Picture the Beatles stepping off a plane in Rishikesh with more than guitars in tow—a well-worn copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. Uday Shankar, brother of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, pressed it into George Harrison’s hands, insisting it held the very keys to inner peace. Eager to dive headfirst into Eastern wisdom, the group tucked that book into their luggage, ready to explore Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation retreat.

That memoir wasn’t just bedtime reading; it became the Beatles’ spiritual compass. Yogananda’s tales of Kriya Yoga and encounters with saints lit a fire under their own search for higher meaning—far beyond experimental recording sessions. George, in particular, found in those pages a mirror for his own restless spirit, and the text quietly fueled the band’s late-’60s shift toward more contemplative lyrics and sounds.

Fast forward to 2025, and the ripple effects are crystal clear: modern musicians and creatives keep returning to Yogananda’s life story whenever the world feels chaotic. Just as the Beatles struck gold by blending rock ’n’ roll with sitar riffs, they also opened the floodgates for a Western audience to embrace meditation. Their decision to carry that single book halfway around the globe turned out to be one of the era’s quiet revolutions—proof that a slim volume can spark an entire spiritual movement.