Paul attributes his robust health and fitness to facets of Hinduism which he staunchly follows.
Paul McCartney, one of the famous four Beatles, has turned 82. He is in robust health and has just announced dates for a world tour of musical performances. At an age when most people have retired, Paul will undertake a gruelling tour which requires great stamina.
In a recent podcast, he listed three reasons for his good health and fitness. All three are Hinduism’s gifts to the world.
The first one is vegetarianism
He and his late wife, Linda, stopped eating meat in the 1970s — “the thing that repelled me was the idea of killing animals,” he has said. Some researchers, including a team from Loma Linda University in California, have shown that vegetarian men live up to a decade longer than their meat-eating counterparts. According to their study, vegetarians were at a 29% lower risk of early death from heart disease and an 18% lower risk for different types of cancers. Researchers in Germany have found that replacing meat and dairy with whole grains, beans, nuts and olive oil may significantly reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Paul’s late wife Linda was an ardent vegetarian. She launched the hugely popular Linda McCartney Foods company specialising in vegetarian and vegan food.
For thousands of years, vegetarianism has been an important moral concept in Hinduism. According to Tristram Stuart in his book, ‘Bloodless Revolution ‘ in the 16th Century, when Europeans started coming to India, they observed the Hindu compassion towards animals.
In the 1590s, the Dutch traveller to India, John Huygen van Linschoten, wrote in his bestselling travelogue Itinerario (The Journey) that the Banians (Jains), ‘kill nothing in the world that has life, however small and useless it may be.”
A 16th century Portuguese writer, Duarte Barbosa was astounded that the Indians would pay money to the Moors to buy worms and birds and set them free. He noted that even lice were looked after and special people were allotted to the task of feeding them with their own blood! The Europeans were flabbergasted to find that in India, even animals that were not useful were never killed and that people would buy captive birds and then free them. In 1594, an English traveller, Ralph Fitch wrote that there were animal hospitals in India and sheep, goats, dogs, cats and birds all were kept and looked after, even the lame and old ones. Hindu vegetarianism began to be seen of a higher moral value than the European Christian tradition.
Vegetarianism and veganism is a lifestyle that has been taken up by millions of people all over the world. The biggest threat that mankind is facing today is climate change. The biggest cause of it is the billions of animals being raised for meat. Among the sports personalities, Serena Williams the greatest female tennis player is a vegetarian. Boxer Mike Tyson is a vegan. The great cricketer Virat Kohli is also a vegetarian.
The second gift of Hinduism that Paul has adopted is Yoga
He has Yoga sessions with his friends and is an expert at doing the head stand. The head stand helps you in looking young, according to Paul. Paul is also very committed to the eye yoga exercises, in which you rotate your eyes up and down as well as from one side to other. Today, Yoga is practiced by millions of people in Europe. American Pop singer Britney Spears, Actress Kate Hudson, and Meghan Merkel, wife of Prince Harry are amongst the famous Yoga practitioners.
Yoga is a priceless gift of Sanatan Dharma to the world.
The third gift of Hinduism that Paul practises is meditation
In 1968, George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, arranged for The Beatles and their respective partners to meet with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh. He introduced them to Transcendental Meditation. It’s a practice that Paul has kept up ever since and which he has described as “a lifelong gift, something you can call on at any time”. He says that “in moments of madness, meditation has helped me find moments of serenity”. Today, millions of people all over the world practice meditation. Amongst the famous people practising TM is American TV Oprah Winfrey and William Clay Ford Jr., Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company.
George Harrison, the other Beatle, was very much attracted to Hinduism. He was close to the founder of Hare Krishna movement Srila Prabhupada. George chanted the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. At one time, he chanted the mantra for three days continuously while driving from France to Portugal. In 1970, George wrote the song, ‘My Sweet Lord’ in praise of Lord Krishna. In 1973 he gifted his Manor house in Hertfordshire to the Hare Krishna movement. It attracts around 60,000 devotees on the festival of Janmashtami every year. There is a growing awareness in the world about the great spiritual heritage of India.