stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

52 STRIPPING THE GURUS
Paul McCartney and Jane Asher bailed out a month later,
pleading homesickness.
John and Cynthia and George and Patti, however, persevered,
with John and George writing many songs which would later appear
on the White Album. Indeed, most of the thirty-plus songs on
that disc were composed in the Maharishi’s ashram. “Dear Prudence,”
for one, was written for Mia Farrow’s sister, who was so
intent on spiritual advancement that it was delegated to John and
George to get her to “come out to play” after her three weeks of
meditative seclusion in her chalet.
The overall calm there, however, was soon shattered by various
suspicions:
[A]ccurately or not, they became convinced that the Maharishi
had distinctly worldly designs on one of their illustrious
fellow students, actress Mia Farrow. They confronted him, in
an oblique way, with this accusation, and when he was unable
to answer it, or even figure out precisely what it was,
they headed back to London (Giuliano, 1986).
By Farrow’s own (1997) recounting, that may have been just a
simple misunderstanding based on the Maharishi’s unsolicited
hugging of her after a private meditation session in his cave/cellar.
Less explicable, though, are reports of the same sage’s offering of
chicken to at least one female student within his otherwisevegetarian
ashram, in alleged attempts to curry her favor (Clayson,
1996).
The Beatles’ disillusionment with the Maharishi during their
stay with him in India in 1968 involved allegations that Maharishi
had sex with a visiting American student (Anthony,
et al., 1987).
“Sexy Sadie” was later composed in honor of those believed foibles
on the part of His Holiness.
In any case, within a week Mia Farrow, too, had left the ashram
on a tiger hunt, never to return (to Rishikesh).
[T]he Maharishi burst into the Beatles’ lives, offering salvation
with a price tag of only fifteen [sic] minutes of devotion a
day. “It seemed too good to be true,” Paul McCartney later
quipped. “I guess it was” (Giuliano, 1989).