Elements of Spirituality in 'Inner Light' by The Beatles

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself." -Rumi

For many artists, Spirituality has often been the inspiration for creating Music, and for many Spiritual Seekers, music has helped create a sublime atmosphere for their meditative practices. The Beatles, regarded as the most influential rock band of all time, experimented with Indian classical music elements to produce a few musical gems incorporating deeper Eastern spiritual concepts. One such song is The Inner Light, written and sung by George Harrison with backing vocals by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. First released in March 1968, when the Beatles were learning Transcendental Meditation under the tutelage of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India; it was Harrison's first single song and was the last in a series of songs he wrote getting influenced by Indian music and Eastern philosophy; the first two being Love You To (1966) and Within You Without You (1967).

George Harrison was inspired to write “The Inner Light” because of Juan Mascaró, a Sanskrit Scholar of Cambridge University, who provided Harrison with a copy of his book Lamps of Fire, which was an anthology of Religious Writings. He highlighted the following translated passage titled “Inner Light” from a chapter of Tao Te Ching (ancient Taoist Text), prodding him to put it into his music:

Without going outside, you may know the whole world.

Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.

The farther you go, the less you know.

Thus the sage knows without traveling.

He sees without looking.

He works without doing.

While setting into composition, Harrison tweaked it a little resulting in the following lyrics:

“Without going out of my door, I can know all things on earth.

Without looking out of my window, I could know the ways of heaven.

The farther one travels, the less one knows.

The less one really knows.

Without going out of your door, You can know all things on earth.

Without looking out of your window, You can know the ways of heaven.

The farther one travels, the less one knows.

The less one really knows.

Arrive without traveling.

See all without looking.

Do all without doing.”

Credits: https://www.thebeatles.com/inner-light

The song featured Indian musical instruments like Sarod, Pakhavaj, Shehnai, Bansuri (Bamboo flute), and Harmonium played by the prominent Indian musicians of that time. Many connoisseurs of music have felt profound, soul cleansing, and meditative effects while listening to the song which resonates with Harrison’s transcendental inspiration behind the song.

The lyrics of the song beautifully express the elements of many eastern spiritual and mystical schools of thought like Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism, Buddhism, and others which emphasize turning inwards during meditation to have a profound spiritual experience of universal consciousness.

15th Century Mystic Poet Kabir also expressed similar sentiments “Just as a seed contains oil, fire is present in the flint stone; the Divine is inside you, realize this if you can!”

Signing off with a quote from modern mystic Sadhguru which also reflects the philosophy espoused in the Inner Light by the Beatles – “Turning inward is very simple. It is only since you have been looking outward for too long that turning inward appears far away.”

Credits: https://youtu.be/sa3948JzWCc