in 2007, was on the New York Times bestseller list.
For both Cynthia and Pattie, their fondest memories go back to the time they were all in India in 1968, after the Beatles renounced drugs and became followers of Indian mystic Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. “It was an idyllic, positive situation at the foothills of the Himalayas,” said Ms. Boyd. “I loved it there.”
“The holidays, the times we went away together” is what Cynthia Lennon remembers as the best times.
“When George, John, Cynthia, and I went to Tahiti and sailed on a boat” is what Pattie Boyd said was her fondest memory.
They were hard-pressed to reveal which Beatle song they liked most. “They’re all so different. It’s here, there, and everywhere,” said Cynthia. “But I think that Sergeant Pepper was the most unbelievable album.”
Pressed to say which Beatles song she liked most, Boyd – who is known to be the inspiration for some of George Harrison’s songs – said, “It’s difficult to say which one is my favorite, but ‘All You Need is Love,’ is so strong and profound.”
Someone from the audience wanted to know if there were any hidden messages in the Beatles’ songs. “No, people wanted there to be messages, but there weren’t any,” Cynthia assured the audience.
Questions were asked about what Cynthia’s son, Julian Lennon, was doing musically. Cynthia explained that he completed an album about a year ago, but is still trying to get the best deal, “hopefully by next year.”
Following the live interview, the two women were available for book signings and Pattie’s exhibition of photographs was opened to the public. Ms. Boyd spent a few minutes speaking with the Armenian Reporter, in between signing her books.
She said that this was her first visit to Armenia and to the region in general. “After this book signing, I can’t wait to go out and explore the city,” she smiled. “I want to go to Vernissage and the museum at Republic Square.”
About the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, she said: “I am so blown away; I think this is the most exciting building I have ever seen architecturally; it is so wonderful. I want to bring my friends from London here next year.” She went on to explain that the design of the museum, the different installations on each floor and the gardens were “absolutely beautiful. It’s so beautifully done and the attention to detail is exquisite.”
Cynthia Lennon and Pattie Boyd both seem to have have found peace and happiness. “I am very, very happy,” Cynthia explained. “The one person who has given me strength and hope is my son and my new husband…. It’s important to still have a sense of humor.”
I remember you were the one who introduced everyone to the Maharishi. Tell me about that, and do you still do some kind of spiritual practice now?
Yeah, I still meditate. I was meditating. Along with a girlfriend I learned Transcendental Meditation and I told George about it. Then the Maharishi was coming to England and I wanted to see him. And I wanted George to meet him. At that time, Paul wanted to meet him as well. That’s why we all went and listened to his lecture, and he was obviously very happy when he heard that they were in the audience, and he wanted to meet them. When he did he suggested that we all go to Wales for a few days to learn more about meditation: he wanted to initiate them. It was really awful because while we were up there, their manager Brian Epstein died. It was just awful. One can think how extraordinary that the one person who had been guiding them throughout their career, from the beginning of their career, died, just as this spiritual leader is taking over.
Did it feel like a baton had been passed?
Yes. Well, no, it didn’t last for very long for some of them, but it did for George, for the rest of his life.
In this Prime Time Russia Today news spot, uploaded on Jul 17, 2011, a reporter asks Pattie Boyd about her trip to India with the Beatles in the context of a her photography exhibit.
Q: A section of this exhibit is dedicated to the Beatles and your trip with them to India, particularly George Harrison. How important was that time spent in India for you?
A: It was a very very special time. I loved being in India and I loved everything that we learned from Maharishi, which was an extended course on meditation. And it was very, it was wonderful being there at that time because the Beatles were particularly prolific. They wrote most of the songs for the White Album while we were in India.
The Uncarved Blog 