According to George Harrison 's recollection in his autobiography , '' I , Me , Mine '' , the visit he made to India in 1974 was his first since 1968 , when the Beatles had studied Transcendental Meditation at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 's ashram in Rishikesh . The main purpose of the 1974 trip was to attend a Vedic ceremony in honour of Ravi Shankar 's new home in Benares and to film the event . Accompanied by his friend and fellow musician Gary Wright , Harrison first went to Calcutta in early January before travelling to Benares ; there , he and Shankar formulated the concept for Ravi Shankar 's Music Festival from India and an ensuing joint tour of North America at the end of the year . Harrison and Shankar then travelled to the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan , where Harrison was inspired to write the devotional song " It Is ' He ' ( Jai Sri Krishna ) " . Later in the trip , while in Bombay , he wrote another new composition , " Simply Shady "
joint tour of North America
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's 1974 North American tour
Simply Shady