The Hare Krishna Mantra by George Harrison and London Radha-Krishna Temple devotees was featured four times on England’s most popular television program, Top of the Pops, after rising to the Top 10 throughout England, Europe, and parts of Asia. If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We’ve been polluted so long
But here’s a way for you to get clean
By chanting the names of the Lord and you’ll be free
The Lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see.
–“Awaiting On You All”
from the album All things Must Pass
In the summer of 1969, before the dissolution of the Beatles, the most popular music group of all time, George Harrison produced a hit single, The Hare Krishna Mantra, performed by George and the devotees of the London Radha-Krishna Temple. Soon after rising to the Top 10 or Top 20 best-selling record charts throughout England, Europe, and parts of Asia, the Hare Krishna chant became a household word–especially in England, where the BBC had featured the Hare Krishna Chanters, as they were then called, four times on the country’s most popular television program, Top of the Pops .
At about the same time, five thousand miles away, several shaven-headed, saffron-robed men and sari- clad women sang along with John Lennon and Yoko Ono as they recorded the hit song “Give Peace a Chance” in their room at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel:
“ John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. All we are saying is give peace a prospect. ”
The Hare Krishna devotees had been visiting with the Lennons for several days, discussing world peace and self-realization. Because of this and other widespread exposure, people all over the world soon began to identify the chanting Hare Krishna devotees as harbingers of a more simple, joyful, peaceful way of life.
George Harrison was the impetus for the Beatles’spiritual quest of the sixties, and today, nearly fifteen years later, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra– Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–still plays a key role in the former Beatle’s life.
In this conversation, taped at George’s home in England on September 4, 1982, George reveals some memorable experiences he has had chanting Hare Krishna and describes in detail his deep personal realizations about the chanting. He reveals what factors led him to produce “The Hare Krishna Mantra” record, “My Sweet Lord,” and the LPs All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World, which were all influenced to a great extent by the Hare Krishna chanting and philosophy. He speaks lovingly and openly about his association with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder- Acarya (spiritual master) of the Hare Krishna movement. In the following interview George speaks frankly about his personal philosophy regarding the Hare Krishna movement, music, yoga, reincarnation, karma , the soul, God, and Christianity. The conversation concludes with his fond remembrances of a visit to the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Vrndavana, India, home of the Hare Krishna mantra , and with George discussing some of his celebrity friends’ involvement with the mantra now heard and chanted around the world.
Mukunda Goswami: Oftentimes you speak of yourself as a plainclothes fan, a closet yogi or “ closet Krishna, ” and millions of people all over the world have been introduced to the chant by your songs. But what about you ? How did you first come in contact with Krishna ?
George Harrison: Through my visits to India. so by the time the Hare Krishna movement first came to England in 1969, John and I had already gotten ahold of Prabhupada ’ s first album, Krishna Consciousness.(SIDE A / SIDE B) We had played it a distribute and liked it. That was the first time I ’ d always heard the chant of the maha-mantra.
Mukunda: even though you and John Lennon played Srila Prabhupada ’ sulfur record a bunch and had chanted quite a bit on your own, you ’ vitamin d never actually met any of the devotees. Yet when Gurudasa, Syamasundara, and I [ the inaugural Hare Krishna devotees sent from America, to open a temple in London ] inaugural came to England, you co-signed the rent on our first synagogue in cardinal London, bought the Manor yoga-aSrama * for us, which has provided a place for literally hundreds of thousands of people to learn about Krishna awareness, and financed the first printing of the book Krishna. You hadn ’ triiodothyronine actually known us for a very long time at all. Wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate this a kind of sudden change for you ?
George: not very, for I always felt at home with Krishna. You see it was already a character of me. I think it ’ south something that ’ randomness been with me from my former birth. Your coming to England and all that was good like another assemble of a saber saw puzzle that was coming together to make a complete video. It had been slowly fitting together. That ’ second why I responded to you all the way I did when you first came to London. Let ’ s confront it. If you ’ re going to have to stand up and be counted, I figured, “ I would preferably be with these guys than with those other guys over there. ” It ’ s like that. I mean I ’ five hundred quite be one of the devotees of God than one of the straight, alleged reasonable or normal people who merely don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate understand that man is a spiritual being, that he has a person. And I felt comfortable with you all, excessively, kind of like we ’ vitamin d known each other earlier. It was a reasonably natural thing, truly .
Mukunda: George, you were a penis of the Beatles, undoubtedly the greatest single pop group in music hisiory, one that influenced not only music, but whole generations of young people as well. After the adjournment of the group, you went on to emerge as a alone ace with albums like All Things Must Pass, the nation ’ s top sell album for seven weeks in a quarrel, and its strike single “ My Sweet Lord, ” which was number one in America for two months. That was followed by Living in the Material World, count one on Billboard for five weeks and a million-selling LP. One song on that album, “ Give Me Love, ” was a smash hit for six straight weeks. The concert for Bangladesh with Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston was a phenomenal success and, once the LP and concert film were released, would become the single most successful rock benefit project ever. thus, you had material success. You ’ five hundred been everywhere, done everything, so far at the same meter you were on a apparitional request. What was it that very got you started on your spiritual journey ?
George: It wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate until the experience of the sixties actually hit. You know, having been successful and meeting everybody we thought worth meet and finding out they weren ’ metric ton worth converge, and having had more reach records than everybody else and having done it bigger than everybody else. It was like reaching the top of a wall and then looking over and seeing that there ’ s indeed much more on the early side. So I felt it was separate of my duty to say, “ Oh, all right, possibly you are thinking this is all you need-to be rich and famous–but actually it international relations and security network ’ thyroxine. ”
Mukunda: George, in your recently published autobiography, I, Me, Mine, you said your birdcall “ Awaiting on You All ” is about japa-yoga, or chanting mantras on beads. You explained that a mantra is “ mysterious energy encased in a strait structure, ” and that “ each mantra contains within its vibrations a certain power. ” But of all mantras, you stated that “ the maha-mantra [ the Hare Krishna mantra ] has been prescribed as the easiest and surest way for attaining God Realization in this present age. ” As a practitioner of japa-yoga, what realizations have you experienced from chanting ?
George: Prabhupada, acarya ( apparitional master ) of the Hare Krishna campaign, told me once that we should just keep chanting all the time, or arsenic much as possible. once you do that, you realize the benefit. The reply that comes from chanting is in the kind of bliss, or religious happiness, which is a much higher taste than any happiness found here in the material worldly concern. That ’ south why I say that the more you do it, the more you don ’ triiodothyronine want to stop, because it feels so nice and peaceful .
Mukunda: What is it about the mantra that brings about this spirit of peace and happiness ?
George: The give voice Hare is the word that calls upon the energy that ’ s around the Lord. If you say the mantra enough, you build up an recognition with God. God ’ s all happiness, all bliss, and by chanting His names we connect with Him. So it ’ randomness in truth a process of actually having a realization of God, which all becomes clear with the expand express of awareness that develops when you chant. Like I said in the insertion I wrote for Prabhupada ’ s Krsna book some years ago, “ If there ’ s a God, I want to see Him. It ’ randomness otiose to believe in something without validation, and Krishna consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain God perception. ”
Mukunda: Is it an instantaneous process, or gradual ?
George: You don ’ thyroxine get it in five minutes. It ’ sulfur something that takes time, but it works because it ’ s a direct work of attaining God and will help us to have arrant awareness and good perception that is above the normal, casual state of awareness .
Mukunda: How do you feel after chanting for a farseeing time ?
George: In the life I lead, I find that I sometimes have opportunities when I can in truth get going at it, and the more I do it, I find the hard it is to stop, and I don ’ metric ton want to lose the feel it gives me .
For model, once I chanted the Hare Krishna mantra all the means from France to Portugal, nonstop. I drove for about twenty-three hours and chanted all the way. It gets you feeling a morsel invincible. The funny story thing was that I didn ’ t even know where I was going. I mean I had bought a function, and I knew basically which direction I was aiming, but I couldn ’ metric ton address French, Spanish, or portuguese. But none of that seemed to matter. You know, once you get chanting, then things start to happen transcendentally .
Mukunda: The Vedas inform us that because God is absolute, there is no deviation between God the person and His holy appoint ; the mention is God. When you first started chant, could you perceive that ?
George: It takes a certain total of time and faith to accept or to realize that there is no dispute between Him and His name, to get to the decimal point where you ’ re no long mystified by where He is. You know, like, “ Is He around here ? ” You realize after some time, “ hera He is–right here ! ” It ’ s a matter of commit. So when I say that “ fifty see God, ” I don ’ t necessarily mean to say that when I chant I ’ megabyte seeing Krishna in His original form when He came five thousand years ago, dancing across the water, playing His flute. Of class, that would besides be decent, and it ’ s quite possible besides. When you become real pure by chanting, you can actually see God like that, I mean personally. But no doubt you can feel His presence and know that He ’ s there when you ’ re tone .
Mukunda: Can you think of any incident where you felt God ’ s presence identical powerfully through tone ?
George: once I was on an airplane that was in an electric ramp. It was hit by lightning three times, and a Boeing 707 went over the clear of us, missing by inches. I thought the back end of the plane had blown off. I was on my way from Los Angeles to New York to organize the Bangladesh concert. deoxyadenosine monophosphate soon as the flat began bouncing around, I started chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The whole thing went on for about an hour and a one-half or two hours, the flat dropping hundreds of feet and bouncing all over in the storm, all the lights out and all these explosions, and everybody terrified. I ended up with my feet pressed against the seat in front, my seat belt out a tight as it could be, gripping on the thing, and yelling Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare at the top of my voice. I know for me, the dispute between making it and not making it was actually chanting the mantra. Peter Sellers besides swore that chanting Hare* Krishna saved him from a airplane crash once .
John Lennon and Hare Krishna
Mukunda: Did any of the other Beatles chant ?
George: Before meeting Prabhupada and all of you, I had bought that album Prabhupada did in New York. ( SIDE A / SIDE B ), and John and I listened to it. I remember we sang it for days, John and I, with uke banjo, sailing through the Greek Islands chanting Hare Krishna. Like six hours we sang, because we couldn ’ thymine stop once we got going. equally soon as we stopped, it was like the lights went out. It went on to the point where our jaw were aching, singing the mantra over and over and over and over and over. We felt exalted ; it was a very happy meter for us .
Mukunda: You know, I saw a video recording the other day sent to us from Canada, showing John and Yoko Ono recording their hit birdcall “ Give Peace a Chance, ” and about five or six of the devotees were there in John ’ s room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, singing along and playing cymbals and drums. You know, John and Yoko chanted Hare Krishna on that birdcall. That was in May of ’ 69, and just three months subsequently, Srila Prabhupada was John and Yoko ’ second firm node for one month at their estate outside London .
While Prabhupada was there, you, John, and Yoko came to his board one afternoon for a few hours. I think that was the beginning time you all met him .
George: That ’ randomness right .
Mukunda: At that bespeak John was a spiritual seeker, and Prabhupada explained the on-key path to peace and liberation. He talked about the eternality of the soul, karma, and reincarnation, which are all elaborately cover with in the Vedic literatures. Vedas, predating the Bible and covering all aspects of religious cognition from the nature of the self, or individual soul, to the Supreme Soul ( Sri Krishna ) and His kingdom in the religious universe. Although John never made Hare Krishna a big character of his life, he echoed the philosophy of Krishna awareness in a hit sung he wrote fair about a class after that conversation, “ Instant Karma. ”
immediately what ’ s the difference between chanting Hare Krishna and meditation ?
George: It ’ s in truth the like kind of thing as meditation, but I think it has a agile effect. I mean, even if you put your beads down, you can still say the mantra or sing it without actually keeping track on your beads. One of the main differences between silent meditation and intonation is that silent meditation is rather dependent on concentration, but when you chant, it ’ second more of a steer connection with God .
Practical Meditation
Mukunda: The maha-mantra was prescribed for modern times because of the fast-paced nature of things today. even when people do get into a little tranquillity home, it ’ sulfur very difficult to calm the mind for very long .
George: That ’ second right field. Chanting Hare Krishna is a type of meditation that can be practiced tied if the mind is in turbulence. You can even be doing it and early things at the same meter. That ’ s what ’ s so nice. In my life there ’ s been many times the mantra brought things around. It keeps me in tune with reality, and the more you sit in one position and tone, the more cense you offer to Krishna in the same room, the more you purify the shaking, the more you can achieve what you ’ re trying to do, which is just trying to remember God, God, God, God, God, american samoa frequently as possible. And if you ’ re talking to Him with the mantra, it surely helps .
Mukunda: What else helps you to fix your mind on God ?
George: Well, barely having vitamin a many things around me that will remind me of Him, like incense and pictures. Just the other day I was looking at a little picture on the wall of my studio of you, Gurudasa, and Syamasundara, and merely seeing all the old devotees made me think of Krishna. I guess that ’ s the clientele of devotees–to make you think of God .
Mukunda: How often do you chant ?
George: Whenever I get a probability .
Mukunda: Once you asked Srila Prabhupada about a particular verse he quoted from the Vedas, in which it ’ south said that when one chants the holy name of Krishna, Krishna dances on the tongue and one wishes one had thousands of ears and thousands of mouths with which to better appreciate the holy names of God .
George: Yes. I think he was talking about the realization that there is no remainder between Him standing before you and His being confront in His identify. That ’ s the real smasher of chanting–you directly connect with God. I have no doubt that by saying Krishna over and over again, He can come and dance on the tongue. The chief thing, though, is to keep in touch with God .
Mukunda: so your habit is broadly to use the beads when you chant ?
George: Oh, yea. I have my beads. I remember when I beginning got them, they were merely big knobby ball of wood, but now I ’ megabyte identical beaming to say that they ’ re smooth from chanting a bunch .
Mukunda: Do you by and large keep them in the cup of tea when you chant ?
George: Yes. I find it ’ sulfur identical good to be touching them. It keeps another one of the senses fixed on God. Beads actually help in that regard. You know, the thwart thing about it was in the beginning there was a time period when I was dense into chanting and I had my hand in my bead bag all the time. And I got indeed bore of people asking me, “ Did you hurt your hand, break it or something ? ” In the end I used to say, “ Yeah. Yeah. I had an accident, ” because it was easier than explaining everything. Using the beads besides helps me to release a fortune of aflutter energy .
Mukunda: Some people say that if everyone on the planet chanted Hare Krishna, they wouldn ’ triiodothyronine be able to keep their minds on what they were doing. In early words, if everyone started chant, some people ask if the whole world wouldn ’ triiodothyronine equitable grind to a halt. They wonder if people would stop working in factories, for case .
George: No. Chanting doesn ’ triiodothyronine catch you from being creative or generative. It actually helps you concentrate. I think this would make a great sketch for television receiver : think all the workers on the Ford assembly line in Detroit, all of them chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna while bolting on the wheels. now that would be fantastic. It might help out the car industry, and probably there would be more decent cars excessively .
Experiencing God Through the Senses
Mukunda: We ’ ve talked a lot about japa, or personalized chant, which most chanters engage in. But there ’ s another character, called kirtana, when one chants congregationally, in a synagogue or on the streets with a group of devotees. Kirtana by and large gives a more boost effect, like recharging one ’ south spiritual batteries, and it gives others a find to hear the holy names and become purify .
actually, I was with Srila Prabhupada when he first gear began the group chanting in Tompkins Square Park on New York ’ s Lower East Side in 1966. The poet Allen Ginsberg would come and chant with us a fortune and would play on his harmonium. A bunch of people would come to hear the tone, then Prabhupada would give lectures on Bhagavad-gita rear at the temple .
George: Yes, going to a temple or chanting with a group of other people–the vibration is that much stronger. Of class, for some people it ’ south easy just to start chanting on their beads in the middle of a crowd, while early people are more comfortable intonation in the synagogue. But depart of Krishna consciousness is trying to tune in all the senses of all the people : to experience God through all the senses, not merely by experiencing Him on Sunday, through your knees by kneeling on some intemperate wooden kneeler in the church. But if you visit a synagogue, you can see pictures of God, you can see the Deity form of the Lord, and you can good hear Him by listening to yourself and others say the mantra. It ’ south barely a way of realizing that all the senses can be applied toward perceiving God, and it makes it that much more invoke, seeing the pictures, hearing the mantra, smelling the incense, flowers, and so on. That ’ s the dainty thing about your movement. It incorporates everything–chanting, dancing, philosophy, and prasadam. The music and dancing is a unplayful separate of the march excessively. It ’ s not just something to burn off excess energy .
Mukunda: We ’ ve constantly seen that when we chant in the streets, people are eager to crowd around and listen. A lot of them tap their feet or dance along .
George: It ’ sulfur great, the sound of the karatalas [ cymbals ]. When I hear them from a few blocks away, it ’ s like some charming thing that awakens something in me. Without their actually being mindful of what ’ s happening, people are being awakened spiritually. Of course, in another sense, in a higher smell, the kirtana is always going on, whether we ’ re hearing it or not .
now, all over the place in western cities, the sankirtana party has become a common batch. I love to see these sankirtana parties, because I love the whole mind of the devotees mixing it up with everybody, giving everybody a casual to remember. I wrote in the Krsna bible presentation, “ Everybody is looking for Krishna. Some wear ’ thymine realize that they are, but they are. Krishna is God … and by chanting His Holy Names, the fan quickly develops God-consciousness. ”
Mukunda: You know, Srila Prabhupada frequently said that after a bombastic number of temples were established, most people would just begin to take up the tone of Hare Krishna within their own homes, and we ’ re seeing more and more that this is what ’ s happening. Our global congregation is very large–in the millions. The tone on the streets, the books, and the temples are there to give people a get down, to introduce them to the process .
George: I think it ’ s better that it is spreading into the homes now. There are a lot of “ wardrobe Krishnas, ” you know. There ’ randomness a lot of people out there who are barely waiting, and if it ’ s not nowadays, it will be tomorrow or future workweek or future year .
binding in the sixties, whatever we were all getting into, we tended to broadcast it a brassy as we could. I had had certain realizations and went through a period where I was then thrill about my discoveries and realizations that I wanted to shout and tell it to everybody. But there ’ s a prison term to shout it out and a time not to shout it out. A lot of people went underground with their apparitional life in the seventies, but they ’ re out there in fiddling nooks and crannies and in the countryside, people who look and attire square, policy salesmen types, but they ’ re actually meditators and chanters, closet devotees .
Prabhupada ’ south motion is doing pretty well. It ’ s growing like wildfire in truth. How long it will take until we get to a Golden Age where everybody ’ s perfectly in tune with God ’ south will, I don ’ t know ; but because of Prabhupada, Krishna awareness has surely spread more in the last sixteen years than it has since the sixteenth century, since the clock time of Lord Caitanya. The mantra has spread more promptly and the movement ’ second perplex bigger and bigger. It would be bang-up if everyone chanted. Everybody would benefit by doing it. No count how much money you ’ ve got, it doesn ’ t necessarily make you glad. You have to find your happiness with the problems you have, not worry besides much about them, and tone Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare .
The Hare Krishna Record
Mukunda: In 1969 you produced a single called “ The Hare Krishna Mantra, ” which finally became a hit in many countries. That tune late became a edit on the Radha-Krishna Temple album, which you besides produced on the Apple tag and was distributed in America by Capitol Records. A bunch of people in the recording commercial enterprise were surprised by this, your producing songs for and singing with the Hare Krishnas. Why did you do it ?
George: well, it ’ south just all a part of serve, international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate it ? Spiritual service, in regulate to try to spread the mantra all over the worldly concern. besides, to try and give the devotees a wide establish and a bigger bridgehead in England and everywhere else .
Mukunda: How did the success of this record of Hare Krishna devotees chanting compare with some of the rock ‘n’ roll musicians you were producing at the fourth dimension like Jackie Lomax, Splinter, and Billy Preston ?
George: It was a different thing. nothing to do with that in truth. There was much more reason to do it. There was less commercial potential in it, but it was much more satisfy to do, knowing the possibilities that it was going to create, the connotations it would have just by doing a three-and-a-half-minute mantra. That was more fun very than trying to make a toss off score record. It was the feel of trying to utilize your skills or job to make it into some apparitional service to Krishna .
Mukunda: What effect do you think that tune, “ The Hare Krishna Mantra, ” having reached millions and millions of people, has had on the cosmic awareness of the worldly concern ?
George: I ’ d like to think it had some effect. After all, the heavy is God .
Mukunda: When Apple, the record company, called a press conference to promote the record, the media seemed to be shocked to hear you speak about the soul and God being so important .
George: I felt it was important to try and be precise, to tell them and let them know. You know, to come out of the closet and truly tell them. Because once you realize something, then you can ’ triiodothyronine dissemble you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know it any more .
I figured this is the outer space old age, with airplanes and everything. If everyone can go around the world on their holidays, there ’ s no reason why a mantra can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate go a few miles arsenic well. So the theme was to try to spiritually infiltrate society, then to speak. After I got Apple Records committed to you and the phonograph record released, and after our adult promotion, we saw it was going to become a hit. And one of the greatest things, one of the greatest thrills of my life, actually, was seeing you all on BBC ’ s Top of the Pops. I couldn ’ metric ton believe it. It ’ sulfur pretty hard to get on that program, because they entirely put you on if you come into the top 20. It was precisely like a breath of fresh air. My strategy was to keep it to a three-and-a-half-minute version of the mantra so they ’ d bid it on the radio receiver, and it worked. I did the harmonium and guitar track for that phonograph record at Abbey Road studios before one of the Beatles ’ sessions and then overdubbed a bass separate. I remember Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, arrived at the studio and enjoyed the mantra .
Mukunda: Paul ’ s quite favorable now, you know .
George: That ’ south good. It distillery sounds like quite a effective record, even after all these years. It was the greatest fun of all, actually, to see Krishna on Top of the Pops.
Mukunda: shortly after its handout, John Lennon told me that they played it at the intermission right before Bob Dylan did the Isle of Wight concert with Jimi Hendrix, the Moody Blues, and Joe Cocker in the summer of ’ 69 .
George: They played it while they were getting the stage set up for Bob. It was great. Besides, it was a attention-getting tune, and the people didn ’ t have to know what it meant in orderliness to enjoy it. I felt very commodity when I beginning heard it was doing well .
Mukunda: How did you feel about the record technically, the voices ?
George: Yamuna, the leash singer, has a naturally good voice. I liked the way she sang with conviction, and she sang like she ’ d been singing it a draw before. It didn ’ metric ton sound like the first tune she ’ d ever whistle .
You know, I used to sing the mantra long before I met any of the devotees or long before I met Prabhupada, because I had his first record then for at least two years. When you ’ re open to something it ’ s like being a beacon, and you attract it. From the first clock I heard the intonation, it was like a door opened somewhere in my subconscious mind, possibly from some previous life .
Mukunda: In the Iyrics to that song “ Awaiting on You All, ” from the All Things Must Pass album, you come right out front and state people that they can be complimentary from living in the material world by chanting the names of God. What made you do it ? What kind of feedback did you get ?
George: At that time, cipher was committed to that type of music in the pop earth. There was, I felt, a real want for that, so rather than sitting and waiting for person else, I decided to do it myself. A set of times we think, “ Well, I agree with you, but I ’ m not going to actually stand up and be counted. Too risky. ” Everybody is constantly trying to keep themselves brood, stay commercial, so I thought, barely do it. cipher else is, and I ’ molarity ghastly of all these youthful people merely boogeying approximately, wasting their lives, you know. besides, I felt that there were a batch of people out there who would be reached. I still get letters from people saying, “ I have been in the Krishna synagogue for three years, and I would have never known about Krishna unless you recorded the All Things Must Pass album. ” So I know, by the Lord ’ s grace, I am a minor separate in the cosmic play .
Mukunda: What about the other Beatles ? What did they think about your taking up Krishna consciousness ? What was their reaction ? You ’ d all been to India by then and were pretty much searching for something spiritual. Syamasundara said that once, when he ate lunch with you and the early Beatles, they were all quite respectful .
George: Oh, yea, well, if the Fab Four didn ’ thyroxine catch it, that is, if they couldn ’ thymine bargain with shaven-headed Hare Krishnas, then there would have been no hope ! [ Laughter. ] And the devotees fair came to be associated with me, indeed people stopped thinking, “ Hey, what ’ sulfur this ? ” you know, if person in orange, with a shave head, would appear. They ’ d say, “ Oh, yeah, they ’ rhenium with George. ”
Mukunda: From the very startle, you constantly felt comfortable around the devotees ?
George: The first clock I met Syamasundara, I liked him. He was my pal. I ’ vitamin d read about Prabhupada coming from India to Boston on the back of his record, and I knew that Syamasundara and all of you were in my senesce group, and that the only difference, actually, was that you ’ d already joined and I hadn ’ triiodothyronine. I was in a rock band, but I didn ’ t have any fear, because I had seen dhotis, your robes, and the orange yellow color and shaved heads in India. Krishna awareness was specially good for me because I didn ’ t get the feeling that I ’ vitamin d have to shave my head, move into a synagogue, and do it full fourth dimension. So it was a spiritual thing that barely fit in with my life style. I could however be a musician, but I just changed my consciousness, that ’ south all .
Mukunda: You know, the Tudor sign of the zodiac and estate that you gave us outside London has become one of our largest international centers. How do you feel about the Bhaktivedanta Manor ’ mho success in spreading Krishna awareness ?
George: Oh, it ’ sulfur capital. And it besides relates to making the Hare Krishna record or whatever my involvements were. actually, it gives me joy, the idea that I was fortunate enough to be able to help at that time. All those songs with apparitional themes were alike little plugs– “ My Sweet Lord ” and the others. And now I know that people are much more respectful and accepting when it comes to seeing the devotees in the streets and all that. It ’ mho no longer like something that ’ s coming from left field .
And I ’ ve given a set of Prabhupada ’ s books to many people, and whether I ever hear from them again or not, it ’ south good to know that they ’ ve gotten them, and if they read them, their lives may be changed.
Mukunda: When you come across people who are spiritually tend but preceptor ’ thyroxine have much cognition, what kind of advice do you give them ?
George: I try to tell them my little bit, what my experience is, and give them a choice of things to read and a choice of places to go–like you know, “ Go to the temple, try chanting. ”
Mukunda: In the “ Ballad of John and Yoko, ” John and Yoko rapped the media for the way it can foster a false prototype of you and perpetuate it. It ’ s taken a distribute of meter and feat to get them to understand that we are a genuine religion, with scriptures that predate the New Testament by three thousand years. gradually, though, more people, scholars, philosophers, and theologians, have come around, and today they have a capital conduct of deference for the ancient Vaisnava custom, where the contemporary Krishna awareness apparent motion has its roots
George: The media is to blame for everything, for all the misconceptions about the movement, but in a sense it didn ’ t in truth matter if they said something full or bad, because Krishna awareness constantly seemed to transcend that barrier anyhow The fact that the media was letting people know about Krishna was good in itself .
Mukunda: Srila Prabhupada always trained us to stick to our principles. He said that the worst matter we could ever do would be to make some sort of compromise or to dilute the doctrine for the sake of bum popularity. Although many swamis and yogis had come from India to the West, Prabhupada was the only one with the honor and devotion to establish India ’ s ancient Krishna conscious doctrine around the worldly concern on its own terms-not watered gloomy, but as it is .
George: That ’ sulfur right. He was a perfective exemplar of what he preached .
Mukunda: How did you feel about financing the first printing of the Krsna ledger and writing the initiation ?
George: I good felt like it was part of my job, you know. Wherever I go in the worldly concern, when I see devotees, I always say “ Hare Krishna ! ” to them, and they ’ ra constantly pleased to see me. It ’ s a decent relationship. Whether they truly know me personally or not, they feel they know me. And they do, very .
Mukunda: When you did the Material World album, you used a photograph insert taken from the cover of Prabhupada ’ s Bhagavad-gita show Krishna and His friend and disciple, Arjuna. Why ?
George: Oh, yeah. It said on the album, “ From the cover of Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. ” It was a promo for you, of course. I wanted to give them all a gamble to see Krishna, to know about Him. I mean that ’ s the hale idea, international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine it ?
Spiritual Food
Mukunda: At lunch today we spoke a short about prasadam, vegetarian foods that have been spiritualized by being offered to Krishna. A lot of people have come to Krishna awareness through prasadam .I mean, this summons is the only kind of yoga that you can actually commit by eating .
George: well, we should try to see God in everything, so it helps thus much having the food to taste. Let ’ s confront it, if God is in everything, why shouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate you taste Him when you eat ? I think that prasadam is a very important thing. Krishna is God, so He ’ south absolute : His name, His shape, prasadam, it ’ s all Him. They say the room to a homo ’ sulfur affection is through his stomach, sol if you can get to a man ’ second spirit soul by eating, and it works, why not do it ? There ’ south nothing better than having been chanting and dancing, or just sitting and talking doctrine, and then abruptly the devotees bring out the prasadam. It ’ s a benediction from Krishna, and it ’ s spiritually authoritative. The mind is that prasadam is the sacrament the Christians talk about, only rather of being merely a wafer, it ’ s a whole feed, very, and the taste is then nice–it ’ s out of this worldly concern. And prasadam’s a good little bait in this long time of commerce. When people want something excess, or they need to have something extra, prasadam will hook them in there. It ’ second undoubtedly done a great batch toward getting a lot more people involved in spiritual life. It breaks down preju dices, besides. Because they think, “ Oh, well, yes, I wouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate beware a drink of whatever or a bite of that. ” then they ask, “ What ’ sulfur this ? ” and “ Oh, well, it ’ randomness prasadam.” And they get to learn another aspect of Krishna awareness. then they say, “ It actually tastes quite courteous. Have you got another plate ? ” I ’ ve seen that happen with lots of people, particularly older people I ’ ve seen at your temples. possibly they were a little prejudiced, but the adjacent thing you know, they ’ rhenium in sexual love with prasadam, and finally they walk out of the temple think, “ They ’ re not so bad after all. ”
Mukunda: The Vedic literatures reveal that prasadam conveys spiritual realization, merely as intonation does, but in a less obvious or conspicuous way. You make spiritual advancement fair by eating it .
George: I ’ d say from my experience that it decidedly works. I ’ ve constantly enjoyed prasadam a lot more when I ’ ve been at the temple, or when I ’ ve actually been sitting with Prabhupada, than when person ’ sulfur brought it to me. sometimes you can sit there with prasadam and find that three or four hours have gone by and you didn ’ thymine even know it. Prasadam truly helped me a distribute, because you start to realize “ nowadays I ’ thousand tasting Krishna. ” You ’ rhenium conscious on the spur of the moment of another expression of God, understanding that He ’ s this little samosa.* It ’ south all fair a matter of tuning into the apparitional, and prasadam’s a very veridical function of it all .
Mukunda: You know, a fortune of rock groups like Grateful Dead and Police get prasadam wing before their concerts. They love it. It ’ s a long-standing tradition with us. I remember one time sending prasadam to one of the Beatles ’ recording sessions. And your baby was telling me today that while you were doing the Bangladesh concert, Syamasundara used to bring you all prasadam at the rehearsals .
George: Yes, he ’ south even got a credit on the album sleeve .
Mukunda: What are your front-runner kinds of prasadam, George ?
George: I actually like those french-fry cauliflower things– pakoras ? *
Mukunda: Yes .
George: And one thing I always liked was rasamalai [ a milk dessert ]. And there ’ s a lot of good drinks a well, fruit juices and lassi, the yogurt drinks shuffle with yield, and sometimes with rose water system .
Mukunda: You ’ ve been a vegetarian for years, George. Have you had any difficulties maintaining it ?
George: No. actually, I wised up and made sure I had dal bean soup or something every day. actually, lentils are one of the cheapest things, but they give you A-l protein. People are plainly screwing up when they go out and buy gripe steak, which is killing them with cancer and kernel troubles. The stuff costs a luck besides. You could feed a thousand people with lentil soup for the cost of half a twelve filets. Does that make feel ?
Mukunda: One of the things that very has a profound consequence on people when they visit the temples or read our books is the paintings and sculptures done by our fan artists of scenes from Krishna ’ mho pastimes when He appeared on worldly concern five thousand years ago. Prabhupada once said that these paintings were “ windows to the apparitional worldly concern, ” and he organized an art academy, training his disciples in the techniques for creating transcendental art. now, tens of thousands of people have these paintings hanging in their homes, either the originals, lithograph, canvas prints, or posters. You ’ ve been to our multimedia Bhagavad-gita museum in Los Angeles. What kind of an effect did it have on you ?
George: I thought it was great–better than Disneyland, truly. I mean, it ’ s deoxyadenosine monophosphate valuable as that or the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. The sculpt panorama look great, and the music is courteous. It gives people a real tactile property for what the kingdom of God must be like, and much more basic than that, it shows in a way that ’ randomness easy for even a child to understand precisely how the body is unlike from the soul, and how the soul ’ s the significant thing. I always have pictures around like the one of Krishna on the chariot that I put in the Material World album, and I have the sculpted Siva fountain Bhagavad-gita museum, George asked if the artists and sculptors who had produced the museum could sculpt a life-size fountain of Lord Siva, one of the principal Hindu demigods and a great fan of Lord Krishna. Lord Siva, in a brooding perplex, complete with a stream of water spouting from his head, now resides in the gardens of George ’ second estate, heralded as among the most beautiful in all of England. the devotees made for me in my garden. Pictures are helpful when I ’ megabyte tone. You know that painting in the Bhagavad-gita of the Supersoul in the kernel of the dog, the cow, the elephant, the poor homo, and the priest ? That ’ s identical good to help you realize that Krishna is dwelling in the hearts of everybody. It doesn ’ t matter what kind of body you ’ ve got, the Lord ’ south there with you. We ’ re all the same in truth .
Meeting Srila Prabhupada
Mukunda: George, you and John Lennon met Srila Prabhupada in concert when he stayed at John ’ s home, in September of 1969 .
George: Yes, but when I met him at beginning, I underestimated him. I didn ’ triiodothyronine realize it then, but I see now that because of him, the mantra has spread so far in the concluding sixteen years, more than it had in the last five centuries. now that ’ s pretty amazing, because he was getting older and older, yet he was writing his books all the time. I realized late on that he was much more incredible than what you could see on the surface .
Mukunda: What about him stands out the most in your mind ?
George: The thing that always stays is his saying, “ I am the handmaid of the servant of the servant. ” I like that. A set of people say, “ I ’ m it. I ’ m the divine embodiment. I ’ m hera and let me hip you. ” You know what I mean ? But Prabhupada was never like that. I liked Prabhupada ’ south humility. I always liked his humility and his ease The handmaid of the servant of the handmaid is very what it is, you know. none of us are God–just His servants. He fair made me feel so comfortable. I constantly felt very relaxed with him, and I felt more like a ally. I felt that he was a good supporter. even though he was at the meter seventy-nine years old, working practically all through the night, day after day, with identical little sleep, he inactive didn ’ triiodothyronine come through to me as though he was a very highly educated intellectual being, because he had a sort of childlike simplicity. Which is great, fantastic. even though he was the greatest sanskrit scholar and a enshrine, I appreciated the fact that he never made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, he always went out of his room to make me feel comfortable. I constantly thought of him as screen of a cover girl acquaintance, actually, and now he ’ s distillery a cover girl ally .
Mukunda: In one of his books, Prabhupada said that your sincere service was better than some people who had delved more deeply into Krishna consciousness but could not maintain that floor of commitment. How did you feel about this ?
George: Very fantastic, in truth. I mean it very gave me hope, because as they say, even one here and now in the company of a divine person, Krishna ’ s saturated fan, can help a enormous amount .
And I think Prabhupada was actually pleased at the idea that person from outside of the temple was helping to get the album made. Just the fact that he was please was encouraging to me. I knew he liked “ The Hare Krishna Mantra ” record, and he asked the devotees to play that sung “ Govinda. ” They inactive play it, don ’ t they ?
Mukunda: Every synagogue has a recording of it, and we play it each dawn when the devotees assemble before the altar, before kirtana. It ’ s an ISKCON initiation, you might say .
George: And if I didn ’ thyroxine get feedback from Prabhupada on my songs about Krishna or the doctrine, I ’ vitamin d get it from the devotees. That ’ s all the boost I needed truly. It just seemed that anything religious I did, either through songs, or helping with publishing the books, or any, actually pleased him. The song I wrote, “ Living in the Material World, ” as I wrote in I, Me, Mine, was influenced by Srila Prabhupada. He ’ s the one who explained to me how we ’ rhenium not these physical bodies. We just happen to be in them .
Like I said in the song, this place ’ s not in truth what ’ s happening. We don ’ thymine belong here, but in the apparitional flip :
· As l’m fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified
Only swelling like a tide
That could drown me in the material world
The wholly point to being here, very, is to figure a manner to get out .
That was the thing about Prabhupada, you see. He didn ’ thymine precisely talk about loving Krishna and getting away of this place, but he was the perfective exemplar. He talked about constantly intonation, and he was constantly chanting. I think that that in itself was possibly the most promote thing for me. It was enough to make me try harder, to be good a little bite better. He was a perfective model of everything he preached .
Mukunda: How would you describe Srila Prabhupada ’ mho achievements ?
George: I think Prabhupada ’ randomness accomplishments are identical significant ; they ’ ra huge. even compared to person like William Shakespeare, the amount of literature Prabhupada produced is in truth amazing. It boggles the mind. He sometimes went for days with only a few hours sleep. I mean even a youthful, athletic young person couldn ’ thyroxine keep the footstep he kept himself at seventy-nine years of old age .
Srila Prabhupada has already had an perplex effect on the world. There ’ second no manner of measuring it. One day I just realized, “ God, this man is amaze ! ” He would sit up all night translating Sanskrit into English, putting in glossaries to make sure everyone understands it, and so far he never came off as person above you. He always had that childlike simplicity, and what ’ s most amaze is the fact that he did all this translating in such a relatively curtly time–just a few years. And without having anything more than his own Krishna awareness, he rounded up all these thousands of devotees, set the whole motion in motion, which became something sol firm that it went on even after he left. And it ’ s still escalating even now at an incredible pace. It will go on and on from the cognition he gave. It can entirely grow and grow. The more people wake up spiritually, the more they ’ ll begin to realize the depth of what Prabhupada was saying–how much he gave .
Mukunda: Did you know that complete sets of Prabhupada ’ south books are in all the major colleges and universities in the populace, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, and the Sorbonne ?
George: They should be ! One of the greatest things I noticed about Prabhupada was the way he would be talking to you in English, and then all of a sudden he would say it to you in Sanskrit and then translate it back into English. It was absolved that he very knew it well. His contribution has obviously been enormous from the literary point of view, because he ’ second brought the Supreme Person, Krishna, more into focus. A draw of scholars and writers know the Gita, but only on an cerebral level. even when they write “ Krishna said…, ” they don ’ t do it with the bhakti or sleep together required. That ’ s the secret, you know–Krishna is actually a person who is the Lord and who will besides appear there in that bible when there is that love, that bhakti. You can ’ thyroxine understand the first thing about God unless you love Him. These big alleged Vedic scholars–they don ’ t necessarily love Krishna, so they can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate sympathize Him and give Him to us. But Prabhupada was unlike .
Mukunda: The Vedic literatures predicted that after the second coming of Lord Caitanya five hundred years ago, there would be a gold Age of ten thousand years, when the tone of the holy names of God would completely nullify all the degradations of the advanced age, and real apparitional peace would come to this satellite .
George: Well, Prabhupada ’ s decidedly affected the populace in an absolute way. What he was giving us was the highest literature, the highest cognition. I mean there barely isn ’ triiodothyronine anything higher .
Mukunda: You write in your autobiography that “ No count how good you are, you still need grace to get out of the material worldly concern. You can be a yogi or a monk or a conical buoy, but without God ’ s decorate you still can ’ thymine make it. ” And at the end of the song “ Living in the Material World, ” the Iyrics say, “ Got to get out of this seat by the Lord Sri Krishna ’ s grace, my salvation from the substantial world. ” If we ’ re dependent on the seemliness of God, what does the expression “ God helps those who help themselves ” mean ?
George: It ’ s compromising, I think. In one means, I ’ megabyte never going to get out of here unless it ’ s by His grace but then again, His grace is proportional to the amount of desire I can manifest in myself. The come of grace I would expect from God should be equal to the amount of decorate I can gather or earn. I get out what I put in. Like in the song I wrote about Prabhupada :
· The Lord loves the one that loves the Lord
And the law says if you don’t give,
then you don’t get loving
Now the Lord helps those that help themselves
And the law says whatever you do
It comes right back on you
–“The Lord Loves the One that Loves the Lord”
from Living in the Material World
Apple LP
Have you heard that song “ That Which I Have Lost ” from my new album, Somewhere in England? It ’ south right out of the Bhagavad-gita. In it I talk about fighting the forces of darkness, limitations, falsehood, and deathrate .
God Is a Person
Mukunda: Yes, I like it. If people can understand the Lord ’ randomness message in Bhagavad-gita, they can become rightfully happy .
A bunch of people, when they just get started in spiritual life, worship God as impersonal. What ’ s the difference between worshiping Krishna, or God, in His personal form and worshiping His impersonal nature as energy or light ?
George: It ’ s like the dispute between hanging out with a calculator or hanging out with a person. Like I said earlier, “ If there is a God, I want to see Him, ” not entirely His energy or His light up, but Him .
Mukunda: What do you think is the goal of homo life ?
George: Each individual has to burn out his own karma and escape from the chains of maya ( delusion ), reincarnation, and all that. The best thing anyone can give to world is God consciousness. then you can actually give them something. But first you have to concentrate on your own spiritual advancement ; indeed in a sense we have to become selfish to become altruistic .
Mukunda: What about trying to solve the problems of life without employing the religious process ?
George: Life is like a piece of string with a lot of knots tied in it. The knots are the karma you ’ ra born with from all your past lives, and the object of human life is to try and undo all those knots. That ’ s what chant and meditation in God awareness can do. Otherwise you just tie another ten knots each fourth dimension you try to undo one slub. That ’ s how karma works. I mean, we ’ ra now the results of our past actions, and in the future we ’ ll be the results of the actions we ’ rhenium perform now. A little reason of “ As you sow, so shall you reap ” is crucial, because then you can ’ thyroxine blame the condition you ’ re in on anyone else. You know that it ’ sulfur by your own actions you ’ re able to get more in a mess or out of one. It ’ s your own actions that relieve or bind you .
Mukunda: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the crest bejewel of all the Vedic literatures, it ’ sulfur described how those pure souls who live in the spiritual universe with God have different types of rasas, or relationships, with Him. Is there any extra room you like to think of Krishna ?
George: I like the idea of seeing Krishna as a baby, the way He ’ south often depicted in India. And besides Govinda, the cowboy boy. I like the estimate that you can have Krishna as a baby and feel protective to Him, or as your acquaintance, or as the guru or master–type figure .
“My Sweet Lord”
Mukunda: I don ’ thymine think it ’ s possible to calculate barely how many people were turned on to Krishna consciousness by your song “ My Sweet Lord. ” But you went through quite a personal matter before you decided to do that song. In your book you said, “ I thought a draw about whether to do ‘ My Sweet Lord ’ or not because I would be committing myself publicly … many people fear the words Lord and God … I was sticking my neck out on the chop blockage … but at the lapp time I thought ‘ Nobody ’ s saying it … why should I be false to myself ? ’ I came to believe in the importance that if you feel something impregnable enough, then you should say it .
“ I wanted to show that Hallelujah and Hare Krishna are quite the like thing. I did the voices singing ‘ Hallelujah ’ and then the change to ‘ Hare Krishna ’ so that people would be chanting the maha-mantra- before they knew what was going on ! I had been chanting Hare Krishna for a long meter, and this song was a dim-witted mind of how to do a westerly pop music equivalent of a mantra which repeats over and over again the holy place names. I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate feel guilty or bad about it ; in fact it saved many a heroin addict ’ randomness animation. ”
Why did you feel you wanted to put Hare Krishna on the album at all ? Wouldn ’ thymine “ Hallelujah ” alone have been good enough ?
George: Well, first of all “ Hallelujah ” is a joyous expression the Christians have, but “ Hare Krishna ” has a mysterious side to it. It ’ randomness more than just glorifying God ; it ’ sulfur asking to become His handmaid. And because of the way the mantra is put in concert, with the mysterious spiritual energy contained in those syllables, it ’ second much closer to God than the direction Christianity presently seems to be representing Him. Although jesus in my take care is an absolute yogi, I think many christian teachers today are misrepresenting Christ. They ’ re supposed to be representing Jesus, but they ’ re not doing it very well. They ’ rhenium letting him down identical badly, and that ’ s a adult call on off .
My theme in “ My Sweet Lord, ” because it sounded like a “ popular song, ” was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by “ Hallelujah, ” and by the time it gets to “ Hare Krishna, ” they ’ ra already hooked, and their foot ’ randomness tap, and they ’ re already singing along “ Hallelujah, ” to kind of letup them into a common sense of delusive security. And then abruptly it turns into “ Hare Krishna, ” and they will all be singing that before they know what ’ s happened, and they will think, “ Hey, I thought I wasn ’ thyroxine supposed to like Hare Krishna ! ”
People write to me even immediately asking what style that was. Ten years late they ’ re still trying to figure out what the words mean. It was just a little magic trick truly. And it didn ’ t shock. For some rationality I never got any offensive feedback from Christians who said “ We like it up to a indicate, but what ’ s all this about Hare Krishna ? ”
Hallelujah may have in the first place been some mantric thing that got watered down, but I ’ m not sure what it in truth means. The greek word for Christ is Kristos, which is, let ’ s font it, Krishna, and Kristos is the lapp diagnose actually .
Mukunda: What would you say is the difference between the Christian scene of God, and Krishna as represented in the Bhagavad-gita?
George: When I first came to this house, it was occupied by nuns. I brought in this bill poster of Visnu [ a four-armed form of Krishna ]. You just see His steer and shoulders and His four arms holding a conchshell and assorted other symbols, and it has a big om. This transcendental syllable, which represents Krishna, has been chanted by many persons throughout history for apparitional paragon. * written above it. He has a decent aura around Him. I left it by the fireplace and went out into the garden. When we came back in tetrahydrocannabinol family, they all pounced on me, saying, “ Who is that ? What is it ? ” as if it were some heathen deity. So I said, “ Well, if God is outright, then He can appear in any shape, whichever way He likes to appear. That ’ s one way. He ’ randomness called Visnu. ” It classify of freaked them out a bite, but the item is, why should God be limited ? flush if you get Him as Krishna, He is not limited to that picture of Krishna. He can be the child form, He can be Govinda and manifest in therefore many other long-familiar forms. You can see Krishna as a little boy, which is how I like to see Krishna. It ’ s a joyful relationship. But there ’ second this morbid side to the way many represent Christianity nowadays, where you don ’ thyroxine smile, because it ’ mho besides good, and you can ’ triiodothyronine expect to see God–that kind of thrust. If there is God, we must see Him, and I don ’ t believe in the mind you find in most churches, where they say, “ No, you ’ re not going to see Him. He ’ south way up above you. Just believe what we tell you and shut up. ”
I mean, the cognition that ’ s given in Prabhupada ’ s books–the Vedic stuff–that ’ s the populace ’ mho oldest scriptures. They say that man can become purify, and with divine sight he can see God. You get pure by chanting, then you see Him. And Sanskrit, the speech they ’ ra written in, is the world ’ mho first recorded language. Devanagari [ the rudiment of the Sanskrit linguistic process ] actually means “ lyric of the gods. ”
Mukunda: Anyone who is earnest about making spiritual advancement, whatever one ’ south religion may be, can normally see the value of chanting. I mean if that person was actually trying to be God conscious and trying to chant sincerely .
George: That ’ randomness right. It ’ s a matter of being open. Anyone who ’ sulfur open can do it. You just have to be open and not prejudiced. You good have to try it. There ’ second no loss, you know. But the “ intellectuals ” will always have problems, because they always need to “ know. ” They ’ re much the most spiritually bankrupt people, because they never let go ; they don ’ metric ton understand the meaning of “ to transcend ” the mind. But an ordinary person ’ s more will to say, “ Okay. Let me try it and see if it works. ” Chanting Hare Krishna can make a person a better christian, besides .
Karma and Reincarnation
Mukunda: In I, Me, Mine, you speak about karma and reincarnation, and how the only way to get out of the cycle is to take up a bona fide spiritual action. You said at one orient, “ Everybody is worried about dying, but the cause of death is give birth, indeed if you don ’ triiodothyronine want to die, you don ’ metric ton get born ! ” Did any of the other Beatles believe in reincarnation ?
George: I ’ molarity sure John does ! And I wouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate want to underestimate Paul and Ringo. I wouldn ’ triiodothyronine be surprised if they ’ re hoping it ’ randomness true, you know what I mean ? For all I know, Ringo might be a yogi disguised as a drummer !
Mukunda: Paul has our latest book, Coming Back: The Science of Reincarnation. Where do you think John ’ south person is now ?
George: I should hope that he ’ second in a dear place. He had the understand, though, that each person reincarnates until it becomes wholly pure, and that each soul finds its own level, designated by reactions to its actions in this and former lives .
Mukunda: Bob Dylan did a draw of chanting at one time. He used to come to the Los Angeles temple and came to the Denver and Chicago temples a well. In fact he drove across the United States with two devotees once and wrote several songs about Krishna. They spent a lot of time intonation .
George: That ’ sulfur correct. He said he enjoyed the intonation and being with them. besides Stevie Wonder had you on one of his records, you know. And it was big the song he put the intonation in– “ Pastimes Paradise. ”
Mukunda: When you were in Vrndavana, India, where Lord Krishna appeared, and you saw thousands of people chanting Hare Krishna, did it strengthen your religion in the estimate of chanting to see a whole city living Hare Krishna ?
George: Yeah, it fortifies you. It decidedly helps. It ’ randomness fantastic to be in a put where the solid town is doing it. And I besides had the idea that they were all knocked out at the idea of seeing some white person chanting on beads. Vrndavana is one of the holiest cities in India. Everyone, everywhere, chants Hare Krishna. It was my most fantastic experience .
Mukunda: You wrote in your ledger : “ Most of the world is fooling about, specially the people who think they control the world and the residential district. The presidents, the politicians, the military, etc., are all jerking about, acting as if they are Lord over their own domains. That ’ s basically Problem One on the planet. ”
George: That ’ mho good. Unless you ’ re doing some kind of God conscious thing and you know that He ’ s the one who ’ s truly in charge, you ’ re just building up a lot of karma and not very helping yourself or anybody else. There ’ s a point in me where it ’ sulfur beyond sad, seeing the state of the populace today. It ’ s therefore screwed up. It ’ s severe, and it will be getting worse and worse. More concrete everywhere, more befoulment, more radiation. There ’ randomness no wilderness left, no arrant air. They ’ rhenium chopping the forests down. They ’ re polluting all the oceans. In one sense, I ’ m pessimistic about the future of the satellite. These big guys don ’ thyroxine realize for everything they do, there ’ s a reaction. You have to pay. That ’ south karma.
Mukunda: Do you think there ’ s any hope ?
George: Yes. One by one, everybody ’ s got to escape maya. Everybody has to burn out his karma and miss reincarnation and all that. Stop thinking that if Britain or America or Russia or the West or whatever become superior, then we ’ ll beat them, and then we ’ ll all have a pillow and live happily ever after. That doesn ’ triiodothyronine work. The best thing you can give is God awareness. Manifest your own deity first. The truth is there. It ’ mho right within us all. Understand what you are. If people would just wake up to what ’ s real, there would be no misery in the populace. I guess chanting ’ s a reasonably good put to start .
Mukunda: Thanks thus much, George .
George: All right. Hare Krishna !
