Within You Without You

George Harrison's discovery of the sitar and Indian music was apparently accidental. He saw a sitar lying around in the studio when they were recording Norwegian Wood for the album Rubber Soul. In search of an exotic sound, he picked of the sitar, fiddled around with it and then delivered the now well known sound for the song. And created a new musical genre - raga rock!

We who have learned better would know that there are no accidents. There is a pervasive intelligence guiding everything that happens. Harrison was a seeker. He was guided to his answers through a cheap prop sitar lying around in his recording studio.

Determined to learn the instrument properly, he managed to get an audience with the maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to teach him. So off he went to Bombay (now Mumbai) where he spent 6 weeks under Ravi's tutelage. This was even before the Beatles had met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a meeting which brought all of them to Rishikesh one year later.

Ringo could not take the culture gap and left India shortly after arrival. Paul stayed the full duration but was not specifically influenced by the experience. John took in the philosophy and that led him to compose Across the Universe in which he included the words jayaguru deva. His exposure presumably factored in the evolution of his inspirational worldview.

George was the most affected. He not only learned Indian music but also immersed himself into Indian theology. It appears that he had found answers to questions that he had not even asked himself. Although his first sitar composition, Love You To did not address vedic theology, his philosophical insights were starting to show through. It was in his second Indian influenced composition that George revealed his vivid grasp of vedic teaching.

Within You Without You, George's masterful contribution to their landmark album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, explores how the people have become isolated from each other by the illusion (maya) because they don't realise that we are all from the same source and are in fact connected from within. He laments how the people, enamoured of the material things they own, have become soulless and have forgotten how to love one another. He speaks about how, if the people learn to look beyond themselves, they would be able to find peace.

Here are the lyrics of the song:

We were talking about the space between us all

And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion

Never glimpse the truth, then it's far too late, when they pass away

We were talking about the love we all could share

When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love

With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realise it's all within yourself

No one else can make you change

And to see you're really only very small

And life flows on within you and without you

We were talking about the love that's gone so cold

And the people who gain the world and lose their soul

They don't know, they can't see, are you one of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find

Peace of mind is waiting there

And the time will come when you see we're all one

And life flows on within you and without you

For a young, impressionable spiritual seeker whose mind had just been opened up by Swami Vivekananda's ground breaking book What Religion Is, such revelation coming from a musical idol was a stunning inspiration. George instantly became my favourite Beatle. He remains one of my favourite musical artistes. His deep spiritual connection has influenced his musical evolution and taken him further spiritually than the other three.

You'll find a link to the song in The Tao of Music