Paul Mason

Paul Mason, born June 1952, the youngest of four children, was brought up in Putney, London, England. From an early age Paul showed an interest in music, and recalls that as an 11-year-old he listened to a live broadcast of The Beatles playing, picking them up on his transistor radio set on Boxing Day, 26th December 1963. During his rebellious teenage years - the Swinging Sixties - he got to see many major acts live in concert, and to meet and indulge with a lot of colourful characters on the fringes of the music business, enjoying good times together and occasionally brushing shoulders with those close to the core.

In 1970, Paul decided to take time away and proceeded to go hitchhiking abroad, eventually getting to India where he visited Maharishi's ashram at Rishikesh and learned the technique of Transcendental Meditation. This spurred him to dig deeper into the history of the teaching of meditation, which led to his being commissioned to write 'The Maharishi: the Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World'. Later he translated the teachings and life story of Maharishi's master, Guru Dev - Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati - from Hindi and Sanskrit into English.

In 2000, at a little ceremony on the banks of the River Ganges at Swargashram, Rishikesh, Paul was given the honorary sannyasi name of 'Premanand'. More recently, a chance meeting with singer/songwriter Donovan Leitch proved the necessary spur to bring to fruition a project that had been bubbling under for many years - the compilation of the detailed account of The Beatles' involvement with Maharishi, and their clear endorsement for the practice of meditation.