Guru. Salesman. Sex pest: The search for enlightenment led The Beatles to the Maharishi. But when their idol made a pass at Mia Farrow, disillusion 始める，決める in

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THE NIRVANA EXPRESS?

by Mick Brown (Hurst Publishers £25, 400pp)

It's all The Beatles' fault. Anyone who has 耐えるd someone's 煙霧のかかった account of 'finding' themselves in India can 非難する John, Paul, George and Ringo.

In the summer of 1967, when the 禁止（する）d 熟考する／考慮するd meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 山のふもとの丘s of the Himalayas, they made spiritual 観光旅行，事業 profoundly groovy. But, as Brown explains in The Nirvana 表明する, the Fab Four were just the 最新の in a long line of Western 人物／姿／数字s to 落ちる under the （一定の）期間 of 宗教上の men from the East.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, these schools of thought, often loosely connected to Hinduism and Buddhism, enthralled Europeans and Americans 捜し出すing a 静かな 代案／選択肢 to the more shouty dictates of Christian 根本主義s and the bling of Catholicism. George Harrison was just one of many seduced by the idea that 'each soul is 潜在的に divine'.

In the summer of 1967, when the 禁止（する）d 熟考する／考慮するd meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 山のふもとの丘s of the Himalayas, they made spiritual 観光旅行，事業 profoundly groovy

In a lively narrative, 配達するd with wit and warmth, Brown shows how Eastern mysticism went from 存在 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う to venerable, and 支援する again to a 支配する of scepticism. Along the way, he 配達するs an outrageous cast of characters ― film 星／主役にするs, 小説家s, heiresses and 異端者s ― and shows how soothing swamis and dodgy charlatans left their 示す on Western ways.

It all began with the Victorian love of learning. In 1879, Sir Edwin Arnold published The Light of Asia, a poetic imagining of the life of the Buddha that 誘発するd curiosity in some colonialists out East and adventurous minds at home.

By the 早期に 20th century, Indian philosophy had become 流行の／上流の. Sir Edwin Lutyens, the most celebrated architect of the Edwardian 時代, was not a fan. His wife, Emily, embraced theosophy ― which 連合させるd world 宗教s in an Avengers 組み立てる／集結する manner ― and became an ardent admirer of Krishna, the 甘い-natured 16-year-old son of an Indian clerk who had been 無作為に chosen as its ありそうもない Messiah.

While Lady Emily 充てるd herself to the boy, poor Edwin spent periods working in India, where he saw little beauty beneath the poverty.

Emily wrote to him to say he was no longer welcome in her bedroom and, subsequently, made いっそう少なく than spiritual 予備交渉s to Krishna. These in turn were rebuffed.

Others were いっそう少なく easily swayed. The 悪名高い occultist Aleister Crowley ― dubbed 'the wickedest man in the world' ― 設立する Eastern spiritualism far too passive. But gurus continued to attach themselves to celebrities and socialites to 伸び（る） traction and 基金s. In the 1930s, Meher Baba, a spiritual master with an 注目する，もくろむ on Hollywood, sought, but failed, to 勝利，勝つ the patronage of Greta Garbo.

As Brown 公式文書，認めるs, Indian spirituality went mainstream in the 1960s when The Beatles became fans. The saga of the most famous 禁止（する）d in the world and the Maharishi ― known as the 'giggling guru' 予定 to his impish humour ― is a tale of curiosity and 失望.

In 1967, the 禁止（する）d went to the Hilton Hotel on Park 小道／航路 to hear the guru speak (George's wife, Pattie Boyd, 解任するd that 'they seemed to do everything as a group; if one of them did something they would all want to do it'). The に引き続いて day, the four musicians decamped to a teacher training college in Bangor, North むちの跡s, where the Maharishi was teaching Transcendental Meditation. The 退却／保養地 was 削減（する） short, however, when the 禁止（する）d learned of the de ath of their beloved 経営者／支配人 Brian Epstein.

In a lively narrative, 配達するd with wit and warmth, Brown shows how Eastern mysticism went from 存在 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う to venerable, and 支援する again to a 支配する of scepticism

The Beatles later 熟考する／考慮するd under the guru in India, at an ashram overlooking the ギャング（団）s. Mia Farrow, raw from her 分離 with Frank Sinatra, joined them along with her sister Prudence (Lennon wrote 'Dear Prudence' in her honour).

A gifted salesman, the Maharishi 速く labelled himself 'The Beatles' spiritual teacher'.

いっそう少なく famous disciples, 令状s Brown, were 強いるd to bring 'six fresh flowers, two pieces of fruit, a clean white handkerchief and a 財政上の 寄付.'

It didn't take long for 割れ目s to appear.

Ringo disliked the food and 長，率いるd home 早期に. The 残り／休憩（する） of the 禁止（する）d followed 控訴 when rumours 循環させるd that the Maharishi had made passes at Mia Farrow.

'We thought there was more to him than there was,' 公式文書，認めるd Paul McCartney. Lennon was more candid, 解任するing how stunned The Beatles had been to learn of Epstein's death and the Maharishi's 返答 when they told him Epstein had died. 'And he was sort of 説, 'Oh forget it, be happy' ― f***in' idiot.'

Only George kept the 約束, 保持するing a lifelong 利益／興味 in Eastern 宗教s. But The Beatles' Indian sojourn created some incredible music: more than half of the White Album was written at the ashram.

Perhaps the most コンビナート／複合体 of the Indian godmen was the Bhagwan Rajneesh, 示唆するs Brown. The Gordon Gekko of the swami scene, Rajneesh looked both to the heavens and the 底（に届く） line, building an empire in the 1970s and 1980s that 含むd a town in Oregon ― which he 改名するd Rajneeshpuram ― and the world's largest collection of Rolls-Royces. In 1976, the actor Terence Stamp arrived at Rajneesh's Indian base in Pune and すぐに recognised a fellow performer, に例えるing him to Orson 井戸／弁護士席s.

Stamp became ensconced in the ashram: 'I had a new 指名する, I was wearing orange, I was 熟考する／考慮するing tantric sex. It wasn't uninteresting!'

Rajneesh's American 企業, which drew thousands of 訪問者s, 崩壊するd in the 中央の-1980s, に引き続いて 報告（する）／憶測s of violent therapy 開会／開廷／会期s, sex スキャンダルs and a litany of 罪，犯罪s: 信奉者s were 罪人／有罪を宣告するd of bio-terror attacks, 放火（罪） and 殺人未遂. Their leader was 逮捕（する）d, 罰金d and 国外追放するd 支援する to India.

Brown shows how the gurus' woolly 知恵 was both their strength and 証拠不十分 (there's a touch of Yes 大臣 to some of their opaque 宣言s). Yet the inf luence of these mystics 耐えるs today. 'Yoga classes are now held in church halls,' Brown 観察するs. 'Meditation has been stripped of its spiritual connotations and rebranded as 'mindfulness'.'

In his previous 調書をとる／予約する, 涙／ほころびing 負かす／撃墜する The 塀で囲む Of Sound: The Rise And 落ちる Of Phil Spector, Brown 明らかにする／漏らすd how a musical icon became a 殺害者. There are more fallen idols here.

A pattern forms of a pure creed curdled by greed, and the 不安定 of both gurus and 信奉者s. Brown illustrates the subjective reality of spiritual highs with an amusing story about the American （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 poet Allen Ginsberg.

In 1948, Ginsberg, whose mystical 旅行 took in Buddhism, mescaline and LSD, （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to have had a visitation from God while reading a William Blake poem in his New York apartment.

'打ち勝つ by an 勧める to 株 the good news,' 令状s Brown, 'Ginsberg はうd out of the window の上に the 解雇する／砲火／射撃-escape and tapped on the window of the 隣人ing apartment, which was 占領するd by two girls. The window opened: 'I've seen God!' Ginsberg 叫び声をあげるd excitedly.

'The window slammed shut. 'Oh,' Ginsberg later lamented, 'what tales I could have told them if they'd let me in!' '