Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was widely regarded as the foremost scientist in the field of consciousness, and considered to be the greatest teacher in the world today.
“My Vedic Science is the science of Veda.
Veda means knowledge. Therefore, my Vedic Science, the science of Veda, is the science of complete knowledge.
Knowledge results from the coming together of the knower, the process of knowing, and the object of knowing–knowledge blossoms in the togetherness of knower, process of knowing, and known. Therefore, knowledge is the Unified Field of knower, process of knowing, and known; therefore,
My Vedic Science, the science of knowledge, is the science of the Unified Field of knower, process of knowing, and known.
Those who practise the Transcendental Meditation technique have the experience that Transcendental Consciousness is unbounded awareness–it is pure wakefulness; it is fully awake within itself; it knows only itself and nothing else.
My Vedic Science is the Science of Consciousness
Trip to India – 1967:
The Beatles and their entourage, which included Mia Farrow — were doing drugs, taking LSD, at Maharishi’s ashram, and once he lost his temper with them. He asked them to leave, and they did.
But when they went back to the US, John Lennon gave a hard interview on the Johnny Carson show, accusing Maharishi also wrote a satirical song about Maharishi, which went: Sexy Sadie, what have you done/you made a fool of everyone.
Nineteen sixty-nine was for John Lennon a year of intense crises and search for social and personal liberation. He had already entered in a major transitional period; he had married Yoko Ono in March, and the Beatles were about to break up.
[black and white film of the Himalayas and Rishikesh]
[voice-over]
JOHN: I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, you know, like the whole generation. But really, I like rock and roll, you know.
[voice-over]
RINGO: Just one of those things that happened, you know, as life went on.
PAUL: We’d been into drugs, and we were — there’s the next step, then, is — then you’ve got to try and find a meaning, then.
GEORGE: That’s where I really went for the meditation.
[On-the-street interview with Maharishi, who holds an armful of flowers]
REPORTER: The Beatles seem to be among your supporters now. How do you feel about that?
MAHARISHI: I feel a great promise for the younger generation, because if the Beatles take up this Transcendental Meditation, they are the ideal of energy and intelligence in the younger generation, and that will really bring up the youth on a very good level of understanding and intelligence. I’m very happy about it, that they heard my lecture last evening, and they talked to me for about an hour after the lecture. They seem to me very intelligent and alert.
[on camera]
GEORGE: And after the lecture, we went– because, you know, that was one of the privileges of the Beatles, we could get in anywhere. So we got backstage, met Maharishi, and, you know, I said to him, “Got any mantras? Give us a mantra.” And he said, “Well, we’re going to Bangor tomorrow. You should come and get initiated.”
[black and white newsfilm of Maharishi and the Beatles at Bangor, August 25, 1967]
[voice-over]
PAUL: Yes, we got up there. There was a big crowd up there at the train station, there was a crowd to meet us. And we all sort of wandered through in our psychedelic gear and spent, like, a sort of– it was like a summer camp. And you spend all your first few days just trying to stop your mind dealing with your social calendar, you know, whatever’s coming up. But it was good. I eventually got the hang of it, we all got the hang of it.
[newsfilm of interview]
JOHN: You know, you just sort of sit there, and you let your mind go, wherever it’s going. Doesn’t matter what you’re thinking about, just let your mind go. And then you just introduce the mantra, or the vibration, just to take over from the thought. You don’t will it or use your willpower.
GEORGE: If you find yourself thinking, then the moment you realize you’ve been thinking about things again, then you replace that thought with the mantra again.
[newsfilm of Beatles and Maharishi at Bangor]
[voice-over]
RINGO: I was really impressed with the Maharishi, and was impressed because he was laughing all the time. He was just having a ball. You know, it was another point of view. It was the first time we’re getting into sort of Eastern philosophies now.
(Transcript from the “The Beatles Anthology,” about their time with Maharishi)
