Hindustan Times: George Harrison died amid chants of Hare Krishna

[Guest guest]

Hindustan Times, 2 December

 

George Harrison died amid chants of Hare Krishna

AFP

(Los Angeles, December 1)

----------

----

 

Former Beatle George Harrison died amid chants and prayers of Hare Krishna

practitioners with whom he had been close since the 1960s, a source from the

Hare Krishna Movement said.

 

The spiritual musician was surrounded by old friends from the Hindu-based

religious movement, which he embraced at the height of his fame in the

1960s, Gauda Chandra of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

said.

 

"He had some close friends that he has known since the 1960s with him at the

end. There was chanting and praying and he was at peace," he said.

 

The Hare Krishna followers at his bedside in the home of a Los Angeles

friend of Harrison were Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami.

 

"During his last days, Krishna devotees were by his side and he left his

body to the sounds of the Hare Krishna mantra," they said in a statement

obtained here.

 

"Harrison probably did more than any single popular cultural figure during

the past few decades to spread spiritual consciousness around the world,"

they said.

 

The two came from Britain and New Zealand to be with Harrison during his

final days until he lost his four-year battle with cancer on Thursday, they

said.

 

The bodies of Hare Krishna devotees are usually cremated and their ashes

scattered in the holy rivers of the Ganges and the Yamuna, but Gauda Chandra

Das said the Los Angeles temple did not know whether Harrison had been

cremated or not.

 

"It's up to the wishes of the family and the individual," he said. "We do

not know what Harrison and his family decided."

 

Media reports said the family had held a private funeral on Thursday night.

 

Gauda Das said the movement was "deeply saddened" by Harrison's death.

 

Harrison led the other three Beatles to dabble in eastern religion in the

1960s after he and Jo-hn Lennon met Krishna founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada. Harrison paid for the printing of the movement's Krishna book in

1970 and wrote its foreword.

 

# # #