Hinduism, one of the world's oldest polytheistic religions of Indian origin, found its way into the heart and soul of the youngest Beatle member George Harrison. Following a transcendental meditation seminar held by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Bangor, Wales that was cut short due to the death of the band's manager Brian Epstein in 1967, the Beatles decided to explore the meditation further by travelling to India the following year. While they were there, George Harrison wrote the band's 1968 single the Inner Light which featured Indian instrumentation and it was one of 48 songs written during their stay in India with most of them finding their way onto the White Album. George had previously visited India in 1966 to study the Sitar which can be heard in Norwegian Wood. While the place they stayed at became a tourist spot despite initial abandonment following heated controversy regarding the Maharishi's private life, the aftermath of the trip saw George Harrison embrace Hinduism and he left the Roman Catholic faith. He welcomed the Hare Krishna tradition and became a devotee to his new faith. During his post-Beatles solo career, he released songs like the Hare Krishna Mantra and My Sweet Lord as well as albums like Living in the Material World which were directly influenced by his newly adopted religious beliefs. After adopting Hinduism, George was soon seen garbed in plain white clothes and he also started calling himself closet Krishna as the philosophy and mantra of the Hare Krishna became his true way of life. George believed that Hare Krishna was mystical energy encased in a sound structure and at one point said "Imagine all the workers on the Ford assembly line in Detroit, all of them chanting Hare Krishna while bolting on the wheels".
When George Harrison succumbed to cancer at just 58-years-old on 29 November 2001, his body was cremated in a cardboard coffin and his ashes were scattered into the River Ganges as per Hindu tradition.