“Abandoned City”: what happens in the unique temple where the Beatles were cursed

“Blue Throat” Temple of the Savior of the Universe

One of the main temples of India is Nitkanth. It is dedicated to Shiva and is located on the mountain. It was here, according to legend, that Shiva was sitting under a tree at the moment when demigods and demons came to him with a request – nothing less than nothing – to save the Universe. The fact is that they tried to extract the nectar of immortality from the ocean (they needed it in order to continue their favorite pastime – to wage wars, but not die at the same time). However, instead of nectar, poison rose from the depths of the sea in such quantities that it could destroy the whole world. Shiva was famous for his ability to solve any problems outside the box. Without thinking, he drank all the poison, causing his throat to turn blue. In general, this story is about how wisdom can save the world (and poison is a symbol of prejudice and hatred that fills humanity).

The temple is a mini-city, which can only be entered barefoot by depositing shoes with local merchants. Millions of dirty feet walked over it. But even if you have an open wound on your foot (as was the case in my case), you are unlikely to pick up some kind of infection.

It was amazing to see children who live right on the territory, clothes hung out for drying, pots … Is this really a temple? Yes! But it is not a fact that you will find the very tree where Shiva sat. The place seems to confuse a person, changing its outlines. Some come here for the second, third, fifth time and get lost in the nooks and crannies. On the way we met people who did not walk, but crawled as a sign of their humility.

Near one of the altars there is a statue of a sacred cow, which you can whisper a wish in your ear, and a Shiva lingam, which you need to pour water from the Ganges (we brought it with us). They smeared our foreheads with fresh ashes (we hope that not from the bodies of the dead – but according to legend, Shiva used it). In the same place we found a room where there was a myriad of tridents – once they were used as weapons. At the exit, we noticed a bell, which people tried to strike in order to testify that they were ready to lead a righteous life. We descended the mountain on foot along the road through the jungle. And here the most striking thing is that among the stones and wildlife one could find shops and structures that looked like stops.

Gurudwara

We went to this temple at 3 o’clock in the morning, so as not to miss the ceremony of awakening the guru, that is, the teacher. The book should have been awakened. No, not like that, it is correct to write the Book (with a capital letter).

The Sikhs (by the way, in India almost all the police and military are representatives of this religious and philosophical school) the last, eleventh guru, unlike the previous ones, is not a person, but a Book. It contains the sayings of the saints, and she herself is considered a message to all mankind. The Book is treated here as a living teacher. If you decide to take her out of India (by buying, say, in a bookstore or in a temple shop), then you must purchase a separate ticket for her, as for a living person.

They woke the Guru Book with drums and songs. And then the servants of the temple took off her “blanket”, put on her daytime “clothes” and began to read in turn. People came in, bowed to the book and left, someone stayed and sang along. Representatives of all religions are welcome in the temple, because they believe that God is one and all people are interconnected (read – relatives). It doesn’t matter what language you speak, what you believe in and whether you believe at all, you can come here and get everything you need – food, clothes, lodging.

But in this peace-loving philosophy there is a place for the military spirit. At the bottom of the temple, we found a huge hall where wax figures depicted bloody scenes from the life of the Sikhs. With the arrival of the Mongols, a terrible period began for them. Several scenes depict the torture of the guru for refusing to convert to Islam: beheading, quartering, burning alive, boiling in a cauldron of boiling water. It is shown how children were pierced with spears, how they were walled up in a brick wall. What is this all for? Probably to make it clear why the Sikhs have studied martial arts to perfection. Meanwhile, the Book tells us about the need for an active, creative life, full of kindness, honesty, self-control and purity.

Abandoned Temple: Curse of the Beatles

This is perhaps one of the most unusual temples of all that exist in the world. In the middle of the last century, it was built by Maharishi, who taught Western people transcendental meditation. He taught successfully, so there was enough money to build a grandiose complex in the national park (the site was rented to him) not far from the banks of the Ganges.

And the first thing we saw was free-standing egg-shaped cells (it was believed that this was an ideal form for meditation). There are two floors inside – on one the student slept, on the other he meditated. There is even a tiny but modern toilet bowl. We counted more than a hundred such egg dwellings, and they surround the territory. Inside it are abandoned buildings of a bizarre shape, on which inscriptions were preserved saying that it was a post office, a library, a canteen, a cinema, a bank, a printing house, etc. That is, in fact, it was an autonomous town with all the necessary institutions. At the same time, plumbing and heating worked there, which is still not the case in many houses nearby. The heliport, fountains and canal system (water flowed beautifully through the entire territory) fell into disrepair. But the most amazing buildings stand as if they were abandoned only yesterday. They were built with the latest advances in engineering. The main hall, for example, has a floor at a certain slope, which creates an interesting visual effect (we tested this for ourselves). If you sit in the hall first with your eyes closed, and then open and look at the person on the podium, it seems that he is levitating. The rooms on the sides are arranged in such a way that the sound made by the people chanting mantras in them had a stunning effect on those sitting in the hall. In general, there are many such “tricks” in the temple, and, I think, many tricks were not revealed by contemporaries. But even if you do not take into account all this, the architecture itself is fascinating. However, it was not this, but the effect of transcendental meditation that attracted people here, including famous personalities.

The Beatles lived in a small building in 1968. They wrote 44 songs here, which were included in the famous “White Album”. Inside there are entire halls with photographs in which the musicians, together with the Maharishi, during meditations, walks around the temple grounds. In June 1968 Esquire published a long article on the Maharishi written by Kurt Vonegut. He quite ironically dismantled the phenomenon of the attractiveness of the new generation of gurus (the daughter and wife of the writer became interested in his teachings). As Maharish himself said: “I do not offer religion, but technology.”

Well, then there was a sex scandal – it seems like Maharishi molested actress Mia Farrow, who came with the Beatles. The musicians quarreled with the guru and left. He himself denied everything and cursed the Beatles, after which they began a period of failure.

After that, fewer and fewer people began to visit the temple, transcendental meditation itself seemed to become less attractive. The government soon demanded the return of the territory. By the summer of 2023, the temple looked, although still abandoned and overgrown, but as if slightly coming to life. They say transcendental meditation is back in fashion in the West…