Editing Magic Alex (section)

===Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and India===
{{Main|The Beatles in India}}
[[File:MahareshiYogi2.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]
Mardas and Aspinall joined Lennon and Harrison in India, where they were studying meditation under the tutelage of [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]; Starr had returned to England complaining that the Indian food did not agree with him, and McCartney had left on 24 March 1968.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=755}} When Mardas first met the Maharishi, {{clarify span|date=December 2024|he said}} sarcastically, "I know you! Didn’t I meet you in Greece years ago?"{{sfn|Badman|Bacon|2004|p=214}}

Mardas was jealous of the control the Maharishi had over Lennon, and during one of their frequent walks through the woods he asked Lennon why the Maharishi always had an accountant by his side.<ref name="MaharishiMaheshYogiSpiritualLeaderTheIndependent">{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-spiritual-leader-who-introduced-millions-including-the-beatles-to-transcendental-meditation-779109.html |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Spiritual leader who introduced millions, including the Beatles, to transcendental meditation |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=7 February 2008 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> Lennon replied that the Beatles (or Lennon and Harrison) were considering donating a large part of their income to the Maharishi's bank accounts in Switzerland.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=755-756}} When Mardas questioned the Maharishi about this, he offered money to Mardas to build a high-powered radio station, so he could broadcast Maharishi's teachings to the whole of India.{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=261}}

Alcohol was not allowed in the Maharishi's [[ashram]], but Mardas smuggled some in from [[Dehra Dun]],{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=755}} and later reported to Lennon and Harrison that the Maharishi had sex with a young American student,<ref name="TheBeatlestheMaharishiandme">{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3340963.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516223837/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3340963.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2008 |date=10 February 2008|title=The Beatles, the Maharishi and me |first= Cynthia|last=Lennon |work=[[The Sunday Times]]|publisher=Times Newspapers |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> and had made a sexual advance toward [[Mia Farrow]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} This was not supported in Farrow's autobiography ''What Falls Away'' (1997), in which she wrote that she may have misinterpreted the supposed sexual advance.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Mardas continued to insist the Maharishi was not what he said he was, making even Harrison unsure. Lennon mused in 1970: "Well, it must be true, because if George is doubting him, there must be something in it".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Lennon and Harrison confronted the Maharishi, but the startled Maharishi's answers did not satisfy them, and they decided to leave the camp.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Mardas insisted that they (Lennon, Harrison and their wives) must leave the camp at once, or the Maharishi might send down some "black magic" on them. Mardas then went down to Dehra Dun to organise taxis for the next morning to take them all to [[Delhi]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}}

Cynthia Lennon personally believed that Mardas invented the story about sexual impropriety to undermine the Maharishi's influence on the Beatles, as Mardas was always jealous of anyone having Lennon's attention.{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=264}}{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=429}}<ref>Musician magazine, September 1992, p. 43 "There was nothing that ever happened except that there was a fella who was supposedly a friend of ours who stirred up and created this big fantasy. There was never anything that took place".</ref> Harrison and McCartney later offered their apologies to the Maharishi (McCartney said that he did not believe the accusation at all).<ref name="ManWhoSavedTheBeatles">{{cite news |first=Allan |last=Kozinn |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/arts/music/07yogi.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Starr,%20Ringo |title=Meditation on the Man Who Saved the Beatles |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 February 2008 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> In 2010, Mardas issued a statement to ''[[The New York Times]]'' denying that he had spread rumours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/pageoneplus/corrections.html|title=Corrections|date=4 March 2010|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref>