George Harrison: Living in the Material World Page #8

But it's one thing

reading about it and

the other thing of

how do you do it?

So I got myself to the point where,

"OK, I need a mantra."

You know, where do you go?

You know, do you go to Harrods

and get a mantra?

But then David Wynn showed me

this picture and said,

"Oh, he's coming to do a lecture

at the Hilton.

"He's called Maharishi."

You give each person a sound,

don't you? Yes.

Is that the same sound

that you give to each person?

No. Each person gets different.

How many sounds are there?

Oh, there are lots of them. I mean,

hundreds or thousands or...?

We could say thousands.

And when a person has been given

their own particular sound,

how do they use it?

I mean, when they're meditating,

how do they use the sound

you've given them.

Why is that sound

useful to them?

Ah!

See, every man has his own

impulse of individuality, yes?

Some man goes by and you feel

attracted towards him.

Other man goes and you feel

repulsed. Something exchanged

in the rhythm of the individual.

Like, everyone has his own rhythm.

Now, the rhythm of a sound

which will resonate

to the existing rhythm

of the individual.

And that will be the sound

suitable to him. Got it.

So that you try to find,

give the person the sound

that fits in with the rhythm of their

own lives and being? Right.

We were at Maharishi's

meditation camp

when the news came through

about Brian.

And it was horrifying,

because we'd experienced loss,

but with Brian dying,

it was like one of us dying.

Uh, and you can kind of come

to terms with your parent dying,

because you know

they'll probably die before you.

But Brian, it was, "Woah!"

He was such a big

part of the equation.

People used to call him

"the fifth Beatle".

So it was like,

"Oh, my God, now we're on our own."

It was very strange for it

to happen at that precise moment.

We'd just got involved

with this meditation.

You know, I mean,

that may not sound like a big deal,

but it actually was. It was...

It's a big change in your life

when, you know, when you start

making the journey inward.

And for Brian to, like,

kick the bucket that particular day,

it was pretty far out.

Is the mantra something you use

to get back to the subject

if you find earthly

or irrelevant thoughts intruding?

Yes, sort of.

Or is it more than that?

You know, you just sort of sit there

and you let your mind go,

whatever it's going, no matter

what you're thinking about.

Just let it go. Then you just

introduce the mantra or vibration

just to take over from a thought.

You don't will it

or use your willpower.

If you find yourself thinking

then the moment you realise you've

been thinking about things again,

then you replace that thought

with the mantra again.

Sometimes you can go on

and you find that you haven't

even had the mantra in your mind.

There's just been a complete blank.

But when you reach that point,

because it's beyond all experience,

then it's down there

and that level is timeless,

spaceless, so you can be there

for five minutes and come out.

You don't know

how long you've been there.

Then the aim, as opposed to sitting

and thinking, or anything

is to reach a part of the sense

where you have no thoughts?

Without going out of my door

I can know all things on Earth

Without looking out of my window

I could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels

The less one knows

The less one really knows.

The word, for instance,

the word "God", I mean has...

Does it mean something different

to you now

than it did before the Maharishi?

It could be.

It means all sorts of things to me.

It means... I mean, the first

concept of a man in the sky,

well, I kicked that one

a few years ago.

But I've got back to that now,

because it's a man in the sky

as well, if you like.

It's just everything.

The whole thing that...

It's just everything.

Every aspect of creation

is part of God.

I think that perhaps we should

try and get it a little clearer

what we're talking about.

If we're talking about

a mystical religious belief,

which I think that George is,

but are we really

talking about mysticism

or are we talking about a technique

of improving yourself

which is totally

scientific and rational?

You can take it either way.

You can take it either way.

This is because

it is a perceptual method.

If a man has got a great conceptual

apparatus and he meditates,

he will begin to

understand the nature of a

conceptual apparatus and

if he's wrong about it,

he'll begin to understand

where he's wrong about it.

If he's got no

conceptual apparatus, he

simply perceives an

abstract experience.

Now, when he's had

an abstract experience,

he may wish then to give

himself explanations of it.

But it's primarily

a perceptual method.

And so what this offers

is an experience? Yes.

Why should this abstract

experience be any

more valuable than any

other experiences?

George talks about

a bliss experience.

You can have a bliss experience

by drinking a bottle of whisky.

Speak for yourself.

Now, why is a bliss experience...

You'd have a non-bliss experience

the next morning.

..more valuable than

anybody else's experience?

Or are we talking

about a universe

which has some hidden laws

and a hidden creator, who manifests

himself only to people like

Mr Harrison and the Maharishi,

when they get into

a state of trance?

That's what I want to know.

Well, let's face it.

These laws that you say -

hidden laws - they are hidden.

But they're only hidden

by our own ignorance.

And the word mysticism

is just being arrived at

through people's ignorance.

There's nothing mystical about it,

only that you're ignorant

of what that entails.

Arrive without travelling

See all without looking

Do all without doing.

He wanted to be a spiritual being,

more than anything,

but he couldn't, because

he had to deal with this life.

So he could be loving, because

that was really his true nature,

and sweet and kind and gentle.

But then the anger came

from the frustration

that he had...

when you glimpse something

that you understand,

but you can't be there,

because there's something earthly

holding you back.

And he was very aware of that.

What were the earthly things

that pulled on him the most?

Well, the other three Beatles

and what they were creating

and were continuing to create...

this huge empire, Apple.

I think he felt that he'd found

something that he totally understood

and wanted to just be there.

Be in it. He became

totally absorbed with meditation.

"Dear Mum,

Thanks for your letter last week

"and if it's any comfort to you,

don't worry about me

"or don't think

anything negative about

Maharishi, because

he's not phoney.

"It's only the bullshit that's

written about him that's phoney.

He's not taking

any of our money.

"All he's doing is teaching us

how to contact God

"and as God isn't divided

into different sects,

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