# Did Beatles Give Voice to Dahai Lama? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809 "2016-11-23T14:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/1 "2016-11-23T14:52:09Z")
Growing up post-Beatles, I have to wonder how much influence the Beatles had in giving world recognition to the Dalai Lama. Here is a [CNN article](http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/23/politics/dalai-lama-trump-reaction/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial) where the Dalai Lama says he has no concerns with Trump and is eager to meet with Trump. Why should Trump care? Why should the US care? And finally, did the Beatles thrust the Dalai Lama onto the world stage? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/2 "2016-11-23T15:03:04Z")
I don’t think the Beatles had anything to do with the Dalai Lama. Are you sure you’re not thinking of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was the creator of the Transcendental Meditation movement? The Beatles practiced TM, and went to India in 1968 to stay in his ashram and study under him. The Dalai Lama is on the world stage because he was the theocratic ruler of a country, Tibet, that was invaded and taken over by the Chinese, and he’s spent his life trying to keep Tibet in the world’s eye and bringing attention to the Chinese occupation. Plus, he’s a Buddhist religious leader, and a lot of westerners think Buddhism is peachy keen and a special magical religion. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/3 "2016-11-23T19:30:00Z")
Thank you, Captain! Another myth from my childhood unscrambled! Somewhere in the back pages of time, I thought it was the Dalai Lama! You know how those misconceptions from youth hang out in the corners of one’s mind. Yes, you truly are Captain Amazing, and I thank you! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/4 "2016-11-23T20:57:33Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Thank you, Captain! Another myth from my childhood unscrambled! Somewhere in the back pages of time, I thought it was the Dalai Lama! You know how those misconceptions from youth hang out in the corners of one’s mind. Yes, you truly are Captain Amazing, and I thank you! 😃 Easy way to tell DL from MMY: Unlike the Mahareesh, the DLama’s voice has never sounded like Mickey Mouse on Valium. (credit to Johnny Carson for the Mickey/Mahareesh observation) ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/5 "2016-11-23T21:20:50Z")
Not in the elaborated terms of your question, but, in one way, they did. Here is Beatles producer George Martin describing the recording of the song “Tomorrow Never Knows” (the lyrics of which are influenced, in a roundabout way, by the _Tibetan Book of the Dead_, a Tibetan Buddhist text): > [@](#): > > For ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ he said to me he wanted his voice to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from a hilltop, and I said, “It’s a bit expensive, going to Tibet. Can we make do with it here?” I knew perfectly well that ordinary echo or reverb wouldn’t work, because it would just put a very distant voice on. We needed to have something a bit weird and metallic… > > A Leslie speaker is a rotating speaker, a Hammond console, and the speed at which it rotates can be varied according to a knob on the control. By putting his voice through that and then recoding it again, you got a kind of intermittent vibrato effect, which is what we hear on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. I don’t think anyone had done that before. It was quite a revolutionary track for _Revolver_. So, in this sense, The Beatles could be said to have literally given voice to the Dalai Lama (although he probably doesn’t sound like that)! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/6 "2016-11-24T02:03:19Z")
The Beatles were into Indian guru [Maharishi Mahesh Yogi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Mahesh_Yogi). You can read about the [Beatles in India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_in_India). A web search highlights that Paul McCartney in 2008 urged the Dalai Lama to turn vegetarian. Nothing from 60’s. I’ve been a big fan of the Dalai Lama for a few decades and I can’t remember anything involved with the Beatles and I’m old enough to remember if something like that took place. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/7 "2016-11-24T03:36:28Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Easy way to tell DL from MMY: Unlike the Mahareesh, the DLama’s voice has never sounded like Mickey Mouse on Valium. Way different choices in personal grooming as well. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![appleaday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@appleaday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleaday)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-beatles-give-voice-to-dahai-lama/772809/8 "2016-11-24T03:45:23Z")
Yup, it was definitely the Maharishi. Although they dropped him after a while. I used to have a poster with the Beatles, Mia Farrow(?), and the Maharishi all dressed up in ashram clothes and bedecked with lots of flowers. A lot of small photos arranged as a mandala. That sort of thing was popular back then.