In 1968, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr took the friends, girlfriends, and wives of The Beatles to India. They had previously heard Maharishi Mahesh Yogi speak about Transcendental Meditation and agreed to join him at his ashram. While the experience was initially a positive one, especially for Lennon and Harrison, it did not end well. Jenny Boyd said Lennon had such a crushing disappointment that it could have been dangerous.
The Beatles arrived in India in February. While Starr and McCartney left earlier, Lennon and Harrison were still there in April. Boyd thought that Lennon had begun to look for a reason to leave. When he heard a rumor about the Maharishi, he urged the remainder of the group to return to England.
“[S]omebody, whether they made up a rumor or it was true about Maharishi, that he tried to have sex with …