Allen Ginsberg Greeted George Harrison and Pattie Boyd in the Nude at His 39th Birthday Party
Poet and writer Allen Ginsberg greeted George Harrison and his first wife, Pattie Boyd, in the nude during his 39th birthday party. Ginsberg later operated in the same spiritual circles as the Beatle.
Allen Ginsberg greeted George Harrison and Pattie Boyd in the nude during 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’s Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual And Musical Journey Of George Harrison, Ginsberg greeted George and Boyd in the nude during his party. The new couple “made a hasty retreat.”
Ginsberg wrote the liner notes of a spiritual album George bought
In 1967, The Beatles took some time off. They decided to sail through the Greek Islands and search for a private island they could buy. They wanted to establish a utopian society.
Before leaving, George purchased an album of Sanskrit prayers by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, a.k.a. Prabhupada. One of the prayers became the group’s mantra while they sailed.
“Attention all eternal wayfarers on the shores of earth,” the album’s back-cover notes (per Greene). “Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta leads his devotees in an authentic rendition of the Vedic mantra Hare Krishna, better known in India as the maha-mantra, sung on the banks of the Ganges for more than five thousand years.”
The guru had been a successful businessman. However, he left his job behind when he met spiritual master Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in 1922. He came to New York to spread his teacher’s word and soon attracted the interest of the hippies of the East Village. By 1966, he had acquired a small group of followers, including, eventually, Ginsberg.
“The album consisted of the Swami leading American disciples in a rousing chant to the rhythm of clay drums and the clang of brass hand cymbals,” Greene wrote. “A liner quote from beat poet Allen Ginsberg explained, ‘chanting brings a state of ecstasy.'”
Bhaktivedanta became a mutual friend of the beat poet and the Beatle
Later, Bhaktivedanta established a temple for Krishna in San Francisco’s capital of love, Haight-Asbury.
To raise funds, devotees Mukunda and Sam Speerstra conceived of a mantra rock concert. They held the event at the city’s Avalon Ballroom. It took place a few weeks before George visited the capital of love.
It featured Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape, and other big-name bands from the area. When Prabhupada arrived, “thousands of hippies respectfully stood to receive him with applause and cheers,” Greene wrote. “He climbed to the stage and seated himself on a cushion next to Allen Ginsberg, an admirer who had come from New York.”
“To an enraptured audience Ginsberg described his experiences with chanting and recounted how the Swami had opened a small storefront temple in New York’s East Village in 1965, where they met. He invited everyone to the new Haight-Ashbury temple.”
“I especially recommend the early-morning kirtans [group chanting],” he said, “for those coming down from LSD who want to stabilize their consciousness upon reentry.”
Ginsberg played the harmonium and chanted. Later, George met the members of Haigh-Ashbury temple and Prabhupada himself. George helped them establish a temple in London, and they all remained close friends.
Ginsberg and George had a strange start to their acquaintance. However, they were connected through their support of the Hare Krishna movement.
