Allen Ginsberg welcomed George Harrison and Pattie Boyd naked to his 39th birthday party
Poet and writer Allen Ginsberg welcomed George Harrison and his first wife, Pattie Boyd, naked during his 39th birthday celebration. Ginsberg later operated in the same spiritual circles as the Beatle.
Allen Ginsberg welcomed George Harrison and Pattie Boyd naked on his 39th birthday
When George and Boyd started dating in early 1964, they went everywhere together, even the strangest places, including Ginsberg’s 39th birthday party.
According to Joshua M Greene Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, Ginsberg greeted George and Boyd naked during his party. The new couple “made a hasty retreat.”
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Ginsberg wrote the liner notes of a spiritual album that George bought
In 1967, the Beatles took a break. They decided to sail around the Greek islands looking for a private island to buy. They wanted to build a utopian society.
Before leaving, George bought an album of Sanskrit prayers from Swami AC Bhaktivedanta, also known as Prabhupada. One of the prayers became the group’s mantra as they sailed.
“Beware, all eternal wanderers on the shores of the earth,” the album’s back cover notes (per Greene). “Swami AC Bhaktivedanta leads his devotees in an authentic rendition of the Vedic mantra Hare Krishna, better known in India as the Maha mantra, which has been chanted along the banks of the Ganges for more than five thousand years.”
The guru had been a successful businessman. However, he gave up his job when he met spiritual master Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in 1922. He came to New York to spread his teacher’s word and soon caught the interest of hippies in the East Village. By 1966 he had garnered a small group of followers, eventually including Ginsberg.
“The album featured Swami leading American students in a stirring chant to the rhythm of clay drums and the sound of brass hand cymbals,” Greene wrote. “A liner quote from Beat poet Allen Ginsberg stated, ‘Singing brings about a state of ecstasy.'”
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Bhaktivedanta became a mutual friend of the Beat poet and the Beatles
Later, Bhaktivedanta built a temple to Krishna in San Francisco’s capital of love, Haight-Asbury.
To raise funds, devotees Mukunda and Sam Speerstra conceived a mantra rock concert. They held the event at the city’s Avalon Ballroom. It took place a few weeks before George visited the love capital.
It featured Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape, and other well-known bands from the area. When Prabhupada arrived, “thousands of hippies respectfully stood up to greet him with applause and cheers,” Greene wrote. “He got on stage and sat on a cushion next to Allen Ginsberg, an admirer who had traveled from New York.”
“To a delighted audience, Ginsberg described his experience of singing and how in 1965 Swami opened a small temple shop in New York’s East Village where they met. He invited all to the new Haight Ashbury Temple.”
“I especially recommend the early morning kirtans [group chanting]’ he said, ‘for those coming down from LSD and wishing to stabilize their consciousness upon re-entry.’
Ginsberg played the harmonium and sang. George later met the Haigh Ashbury Temple members and Prabhupada himself. George helped them establish a temple in London and they all remained close friends.
Ginsberg and George had an odd start to their acquaintance. However, they were linked through their support of the Hare Krishna movement.
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