The Spiritual Journey of George Harrison: From Hinduism to Christianity

George Harrison's acceptance of Christ shortly before his death in 2001. George Harrison was a close friend with Emerson Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Harrison and Fittipaldi became close friends around 1979 when George Harrison, a big fan of formula one racing, went to Brazil to film a video for his new song "Faster". They were such close friends that In 1996, after Fittipaldi had recovered from a serious crash, George Harrison sang a cheeky, impromptu version of "Here Comes the Sun" to Emerson Fittipaldi on SBT, the Brazilian television network. As well Fittipaldi became a Christian in 1996 after that crash at the Michigan International Speedway nearly took his life. Then, as wikipedia states, "In September 1997, while recovering from injuries in a crash at Michigan International Speedway a year earlier, he was flying his private plane across his orange tree farm in the state of São Paulo. The plane lost power and plunged 90 metres (300 ft) to the ground, leaving him with serious back injuries. Though Fittipaldi had converted to Christianity the year prior, his beliefs were reinforced after the crash." Then Wikipedia immediately states after that "He was a friend of Beatles guitarist George Harrison and was with him shortly before Harrison died in November 2001" In a youtube video titled "My Sweet Lord Jesus - George Harrison Testimony" Fittipaldi gives an interview of that visit where he states "(Harrison) was a incredible man and we had a very, very, important experience when he was very sick. I asked for a pastor in Brazil to fly to Switzerland. (Harrison) was in a hospital in Switzerland. I went to see him for two days with this pastor. And we prayed and he accepted Christ." Interviewer asks "George Harrison?" Fittipaldi answers, "Yes, he accepted Christ before he went." To give an example of how important his Christian faith is, in a 2014 article in "Sports Spectrum" Fittipaldi is quoted as saying “My advice to you is first open your heart to God and Jesus. You are going to receive so much love. You are going to receive so much life.” And the reason why George Harrison's conversion to Christianity shortly before his death is so interesting is that George, who was known as the 'spiritual Beatle', drifted away from Christianity because of the hypocrisy. As Harrison put it, "(The hypocrisy) felt so alien to me. Not the stained-glass window or the pictures of Christ; I liked that a lot, and the smell of the incense and the candles. I just didn't like the bullshit (the hypocrisy)." Yet Harrison still had a deep spiritual hunger. As a result, Harrison famously ended up drifting into eastern mysticism while he was in the Beatles. In fact, in 1970, shortly after the Beatles broke up, Harrison wrote "My Sweet Lord" in praise of the Hindu god Krishna. "My Sweet Lord" was the biggest-selling single of 1971 in the UK, and was the first number-one single by an ex-Beatle. As a result, it is widely thought that Harrison died as a devoted and loyal Hindu. Yet, as Fittipaldi's testimony makes clear, when faced with his own impending death, apparently, the Hindu religion lacked much to be desired for Harrison personally, and he ended up accepting Christ. In conclusion, Harrison was on a lifelong quest for spiritual authenticity, and in the end he failed to find it in Hinduism and thus embraced Christianity, or should I say, he embraced an authentic relationship with Jesus.