Paul, Ringo, Donovan and Mike Love promote Transcendental Meditation

Musicians Paul McCartney, left, and Ringo Starr participate in press conference to promote the 'Change Begins Within' benefit concert Friday in New York for the David Lynch Foundation http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/

They support with friends an initiative to teach 1 million at-risk youth to learn Maharishis Transcendental Meditation.

Here's a transcript of remarks by Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Donovan and Mike Love at David Lynch Foundation press conference. You can find the compete press conference at the Lynch Foundation website (www.davidlynchfoundation.org in excellent quality) or an excerpt with just Paul and Ringo on YouTube:

David Lynch: A big pleasure to welcome now two Capitol S superstars Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney.

Ringo Starr: Thank you. I love David saying, “I’m David. I’m a meditator. (Laughs.) I didn’t have anything written down. (Aside to Paul) Have you written anything?

Paul McCartney: Nope.

Ringo: OK, good. Anyway, over 40 years ago we ended up in Rishikesh. And that’s where we met … well, it wasn’t where we met, but where we hung out with Maharishi. We’d met him a few months before in Wales. And since then, sometimes a lot and sometimes a little, I have meditated. You know, a gift he gave me was my mantra, something I could use and something no one could take away. So it’s one of the few things I was ever given that means that much to me. And we (referring to Paul) went together, actually.

Paul: We did.

Ringo: We’re in the same cab.

Paul: You’re doing very well, by the way.

Ringo: I know. I’m jet lagged I’ll blah all day. We went over this bridge. You remember the bridge we went over. And, you know, it’s India. And there were all these people sitting on this bridge as we went over the Ganges with these pots of money. And I couldn’t understand it.

Paul: I don’t remember it.

Ringo: And I was thinking, because, you know, they’d lost … you know you’re in a strange country when you go to India. It’s not like, you know, France or Denmark. It’s different.

Paul: That’s true.

Ringo: Up to you now.

Paul: That’s true. Well, I haven’t got a lot left to say after that. I think that covered it all. And leprosy. Um, no, seriously, what Ringo says. It was a great gift the Maharishi gave us. For me it came at a time when we were looking for something to kind of stabilize us towards the end of the crazy ‘60s. And it is. It’s a lifelong gift. It’s something you can call on at any time. And I think it’s a great thing. I think it’s a particularly great thing what David and the Foundation is doing … putting it in schools and allowing kids to experience something that I don’t think they’d otherwise would have had the chance to experience. Think it’s a great thing that now it’s actually coming into the mainstream. So I think people will be able to look at it and say, you know, here’s a study that was done inDetroit or in the West Bank or in Brazil and look at it and see what the effects are. We think it’s a great thing. And so thank you, David, for putting it together.

Ringo: Thank you, David.

Paul: Are we done?

Ringo: Who’s next?

David Lynch: The great Donovan.

Donovan: Well, I do have some notes.

Ringo: It doesn’t start with “Mellow Yellow,” does it?

Donovan: Quite rightly. And I’ve also got some glasses in here somewhere. Oh, wait a minute. These are Obama’s tickets for tomorrow.

Ringo: I’d lend you mine but then I couldn’t see.

Donovan: Look. Here it is. You all here. You see for yourselves. Schools are in trouble. Teachers need help. And the youth of America is in serious risk. Am I right? David Lynch saw the benefits of transcendental meditation. Now, there are thousands of children already receiving it. And they are raising their self-esteem. They’re improving their well-being. And they’re turning around the most-troubled schools. David created the David Lynch Foundation and he asked me to be the musical wing and travel the world with him. David, my wife Linda, over there, and I have arrived here at this amazing time in your nation’s journey. As your new president sees the problems of schools clearly, he calls for the solution now and we are here in New York to make your wish come true. The proof is in. Transcendental meditation naturally unfolds any student’s full potential. Tomorrow night, 1 million students is our goal. Check the website. This really works. Forty-one years ago, or was it last year, boys, we traveled to India to see if it was true what we’d only read about in the books … that meditation is the real way to be fulfilled. We found it to be true and we sang out the good news in our songs. It’s really simple. Change begins within.

David Lynch: Like to introduce Mike Love.

Mike Love: Well, we came after the Beatles. We’re used to that. Particularly on the charts. But, nonetheless, we were initiated intoTM by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Paris in December of ’67. And it was in this town, at the Plaza Hotel, that all the Beach Boys came and sat at Maharishi’s feet where a picture was taken by a photographer named Linda. And it’s kind of a well-known photo. We went from there … I went from there to Boston to hear Maharishi speak at the Harvard Law Forum. And he blew my mind. And because he walked out onstage, took a step, paused, took another step, paused. At the third step, everybody rose up in the Harvard Law Forum, which is a pretty critical place. I mean people with an intellect and there was a standing ovation in silence. Now, I’d been used to standing ovations, but a standing ovation in silence brought tears to my mind, to my eyes. Maybe my mind, too. It blew my mind. But then, I called the hotel to find out about India and Maharishi answered. And he said, “Are you coming to India?” I said, “Well, I guess.” “Well, bring the other guys.” “I don’t know if they’ll come, but I’ll be there.” (Laughs.) And we met all these great people on stage and it was a most fascinating time on a lot of levels. One of the fun levels was a birthday song that the guys came up with which ended with, “Happy birthday, Michael Love.” It was great. It was so much fun. And I remember being at the breakfast table when Paul came down with his acoustic guitar saying, “Listen to this, Mike. ‘I flew in from Miami Beach BOAC’ It was unbelievable. We had some nice talks and interaction. But anyway, the most fascinating thing of all to me other than that phenomenal stuff there was that the Maharishi was talking about world peace and an age of enlightenment. And I think the David Lynch Foundation’s goal to teach a million children meditation is definitely an indication that there is definitely an age of enlightenment to be had. And that’ll be like a million steps in the direction of world peace. Thanks.

www.davidlynchfoundation.org
www.tm.org