Editing George Harrison (section)

===Hinduism===
[[File:George Harrison Vrindavan.jpg|thumb|alt=Harrison with two Hare Krishna devotees, 1996|Harrison, with [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness|Hare Krishna]] devotees Shyamasundar Das and [[Mukunda Goswami]], in [[Vrindavan]], India, in 1996]]
By the mid-1960s, Harrison had become an admirer of [[Culture of India|Indian culture]] and mysticism, introducing it to the other Beatles.{{sfn|Schaffner|1980|pp=77–78}} During the filming of ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]'' in the Bahamas, they met the founder of [[Sivananda Yoga]], [[Vishnudevananda Saraswati|Swami Vishnu-devananda]], who gave each of them a signed copy of his book, ''[[The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga]]'' (1960).{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=173}} Between the end of the last Beatles tour in 1966 and the beginning of the ''Sgt Pepper'' recording sessions, he made a pilgrimage to India with his first wife, [[Pattie Boyd]]; there, he studied sitar with Ravi Shankar, met several [[guru]]s, and visited various holy places.{{sfn|Doggett|2009|p=33}} In 1968, [[The Beatles in India|he travelled with the other Beatles]] to [[Rishikesh]] in northern India to study meditation with [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]].{{sfn|Doggett|2009|p=33}}{{refn|group=nb|Harrison credited English sculptor [[David Wynne (sculptor)|David Wynne]] as the person who first recommended the Mararishi as a "remarkable" yogi, after which the Beatles attended a lecture he gave in London in August 1967.{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=260}}}}

Harrison's experiences with LSD in the mid-1960s served as a catalyst for his early pursuance of Hinduism. In a 1977 interview, George recalled:

{{Blockquote|For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realized a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music.{{sfn|Glazer|1977|p=41}}}}

However, Harrison stopped using LSD after a disenchanting experience in San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood. He recounted in ''The Beatles Anthology'':

{{Blockquote|That was the turning point for me – that's when I went right off the whole drug cult and stopped taking the dreaded lysergic acid. I had some in a little bottle – it was liquid. I put it under a microscope, and it looked like bits of old rope. I thought that I couldn't put that into my brain any more.{{sfn|The Beatles|2000}}}}

After being given various religious texts by Shankar in 1966, he remained a lifelong advocate of the teachings of [[Swami Vivekananda]] and [[Paramahansa Yogananda]] – yogis and authors, respectively, of ''[[Raja Yoga (book)|Raja Yoga]]'' (1896) and ''[[Autobiography of a Yogi]]'' (1946).<ref>{{harvnb|Greene|2006|pp=68–73}}; {{harvnb|Tillery|2011|pp=56–58}}.</ref> In mid-1969, he produced the single "[[Hare Krishna Mantra (song)|Hare Krishna Mantra]]", performed by members of the London [[Radha Krishna Temple]].{{sfn|Partridge|2004|p=153}} Having also helped the Temple devotees become established in Britain, Harrison then met their leader, [[A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]], whom he described as "my friend ... my master" and "a perfect example of everything he preached".<ref>{{harvnb|Clayson|2003|pp=267–70}}; {{harvnb|Cremo|1997|pp=26–27}}.</ref> Harrison embraced the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness|Hare Krishna tradition]], particularly ''[[Japa|japa-yoga]]'' chanting with beads, and became a lifelong devotee.{{sfn|Partridge|2004|p=153}} In 1972 he donated his [[Letchmore Heath]] mansion north of London to the devotees. It was later converted to a temple and renamed [[Bhaktivedanta Manor]].<ref>{{harvnb|Huntley|2006|p=87}}; {{harvnb|Tillery|2011|p=111}}.</ref>

Regarding other faiths, he once remarked: "All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn't matter what you call Him just as long as you call."{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=78}} He commented on his beliefs:

{{Blockquote|[[Krishna]] actually was in a body as a person&nbsp;... What makes it complicated is, if he's God, what's he doing fighting on a battlefield? It took me ages to try to figure that out, and again it was Yogananda's spiritual interpretation of the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' that made me realise what it was. Our idea of Krishna and [[Arjuna]] on the battlefield in the chariot. So this is the point – that we're in these bodies, which is like a kind of chariot, and we're going through this incarnation, this life, which is kind of a battlefield. The senses of the body&nbsp;... are the horses pulling the chariot, and we have to get control over the chariot by getting control over the reins. And Arjuna in the end says, "Please Krishna, you drive the chariot" because unless we bring [[Jesus in Christianity|Christ]] or Krishna or [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] or whichever of our spiritual guides&nbsp;... we're going to crash our chariot, and we're going to turn over, and we're going to get killed in the battlefield. That's why we say "''Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna''{{-"}}, asking Krishna to come and take over the chariot.{{sfn|Glazer|1977|pp=39–40}}}}

Inglis comments that, in contrast to [[Cliff Richard]]'s conversion to Christianity in 1966: "Harrison's spiritual journey was seen as a serious and important development that reflected popular music's increasing maturity&nbsp;... what he, and the Beatles, had managed to overturn was the paternalistic assumption that popular musicians had no role other than to stand on stage and sing their hit songs."{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=11}}

====Vegetarianism====
In line with the Hindu [[yoga]] tradition,<ref>{{harvnb|Clayson|2003|p=208}}; {{harvnb|Greene|2006|p=158}}:</ref> Harrison became a [[vegetarian]] in the late 1960s.<ref>{{harvnb|Greene|2006|p=69}}</ref> He remained a vegetarian on religious grounds from 1968 until his death,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ivu.org/people/music/harrison.html |publisher=International Vegetarian Union |title=George Harrison |access-date=8 December 2010}}</ref> and spent the second half of his life as an advocate for the benefits of vegetarian diet.<ref>[https://beatlesdaily.com/2023/05/15/george-harrison-rare-facts/ George Harrison Rare Facts]</ref>