Hare Krishna

[Deleted member 51]

Yes, as someone said above it's not clear how strictly Harrison adhered to the ISKCON precepts. I don't think he ever had a teacher as such in the faith, so he more or less decided for himself what to do and what not to (he went vegetarian, for instance, and I believe he gave a lot to charity).

George Harrison became such a charitable, kind person after he was introduced to Hare Krishna. I always thought he was a good person, but after watching The Concert for Bangladesh (three times in a row at the movies, lol! ) and reading about how he and the performers donated 100% to Bangladesh but were defrauded by the Red Cross, I was pretty impressed. Harrison was so angry with his manager for how he botched the donation that George even stopped producing for that label.

His conflict with Eric Clapton when Clapton stole the woman he loved from him made for some great music and may have motivated Harrison to seek spiritual peace.

 

[Zertel]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being in a relaxed, accepting state. The problem is when those around a person encourage the state in order to impose their opinions or selfish motives or some sort of control over the person.

And yet the good feeling/energy and openness is amplified by having others around sharing in the same good vibes and peaceful relaxation.

A longtime contributor to scn blogs who did the original OT8 on the Freewinds became a Buddhist after he left scn. He said that he eventually could do some mediation techniques for hours at a time. He often mentioned references from Milton's Paradise Lost and also dove into Madame Blavatsky's arcane and difficult to read writings about theosophy and some other occult practices while investigating the occult roots and aspects of scn so maybe the meditation improved his ability to focus and concentrate. He speculated that in ancient times when the world was "quieter" some monks may have actually been able to levitate but in the noisy world of today it would be difficult or impossible.

A story he related on Rathbun's blog a few years ago was that at one time he was concerned about Hubbard's claim that he had once been the Buddha and asked his teacher if he should make some type of public proclamation refuting Hubbard's claim. His teacher replied, "There have been a thousand of these. Why bother?" lol

 

[Cat's Squirrel]

George Harrison became such a charitable, kind person after he was introduced to Hare Krishna. I always thought he was a good person, but after watching The Concert for Bangladesh (three times in a row at the movies, lol! ) and reading about how he and the performers donated 100% to Bangladesh but were defrauded by the Red Cross, I was pretty impressed. Harrison was so angry with his manager for how he botched the donation that George even stopped producing for that label.

His conflict with Eric Clapton when Clapton stole the woman he loved from him made for some great music and may have motivated Harrison to seek spiritual peace.

Yes, thanks for reminding me about the concert for Bangladesh. It was in many ways the forerunner of "Live Aid". Ravi Shankar played sitar on it and they were close friends (with George learning sitar himself).

I used to have a copy of the album he made after Patti left him for Eric Clapton, "Dark Horse". Has to be said it isn't one of his best although it does have a good New Year song on it, "Ding Dong".

He recorded it when his voice hadn't recovered from laryngitis (and you can hear it in his singing), but not only that, he did a bitter cover of the Everley Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" about the breakup of his marriage. It was clearly a low point in his life.

His friendship with Clapton eventually recovered enough that Eric went to George's wedding to his second wife Olivia in 1978. Shame that he never managed to quit smoking, for that was the probable cause of the cancer that eventually killed him.

 

[The_Fixer]

As an aside someone once posted an article to the effect of "What are we doing to ourselves with meditation?" It suggested that taking some forms of meditation to the extreme could put one in a form of self hypnosis or other states of mind with possible negative effects. That was one of the few negative commentaries I've read about meditation and it might also apply to chanting. Michael, the ex Hare Krishna, makes some mention of people in his group saying how happy and wonderful they felt when to his observation that wasn't the case and they were easily thrown off track.

Anything taken to extremes does not bode well for the individual.

 

[The_Fixer]

A longtime contributor to scn blogs who did the original OT8 on the Freewinds became a Buddhist after he left scn. He said that he eventually could do some mediation techniques for hours at a time. He often mentioned references from Milton's Paradise Lost and also dove into Madame Blavatsky's arcane and difficult to read writings about theosophy and other occult practices while investigating the occult roots and aspects of scn so maybe the meditation improved his ability to focus and concentrate. He speculated that in ancient times when the world was "quieter" some monks may have actually been able to levitate but in the noisy world of today it would be difficult or impossible.

A story he related on Rathbun's blog a few years ago was that he was concerned about Hubbard's claim that he had once been the Buddha and asked his teacher if he should make some type of public proclamation refuting Hubbard's claim. His teacher replied, "There have been a thousand of these. Why bother?" lol

My vague memories of reading (I think) "Hymn of Asia" by Hubbard alluded to himself being Mettaya seemed to have a very Buddhist flavour.

 

[Deleted member 51]

Yes, thanks for reminding me about the concert for Bangladesh. It was in many ways the forerunner of "Live Aid". Ravi Shankar played sitar on it and they were close friends (with George learning sitar himself).

I used to have a copy of the album he made after Patti left him for Eric Clapton, "Dark Horse". Has to be said it isn't one of his best although it does have a good New Year song on it, "Ding Dong".

He recorded it when his voice hadn't recovered from laryngitis (and you can hear it in his singing), but not only that, he did a bitter cover of the Everley Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" about the breakup of his marriage. It was clearly a low point in his life.

His friendship with Clapton eventually recovered enough that Eric went to George's wedding to his second wife Olivia in 1978. Shame that he never managed to quit smoking, for that was the probable cause of the cancer that eventually killed him.

Thank you so much for all that detail! George Harrison was so interesting in so many ways. Since I’ve been a big fan of both Harrison and Clapton, I’m glad to hear they eventually became friends again.

Patti, yeh that was her name. Pattie Boyd. Apparently it was Harrison who was cheating when she left him, but she left Clapton, too.

IMO, George was never the solo artist or even in the same ballpark as a musician as Clapton, but he had a lot of heart. Clapton could write blues, jazz or rock with ease, and played guitar far better.

I liked the song, Dark Horse a lot. It’s about feeling alone on your personal life course and hit a chord with me as a teen. It was unique in its way and completely original- many of George Harrison’s songs were either greatly inspired or just eh. He didn’t tend to imitate, though, and poured his self into his music.

 

[marra]

Thank you so much for all that detail! George Harrison was so interesting in so many ways. Since I’ve been a big fan of both Harrison and Clapton, I’m glad to hear they eventually became friends again.

Patti, yeh that was her name. Pattie LaBelle. Apparently it was Harrison who was cheating when she left him, but she left Clapton, too.

IMO, George was never the solo artist or even in the same ballpark as a musician as Clapton, but he had a lot of heart. Clapton could write blues, jazz or rock with ease, and played guitar far better.

I liked the song, Dark Horse a lot. It’s about feeling alone on your personal life course and hit a chord with me as a teen. It was unique in its way and completely original- many of George Harrison’s songs were either greatly inspired or just eh. He didn’t tend to imitate, though, and poured his self into his music.

Sorry to have to correct you Sheila but Patti was Patti Boyd. She was a model/actress who played the part of a schoolgirl on a train in the Beatles' first film "A Hard Days Night". Her sister Jenny married Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac and was in the process of breaking up with him when they recorded the album Rumours.

 

[Deleted member 51]

Sorry to have to correct you Sheila but Patti was Patti Boyd. She was a model/actress who played the part of a schoolgirl on a train in the Beatles' first film "A Hard Days Night". Her sister Jenny married Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac and was in the process of breaking up with him when they recorded the album Rumours.

Thanks. I was about to fix that later when I realized my mistake, but got caught up in other threads. Fixed.

 

[Zertel]

My vague memories of reading (I think) "Hymn of Asia" by Hubbard alluded to himself being Mettaya seemed to have a very Buddhist flavour.

My memories are also vague. I'm not sure if Hubbard said or implied he was once "the" Buddha or that he would return as "a" Buddha, a successor to the original Buddha. My guess is the latter. He was prone to a bit of exaggeration and story telling. (joke) I think he said he once drove an atomic powered race car somewhere.

from wiki:

Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali) is regarded as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, the being is referred to as Ajita.

According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha).[2][3] The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya refers to a time in the future when the dharma will have been forgotten by most on the terrestrial world.

Maitreya has also been employed in a millenarian role by many non-Buddhist religions in the past, such as Theosophy, the White Lotus, as well as by modern new religious movements, such as Yiguandao

Maitreya - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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also from wiki:

Eschatology /ˌɛskəˈtɒlədʒi/ (listen) is a part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as "the end of the world" or "end times".[1]

ETA: I vaguely recall Hubbard referring to the Buddha as just a "keyed out Clear" or something like that. It's somewhere in the "scripture". (still joking)