Abstract
This reading of George Harrison’s final album Brainwashed–posthumously
released in 2002–is guided by two principal concerns.
First, when engaged in the study of spirituality in popular,
secular “texts”, scholars of religion are easily
charged with reading too much into the objects of their inquiry.
This study will represent an experiment in that the author
(trained in the Christian Bible) will explore a songwriter’s
presentation of a religious tradition far removed from his
field of expertise. I attempt to measure, in effect, what an
interested but non-specialist listener might discover about
religion following clues provided by the songwriter. Second,
this paper offers a source-critical reading of George Harrison’s
writing that observes the importance of the Bhagavad Gita as
the primary inspiration for this album.
“Lord Krishna to his devotee Arjuna: ‘Among thousands
of men, perhaps one strives for spiritual attainment; and,
among the blessed true seekers that assiduously try to reach
Me, perhaps one perceives Me as I am.’”
- Bhagavad Gita1
“Bow
to God and call him Sir”
-
George Harrison2
[1]
Whether reading books, watching movies, or listening to music
we can’t escape our presuppositions. We bring to our
reading/viewing/listening a lifetime of experiences that will
inevitably influence the way we understand the “texts” we
encounter and this is one of the great challenges of hermeneutics.
My primary field of study is the New Testament and the Christian
Bible. To some degree this is a handicap for investigating
relationships between religion and popular culture since I
am always open to the charge of finding Christianity everywhere
I turn. Though complete objectivity is not possible, this paper
represents an attempt to move closer to that ideal. By looking
at the religious themes in the music of George Harrison I am
a long way from the Judeo-Christian tradition that I am most
familiar with. Harrison was a devout Hindu and the primary
source for his final album was the Bhagavad Gita. My
introduction to Hinduism and the Bhagavad Gita has come
largely through George Harrison’s music and writing,
and books either known to Harrison or with some connection
to him (see notes below). This is not, then, a scholarly study
of the Bhagavad Gita or Hinduism but rather an illustration
of how religion can be "heard" by a non-specialist.
[2] George Harrison’s posthumous album Brainwashed (Umlaut
Corporation 2002) was his final gift to music fans. One immediately
senses how intensely personal it is, with the inclusion of
his signature on the front cover and handwritten song titles.
We even hear George speaking at the very beginning of the CD,
telling those in the studio “Give me plenty of that guitar.” These
small gestures make the album accessible and lend to an overall
sense of genuine communication from artist to listener.
[3] Perhaps the most intriguing of these personal touches is
a sketch found on the back cover of the liner notes. It is
simple enough. At its base we find a paraphrase of the biblical
expression: “A Voice Cry’s [sic] in the
Wilderness” (Isa 40:3; Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4)
and above that a sign giving directions to “Bullshit
Avenue” which apparently can be found in the city toward
which the sign points. And looking over the whole scene, a
crudely drawn head, with eyes closed (meditating?) and cartoon
thought-bubbles that house the chant “God-God-God.”
[4] All the words included in the picture appear in the album’s
closing song. “Brainwashed” is a prayer: “God
God God / Won’t you lead us through this mess / . . .
From the places of concrete.” The mess appears to be
the state we find ourselves in when living on Bullshit Avenue,
those cities of concrete where individuals and institutions
brainwash the unwary. Harrison once wrote about the dangers
of missing spiritual realities:
As a single drop of water has the same qualities as an ocean
of water, so has our consciousness the qualities of GOD’S
consciousness . . . but through our identification and
attachment with material energy (physical body, sense
pleasures, material possessions, ego, etc.) our true
TRANSCENDENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS has been polluted, and like
a dirty mirror it is unable to reflect a pure image.3
Brainwashed warns of the pitfalls that lie before us
in our modern world, namely the risk of losing sight of ultimate
truths. It also offers advice on how to avoid them.
[5]
On the album’s cover there are five crash test dummies
(a typical sized family?) holding a television and they appear
repeatedly throughout the liner notes. In one picture they
are looking directly at the television on which the word “Brainwashed” appears.
How do we avoid being brainwashed ourselves? The doodle of
the closed-eyed man may imply that meditation on God is the
key, for as the Bhagavad Gita states, without meditation
there is no peace (2.66).
[6] Turning to the Gita for clues regarding the album’s
intent is a logical step, since references to Harrison’s
Hindu spirituality are explicit.4 In
addition to his thanks to “The Yogis of the Himalayas”5 there
is a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita provided in the
liner notes:
There never was a time when you or I did not exist. Nor
will there be any future when we shall cease to be (Krishna
to Arjuna [as found in the liner notes; cf. citation of
2.19-20 below]).6
Further, there are numerous clear allusions to the Gita in
the album, particularly “Any Road” and “Brainwashed,” the
opening and closing songs.
The Bhagavad Gita
[7] The Bhagavad Gita is a poem within a poem. The longer Mahabharata is
an epic that tells the story of an actual war. This context
is preserved in the Gita (see e.g., 1.2-20) and its
main characters (Arjuna and Krishna) appear elsewhere in the Mahabharata.
But the war and these characters are not the same in the two
poems. The smaller poem begins with the words “On the
field of Truth, on the battle-field of life” (1.1) suggesting
a shift from the literal/historical, to the metaphorical.7 The
war becomes spiritual in nature (see previous note) and Arjuna
comes to represent the human archetype and Krishna the cosmic
one.8 The Gita and Brainwashed identify
the enemies of the human spirit and they point the reader/listener
to the appropriate responses. The ancient Gita is thus
translated in the album for a modern audience and into an entirely
new medium. In a way, Harrison even resembles Krishna (spiritual
guide) for the listener-Arjuna (spiritual quester). Like the
charioteer Krishna, Harrison begins the album as a traveler
(by boat, plane, car, bike, bus, train, etc. [“Any
Road”]), and the intimate nature of the album (see comments
above) resembles Krishna’s relationship with Arjuna;
the former reveals “this Yoga eternal, this secret supreme” because
of Arjuna’s “love for me, and because I am thy
friend” (4.4). Three related themes in Brainwashed,
drawn from the Gita, can be observed.
The True Nature of Humanity
[8]
As seen, the album and the song “Any Road” begins
with the songwriter’s claim to have been travelling.
This is repeated seven times throughout the song which describes
a journey with no beginning and no end because there is something
in the songwriter that was never born and never dies, a clear
allusion to Krishna’s teaching in the Gita:
If
any man thinks he slays, and if another thinks he is
slain, neither knows the ways of truth. The Eternal in man
cannot kill: the Eternal in man cannot die. He is never
born, and he never dies. He is in Eternity: he is for evermore.
Never-born and eternal, beyond times gone or to come, he
does not die when the body dies (2.19-20; cf. various phrases
in 2.11-30).
Arjuna is troubled early on in the poem because his participation
in a war will require him to kill: “I see forebodings
of evil, Krishna. I cannot foresee any glory if I kill my own
kinsmen” (1.31). In response, Krishna introduces the
concept of dehin, “the ‘one in the body’ (‘spirit’, ‘soul’),
which cannot be killed, and which will repeatedly take another
body after the death of the current one.”9
[9]
People may not be aware of their eternal natures, however,
and indeed we are fooled into thinking that there is nothing
beyond the experiences of this life. “Rising Sun” contributes
to this recurring concern about deception found in the album.
The song begins on “the street of villains taken for
a ride” where one can have “the devil as a guide.” If
this is true of us, we are “Crippled by the boundaries” and “programmed
into guilt.” The individual in the song looks into mirrors
but finds only disguises, suggesting that a greater reality
is hidden. The threat is repeated later in the song where “On
the avenue of sinners I have been / employed / Working there ‘til
I was near destroyed[.]” But the song speaks of a spiritual
awakening. In “the rising sun” that comes from
within, one can feel life beginning; the singer hears “the
messenger from inner space / He was sending me a signal that
for so long / I had ignored[.]” What was discovered
was the eternal nature: A “Universe at play inside your
DNA / You’re a billion years old today[.]” Not
to be aware of this is to fall prey to “villains” and “sinners,” to
be brainwashed. In his book I Me Mine he described this
differently:
Reality
is a concept. Everybody has their own reality ... Most people’s
reality is an illusion, a great big illusion. You automatically
have to succumb to the illusion that ‘I am this body’.
I am not George. I am not really George. I am this living thing
that goes on, always has been, always will be, but at this
time I happen to be in ‘this’ body. The body has
changed; was a baby, was a young man, will soon be an old man,
and I’ll be dead. The physical body will
pass but this bit in the middle, that’s the only reality.
All the rest is the illusion ... 10
[10] Harrison’s views on reincarnation are stated quite
concisely in comments on the song “The Art of Dying” in I
Me Mine. The song acknowledges that the time will come
when we will all face death and further, that “There
will come a time when most of us [will] return here (reincarnation) /
Brought back by our desire to be a perfect entity[.]”11 Karma,
he explains, is the law of action and reaction and every thought,
word, and deed acts like a pebble thrown in water, it sends
ripples “out across the Universe and it does eventually
come back. Whatever you do, it comes right back on you.”12 Switching
metaphors, he adds that these actions-reactions are like knots
on a piece of string. From the moment of birth on, we try to
undo all the knots from previous lives (past Karma) but most
people end up adding more along the way. If we are entangled
in the affairs of this life, chances are our last thought or
desire will be on matters of this world and not God and such
thoughts or desires provide “the motivation for rebirth.” The
point of the song is that unless we want to experience a million
years of crying we need to practice the art of dying–which
involves detachment from the world while living.13
The Search for Truth
“By chanting the names of the Lord and you’ll
be free
The Lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and
see”
-
George Harrison14
[11] The opening song on Brainwashed (“Any Road”)
is written mostly in the first person and using a familiar
metaphor describes life as a journey. This journey had no beginning
and no end, involves many unresolved questions, and involves
a search for truth. The chorus shifts to the second person
and there we find the songwriter, after describing his own
experiences, offering advice and assurance for those also on
a spiritual quest: “if you don’t know where you’re
going / Any road will take you there” (5X). There are
perhaps two ways to take this statement. Positively it might
offer some assurance to those on a sincere spiritual quest
since Krishna, in the Gita, teaches that even those “who
in faith worship other gods, because of their love they worship
me, although not in the right way. For I accept every sacrifice,
and I am their Lord supreme” (9.23-24a). Negatively it
warns those who have not stepped out in this journey toward
spiritual enlightenment. Inaction has consequences. If one
does not have a spiritual destination or goal in mind (“if
you don’t know where you’re going”) that
person will get nowhere (“Any road will take you there”).15
[12]
The biggest obstacle to spiritual discovery is distraction.
Misplaced priorities and passions can clutter the mind and
turn our attentions away from that which is of ultimate importance–“Lost
my concentration ... [when] The only thing that matters to
me is to / touch your lotus feet” (“Stuck Inside
a Cloud”; cf. n.5). As noted already, the cartoon/doodle
found in the liner notes includes a man meditating on the words “God-God-God.” This
face is smiling. The Bhagavad Gita speaks of meditation/contemplation
as a necessary spiritual exercise. “Without contemplation,” we
are told, “there cannot be peace, and without peace can
there be joy?” (2.66). The man in the diagram–Harrison
himself?–evidently has both. The message conveyed by
the voice that “Cry’s in the Wilderness” is
don’t be distracted or brainwashed by all that happens
in the great cities of the world (Brussels, Bonn, Washington,
London) or by their leaders (“Kings and Queens”)
and teachers. God alone can “stop the rot,” and “lead
us through this mess” and out of ignorance.
[13]
Harrison and the Gita speak of the importance of meditation
(6.10-14; 12.8-10, 12; 13.24 etc.) and chanting (9.13-14).16 In
fact, the album closes with a Sanskrit chant (“Namah
Parvarti”) performed by George and son Dhani Harrison.17 Prior
to this, the recurring “God God God” functions
as a chant, perhaps in a form more accessible to the majority
of listeners (i.e., an English term repeating as part of the
song’s chorus).
The Pleasure Seeking Life Brings Pain
and Darkness
“I’m
living in the material world
Living
in the material world
I
hope to get out of this place
by
the Lord Sri Krsna’s Grace
My
salvation from the material world.”
-
George Harrison18
[14] Harrison’s ironically titled book I Me Mine points
to his recognition that attachment with possessions lies at
the heart of many sorrows. His wife Olivia Harrison explained
the title in her introduction to the 2002 edition of this book:
During our life together the issues of possessions, attachment
and identification with the ego were in the forefront of
our awareness and George was always quick to point out that
in reality there is no I, Me or Mine. George was relentless
at keeping our spiritual aim true. We were only humans walking
a long road towards our shared goal of enlightenment . .
. . [He would remind himself and me] that we are pure Spirit,
and that the Spirit is in ‘every grain of sand’,
belonging to everyone and no one; that nothing is ‘mine’ and
that ‘I’ we all refer to must be recognized as
the little ‘i’ in the larger scheme of the Universe.
George was tired of the I Me Mines of this world, including
his own ... When searching for a title to this book,
he was well aware that the lyrics to these songs would always
be tied to his name and considered his songs, even
though he knew the creativity bestowed on him was a divine
gift. So rather than conjuring a book title that might try
to explain away the gift of songwriting with, “Well, I wrote them
but they don’t really belong to me”, he took
the opposite approach and the risk of claiming this book
in a slightly cynical trinity of pronouns.19
This concern with detachment is prominent in “Brainwashed,” the
closing song on the album. Like Krishna who warns that dwelling
on the pleasures of the senses leads to desire, the lust of
possession, passion and anger (2.62), Harrison finds that such
symbols of the pursuit of wealth as the Nikkei, Dow Jones,
FTSE, and Nasdaq do no more than “[turn] out the spiritual
light.” The song includes recurring prayers addressed
to “God God God” who is at one point defined as “Bliss.” Krishna
directs devotees to a different kind of happiness: “When
a man surrenders all desires that come to the heart and by
the grace of God finds the joy of God, then his soul has indeed
found peace” (2.55).
[15] The official George Harrison website (georgeharrison.com
[accessed April 2004]; address included on the album cover)
reinforces this key Brainwashed message. Upon entering
the site visitors who click on Brainwashed are invited
to “Follow the path to the garden” but are warned
to “make sure you don’t get Brainwashed along the
way,” the point being that one needs to make appropriate
decisions in choosing which icons to click. Bad choices will
result in the journey to the garden being hindered. As the
journey begins “Any Road” plays in the background
and travelers first see a statue of Krishna (the same that
appears on the album itself). After clicking on the “take
me onwards” symbol visitors proceed to a picture of the
crash-test dummies’ heads. In one we find various symbols
associated with a stock exchange board (numbers, buy, sell, etc.
flashing). If we click on a different head (without references
to money) we move on to the next screen. We find more crash
test dummies and this time flashing over them a sign: “$$$
InstaWealth Click Here Now.” This is, of course, another
temptation along the way to the garden. And so the game continues.
If one clicks on any of the wrong icons the poor decision is
made clear by the gradual disappearance of the “Dark
Horse” logo that appears on each screen (Harrison’s
record label). Other bad symbols include icons with the words “money
for free . . . security for life,” “Buy Buy Buy,” “All
You Could Ever Want Or Need,” “Get Rich Quick,” “Best
Deals on the Web,” and “Work From Home Make $$$$$$$$.” A
few of the pages also have television screens with a constant
barrage of images–this too is a poor choice. Oftentimes
the best choices (where one finds a hot link after dragging
the cursor around) are on the crash test dummies’ heads,
perhaps suggesting meditation. Meditation, and avoiding the
lure of wealth and comfort is the key.20 Though
it takes some time and practice, one eventually arrives at
the garden21 where the
usual kinds of information associated with an official album
website are found.
Closing Comments (All Things Must Pass)
[16]
When compared to other “secular” pop-music, George
Harrison’s Brainwashed is distinctive in certain
respects. To begin with, it is unusual to find such explicit
spirituality in the mainstream music industry. The presence
of religious themes in popular music is not remarkable in itself,
of course. What is unusual is to find songwriters charting
their own spiritual experiences with detail comparable to that
found in Harrison’s Brainwashed. It does happen.
Alice Cooper’s The Last Temptation (1994) documents
his conversion to Christ.22 But
this kind of writing is not the norm. We might note, by way
of contrast, that some artists have abandoned their music careers
completely following religious conversions (e.g., Cat Stevens
who was converted to Islam in 1977, after which he took the
name Yusuf Islam) or at least shifted the focus of their writing
to religious content. Harrison, on the other hand, was able
to take his spirituality into the mainstream to an extent that
few, if any, have been able to match. For instance, All
Things Must Pass (1970) quickly reached number one on the
U.S. and British charts and the single “My Sweet Lord,” described
by David Fricke as “a psalm to Krishna” was number
one in the U.K.23 When
the album was re-released in 2001 to mark the thirtieth anniversary, “My
Sweet Lord” returned to number one on the charts in the
U.K. Brainwashed has enjoyed similar success. In February
2004 Harrison won a Grammy (posthumously) for “Mawra
Blues” in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category
and “Any Road” was nominated for Best Male Pop
Vocal Performance.
[17] More generally, many might find Harrison’s religious
lyrics more accessible than other songwriters. While the theology
may be challenging to the neophyte he has an ability to blend
humour with spirituality and avoid the abrasive tone of other
evangelistic songwriters. Further, as the examples included
above suggest, Harrison’s writing on religious themes
is more pervasive and systematic than many other artists who
bring similar interests to their work. Western audiences may
also find Harrison’s Hinduism somewhat exotic.
[18] Finally, it is arguable that the world did not know the
pre-conversion George Harrison very well. Initially he was
famous as part of the Beatles, not as a solo artist. It was
in the midst of the band’s career that the "quiet
Beatle" became fascinated with all things eastern. His
first trip to India occurred in 1966 following an invitation
to study the sitar with musician Ravi Shankar. “This
was the beginning,” writes Mikal Gilmore, “of a
lifelong friendship between Harrison and Shankar and the foundation
for a change in Harrison’s worldview. Through Shankar
and Indian music, Harrison said, he discovered a new openness
to spirituality–especially to ancient Hindu teachings.”24 The
whole band traveled to India in 1968 to spend time with Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi and there were occasional references to eastern
religion in some of their later lyrics (e.g., the elementary
penguin who was “singing Hare Krishna” [“I
Am The Walrus,” Magical Mystery Tour, 1967]).
And so it was that by the time Harrison stepped out on his
own to begin a solo career–to establish a professional
identity apart from the Beatles–his quest for spirituality
was at least familiar to fans. At the same time, these same
fans did not know him very well because he had little professional
identity apart from the Fab Four. Harrison’s first major25 solo
project was the very successful All Things Must Pass (1970;
re-released 2001), an “audacious coming out party for
the most self-effacing Beatle”26 in
which the songwriter’s spirituality figures prominently.
[19] This sequence–extraordinary fame and spiritual questing
prior to a solo career–contrasts with other artists who
experienced conversions after their public persona had been
formed. For instance, fans of Harrison’s contemporary
and fellow Traveling Wilbury Bob Dylan left in droves following
his conversion to Christianity in 1978. People “knew” Dylan
prior to 1978. In a sense, people did not know Harrison prior
to 1970.
[20] Harold Bloom once described reading as a difficult pleasure,
one that involves recognition of the influences shaping a writer’s
work. The payoff is significant: ultimately good writing and
good reading can point us toward the Sublime.27 Sensitivity
to the key source behind George Harrison’s Brainwashed–the Bhagavad
Gita–and reading this album as a careful exposition
of that literary precursor, helps us appreciate what a remarkable
and unique project this is. It is a wonderful illustration
of the potential of a popular medium to communicate religious
content with imagination and surprising beauty.
Notes
1 7.3. This passage provides
the epigraph to George Harrison’s book I Me Mine (San
Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002), 8.
2 “Any Road,” Brainwashed (Umlaut,
2002).
3 “Words from Apple,” introductory
note to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, KRSNA:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead (New York: The Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust, 1970). It is found in vols. 1 and 2. Cf. Bhagavad
Gita 2.70.
4 The religious imagery
in the songs is not exclusively eastern. Cf. the Catholicism
of “P.2. Vatican Blues” in which the singer describes
himself as “Claustrophobic and ex-catholic[.]” Harrison’s
mother was Roman Catholic and he attended mass regularly as
a child (Adam Clayson, The Quiet One: A Life of George Harrison [London:
Sidgwick & Jackson, 1990], 8). It is well known that Harrison’s
interest in eastern spirituality was an influence on the Beatles.
In 1968 all four members of the band spent time in India with
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation.
Harrison is also linked with the Hare Krishna movement (the
International Society for the Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON]).
He donated a mansion to the organization and further endorsed
the movement by writing the preface for KRSNA: The Supreme
Personality of Godhead (1970; see previous note) by founder
Abhay Charan De Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda
is credited for inspiring Harrison’s song “Material
World,” namely the insight that “‘we are
not these bodies’, we are in these material bodies
in the physical world” (I Me Mine, 258; italics
original). He is also credited for inspiring “The Lord
Loves The One” (254, 256).
5 Krishna says of his devotees
that “Their thoughts are on me, their life is in me,
and they give light to each other. For ever they speak of my
glory; and they find peace and joy” (10.9). Prabhupāda
says of such people that “Their minds cannot be diverted
from the lotus feet of K[rishna]. Their talks are solely transcendental” (His
Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-Gītā
As It Is [New York: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972],
167). The latter expression appears also in Brainwashed: “The
only thing that matters to me is to / touch your lotus feet” (“Stuck
Inside a Cloud”). This metaphor speaks of a student’s
devotion to a teacher. Swami Prabhupāda’s name means “One
at whose feet many masters sit” (Daner, Children of
KRSNA, 17). He was one of a series of spiritual masters
extending back to Lord Krishna himself (as stated in his publications,
e.g., the jacket Bhagavad-Gītā).
6 His album Dark Horse (1974)
includes the dedication “All Glories to Sri Krishna.”
7 Juan Mascaró read
it this way (see his introduction to The Bhagavad Gita,
trans. Juan Mascaró with introduction by Simon Brodbeck
[London: Penguin, 2003], xlvi-xlvii; Mascaró’s
comments were originally published in the 1962 edition and
reprinted in the 2003 edition). After seeing Harrison and John
Lennon interviewed with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Mascaró wrote
a letter to Harrison encouraging him in his spiritual quest.
Mascaró also sent a book (Lamps of Fire) that
served as an inspiration for Harrison’s song of the same
name. Harrison says this song “was written especially
for Juan Mascaró because he sent me the book and is
a sweet old man. It was nice, the words said everything. AMEN” (Harrison, I
Me Mine, 118; the lyrics for “The Inner Light,” Harrison’s
comments, and a copy of Mascaró’s letter are found
in pp.117-19). Mascaró summarizes: “We find in
the Gita that there is going to be a great battle for
the rule of a Kingdom; and how can we doubt that this is the
Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of the soul? Are we going to
allow the forces of light in us or the forces of darkness to
win? And yet, how easy not to fight, and to find reasons to
withdraw from the battle! In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna
becomes the soul of man and Krishna the charioteer of the soul” (Mascaró, Bhagavad
Gita, xlvii). All citations from the Bhagavad Gita are
taken from the Mascaró translation unless otherwise
noted. On Harrison’s relationship with Mascaró see
also Clayson, The Quiet One, 149.
8 Simon Brodbeck, introduction
to the 2003 edition of Mascaró, Bhagavad Gita,
xxiii.
9 Brodbeck, introduction
to Mascaró, Bhagavad Gita, xiv. Cf. Prabhupāda’s
comments on 2.12: “It is not that they did not exist
as individuals in the past, and it is not that they will not
remain as eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the
past, and their individuality will continue in the future without
interruption. Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation
for any one of the individual living entities” (Prabhupada, Bhagavad-Gītā,
23).
10 Harrison, I Me Mine,
44. “Bhagavad-gītā is meant to deliver one from
the nescience of material entanglement. Everyone is in difficulty,
just as Arjuna was on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. Not only
Arjuna, but each of us is full of anxieties because of this
material entanglement. Our existence is eternal, but somehow
we are put into this position which is asat. Asat means
unreal” (Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-Gita, xxi).
11 Harrison, I Me Mine,
181. Italics original.
12 Harrison, I
Me Mine, 180.
13I Me Mine, 181.
To illustrate, Harrison adds: “I mean I don’t
want to be lying there as I’m dying thinking ‘Oh
shit, I forgot to put the cat out’, or ‘I didn’t
get a Rolls-Royce’ because then you may have to come
right back just to do those things, and then you have got more
knots on your piece of string.” Following his death on
November 29, 2001, Harrison was cremated within hours and Hindu
rites performed by members of the Hare Krishna. Harrison’s
ashes were immersed in the Ganges River. “According to
Hindu religion, this final act would allow for the final separation
of George Harrison’s soul
from his body and his spirit to avoid the cycle of reincarnation
and to travel straight to heaven” (Marc Shapiro, Behind
Sad Eyes: The Life of George Harrison [New York: St. Martin’s,
2002], 205).
14 Harrison, “Awaiting
On You All,” in I Me Mine, 203. Commenting on
this song, he writes: “Most mantras for japa utilise
the many names of God, and the maha-mantra has been prescribed
as the easiest and surest way for attaining God-Realization
in this present age” (200).
15 I would like to express
my thanks to the anonymous peer-reviewer who offered helpful
suggestions at this point.
16 Prabhupāda: “when
people in general are short-living, slow in spiritual realization
and always disturbed by various anxieties, the best means of
spiritual realization is to chant the holy name of the Lord” (Bhagavad-Gītā,
107). See also his comments on 10.9 (167).
17 An Approximate Translation
of the “Namah Parvarti”: Namah Parvarti Pataye
Hare Hare Mahadev (Salutations to Parvati [as it is often
spelled], Divine Consort of [Shiva] the god of gods; Hare indicates
the energy and love of the lord); Shiva Shiva Shankara Mahadeva (S[h]ankara is
another name for Shiva).
18 Harrison, “Living
In The Material World,” in I Me Mine, 262-63.
Harrison’s humour is evident in his description of the
material world: “Met them all here in the material world
/ John and Paul here in the material world / Though we started
out quite poor / We got ‘Richie’ on a tour / Got
caught up in the material world” (262).
19 Olivia Harrison, introduction
to George Harrison, I Me Mine, 1-2 (italics original).
20 Wealth and noble birth
are no guarantee of happiness and peace, according to the Gita: “Led
astray by many wrong thoughts, entagled in the net of delusion,
enchained to the pleasures of their cravings, they fall down
into a foul hell” (16.16).
21 Harrison was an avid
gardener, in fact, I Me Mine is “dedicated to
gardeners everywhere. G.H.”
22 For details, see Mark
Allan Powell, “Alice Cooper,” in Encyclopedia
of Contemporary Christian Music (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson,
2002), in loc.
23 David Fricke, “The
Stories Behind the Songs,” in Rolling Stone Special
Edition: George Harrison (2001): 61.
24 Mikal Gilmore, “The
Mystery Inside George,” in Rolling Stone Special Edition:
George Harrison (2001): 13. Geoffrey Giuliano records Harrison
as saying “I got involved with Hinduism because Ravi
Shankar was a Hindu” (Dark Horse: The Secret Life
of George Harrison [Toronto: Stoddart, 1989], 87). See
also Shapiro, Behind Sad Eyes, 75-76.
25 Harrison released two
instrumental albums prior to All Things Must Pass, Wonderwall
Music in 1968 and Electronic Sounds in 1969.
26 Greg Kot, “George
Harrison: A Complete Discography,” in Rolling Stone
Special Edition: George Harrison (2001): 65.
27 Harold Bloom, How
to Read and Why (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000),
29 and throughout.
