Nandini
(religionmediacentre.org.uk) – All those years ago: how the Hare Krishnas met Beatle George and he bought them a manor house
By Lianne Kolirin
To get to Bhaktivedanta Manor, home of Britain’s Hare Krishna movement, you drive down a slip road winding at the back of a McDonald’s drive-thru.
There is nothing to indicate that behind the golden arches lies not just a spiritual temple, but also luxury accommodation for the manor’s most revered residents: 66 cattle in a cowshed described as the “Hilton for cows”.
Since the summer, thousands of visitors have flocked to the country manor not only to see — and feed — the cattle, but to celebrate the manor’s half-century as the base of Britain’s Hare Krishna community.
The 80-acre estate in Aldenham, just outside Watford in Hertfordshire, also holds a place in rock’n’roll history: it was donated to the Hare Krishnas by George Harrison.
Shyamasundar Das (born Samuel Speerstra, in Oregon, in 1942) had met Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, in 1967 and came to Britain next year on a mission to launch it in the UK.
He managed to get himself invited to a party held by Apple Records — the Beatles’ label — in December and it was there that he met George. The two became close and Harrison went on to embrace the movement’s spiritual teachings.
When the Hare Krishnas outgrew their base in the West End of London, Harrison instructed a British devotee to find a suitable large property not too far from the capital. After viewing several possibles, Harrison bought Piggott’s Manor, as it was then known, and devotees moved in gradually.
Mina Sharma, who manages the manor’s public relations, showed me around the manor, with Dr Sachi Patel, a Hindu chaplain at King’s College London. “People can come here and meditate and take time out from the hustle and bustle of life,” said Dr Patel, a former monk at the manor.
The meeting between the Hare Krishnas and the Beatle was not just a happy accident, Ms Sharma said. The movement was brought to the western world in 1965 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada — or Srila Prabhupada as he was informally known.
“He boarded a boat and travelled to New York with a typewriter, a set of books and a couple of dollars in his pocket,” she told me. “He knew no one and, coming from India, which was really hot, he arrived in a freezing New York winter.
“But he still persevered and he went to Tompkins Square Park in New York and he used to sing his Hare Krishna mantra over and over again.”
Timing, according to Ms Sharma, was everything. “He arrived at the point when teenagers and students were really against the Vietnam War and so when they came into contact with the swami they were really inspired by his teachings of peace and kindness.”
A small group of six American devotees were then asked if they would consider taking the message to Britain. “These six Americans, who had never been to London, flew over to London with a baby. And they had this crazy ambition that they needed to meet the Beatles,” she said.
Once here, they regularly travelled up to Apple Records, laden with apple pies and other food — which eventually earned them an invitation to the Beatles’ Christmas party.
When they arrived, Ms Sharma said, Harrison asked them: “Where have you guys been? I’ve been waiting to meet you.”
And so a lasting friendship was born, with Harrison going on to travel out to India where he became fascinated with Hindu texts.
Piggott’s Manor, which was renamed in honour of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who brought the ancient teachings of the Vedic scriptures to the West.
Harrison went on to write the foreword of a book sharing the pastimes of Krishna — the Hindu the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love — which he signed “All you need is love (Krishna), George Harrison”.
