ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: How The Beatles Transformed the Spiritual Landscape

The Beatles 1968 retreat in an ashram on the banks of the Ganges was a watershed moment in the transmission of Eastern spirituality to the West. With the help of images and selected songs, this presentation will describe the circumstances that brought the Fab Four to India, what transpired during their sojourn artistically and spiritually, and most important, the event's enduring impact on Western spirituality. In the aftermath, words like mantra, guru, and karma entered the common vocabulary; meditation, physical yoga, and other Eastern practices became mainstream; and Hindu and Buddhist precepts shaped the subsequent development of alternative spiritualities.