non Sri vaishNava hymns - and Beatless George Harrison.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Ranjan,

 

Brilliantly written! Enjoyed reading that very much.

 

We are advised to assume the attitude of a brahmara

(Honey Bee) as opposed to a maksika (fly). The Honey

bee goes in search of honey while the fly goes in

search of the rotten things. What this means is that

rather than criticize everything for what it is, we

must take out of it whatever is conducive for our

spiritual growth while avoiding what is non-conducive.

Needless to say, all of this under the guidance of the

Vaisnavas.

 

- Bharath

 

--- ramanuja <ranjan

wrote:

> Dear members,

>

> I have been following this thread with

interest. I would like to

> put forward the following information. It is a

slightly long post.

>

> During the sixties, at the height of the hippy

movement with all

> it's paraphernalia, there was a rock band called

"the Beatles"

>

> (they're only the most well known group in history

> probably!).

>

>

> Anyway, in this group was a guitarist by the name of

George Harrison.

>

> As you may be aware of, during the hippy period

there was a lot

> of interest in things with an Indian flavour.

Transcendental

> Meditation, Yoga and that kind of thing were

becoming popular in the

> west. Initially inspired by Indian music, and then

coming to

> philosophy (via Transcendental Meditation and

reading Yogananda),

> George Harrison finally came to know about the Hare

Krishna movement.

> For the rest of his life (he died in 2001) he had a

strong

> association with them and identified with many

aspects of their

> philosophy.

>

> Now interestingly, he also produced lots of

music on his albums

> (mainly 'rock'/'pop' - not sure how many of you will

like that sort of

> music) which was heavily influenced by Krishna

Bhakti. Imagine that,

> rock music with bhakti! His most famous song was

called "My Sweet

> Lord", lyrics as follows:

>

> My sweet Lord,

> Oh my lord,

> Oh my sweet lord,

> I really want to see you

> I really want to be with you

> I really want to see you lord but it takes so long

my Lord,

> Oh my lord,

> My sweet Lord,

> I really want to know you

> I really want to go with you

> I really want to show you lord that it won't take

long my Lord.

>

> He also chants the "Hare Krishna mahamantra" in the

background through

> out the song.

>

> Anyone can appreciate the bhakti in this song -

it is pure longing

> for a relationship of service with PerumAL.

However, at the end he

> includes the verse

>

> "Guru brahma gurur vishnu gurur devo maheshwara guru

saakshaat param

> brahma tasmai shree gurave namah"

>

> Which, I guess a lot of members will say is not

in line with

> Vaishnavam.

>

> However - it is probably this song alone - that

influenced HUGE

> numbers of westerners to TAKE NOTICE of the Krishna

movement and then

> become associated with Vaishnavism. I think I have

even heard some

> quotes from full ISCKON pujaris saying that without

George Harrison's

> song, they would never have known Krishna or come

into contact with

> the Gaudiya movement.

>

> This is much the same for me. Born and raised

in a vaguely

> 'Hindu' household, much more important to my parents

was the music

> they played (which I love even today). And without

George Harrison's

> music I would not have come back to my own roots -

Sri Vaishnavam.

>

> Listening to him for me was definitely not

"time-pass" - it was a

> rediscovering of my traditional and spiritual

origins.

>

> My *main point is this*: George Harrison was no

prapanna in our

> sense of the word. He didn't know the details of

Vishishtaadvaitam.

>

> He probably didn't live a very 'regulated' life

according to our

> traditional customs (although he did adopt many of

them). But he was

> instrumental in bring many to (and back to)

Vaishnavam. So when we go

> and say whether a piece of music is "sampradaayic"

or not, I would

> humbly ask that we do not rush to judge it on a

slightly esoteric

> philosophical point as to "are they in conformity

with

> Vishishtaadvaitam". Instead let us try and

appreciate all the

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