a departure from the Beatles' psychedelic productions of the previous year, "The Inner Light" was an "accurate indication" of the group's mindset in Rishikesh. Paul Saltzman, a Canadian film-maker who had been inspired by the Beatles' adoption of Indian musical and philosophical themes, joined the band at the Maharishi's ashram and recalls hearing the song there for the first time. He said he found Harrison's perspective on meditation profoundly moving, particularly when Harrison told him that, while the Beatles had achieved wealth and fame in abundance, "It isn't love. It isn't health. It isn't peace inside, is it?" The Beatles' 1968 visit to Rishikesh resulted in a surge of interest in Indian culture and spirituality among Western youth, but it also marked the end of the band's overtly Indian phase. From June that year, Harrison abandoned his efforts to master the sitar and returned to the guitar as his principal instrument. In an interview in September, Harrison discussed his renewed interest in rock music and described "The Inner Light" as "one of my precious things". Critical reception Author Nicholas Schaffner wrote in 1977 that "The Inner Light" "proved to be the best – and last" example of Harrison directly incorporating Indian music into the Beatles' work. Schaffner paired it with "Within You Without You" as raga rock songs that "feature haunting, exquisitely lovely melodies", and as two pieces that could have been among Harrison's "greatest achievements" had they been made with his bandmates' participation. Bruce Eder of AllMusic describes the same tracks as "a pair of beautiful songs … that were effectively solo recordings". Ian MacDonald likens the song's "studied innocence and exotic sweetness" to recordings by the Incredible String Band and concludes: "'The Inner Light' is both spirited and charming – one of its author's most attractive pieces." Writing for Mojo magazine in 2003, John Harris similarly admired it as Harrison's "loveliest addition of Indian music to The Beatles' repertoire". In Ian Inglis' view: "it is the extraordinary synthesis of separate musical and lyrical traditions (in this case, Indian instrumentation, Chinese philosophy, and Western popular music) that distinguishes the song. Harrison's uncharacteristically warm vocal weaves in and around the delicate, almost fragile, melody to deliver a simple testimony to the power of meditation ..." With regard to the song's influence, Inglis recognises Harrison's espousal of Eastern spirituality as "a serious and important development that reflected popular music's increasing maturity",