Something Forever

(In George We Trust)

- Chapter 1 Part 1/5 -

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(From Beatles fanhood to self-realization)

  Memories and reflections of a devout Beatle fan, touched by the foot of the
great Vaishnava sage
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Dedicated to all Beatles fans worldwide, my God siblings and my friends in George.

--A story in excerpts and several chapters--




The Mimamsa philosophy teaches us that for someone who doesn't worship the good feet of one who reflects the pure knowledge, all his learning isn't of great use to him.

Forever is living in the world of joy, who bows to this glorious foot, who lives in the flower-like  hearts of his believers.

He knows no sorrow, who serves the blessed foot, and who is free from anger, greed, hatred, jealousy and doubt!

Also, I bow before that Vartma-Pradarsani guru of mine, Hari Georgeson, the spiritual guide of my heart, my idol since 1967. The guardian of pure praise & positive vibration-music!

This hero and spiritual rebel of my little story has advanced in such an incredible way into my heart and all our lives, that it already resembles a very big mystery, which I succumbed to.

I only can fold my hands wondering and thankfully, and can say honestly, I bow in awe before the Beatle of the people, the wonderful lead guitarist of the Beatles, the inventor of the Orient-Occident-to-sitar sounds, the mystical magic gardener of Friar Park, the spiritualist and the bhakti-yogi, and the legend ... of the reincarnated cloud-nine-knight ...

Om Sir George Sri Hari's Son,
Om Hari Om,
yes my sweet George,
you are realy Something forever !





This is the story of a young beatnik, who is magically enchanted by the sounds of the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. His mentor will be  the philosopher-Beatle George Harrison, who came to fulfillment in Hindu mystic worlds, who  understood himeslf as a reincarnated soul and who does obeisances to the Indian god of love Sri Krishna!

Fascinated by so much luxuriant exoticism, and  magically drawn to experience the mysteries and magic mantras, our protagonist gets on his way to fathom it all, to sense it, to seek it out in this wonderful life.

Rough outlined, this the story, the story of a seeker trying to find the meaning of life.

A somewhat unusual, bizarre, slightly picturesque-looking trip on the nail board of Dharma into his personal Nirvana.







The journey is the destination

What ever gets you through the day, its ok, it's your way!

Inspired by the dreams, thoughts and visions that I found in the music of the Beatles, I headed straight to the shores of George Harrison. At that time I found a fresh new approach to different musical worlds, by the wonderfully outstanding song "Within You Without You" from Sgt. Pepper. At that time, 1967, the stunningly splendid album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was released by the Beatles, and the world of music had to open itself to a completely new sound the Beatles had created. A sound, yet so beyond good old Rock & Roll, like ringing in, a new dawn of music history. A magical sound that was so mysteriously different than anything we knew until then.

When I consider that I was only 15 in 1967, and the sound of the Beatles would accompany me through all of my youth, I only can speak of grace, because these new worlds of music touched me soul, and I formed the idea that the Beatles with their music taught an idea of the spiritual divine in me and in all beings, yes and i do have that feeling nowerdays still.

Today I also know that for many young people on the planet Earth, the music of the Beatles meant a kind of liberation from the rigid rules of there parent's generation. About the church dogma with all its excesses, we had no open mind, and we considered the inverted rules and principles as overconfident and anachronistic, and we missed real devotion to god.

Very different were the idols of our youth, they had the vibrations in their luggage, for which we longed, in their music they expressed the love we were looking for and were feeling.




(Beatles "Help",
at YouTube )





Yes, I may say, for me and a lot of kids at that time, the Beatles were a kind of substitute for religion. Just as the adults found their religion in the church, in the German Mark and prosperity, we teenagers then found deep satisfaction in the message of the Beatles and felt similar like the disciples of Jesus might have experienced, or like students of a God-sent Master have felt, namely to see and to feel the presence in your neighbour, feel charity and soulfull sisterhood..

With such emotions, without being able to define them right, we grappled in our puberty that time.

A powerful sense of solidarity with the sound of the Fab Four fulfilled us. So as well the disciples of the enlightened Jesus of Nazareth might have listened to his words, as we listened to the sounds of freedom and love in the songs of the Beatles back then.




The spirit that gives life to all things is love!

All you need is love, was the motto of summer 1967, it was the time of flower shirts and wire-rimmed glasses, the time of new hairstyles, of the beard and Afghani scin coats, yes, we were in flower-power mood, and our music was inspired by Sgt. Pepper. In the summer of love we all were pervaded by pure feelings of love and romance.

The music that accompanied us was a kind of love drug casted in a mould. A magical soma thunder from the cup of history, as a sign of hope for the lost and suffering souls of this world until doomsday. Everything was like a giant puzzle, in which our own destiny had its place, too, but we could not detect it yet.

Faith and trust was what we needed, and that's exactly what we had, with each new record that confidence grew further more and more. Yes, this trust was somehow religious in nature and helped us enormously to move forward on our own way.

My childhood friend Ron was so exuberantly motivated by the music that he created one 'room of the inner light' in the attic of his parent home, and thus helped us travelling to deeper musical worlds of the inner light. We had found a drug that helped us seeing the world more as friendly and magical, and which still was legal to purchase from the music dealer. Wow, I thought back then, so cool history can be.

In June 67, George Harrison and Paul McCartney together with their wives visit a concert by Jimmy Hendrix in the Saville Theatre in London. Jimmy Hendrix begins his presentation with a short version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul and George are impressed.





(Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band" at YouTube)






On 25 June the global TV program "Our World" is broadcasted, the Beatles participating with their contribution directly from the Abbey Road Studios, London. Countries on all five continents are represented live. 400 million people worldwide are watchingthis show on TV. That the Beatles would appear, has only got around just before the broadcast date. In the song "All You Need Is Love" there are some musical quotes from the musical "La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem), the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by Johann Sebastian Bach, from the songs "Greensleeves", "In The Mood" and "She Loves You". The whole creme de la creme of modern pop music history is represented at this live performance, from the Stones to The Who, the Hollies with Graham Nash, Eric Clapton, M. Faithfull and Pattie Harrison, and many more hippies.

I was quite nervous then, sitting in front of the telly, and, like the other 400 million people, was far far excited, very affected and felt very attracted, and tears of emotion ran down my cheeks. I believe that this former television appearance was the landmark moment for me.

Here it had descended upon me, all I needed was love, love for all creatures around me, not just the love for my girlfriend was meant, no, it was about the universal love. The Beatles dipped in the world again, in a young fresh and good thought of love... I remember it was a hot Sunday afternoon in July at that time, just before a summer storm I still went down in the forest, it smelled of moss, pine trees and summer thunderstorms, of many rich summer scents, and I think I was in a state of enlightenment because I took everything around me as a true positive background music. I tried to imitate or to buzz the melody, and was happy and felt satisfied with All You Need Is Love, deep inside me, and thought, people would probably have felt like this after the sermon on the mount.





(Beatles "All You Need Is Love" at YouTube)






This feeling was like the magic front court of love, the first pure moment where I, well, learned to transcend the ego, because this moment was too sensitive, he was essentially intoxication-like and deeply gratifying. In my current opinion, that moment of rapture is like soma for the soul, a drug that can get very deep feelings into the heart, and it makes us feel that we are capable of sensing something magical, mystical, wonderful as a person. I believe today, that the contingent being does a life long search for the feeling of love and harmony, that it felt and sensed in his youth. This feeling was like a powerful spell, feeling brotherly love is such a powerful impression that the creature is running all through his life as if driven, looking for this unique soma, this drug causing liberation of suffering and making happy, deep down inside us, where only we ourselves thought to know about.

In July of that year, George Harrison visited San Francisco and the Haight Ashbury Hippie, moved by the people with his guitar and got an impression of the hippie-esque society of that time. A day later, he attended a concert by Ravi Shankar and deepened his friendship with the sitar master, who became his spiritual friend and musical mentor from now on. On August 24th, the Beatles first visit a lecture by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the London Hilton on transcendental meditation. John and George are impressed. The next day the Beatles travel with their wives for a weekend seminar of the Maharishi to Bangor, Wales. A day later, the Beatles inform the international media about the fact that they immediately will stop taking any drugs and have become completely convinced followers of the Vedic Indian healing discipline.



The guide through the night



1967 was the year of change in many ways, not only in music, although Sgt. Pepper already was a turning point in musical history.

In the same year Sir George advocated the path of meditation and creative co-existence, and yes, he was ahead all of us, and recognized the power of universal love, of being soul-inspired!

This ancient, eternally true knowledge, which is culminating in all cultures and religions, especially in Vedic knowledge, had grown up in the song "Within You Without You" to the bloom of his time . On the album Sgt. Pepper this perspective was clearly and subtly woven into the new sitar sound, thus a good example of a work of high school philosophy, nonetheless dressed in timely music.




(Beatles "Within You Without You"
at YouTube)





During a visit by Klaus Voormann at the Harrisons in those years (Klaus is an old childhood friend from Hamburg) in Kinfauns / Escher, the seed of knowledge already started, still invisible for all of us, to mature in the essence of George Harrison. Klaus Voormann reported, Sir George pointed him to a small Krishna figure by the fireplace of his house, and continues to conclude in his nice book, "Why do n't you play Imagine on the white piano, John ....

"For George it seemed to be very important to have more and more symbols of Indian culture around. He was literally going up in this culture and lifestyle. George had found his way. Whenever I was together with George in the following years, I felt the increase of spiritual power that anyone who was near him could benefit from. Sir George was amidst his great search to find out about the meaning of life, and to find out who you really are, why you're here and where we come from. On the mantelpiece there was a small, ornate oriental ceiling with candles, incense, small paintings and statues from the Indian pantheon ....... This was Sir George's work. I saw this here for the first time, but in the next few decades wherever he was. Whether in the hotel or in one of his estates, Sir George always had his little, flower-decorated altar with him. On every trip, he stowed away the utensils with the luggage. Even if he was away for only one night, he always built the altar everywhere and anywhere." - Klaus Voormann, "Why don't you play Imagine on the white piano, John"

At this quoted post by Klaus Voormann "Memories of 1966/67," in which Klaus Voormann calls his childhood friend George a very wise man and finds that he was a very spiritual man, we see what a good influence went out of this great personality!

Sir George, who always put his light under a bushel, gave more space to the great vision instead of playing himself in the foreground, like his old childhood friend Erich Clapstuhl noted once, though in fact, by his good guitar play, his influence to the music of the Beatles was enormous!

With his spiritual power and strength he drew the chariot of the Beatles in new dimensions of love. More and more he became the little guru in the shadow of the big band. Their spiritual bread man, as one might say. At the same time Sir George also became a good friend and student of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar ...... and my guide through the night!





(Beatles "Love You To" at YouTube)






The little Guru


By their newly acquired spiritual mutation, the Beatles became the artistic guiding star of global youth.

Each new impulse and movement of the Beatles in the musical field was received by the fans with great applause and great readiness.

Sir George then brought to hearing the thoughtful words of the great sage Rabindranath Tagore.....

"God respects me when I'm working for him in a selfless way, but he loves me when I sing to him and praise him."

Yes, the living breath of God in the rhythm of things, this was what the Beatles desired.

From his many experiences with the newly learned mantra meditation, Sir George knew that the voice of the soul could include an infinite number of tones, and he would be in a position to grant voice and expression to his soul.

"Let My Spirit Sing For You" or "Dear One", which appeared on later albums, are giving sufficient explanation for us in poetic spiritual poetry later.




Here comes the sun


Just as the goldsmith purifies the raw silver, by the purifying fire the wise gradually is cleaning himself, one to the other, from all impurities and defects, from all his worries and fears.

To bless the world with a divine message, Sir George went out, and he seemed to be blessed for this great task. Yes, these fabulous Beatle Boys seemed to shape the course of our love and of our time, as it appeared to us then. Henceforth, the lyrics were analyzed by us fans for secret messages and signs, suddenly all seemed to be possible. We hoped having reached a better world with the Beatles, a world that was peaceful and not belligerent. Yes, we felt the quantum leap of our time looming, because we wanted to change the world, too, or at least ourselves first of all.

Here comes the sun of enlightenment, of course we understood only intuitively, that this very change we were experiencing by the music of the Beatles had nothing to do with violent struggle to effect or to create changes, no, it was the change in seeing and understanding. By his friend and mentor Ravi Shankar, Sir George was not only told about the innermost secrets of sitar playing, but by him he understood the mystique of the ancient Hindu doctrine of dharma and karma, which says

"The body is just a vessel, but it serves the divine as an apartment."




Magical Mystery Tour


The great magical mystery tour is coming to take you away ha ha.

And truly, on Sep 11th, 67, the Beatles put another one, as we beautifully say today. They surprised the British public on an holiday, in prime time, with their unique work of modern hippieesque cinema art. The magical mystery tour should represent the state of mind of the Beatles in their own humorous way, and should spread a good amount of good mood, I guess!

This mysterious Beatles-Trip offers much more than it seems at first glance. The idea of a colorful bus was copied by the Beatles from Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and its Merry Pranksters. Accompanied by a camera crew, they drove at random through England's West Country. Unfortunately, the resulting film is dismissed als self-centered nonsense or as narcissistic by many critics.

Even Paul McCartney confessed in an interview during the filming about the meaning of the strip without a hint of irony, "it's a mystery to me". Probably the expectations of many viewers were much too large, because its meaning was precisely the fact that it made no sense, no action had straightforward. Like an LSD trip, it was an adventure, without a clearly defined beginning and ending. Who can tell beforehand what he finds, and whether what he has found will be valuable, and whether it will last. ?

Whatever one may think of the image transformations, Paul's theme song amazes by dynamic and appears inviting - while the film rather appears easily, and sometimes a bit elitistic. One could say, a magic potpourri of musically confluencing ideas, sounds and acting, stirred, not shaken in the boiler of Druid sound masters, the modern Schubert's of our time.





("Magical Mystery Tour" at YouTube)





Once again the Fab Four revolutionized current affairs by entering new areas, with the film as such, and by the manner in which they knew to tell her life.

On this film, spirits of generations divided, for and against went through the middle of all families, classes and groups, some said that would be the end of their career and the Beatles at all, the others were just thrilled and delighted. And so, as they revolutionized popular pop music with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club and showed a new road to fresh spirituality, by this rather wacky movie they led the fan base into new visual worlds yet, full of comedy and slapstick and an eye for the abstract, an orgasmic dream of musical LSD and flying dwarfs.

The film can't be described yet by so many words, one simply must have seen it, then one knew whether you are still a Beatles fan or felt, oops, this was too turned off now, what do the Fab Four trying to tell me and the world about?

Yes, you should know that here the action restarts in earnest, this was the said real quantum leap into the new age, and who wanted to enter this train had to, like the Knights of the Round Table, put a toast on the Fab Four and had to acknowledge and had to be ready to follow into these new worlds of music, till death do us part, and at best beyond that!

Yes, back then were the lines drawn so hard, between Beatles fans and the rest of the music world, that had quite a concentrated strong positive vibration quality. Such as the Beatles and the Stones fans appeared to be two separate races, one could compare them with the aftermath of the Pandavas and Kauravas in the old Indian national epic Mahabharata.

This all took place in 1967 so, in advance of a major social revolution evolution. Here, on the one hand, those who break up into new dimensions, who recognized the meaning and purpose of the time, who wanted to form the new man, who taught to recognize God in the neighbour, to learn and to love, thus representing the true holy humanity, as it was already known in antiquity by Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Hermes, Moses, Orpheus and Pythagoras, Plato, Lao Tse, Jesus and Krishna Chaitanya, with all its strength and light, with all its transcendent knowledge, with the church fathers, the sages, bhaktas and the theosophists. On the other hand, the apocalyptic horsemen of the Stones and heavy metal universe, the dancers on the volcano, the seducer to full consumption, where power is cool and mammon's all that matters. For thoes, the Beatles' music was too soft, too positive, too girly too incomprehensible and, above all, too spiritual and religious.


    


Continue reading at your own risk ....... The author might differ from traditional teachings and media opinions. The responsibility and the possible impact on your current life style that perhaps might be affected positively **by reading this text**, you will have to take against yourself and the world!









From Beatles fanhood to self-realization



"George himself is no mystery. But the mystery inside George is immense. It's watching him uncover it all little by little that's so damn interesting." (John Lennon)






harifan


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