George Harrison - Vaishnava Saint & Mystic Yogi or Material Sense Enjoyer?

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Colin Jury colin

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The Article:

Mr.

George Harrison - Vaishnava Saint & Mystic Yogi or Material Sense

Enjoyer?

By Colin

Jury / Kulasekhara das.

I have

never met Dhani - George Harrison's son, (now in his mid twenties),

but on the first birthday without his father there to wish him a

"Happy Birthday". I want to send him the same message -

heartfelt - from someone who got to know his Father before he was born

and who has admired him since a young lad.

Growing

up in London, England, I was fourteen when the Beatles seriously hit

the big time, and sixteen when they made Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts

Club Band, where George's "Within You and Without You", with

it's Sitar, Tabla and 'Spiritual Message' gave India a new meaning

for me.

My

father was stationed in Madras, India during World War II. As a child,

he showed me photographs of Indian children grown in boxes with square

heads and body so that they could beg money for their parents. Plus

other photo's with his tent on the beach where he lived with two

dogs and a monkey. In our house we had small carved wooden Elephants

with Ivory tusks and other small gifts that my Father had bought back

for his 'sweetheart' - my mother.

As

a Christian youth I had sung in the Choir at St. Paul's Cathedral

(High Church), and had grown up with a firm belief in God - although

not aware of 'His' actual identity. Our family went to Church for

Weddings, Baptisms and Funerals. And although we never prayed at our

house - except at Christmas Dinner (and then nervously), I had no

doubt about the existence of God or any of my family's faith in

God.

George

Harrison was the first person to introduce me to Krishna, in that

sense, he is my Varshika Pradashika Guru - the person who first

introduces one to the Lord. In this exchange, there is no exchange of

karma, or responsibility on behalf of the 'guru' or debt on behalf

of the initiate.

In

"Sri-Padyavali, sloka 16, composed by Srila Sridhara Svami, it

say's,

"All glories to hari-nama, which is auspicious for the

entire world!

Just as the rising

sun dissipates all darkness, if hari-nama rises

just

once, it can destroy all of a person's sins."

Therefore, hearing the name of Krishna is very

powerful, and cannot be contaminated by matter. It is sabdha brahma -

spiritual sound, composed of para-prakriti, spiritual energy or the

Lord Himself in sound form. Through the holy name one can associate

directly with the Lord.

When I

was eighteen, in 1968, I met the devotees of Krishna in person for the

first time at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse, a famous venue for Rock and

Roll acts. They were performing with Pandit Trikha - a Sitar Master,

as the warm-up band for the main act, and they were chanting vedic

prayers and the Hare Krishna mantra. I chanted along with them, and

had a powerful spiritual experience.

Shortly

thereafter I started meeting them at the "Art's Lab" and

chanting every Thursday night. This had an effect, as I moved into the

ashram three months later, becoming the first European disciple of His

Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

One week

after I moved in, George Harrison came to visit. After he had viewed

our temple room, and taken darshan of Lord Jugannath, I asked him what

he thought of our 'temple'. He looked at me and said, "You know

where the real temple is - don't you...its (and he poked me hard in

the chest with his index finger), in your heart!"

A few

weeks later we went to his house for lunch, and the devotee women

cooked a wonderful prasadam feast, while we played with George on his

Moog Synthesizer. He said, "How about wind over the Himalyas." He

connected a few patchcords and there was the sound of wind rushing.

"And a thousand monks chanting AUM," and another two patches and

there was the sound of a thousand monks chanting AUM. George then

connected a few more patch cords and slid his finger on this small

strip of touch sensitive fabric, making the most beautiful

sounds.

After

lunch we had a three-hour kirtan in his living room. To say it was

ecstatic was an understatement. George played electric bass, Billy

Preston played keyboards, Shyamsundar das played an esraj (bowed

Sitar), Gurudas played a Tampura, Mukunda played a Mridangam and I

played Tablas. George recorded this on the eight track recorder that

was built into his living room.

A week

later, he came back to visit us, he said, "I have written a song

about you guy's, it's called "Here comes the

Sun."

A week

after this he called up and asked if I could record more percussion on

the tape, so at eighteen I found myself in the studio at Apple

Records, sitting cross-legged opposite George Harrison, alone in

a twelve-foot-square sound room - playing the Tablas (which he had

given to me as we were leaving his house!), George played the

tambourine. We over-dubbed the whole three hour tape, and sitting in

meditation with George Harrison for three hours at eighteen was a

powerful spiritual experience for me. After about the first ten

minutes my mind calmed down, and then it was just the

mantra.

In the

Kali-santarana Upanisad, the glories of the Hare Krishna Mantra are

described this way:

"At the end of the

Dvarapa-yuga, Sri Narada went to Sri Brahma, and after offering his

obeisances inquired, 'O Lord, how can I cross beyond the influence

of this age of Kali while wandering on this earthly

planet?"

 

"Brahmaji replied, 'O son, you have asked an excellent

question. Please hear the most confidential secret of the entire Vedas

by which you can easily cross this world of Kali. By uttering the name

of that adi-purusha who is Bhagavan Sri Narayana Krsna, the

personality of Kali-yuga begins to tremble.'

"Naradaji further

inquired, 'Which name of Sri Bhagavan and what is its

svarupa?'"

"In

reply Brahmaji said, Hare Krishna Hare krishna hare krishna krishna

krishna hare hare / hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. This

maha-mantra, thus composed of sixteen names, can completely destroy

all the sins of the Kali-yuga. A superior sadhana does not appear in

the entire Vedas. The maha-mantra is covered by sixteen qualities,

which means that it can destroy the five gross elements (pancha-bhuta)

and the eleven senses which cover the jiva. Then Parambrahma manifests

before the jiva, just like the sun whose rays shine brightly when the

clouds' covering is removed.'

"Naradaji then asked, 'O Lord, what are the rules and

regulations for chanting the maha-mantra?'

"Brahmaji said, 'There are no rules and regulations for

chanting this maha-mantra. One can chant in a pure or impure state.

Moreover, by clearly pronouncing this maha-mantra, one can attain

brahma (salokya, samipya, sarupya and sayujya). Not only that, one can

attain krsna-prema, the fifth goal of human life

(pancama-purusartha).'"

The

highest goal of human life is to attain Love of God. The recommended

process for this age of Kali is to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

Through the medium of Popular Music, George Harrison had the world

chanting Hare Krishna with his song "My Sweet Lord", where he

combined the mantra with the Christian "Allelelujya's" (praise

God). In this way he was becoming the first guru in the process of

knowing and loving Krishna for millions of soul's - Worldwide. How

can anyone estimate his benefit from such an action?

Yoga

means to link with God, so I can definitely say that George was a

Yogi. In the Bhagavad Gita, it say's that on this path there is no

downside, even if one fails to achieve perfection in this life, then

in one's next birth one will have a better situation from which to

serve the Lord. And one cannot forget the mercy of the guru, as

according to Bhaktivinode Thakur, he prays that the guru's mercy is

all that he is made of. Recognizing that we cannot approach God under

our own power, that we need the mercy of the guru to approach God, and

with his blessings this can become an easy thing. I know that George

had Srila Prabhupad's full blessings.

Srila

Prabhupada, our spiritual master, used to say - If even once - one

say's the name Krishna, even to ridicule the Vaishnava's, the

person gains benefit, and will come back life after life chanting more

and more until they see Krishna face to face. It is that powerful -

not to mention the benefit a sincere soul like George Harrison, who

chanted daily and studied the Gita and the Bhagavatam.

Regarding the relationship with Srila Prabhupada,

George said, "Prabhupada never really suggested that I shouldn't

do what I was doing. I had heard that at different times he would say

to the devotees that I was a better devotee because of my songs and

the other things I was doing. He never actually said that to me, but I

always heard that. And the good thing for me was that I didn't have

a feeling that I needed to join full time. I think it would have

spoiled it if he had always been on me, saying, "Why don't you

pack in what you are doing and go live in a temple somewhere?" He

never made me feel any different, like I wasn't quite in the club.

He was never like that.

I'm a

plainclothes devotee. It's like that. I saw my relationship--that

I should help when and where I could, because I know people in

society. It's like any half-decent person; you just try to help each

other a little bit. He was always pleased with me, because anything I

did was a help. I mean not just to the Krsna temple as such, but just

to anything spiritual that I did, either through songs or

whatever-it pleased him. He was just always very friendly. He was

always chanting, and at times he said that to me-just to keep

chanting all the time, or as much as possible. I think once you do

that, you realize the chanting is of benefit.

There

are some gurus who go around making out that they are "it," but

Prabhupada was saying, "I am the servant of the servant of the

servant of Krsna," which is really what is, you know. He wasn't

saying, "I am the greatest," and "I am God," and all that.

With him it was only in the context of being a servant, and I liked

that a lot. I think it's part of the spiritual thing. The more they

know, the more they actually know that they are the servant. And the

less they know, the more they think they are actually God's gift to

mankind.

So

although he was obviously a very powerful individual, very spiritually

advanced, he always retained that humbleness. And I think that is one

of the most important things, because you learn-more than all the

words he says-you learn really from the example of how he lives and

what he does." ( George - Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta)

In his

personal life, he was a very private man. He lived in a different

world from most of us. He had hundreds of millions of dollars,

worldwide fame, a palace on a hill, yet he was - just a guy - who

loves God, and did what he could to share that love with

others.

This was

the essence of the teachings of Lord Jesus. When trying to be tricked

by the Pharasee priests, Jesus was asked, "What is the first

commandment?" and he replied, "To learn to love the Lord thy God,

with all one's heart, all one's might, and all one's mind, and

then to love your brother as yourself." This means find God, learn

to love Him with everything you have, and then share that knowledge

and understanding of Love of God (prema-bhakti) with

others.

So George

never saw himself as a demigod or guru, although Prabhupada did say

that George was a Demigod and for many he is the closest thing to a

Guru that they will ever have. Many have criticize him for his Rock

and Roll lifestyle, saying he couldn't have been that spiritual if

he enjoyed so much sense gratification, but a part of Indian History

are the Raja-Rishi's, the Saintly Kings. Many times, even though

surrounded by opulence, beautiful women and material pleasures, their

hearts were residing with Krishna, as I am know - was George

Harrison's.

George

Harrison never claimed to be anything more than just a man, which in

my estimation was a pretty fine example of a human being and the world

would be a much better place if there were more people like him. Many

people, especially those who are living a 'holy' lifestyle may

criticize him, but they should realize that as a 'Brit',

George's view of God and Religion was more an internal relationship

with his "Sweet Lord" and not so much to do with external

ritual.

Personally I think

my view on George is that anyone who is critical of him, needs to

spend more time working on their own spiritual life and how many times

they are chanting the Holy Names every day, and not so much on

worrying about whether George Harrison was a 'Holy' man or not. BE a

holy man, do not worry about others, and accept whatever someone does

in service to the Lord as a positive thing, and George did more than

most.

And in the

final decision, Krishna will decide who He wants to love, and by the

mercy of the Guru that relationship becomes complete. This cannot be

achieved by any amount of ritual and devotion. It is not a machanical

thing, but deals with true heart-felt emotion and in the final

summation - the Guru's mercy. And we can all learn something from

George, that is: "By chanting the names of the Lord - you'll be

free" George Harrison.

Kulasekhara das / Colin Jury

Quotes

from Sri Hari-Nama Maha Mantra by Tridandisvami Srimad Bhaktivedanta

Narayana Maharaj, and Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, Volume 4 by

Satsvarupa dasa Goswami.

--