The Beatles’ spiritual retreat in India opens to public

Authorities opened the ashram to visitors on Tuesday, and are charging Indian and foreign tourists 150 ($2.24; £1.49) and 700 rupees ($10.49; £7) respectively.

Most travellers to the North Indian religious town of Rishikesh in Uttarakhand state, will not remember the Chaurasi Kutia ashram for its guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, or for the special form of mantra meditation he taught.

An ashram in India which served as a retreat for the The Beatles in the 1960s has opened to the public for the first time in more than 30 years. The meditation impacted their music and Paul Saltzman, author of The Beatles in Rishikesh, says the band wrote some 48 songs during their stay.

Aside from being a pilgrimage site for Beatles fans, the Uttarakhand tourism board will also conduct meditation classes, bird walks and nature trails on the ashram premises.

Senior forestry official Rajendra Nautiyal told the BBC: “We have cleaned up the place and lined the pathways with flowers”. They reportedly wrote upwards of 40 songs at the ashram, but their spiritual stay quickly descended into farce as the band members one by one left early. None of the band members managed to stay the intended course: Ringo Starr left after 10 days, Paul McCartney after four weeks with John Lennon and George Harrison outlasting them at six weeks. We are making some gardens and putting some benches for visitors. “We want to retain the place’s rustic look”.

One of the main attractions at the mediation center located within a tiger reserve is a wall of graffiti and pop art painted by fans in one of the former yoga halls. Lennon’s ex-wife, Cynthia, claimed in her 2005 memoir, John, that her then-husband and Harrison chose to leave the retreat after one of their friends accused the Maharishi of acting inappropriately with a young female visitor.

The retreat itself – leased to the guru by the government in 1957 – was gradually reclaimed by nature after being abandoned.

Neena Grewal, director RTR, who took the initiative to spruce up the ashram, told The Times of India, “The ashram has been visited by Beatles fans ever since the band came here way back in 1968”.

A 2012 photo of a couple meditating in Yoga Hall at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram (Beatles Ashram).