Yoga gets a little help from its friends
The Beatles’ trained spotlight on Rishikesh ashrams
Rishikesh: Sitting humbly on the floor in his orange robes, the spiritual head of the biggest ashram in Rishikesh rejoices at how yoga has spread across the globe in the 50 years since The Beatles first visited the holy city.
“Yoga is amazing!” enthused the long-haired, bushy-bearded Swami Chidanand Saraswati in a tranquil inner courtyard in the world yoga capital, assistants having prostrated themselves at his feet.
“As the Sun is for all, the Moon is for all, rivers are for all, in the same way yoga is for all.”
International Yoga Day, celebrated yesterday, which was proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 to the UN General Assembly and adopted unanimously, was celebrated yesterday.
“Imagine that! The prime minister went to the United Nations and talked about the benefits of yoga ... Today yoga is everywhere,” the Swami said at his Parmarth Niketan Ashram, a stone’s throw from the holy Ganges river.
The town of Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas 250km north of Delhi, is the world centre of yoga, drawing thousands of foreign tourists every year to its dozens of ashram retreats and yoga schools.
And this is thanks in no small part to the Fab Four, who came to Rishikesh looking for refuge from Beatlemania, for spiritual enlightenment and to immerse themselves in Indian culture.
Staying in an ashram hosted by the magnetic Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it was a watershed time for the world’s most famous band – although drummer Ringo Starr, troubled by the food, went home after just 10 days.
“They wrote 48 songs here. Many of them appeared on the White Album, one of their most successful records,” said Raju Gusain, 47, a local journalist and a leading authority on the trip. “The visit completely transformed the Beatles.”
The last of the band left after eight weeks.
The site is now derelict and atmospheric, having been abandoned in 2001, although efforts are under way to spruce it up.
But the group’s 1968 stay helped to put the town – a centre for yoga for centuries already and long a gateway to other sacred sites – on the map for Westerners and Indians alike, while also popularising yoga and meditation.
Atta Kurzmann, 68, an American visiting Rishikesh who was a “great Beatles fan” and now a yoga teacher, was one of those inspired back then.
Today Rishikesh attracts around 70 to 80,000 foreign visitors every year, as well as a great many more Indians wanting to bathe and go white-water rafting in the river, to attend festivals, or visit the sites and escape Delhi’s pollution.