February 15, 1968: The Beatles and the Maharishi

Left to right: Paul McCartney, John Lennon,

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

February 15, 1968: The Beatles and their entourage arrive in Rishikesh, India, to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I can't fault them for trying to find peace in a world which seemed to have gone mad all around them, but they weren't going to find it with that charlatan.

Born in 1911 in what is now Chhattisgarh, India, Mahesh Prasad Varma invented "Transcendental Meditation" in 1955. As a Hindu teacher, he took on the title "Yogi," and began calling himself "Maharishi," meaning "Great seer."

The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day. Those it helped swore by it, but it has been criticized and ridiculed as pseudoscience.

The Maharishi was a confidence man, a "con artist." He saw the individual Beatles, very wealthy due to their fame, and emotionally vulnerable due to their disillusionment with it, as the ultimate mark, especially since George Harrison had already expressed a strong interest in India, through his friendship with sitar player Ravi Shankar.

The group met the Maharishi on August 24, 1967, and traveled to his retreat in Bangor, Wales the next day. On the 26th, at Bangor, they announced they were giving up drugs. Three of the four did, but John Lennon found it a bit harder. On the 27th, they found out about the death of their manager, Brian Epstein -- leaving them even more emotionally vulnerable.

They arrived at the Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh on February 15, 1968. But they all ended up souring on the experience. Ringo Starr left on March 1, allegedly because he was allergic to much of the food, and his then-wife Maureen Starkey had had it with the insects. Paul McCartney and his then-girlfriend, actress Jane Asher, left shortly thereafter due to business commitments.

On April 12, John, his then-wife Cynthia Lennon, George and his then-wife Patti Boyd left, because they found out the Maharishi was hitting on actress Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence, and because the Maharishi wanted the Beatles to donate 25 percent of the next album's profits to him as a "tithe," to which John said, "Over my dead body."

John would later write a song titled "Maharishi" about him, but, scared that the Maharishi might have some kind of weird magic to use to punish him, George told him to retitle it, and it became "Sexy Sadie."

Twelve years later, John was the first Beatle to have a dead body. Beatles roadie Mal Evans, with them in India, was murdered earlier than John, in 1976. Cancer claimed Maureen in 1994 and George in 2001. The Maharishi lived on until 2008. As of February 15, 2022, Paul, Ringo, Jane, Mia and Prudence -- about whom John wrote the song "Dear Prudence" -- are still alive. (Yoko Ono and Linda Eastman had entered the picture by that point, but were not on the trips to Bangor or Rishikesh.)

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February 15, 1968 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 132-119 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 32 points and had 16 assists. Jerry Lucas had 19 points and grabbed 25 rebounds. Walt Hazzard led the expansion Sonics with 31.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 132-105 at the Chicago Stadium. Flynn Robinson scored 32 points.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the San Diego Rockets, 134-114 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Fred Hetzel scored 33 points.

There were 3 games in the 1st-season American Basketball Association:

* The Minnesota Muskies beat the Indiana Pacers, 122-101 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 121-113 in overtime at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium. Doug Moe scored 32 points in defeat for the Bucs, while 4 different Chaps scored between 23 and 26 points.

* And the Denver Rockets beat the Anaheim Amigos, 142-108 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Les Selvage led all scorers on the night with 38 points.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.