Elvis Presley Felt Growing Distance Between Himself and His Friends Over 1 Important Part of His Life

All throughout his life, Elvis Presley sought a higher purpose and meaning. He turned to spiritual books and religious leaders for guidance but never seemed to reach the answers he was hoping to find. One religious leader he turned to was Daya Mata, the president of the Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India. In their conversation, Elvis vented about some of the people in his life.

Elvis Presley discussed his entourage with a religious leader

When Elvis met with Daya Mata, she felt an immediate empathy toward him.

“He had done some reading. He was sinking,” she said in the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “Here was someone who had everything the world could offer, [but] it didn’t satisfy him. There was still an emptiness, and the only way to fill it was to turn within.”

In their conversation, Elvis opened up about the people surrounding him. He made it clear that he didn’t wholly trust his entourage.

“They didn’t share his interests, they felt he was getting too involved, it was a threat to them, and it created a rift between them,” she said. “They couldn’t really relate to him, they didn’t really understand his need, and evidently he couldn’t confide it to them.”

Elvis Presley appeared to be afraid of his manager’s power

One of the people in Elvis’ life who was most opposed to his spiritual education was his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Despite this, Elvis did not voice any worries about him with Daya Mata.

“He was very careful about anything pertaining to his manager,” she recalled. “I think he felt that Parker was a very important part of his life and as long as he was going to be an entertainer he had to follow [his advice], because he had steered him so well for so long. The only thing that concerned him was that the Colonel did not seem to understand his need to nourish his soul. He was nourished in every other way, but where was the nourishment for his soul?”

Parker eventually banned Elvis from spending alone time with his barber, Larry Geller, because of their conversations about spirituality. Priscilla Presley believed Elvis went along with anything Parker said because he was afraid of him.

He wanted a ‘shortcut’ to enlightenment

Daya Mata said it was clear that Elvis was earnest in his desire to grow spiritually. He didn’t want to have to put in that much work, though, asking her for a “shortcut” to enlightenment. She could not give this to him. When he said he was considering joining the movement, she also turned him down. 

“[B]ut I told him that wouldn’t be right because I could see his nature,” she said. “He might be enthusiastic for a while, but then he would cool back and lean toward his other activities, [because] that was his life, he had another mission than that.”