 While the Beatles were there , the Maharishi was negotiating with the Indian government to use some nearby parkland for an airstrip for a plane which he had been given ; a deal which several thousand landless peasants objected to as they had been denied the use of the land for farming . The ashram was surrounded by barbed wire and the gates were kept locked and guarded . While the Maharishi kept the media away from his famous students , he himself gave interviews to the press . 
