By Nicholas Hellen
With the release of The White Album, the Beatles were at the peak of their fame, and, as Gurudas puts it, "were being submerged by self-proclaimed Messiahs". When he and six other devotees attempted to make contact, their gifts, including a wind-up toy apple that played the Hare Krishna mantra, were binned by the band's gatekeepers. Their luck changed when the American rock band the Grateful Dead came to meet the Beatles in London and their manager invited one of the devotees, Shyamasundar Das, to accompany them. However, two members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang were also part of the Californian rockers' entourage. Gurudas said that as they all waited at the Beatles' headquarters, the Hell's Angels threatened to attack all four members of the band they had come to meet.