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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Admittedly, it's hard to read the text without a magnifying glass, but if you keep clicking on "next page" you at least get to see the headings and some neat pictures highlighting the life of an extraordinarily talented, sincere and "gentle soul" (...in the words of country music-lovin' prez Bushy) |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:31 am Post subject: |
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This site features a very informative interview between George and one of his Krishna devotee friends: http://www.krishna.org/Articles/2000/08/00066.html
Of course, I'll copy an extended part of it:
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 devotee, a closet yogi or "closet Krishna," and millions of people all over the world have been introduced to the chanting 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 lot and liked it. That was the first time I'd ever heard the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Mukunda: Even though you and John Lennon played Srila Prabhupada's record a lot and had chanted quite a bit on your own, you'd never really met any of the devotees. Yet when Gurudasa, Syamasundara, and I [the first Hare Krishna devotees sent from America, to open a temple in London] first came to England, you co-signed the lease on our first temple in central London, bought the Manoryoga-aSrama* for us, which has provided a place for literally hundreds of thousands of people to learn about Krishna consciousness, and financed the first printing of the book Krishna. You hadn't really known us for a very long time at all. Wasn't this a kind of sudden change for you?
George: Not really, for I always felt at home with Krishna. You see it was already a part of me. I think it's something that's been with me from my previous birth. Your coming to England and all that was just like another piece of a jigsaw puzzle that was coming together to make a complete picture. It had been slowly fitting together. That's why I responded to you all the way I did when you first came to London. Let's face it. If you're going to have to stand up and be counted, I figured, "I would rather be with these guys than with those other guys over there." It's like that. I mean I'd rather be one of the devotees of God than one of the straight, so-called sane or normal people who just don't understand that man is a spiritual being, that he has a soul. And I felt comfortable with you all, too, kind of like we'd known each other before. It was a pretty natural thing, really.
Mukunda: George, you were a member 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 dissolution of the group, you went on to emerge as a solo superstar with albums like All Things Must Pass, the country's top selling album for seven weeks in a row, and its hit single "My Sweet Lord," which was number one in America for two months. That was followed by Living in the Material World, number 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. So, you had material success. You'd been everywhere, done everything, yet at the same time you were on a spiritual quest. What was it that really got you started on your spiritual journey?
George: It wasn't until the experience of the sixties really hit. You know, having been successful and meeting everybody we thought worth meeting and finding out they weren't worth meeting, and having had more hit 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 so much more on the other side. So I felt it was part of my duty to say, "Oh, okay, maybe you are thinking this is all you need-to be rich and famous--but actually it isn't."
Mukunda: George, in your recently published autobiography, I, Me, Mine, you said your song "Awaiting on You All" is about japa-yoga, or chanting mantras on beads. You explained that a mantra is "mystical energy encased in a sound 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 (spiritual master) of the Hare Krishna movement, told me once that we should just keep chanting all the time, or as much as possible. Once you do that, you realize the benefit. The response that comes from chanting is in the form of bliss, or spiritual happiness, which is a much higher taste than any happiness found here in the material world. That's why I say that the more you do it, the more you don't want to stop, because it feels so nice and peaceful.
Mukunda: What is it about the mantra that brings about this feeling of peace and happiness?
George: The word Hare is the word that calls upon the energy that's around the Lord. If you say the mantra enough, you build up an identification with God. God's all happiness, all bliss, and by chanting His names we connect with Him. So it's really a process of actually having a realization of God, which all becomes clear with the expanded state of consciousness that develops when you chant. Like I said in the introduction I wrote for Prabhupada's Krsna book some years ago, "If there's a God, I want to see Him. It's pointless to believe in something without proof, 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't get it in five minutes. It's something that takes time, but it works because it's a direct process of attaining God and will help us to have pure consciousness and good perception that is above the normal, everyday state of consciousness.
Mukunda: How do you feel after chanting for a long time?
George: In the life I lead, I find that I sometimes have opportunities when I can really get going at it, and the more I do it, I find the harder it is to stop, and I don't want to lose the feeling it gives me.
For example, once I chanted the Hare Krishna mantra all the way from France to Portugal, nonstop. I drove for about twenty-three hours and chanted all the way. It gets you feeling a bit invincible. The funny thing was that I didn't even know where I was going. I mean I had bought a map, and I knew basically which way I was aiming, but I couldn't speak 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 difference between God the person and His holy name; the name is God. When you first started chanting, could you perceive that?
George: It takes a certain amount of time and faith to accept or to realize that there is no difference between Him and His name, to get to the point where you're no longer mystified by where He is. You know, like, "Is He around here?" You realize after some time, "Here He is--right here!" It's a matter of practice. So when I say that "l see God," I don't necessarily mean to say that when I chant I'm seeing Krishna in His original form when He came five thousand years ago, dancing across the water, playing His flute. Of course, that would also be nice, and it's quite possible too. 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 chanting.
Mukunda: Can you think of any incident where you felt God's presence very strongly through chanting?
George: Once I was on an airplane that was in an electric storm. It was hit by lightning three times, and a Boeing 707 went over the top 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. As soon as the plane 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 half or two hours, the plane 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 as 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 difference between making it and not making it was actually chanting the mantra. Peter Sellers also swore that chanting Hare* Krishna saved him from a plane crash once... |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:10 am Post subject: |
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three consecutive non replied posts on something nobody cares about.
i learned all i care to about hare krishna at the airport and from flyers passed out when i was off my ass at raves.
you do understand that religion...even the non conventional kind is complete and utter horse-shiit, yes? |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:48 am Post subject: |
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| ChimpumCallao wrote: |
three consecutive non replied posts on something nobody cares about.
i learned all i care to about hare krishna at the airport and from flyers passed out when i was off my ass at raves.
you do understand that religion...even the non conventional kind is complete and utter horse-shiit, yes? |
An immature, unintelligent response. If there were nothing to it, it wouldn't exist and dominate the lives of billions of people. OF COURSE there's somethign to it. That said. I'm not sure that the thing(s) there is (are) to it are what the religious think they are. But is Buddhism really a religion? Is meditation religious?
Careful about dismissing things summarily. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:07 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for your luke-warm support (I think) "trainer"... As for "callousimpleton" - or whatever her name is - thank you for your very cold support...(Please excuse my making fun of your avatar name , but from the way you dish it out I'm sure you can take it...) You're entitled to your opinion, though, and it's unfortunate (but probably true) that many folks have been turned off by encounters with overaggressive (neophyte or immature) Krishna devotees. ...
Last edited by Rteacher on Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:15 am Post subject: |
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| three consecutive non replied posts on something nobody cares about. |
Perhaps you might contact Dave for a refund in that case.
Ken:> |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a pic showing George (and Patty Boyd - before Eric Clapton stole her...) along with the founder/acharya of the Krishna movement and one of George's close devotee friends:
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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you do understand that religion...even the non conventional kind is complete and utter horse-shiit, yes?
An immature, unintelligent response. If there were nothing to it, it wouldn't exist and dominate the lives of billions of people. OF COURSE there's somethign to it. |
Not immature, quite intelligent and accurate.
#1 Billions of people on the planet are below normal intelligence..it is easy to hoodwink the stupid and weakwilled. All you need to do is tell them something they want to hear.
#2 When you are brainwashed from birth to believe in a 'supreme being' you join a religion...if you have an extra brain cell you take a look around and realise that religion is bunk and then spend years going from religion to religion searching for the one true religion.....after all mom and dad wouldnt have lied to you...would they?
#3 Religion is just a way to control the masses...as it has always been historically. That is just one reason that governments continue to let it exist.
#4 Religion is nothing more than a band aid to allay the fears of death. Oh dont worry son...if you're good you'll go to heaven, if you kill infidels you are rewarded with 20 virgins, you'll be reincarnated, you'll see all your ancestors.....the list goes on.
Religion is bunk...always has been bunk and always will be bunk. Its nothing less than smoke and mirrors but not nearly as entertaining. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Who created your brain? ... Is it just the result of random collisions of sub-atomic particles?... Do you really think that chemicals that came from nothing somehow accidently combined in such a way as to create conscious living organisms?... Has any scientist anywhere ever demonstrated that life evolves from inorganic matter or chemicals?... Are your senses perfect? ... Are they unlimited? ... Do you not often make mistakes? ... Can you - or any human - always distinguish reality from illusion? ....Is it just a wonderful accident that there is so much beauty and harmony and order in nature?...
Intelligent questions to ask would be: "Whose nature is it?"... "Why - when we desire to live forever - are we forced to grow old, get diseased and die?"... "Is my real identity material or spiritual?"... "Am I really my body, my mind, my intelligence, or my soul?"...
Science has completely failed to explain consciousness in empiric terms. There is every reason to believe that it is a non-physical entity which indicates the presence of the soul - a spiritual atomic particle of the supreme person or God... Just as our living bodies produce chemicals, all chemicals in the universe are produced by the universal form of God.
Because our consciousness has been polluted by contact with material nature (especially the lower modes of ignorance fueled by meat-eating and intoxication) it is necessary to purify it by the sublime process of transcendental sound vibration and devotional yoga (or real religion).
Whatever our consciousness - or mentality - is focused on at the time of death will determine our next birth. (Reincarnation can be experienced even within this life by reflecting on the various completely different physical bodies we've had since we were babies - yet we've always identified ourself as the same person...) If we leave this body still in the darkness of ignorance - no better than animal consciousness - then our next births will likely be in lower species. (... Many of those millions of beef cattle were enjoying burgers not long ago...)
One should approach religious or spiritual authorities skeptically and inquire intelligently. There are many cheaters and frauds posing as holy men for material profit. Personally, I am competely satisfied that I found a genuine guru linked to God by disciplic succession and empowered to transmit transcendental knowledge. (Jesus is another universal guru directly connected with God who can elevate his sincere followers, and there have been many others at different times and places...)
Because the Absolute Truth source of everything material and spiritual is ultimately the Supreme Person He reserves the right not to reveal himself to those who remain envious and inimical. He especially gets angry at those who blaspheme or offend His pure representatives - and such rascals may find themselves dwelling in envious snake bodies their next life... People who embrace ("with gusto") ignorant hedonistic philosophies naturally prefer to think that God does not exist - or else they resentfully consider God to be the "ultimate party pooper"... In any case, death will come soon enough, and whatever we did (or didn't do) to reach perfection will be tested. I - and the countless other believers - may be wrong, but what's the great loss if we are? Those who arrogantly flaunt their atheistic convictions, apparently feeling infallible, and who serioiusly offend God - or His pure devotee represetatives - have a lot more to lose (and answer for) if they're wrong... |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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more religious crap
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| Science has completely failed to explain consciousness in empiric terms. There is every reason to believe that it is a non-physical entity which indicates the presence of the soul - a spiritual atomic particle of the supreme person or God... Just as our living bodies produce chemicals, all chemicals in the universe are produced by the universal form of God. |
Science doesnt look for that which doesnt exist.
You are using the very basic(and much mistaken) stand: That which science cannot prove or disprove therefore falls under the realm of god.
The bolded part...so by your reasoning we are each a god? As we produce the chemicals and all chemicals are produced by your god therefore I am your god...bow down before me so I can kick you in the teeth 
A truly fine example of circular reasoning. Each of your pathetic attempts is more laughable than the last!
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| Why - when we desire to live forever - are we forced to grow old, get diseased and die |
To quote Freddy Mercury "who wants to live forever?...when love must die"
I certainly dont want to live forever. Aging and dying is the natural cycle of life...no great plan..shyte happens.
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| Science has completely failed to explain consciousness in empiric terms |
As has religion. No secrets there!
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| Because our consciousness has been polluted by contact with material nature (especially the lower modes of ignorance fueled by meat-eating and intoxication) it is necessary to purify it by the sublime process of transcendental sound vibration and devotional yoga (or real religion). |
Ahh here we go....this is the one true religion bullcrap again. Why is your religion the one true religion? Oh because you're the nutjob who believes it...good on ya! That statement pretty much sums up what is wrong with religious fanatics the world wide......everyone would be so much better off if they hummed and stretched...BUT!!!! ya gotta do it my way 
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| People who embrace ("with gusto") ignorant hedonistic philosophies naturally prefer to think that God does not exist |
People who embrace ("with gusto") ignorant religious philosophies naturally prefer to think that God does exist.
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| In any case, death will come soon enough, and whatever we did (or didn't do) to reach perfection will be tested. I - and the countless other believers - may be wrong, but what's the great loss if we are? |
Fine...then keep your religious propaganda to yourself...I for one am sick and tired of listening to the insanely assinine stupid statements that any dumbass who has found religion has the need to spout out to the world. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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I think most decent people on this forum are beginning to regard you as an irritating "nut-job"and are sick of your hateful, envious spiel...
A much better role-model for sensible human beings, George Harrison, states in the above interview:
Let's face it. If you're going to have to stand up and be counted, I figured, "I would rather be with these guys than with those other guys over there." It's like that. I mean I'd rather be one of the devotees of God than one of the straight, so-called sane or normal people who just don't understand that man is a spiritual being, that he has a soul. |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Whats that Rteacher? Hee haw..hee haw...it sounds like a jackass braying into the wind.
Envious LMFAO thats funny.
Why would I give away my freedom for the shackles of hatefilled religion? |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Grotto wrote: |
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you do understand that religion...even the non conventional kind is complete and utter horse-shiit, yes?
An immature, unintelligent response. If there were nothing to it, it wouldn't exist and dominate the lives of billions of people. OF COURSE there's somethign to it. |
Not immature, quite intelligent and accurate.
#1 Billions of people on the planet are below normal intelligence..it is easy to hoodwink the stupid and weakwilled. All you need to do is tell them something they want to hear.
#2 When you are brainwashed from birth to believe in a 'supreme being' you join a religion...if you have an extra brain cell you take a look around and realise that religion is bunk and then spend years going from religion to religion searching for the one true religion.....after all mom and dad wouldnt have lied to you...would they?
#3 Religion is just a way to control the masses...as it has always been historically. That is just one reason that governments continue to let it exist.
#4 Religion is nothing more than a band aid to allay the fears of death. Oh dont worry son...if you're good you'll go to heaven, if you kill infidels you are rewarded with 20 virgins, you'll be reincarnated, you'll see all your ancestors.....the list goes on.
Religion is bunk...always has been bunk and always will be bunk. Its nothing less than smoke and mirrors but not nearly as entertaining. |
thanks Grotto! I was half trolling...but i find it ridiculous that because something is 'exotic' and asian it is therefore mystical and true. Hari krishna and all other cults that talk to imaginary friends are bunk and as equally moronic in theory as fundamentalist christianity.
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Who created your brain? ... Is it just the result of random collisions of sub-atomic particles?.. |
Have you ever picked up a biology book in your life? the 'brain' is not an entity that was created out of the blue...plus the chemicals of the brain that have to do with consciosness, memory, feelings, and even near death experiences have been explained by neuro-biology.
plus even if they havent you are following the same dogma that the backwater anti-evolution hicks are: not being able to prove something, means that MY theory is therefore true. because we can't explain something in scientific terms does not therefore mean that we are relegated to believing myths, stories, and rules of conduct from centuries ago. it makes absolutely no correlation. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Scientific, specifically neuro-biological, advances in understanding different mechanisms and functions of the human brain has nothing to do with the question of how the brain was created by chance. Evolutionary theory has never demonstrated that life came from matter. Everywhere we look, we see that life is coming from life...
The body, including the brain, is like an extremely sophisticated machine. If there is no spirit-soul, and life can be created by combining chemicals, then scientists should be able to revive a dead body by adding the right mix of chemicals. They have yet to come close, but to get grant money they'll typically bluff and say they are right on the verge of creating life. (Post-dated checks... )
Vedic spiritual science is admittedly ancient, but the soul - unlike matter which is always in flux - never changes. To me - and to many people frankly a lot more intelligent than me - the Vedic version of the origin of life makes more sense. At one point, the supreme conscious being thought "I shall become many" and glanced at matter (a manifestation of his inferior energy) impregnating it with seeds of life (minute separated expansions of his spiritual energy.) Wherever and whenever material conditions are right life will appear and the body will grow and reproduce, etc. Chemicals in the body are simply the environment for the living force - the soul - to act through. When it's time for the soul to move on (usually fixed by a pre-determined number of breaths...) it exits the body (suspended in life airs) through one of the nine gates, and the body becomes just a bunch of dead chemicals... Scientists can never revive it biochemically (unless they add another conscious living person to the mix...) An empowered spiritual master like Jesus, however, could summon the spirit- soul back to the body...
Material science has made many wonderful advances, but it will never replace God by creating life. I realize that many intelligent people (at least by material estimation) choose to think otherwise, but I place ultimate faith in God and guru... |
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