Lennon/Ono
BY: ALAN CLARK
Nov 30, HATFIELD, ENGLAND, UK (SUN) — I am writing in response to the article by Gauragopala dasa about John Lennon's song, 'Happy Christmas War is Over'.
On first glance, I was happy to hear that an original exists which incorporates the maha-mantra. Then I read a little closer. There is no link to such an original. In fact, there is no proof provided that such an original ever existed. This appears to be simply wishful thinking. The song as played on the radio now is exactly the same as the one which was released so many years ago. There was never any chanting in it.
The primary content of this article appears to be a vilification of Yoko Ono. According to Gauragopala prabhu, she's a witch or a demon - who somehow took the chanting out of John's song.
Yoko is a respected woman who has been in the forefront of avant-garde performance, film and video since the early sixties, long before she met Lennon. She had strong feminist convictions. She was not open to Srila Prabhupada's message - like many others. Why does this qualify her for such vilification? Why does the 'Sun' give space for an attack on an old lady like this?
One can try and argue that John Lennon was taken from the path of Krishna Consciousness by Yoko, but there is scant evidence for that assertion. John's response to the idea of serving God was the song 'Serve Yourself', specifically a response to Bob Dylan's 'You've got to Serve Somebody'. This clearly shows that Lennon had rejected the idea of Krishna Consciousness long before.
'Happy Christmas War is Over' is a political statement and always was.
"Serve Yourself" by John Lennon
"Serve Yourself" Lyrics
Best Wishes,
Alan Clark
School of Film, Music and Media
University of Hertfordshire, UK
