The Beatle Who Changed the Most
“People always say I’m the Beatle who changed the most,” George Harrison once reflected, “but really, that’s what life is about.” He was not speaking of fame, money, or even music, but of transformation — the inner kind. Harrison believed that the body was only a “suit,” something the soul wears for a short time before moving on. When he died on November 29, 2001, at the age of 58, he left behind not only one of the greatest musical legacies of all time, but also a wealth of spiritual wisdom that has grown more relevant with each passing year.
A Troubled World, A Long View
Harrison often spoke candidly about the world’s condition. He was saddened by greed, pollution, and destruction of nature. “The planet is in the control of mad people,” he once said with sorrow. And yet, his view was not hopeless. He leaned on a long-term philosophy shaped by faith: All Things Must Pass. Even in the face of atomic bombs or environmental ruin, he reminded us that the essence of the soul could not be destroyed. The body might fail, but the spirit endures.
India and the Turning Point
In 1968, George traveled with the Beatles to Northern India to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. For George, this was more than a fashionable retreat; it was a homecoming to truths he had always sought. He immersed himself in Indian music, yoga, and philosophy, convinced that the purpose of life was to awaken higher consciousness. Meditation, he explained, was not a fad but a discipline to reach a state “beyond the senses, beyond intellect.”
It was in India that George encountered the writings of Swami Vivekananda, whose message resonated deeply: it is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite, and true faith must come through direct perception. “At last,” George said, “I found someone who made sense.” From then on, he pursued meditation and spiritual study as diligently as he pursued music.
Music as a Spiritual Path
For Harrison, sound itself was sacred. He described meditation as a way of transcending through sound, where a mantra could bring harmony to mind, body, and spirit. “Every atom,” he said, “contains unity.” To him, the role of music was not only entertainment but a bridge to the divine — a way to feel what words could not capture. His devotion to Indian instruments like the sitar, and songs such as Within You Without You and My Sweet Lord, reflect that lifelong search.
Death as a Passing Suit
George often described death not as an ending but as a transition. Drawing on Eastern philosophy, he saw the body as clothing for the soul, something that eventually falls away while the true self continues in other forms. He spoke of the three bodies — physical, astral, and causal — and insisted that when the physical one dies, the soul remains. For him, karma was not a theory but a law as natural as gravity: what we sow, we reap.
The Calm Beneath the Ocean
His metaphor for meditation was the ocean: though the surface is always changing, the depths remain still. To live in awareness was to anchor oneself at the bottom, steady in the midst of life’s storms. Even when fame tempted him to remain a “pop star forever,” George admitted he could just as easily choose to be a gardener. What mattered was not the role but the consciousness behind it.
The Enduring Voice of the Quiet Beatle
George Harrison may have been called the “Quiet Beatle,” but his words continue to speak loudly. He warned of greed, championed nature, and sought God not in rituals but in direct experience. His life was a journey of constant change — not toward celebrity, but toward truth.
And perhaps his most enduring lesson is the simplest: “All things must pass.” For George, this was not despair, but hope — that beyond the noise of the world lies something eternal, untouched, waiting for each of us to discover.