Dan's Papers - July 25, 2008 - 1967 Beatles Photos from the "Inner" Sanctum

Photographs of the Beatles studying transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in 1967, taken by Canadian producer/director Paul Saltzman, will be on display at East End Books in East Hampton through August 14. The photographs are part of his book, The Beatles in India.

Saltzman was nursing a broken heart while working on a documentary in India in December of 1967 when someone suggested that he consider taking up meditation and mysticism to ease the pain. "I was wanting to find a different me," he said. "I realized there were parts of me that I didn't like. That's a shocking thought for a successful 23-year-old."

He decided to take the trip to study with the Maharishi, but - like everyone trying to study with him at the time - was turned away because the Beatles, along with a group of pals that included Mia Farrow (who was also there getting over heartbreak after ending her marriage to Frank Sinatra) and Donovan, were in town. Saltzman didn't give up easily, though. He slept outside the gates for eight days until they finally let him in.

Once inside, he learned to meditate and to look within himself. "It was a miracle. I knew nothing about anything like that," he said. "It eased the aching of my heartbreak. It was life-changing in a number of ways. It was life-changing in the fact that meditation is the key to inner connection with the divine."

Saltzman also fell in easily with the Beatles and their group of friends for the week he was there. "They were open, warm, receptive, playful and down-to-earth," he said. "Literally, within a minute, I stopped thinking of them as the Beatles. They were like family at the time. They were as close as brothers."

Saltzman is a longtime fan of the Beatles, and the group was also part of the inspiration for his soul-searching journey. "Their music had already changed my life," he said. "I remember when I first heard 'Within You, Without You' and 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' They were talking about an inner journey. I thought, what is this inner place they're talking about? Their music had already invited me to look within."

When Saltzman saw them taking pictures of each other, he asked if they'd mind if he took out his camera, and they gave him permission. He took a number of photos, but only 54 with anyone famous in them. "I had lots of film. I could have taken hundreds," he said. "I just didn't think of it. I was living in the experience, in the moment."

His most memorable moment of that week - and consequently the only time he wishes he had his camera on him - was when George Harrison invited him along while he practiced the sitar. The result was a life-changing conversation for Saltzman. "Like, we're the Beatles after all, aren't we? We have all the money you could ever dream of," Harrison said to him. "We have all the fame you could ever wish for. But, it isn't love. It isn't health. It isn't peace inside, is it?"

And though Saltzman didn't keep in touch with any of the Beatles after he left India, saying, "These guys didn't need new friends," the experience has always been important to him.

The Beatles in India, which Saltzman self-published, can be purchased at East End Books or at thebeatlesinindia.com. The limited-edition box set comes with a DVD of Saltzman explaining the photos and discussing his time in India, and a CD of Beatles songs performed on the sitar and other Indian instruments.