Ex-Beatle pays tribute to Mahesh Yogi

London: Former Beatle Ringo Starr paid tribute yesterday to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the band's one-time spiritual advisor who died this week.

Starr, the band's drummer, visited the Maharishi's ashram in India in 1968 with his fellow Beatles and studied transcendental meditation.

"One of the wise men I met in my life was the Maharishi," said 67-year-old Starr in a statement. "I always was impressed by his joy and I truly believe he knows where he is going."

The Beatles fell out with the Maharishi during their visit, with Starr reportedly objecting to the vegetarian diet.

The Maharishi, whose other celebrity followers included actresses Mia Farrow and Shirley MacLaine, died on Tuesday at his home in the Netherlands.

His worldwide Transcendental Meditation movement became a major international business and his 1964 book Science of Being and Art of Living sold over a million copies.

His funeral will be held in Allahabad on February 11, a spokesman for his foundation said yesterday.

"We are expecting a very large number of people to turn up from all over the world and are busy preparing arrangements," said spokesman Charles Cunningham.

One of his main aides, Peter Warburton, said a handful of devotees were with the guru when he breathed his last.

Warburton said Mahesh Yogi recalled his own guru Brahmananda Saraswati - the late Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, better known as Guru Deva - on his deathbed.