CHAPTER FOUR In Every Town and Village After a few weeks in

San Francisco, Swamiji went to Los Angeles, where a small group

of his disciples had opened a storefront temple in a middle-class
black and Hispanic neighborhood. The storefront was bare and
the location secluded. Swamiji stayed there two months,
delivering lectures, holding kīrtanas, and giving strength and
inspiration to his disciples. Although a buzzing in his head made
working difficult, he found the warm climate and sunshine
agreeable, and he continued to translate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In
May, a few months after leaving Los Angeles, Swamiji paid a first
visit to his ISKCON center in Boston. There also he found a few
disciples based in a small storefront. It was in Swamiji's room one
day in Boston that he accepted the name "Prabhupāda.” While his
secretary was taking dictation, Prabhupāda mentioned that the
affix "ji" was a thirdclass address. "Then why do we call you
Swami-ji? What should we call you?" “A spiritual master," Swamiji
replied, “is usually addressed by names like Gurudeva,
Vişnupāda, or Prabhupāda." "May we call you Prabhupāda?"
"Yes." At first some of the devotees were reluctant to give up the
longcherished "Swamiji," which for them was a name of affection.
"I heard we shouldn't use the name 'Swamiji' anymore," one of
the boys asked one morning on a walk. "Who said?" Prabhupāda
replied quickly. "They said you said it was third class, and we
shouldn't say it." "I never said that." "Then can we use it?" "Yes,
that is all right:" 145
146 Prabhupāda But "Swamiji" soon disappeared. The devotees
even printed an explanation in Back to Godhead. PRABHUPADA
The word Prabhupada is a term of utmost reverence in Vedic
religious circles, and it signifies a great saint even amongst
saints. The word actually has two meanings: first, one at whose
feet (pada) there are many Prabhus (a term meaning "master"
which the disciples of a guru use in addressing each other). The
second meaning is one who is always found at the lotus feet of
Krishna (the supreme master). In the line of disciplic succession
through which Krishna consciousness is conveyed to mankind
there have been a number of figures of such spiritual importance
as to be called Prabhupada. Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhupada
executed the will of his master, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and
therefore he and his associate Gosvamis are called Prabhupada.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Thakura executed the
will of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and therefore he is also
addressed as Prabhupāda. Our spiritual master, Om Visnupada
108 Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, has in the same
way executed the will of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami
Prabhupada in carrying the message of love of Krishna to the
Western world, and therefore the humble servants of His Divine
Grace, from all the different centers of the sankirtana movement,
are following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhupāda
and prefer to address his grace our spiritual master as
Prabhupāda. And he has kindly said, "Yes." Montreal August 1968
Śrīla Prabhupāda was in his room, speaking with several disciples.
“So, Annapūrņā, you have got some news?" he asked. Annapūrņā
was a young British girl. A few months ago her father had written
from England that he might be able to provide a house if some
devotees came there.
148 Prabhupāda and making all the arrangements, but where
were such persons? Here was a shy girl who could barely speak
up, whose father would not help, and Pradyumna reading an
atheist swami and talking of a Royal Asiatic Society—but nothing
practical. Prabhupāda had plans, though. He had asked Mukunda
and śyāmasundara to go to London and try to establish an
ISKCON center. They had agreed and would be arriving in
Montreal from San Francisco in a few days. Srila Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī, Prabhupāda's own spiritual master, had wanted Krsna
consciousness in Europe. During the 1930s he had sent his most
experienced sannyasis to London, but they had returned, nothing
accomplished. It wasn't possible to teach Krsna consciousness to
the mlecchas, they had complained. Europeans couldn't sit long
enough to hear the Vaişņava philosophy. Still, Prabhupāda had
faith that his disciples would succeed; they would help him
establish ISKCON centers in Europe, just as they had in North
America. Certainly such success would greatly please Šrila
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati. Prabhupāda told of a man who found a
gourd lying on the road and picked it up and then found a stick
and a wire and picked them up. In themselves, the three parts
were useless. But by putting the gourd, the stick, and the wire
together, the man made a vīņā and began to play beautiful music.
Similarly, Prabhupāda had come to the West and found some
rejected youths lying here and there, and he himself had been
rejected by the people of New York City; but by Krsna's grace the
combination had become successful. If his disciples remained
sincere and followed his orders, they would succeed in Europe.
Three married couples—Mukunda and Janaki, Syāmasundara and
Mālati (with their infant daughter, Sarasvatī), and Guru dāsa and
Yamunā—arrived in Montreal, eager to travel to London. These
three couples had begun the temple in San Francisco, where they
had had close association with Śrīla Prabhupāda. They had helped
Prabhupāda introduce kīrtana, prasādam, and Ratha-yātrā among
the hippies of Haight-Ashbury. Now they were eager to help him
introduce Krsna consciousness in London. Prabhupāda asked the
three couples to remain with him in Montreal for a week or two, so
that he could train them to perform
In Every Town and Village 149 kirtana expertly. Chanting Hare
Krsna was not a theatrical performance but an act of devotion,
properly conducted only by pure devoteesnot by professional
musicians. Yet if Prabhupāda's disciples became proficient in their
singing, Londoners would better appreciate Krşņa consciousness.
Even while recuperating in India, Prabhupāda had always thought
of returning to America to continue his movement. The Indians
had seemed interested only in sense gratification, like that of the
Americans. But many American youths, disillusioned with their
fathers' wealth, were not going to the skyscrapers or to their
fathers' businesses. As Prabhupāda had seen from his stays in
New York City and San Francisco, thousands of youths were
seeking an alternative to materialism. Frustrated, they were ripe
for spiritual knowledge. The devotees, still neophytes, knew
nothing of spiritual life and in most cases very little of material
life. But because they were sincerely taking to Krşņa
consciousness, Prabhupāda was confident that their shortcomings
would not prevent their spiritual progress. Although naturally
beautiful, these Western youths were now dirty and morose; their
beauty had become covered. But the chanting of Hare Krsna was
reviving them, Prabhupāda said, just as the monsoon revives the
land Of Vịndāvana, making it fresh and verdant. And as the
Vrndāvana peacocks sometimes dance jubilantly, so the
devotees, having shed their material bonds, were now ecstatically
dancing and chanting the holy names. When a reporter asked
Prabhupāda if his disciples were hippies, Prabhupāda replied, "No,
we are not hippies. We are happies." More than being a visiting
lecturer or a formal guide, Śrīla Prabhupāda was the spiritual
father of his disciples. They accepted him as their real father, and
he found them devoted and affectionate, far more than his own
family had been These young American boys and girls—"the
flower of your country," Prabhupāda called them—had received
the blessing of Lord Caitanya and were delivering that blessing to
their countrymen. Prabhupāda said it was up to his American
disciples to save their country. He was giving them the method,
but they would have to implement it.
150 Prabhupāda Srila Prabhupāda loved his disciples, and they
loved him out of love, he was giving them the greatest treasure,
and out of love they were following his instructions. This was the
essence of spiritual life On the basis of this love, the Krsna
consciousness movement would grow. Not surprisingly, some
disciples had fallen away to their former, materialistic ways of
living. But Prabhupāda sought those sincere souls who would
stay. That was the important thing, he said. One moon is more
valuable than many stars; so even a few sincere workers would
accomplish wonderful things. The sincere and intelligent would
stay, and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu would empower them to
carry out His desires for distributing love of Krsņa. In this way, the
devotees' lives would become perfect. Many disciples, in fact,
already felt this happening. Krşņa consciousness worked because
they sincerely practiced it and because Śrīla Prabhupāda carefully
and patiently tended the growing plants of transcendental loving
service he had planted in their hearts. New York City April 9, 1969
Prabhupāda traveled to New York City, the birthplace of his Krsņa
consciousness society, where his movement had been growing for
nearly three years. Although the center was established and his
books were being distributed, he still had to visit to strengthen
the devotees. His presence gave them determination and
courage. For seven months they had carried on without his
personal touch, but his visits—when he would sit in his room and
reciprocate warmly with them, were vital. Nothing could equal
these intimate meetings. Many devotees, new and old, crowded
into Prabhupāda's apartment at 26 Second Avenue. "There was
one reporter," Prabhupāda said, "-he was putting questions to me.
And then he wrote an article: 'The swami is a small man, but he is
delivering a great message.' That is true. I am small. But the
message—that is not small." Brahmānanda showed Prabhupāda a
globe with markers representing ISKCON centers. "Now there is
one in North Carolina," Brahmānanda said. "Then it becomes
fifteen?" Prabhupāda asked. He was smiling and
In Every Town and Village 151 looking directly from one devotee
to another. "I want each of you to go and start a center. What is
the difficulty? Take one mrdanga. Then another person will come
and join you—he will take karatālas. When I came here,
Brahmānanda and Acyutānanda were dancing. And after
chanting, hundreds of men will come to your storefront and enjoy
chanting and dancing." "The girls also?" Rukmiņi asked. "There is
no harm," Prabhupāda said. "Krıņa does not make distinction—
female dress or male dress. I mean to say, the female body is
weaker, but spiritually the body does not matter. In the absence
of Lord Nityānanda, His wife, Jāhnavi devī, was preaching. First
you must understand the philosophy. You must be prepared to
answer questions. Krsna will give you intelligence. Just like I was
not prepared to answer all these questions, but Krsna gives
intelligence." After eight days in his New York City home,
Prabhupāda went to Buffalo. At State University of New York at
Buffalo, Rūpānuga was teaching an accredited course in Krşņa
yoga with some sixty students enrolled, regularly chanting the
Hare Krşņa mantra on beads. Prabhupāda stayed for a few days,
lecturing and initiating disciples. Then he went to Boston for more
initiations and several marriages. New Vrindaban May 21, 1969
Accompanied by Kirtanānanda Swami and Hayagrīva, Prabhupāda
traveled to the New Vrindaban farm project in the hills of West
Virginia. When their car got stuck in a neighbor's garden near the
entrance to the property, Prabhupāda decided to walk the final
two miles along the muddy access road that led to the farm. The
road soon ended, however, and Prabhupāda and his two guides
picked a footpath, entering the dense forest. The mid-May trees
were still coming into foliage, and the sunlight broke through the
branches to a carpet of brilliant purple phlox. Prabhupāda walked
quickly ahead of Kirtanānanda Swami and Hayagrīva, who hurried
to keep up. A winding creek repeatedly crossed
152 Prabhupāda the path, and Prabhupāda would cross by
stepping from stone to stone. The road, he said, would not be
difficult to travel by oxcart; the forest was like a jungle, just as he
had expected and wanted. For the past year, Prabhupāda had
corresponded with Kirtanānanda Swami and Hayagrīva
concerning New Vrindaban, and this correspondence had
established the direction for Kșşņa conscious country living.
Prabhupāda had said he wanted the community based on Vedic
ideals, everyone living simply, keeping cows, and working the
land. The devotees would have to develop these ideas gradually;
it would take time. But even in the beginning the keynote should
be "simple living and high thinking." Because the community
would remain completely aloof from the city, it would at first
appeal inconvenient and austere. But life would be peaceful, free
from the anxieties of the artificial urban society based on hand
work for sense gratification. And most important, the members of
such a community would be serving Krsņa and chanting His
name. Prabhupāda spoke little, making his way along the path as
if at his own home. They stopped beside the creek, and
Prabhupāda sat down on a blanket Kirtanānanda Swami and
Hayagriva spread for him on the grass. "We are stopping for
Kirtanānanda," Prabhupāda said. "He is tired." Prabhupāda and
his party drank water from the creek, rested briefly, and then
continued. As they rounded a curve in the road, Prabhupāda could
see a clearing on the ridge ahead. A small frame house and a
barn stood at the lower end of the ridge. These two ancient
structures, Hayagrīva explained, were the only buildings on New
Vrindaban's 120 acres. As no vehicles traveled here, the paths
were overrun with high grass. A willow spread its branches close
by the old house. The settlement was the picture of undisturbed
primitive life. Prabhupāda liked the simple life at New Vrindaban,
and whatever simple thing the devotees offered him he accepted
with satisfaction. They served him freshly-ground-wheat cereal
cooked in milk, and he said it was wonderful. When he saw the
kitchen's dirt floor covered with cow dung, he approved, saying it
was just like in an Indian village. Prabhupāda also liked his room
in the attic, directly above the temple room. He brought out the
small Rādhā-Krsna Deities he had
In Every Town and Village 153 been traveling with for the last
month and a half and had his servant, Devānanda, improvise an
altar on a small table to one side of the room. Arranging his two
trunks as a desk and placing a picture of his spiritual master on
one of the trunks, Prabhupāda immediately resumed his usual
schedule. He would take his late-morning massage sitting outside
and then bathe with warm water in an improvised outdoor shower
stall. Kirtanānanda Swami prepared Prabhupāda's usual lunch of
dāl, rice, and capātis—plus some local pokeweed. The previous
summer, Kirtanānanda Swami and Hayagrīva had picked and
canned blackberries, which they now served Prabhupāda as
blackberry chutney. The capātīs were from freshly milled whole
wheat, and everything was cooked over a wood fire. The best fuel
for cooking, Prabhupāda said, was cow dung; wood was second,
gas third, and electricity last. Prabhupāda spent much of the day
out of doors, under a persimmon tree about a hundred feet from
the house. There he would sit and read at a low table one of the
men had built. Often he would look up from his reading and gaze
across the deep valley to the distant ridge, where the forest met
the sky. In the late afternoon, devotees would gather under the
persimmon tree with Prabhupāda, sitting and talking with him
until after sunset. They saw Prabhupāda's living with them as a
practical demonstration of New Vrindaban's importance; if he, the
greatest devotee, could be satisfied living simply and chanting
Hare Krsna in this backwoods setting, then they should follow his
example. Comparing New Vrindaban to the Vịndāvana in India,
Prabhupāda said that New Vrindaban was in some ways better,
since Vrndāvana, India, was now congested with worldly men.
Five hundred years ago the Gosvami followers of Lord Caitanya
had excavated the sites of Krsna's pastimes in Vrndāvana, and
only pure devotees had lived there. But in recent years Vịndāvana
had become a place for materialists and impersonalists. New
Vrindaban, however, should admit only the spiritually inclined. In
Vedic society, Prabhupāda said, everyone had been satisfied to
live like this, in a small village beside a river. Factories were
unnecessary. Prabhupāda wanted this Vedic way of life for the
154 Prabhupāda entire world, and New Vrindaban could serve as
a model for the benefit of the masses. New Vrindaban had no
phone, and mail had to be fetched by a two-mile walk. In this,
Prabhupāda said, New Vrindaban was like Vịndāvana, India—both
Vrndāvanas lacked in modern amenities. This “difficulty,"
however, coupled well with the Vaisnava philosophy that modern
amenities were not worth the trouble required to get them. A
devotee, accepting whatever nature provides, spends his time
and energy in spiritual life. New Vrindaban's only cow was a
black-and-white cross breed named Kāliya, and Prabhupāda
would drink a little of her milk morning, noon, and night. "I
haven't tasted milk like this in sixty-five years," he said. One day,
he predicted, New Vrindaban would have many cows, and their
udders would be so full that the dripping milk would muddy the
pastures. Although people in the West were blind to their great
sin of cow slaughter and its grievous karmic reactions, he said,
New Vrindaban would demonstrate to the world the social, moral,
and economic advantages of protecting the cow and utilizing her
milk rather than killing her and eating her flesh. Prabhupāda
wanted the New Vrindaban devotees to build cottages. He wanted
many buildings, even if at first they were primitive, and he gave a
plan for a simple structure of baked mud. He also wanted a Krşņa
conscious school, and the country, he said, would be the best
place for it. "The city is made by man, and the country is made by
God," Prabhupāda said, paraphrasing the British poet Cowper. The
young students should learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, and
at the same time they should become pure devotees. In their play
they could imitate the pastimes of Krsna and His cowherd
boyfriends, with one child massaging Krsna, another wrestling
with Krsņa -just as in the spiritual world. The women in New
Vrindaban, Prabhupāda said, should care for the children, clean
the temple, cook for the Deities, and churn butter. He had many
plans for New Vrindaban, and he was giving only idea seeds, with
few details. “You develop it to your heart's content," he told
Kirtanānanda Swami. An ideal Vedic community with the
members producing all their own food and necessities was what
In Every Town and Village 155 Prabhupāda wanted. Unless the
devotees at New Vrindaban could become self-sufficient, he said,
there was no use in their occupying such a big piece of land. Even
before Prabhupāda's visit to New Vrindaban, he had requested
Kirtanānanda Swami and Hayagriva to plan for seven temples on
the property. These seven temples should be named after the
major temples of old Vrndāvana: Madana-mohana, Govindajī,
Gopinātha, Rādhā-Dāmodara, Rādhā-ramaņa, śyāmasundara, and
Rādhā-Gokulānanda. Prabhupāda said he would personally secure
Rādhā-Krsna Deities for each temple. It was inevitable that
Prabhupāda leave New Vrindaban; letters from London, Los
Angeles, and San Francisco compelled him to travel. On the day
of his departure, the New Vrindaban devotees teased him, saying
he couldn't go. Kirtanānanda Swami went so far as to say they
would block his way on the road. But Prabhupāda corrected him,
"You can't do that to the spiritual master." Accompanied by
Kirtanānanda Swami and the New Vrindaban devotees,
Prabhupāda walked along the forest path. The New Vrindaban
countryside was verdant, the summer air hot and moist.
Prabhupāda was silent. He had come here to encourage his
disciples, and he himself had also become encouraged. Here was
simple village life as Krşņa Himself had lived it, depending on the
land and the cow. So far only a few devotees were here, but by
Krsna's grace more would come. Prabhupāda and Kirtanānanda
Swami walked together along the forest path, saying little, but
their mutual understanding was deep. Prabhupāda hadn't given
him many specific instructions: a few words while sitting or
walking together outdoors, a gesture, a facial expression of
pleasure or concern. Kirtanananda Swami could understand, how
ever, that New Vrindaban was very dear to his spiritual master
and should become dear to him also. Prabhupāda assured him
that because the devotees of New Vrindaban were centered on
chanting Hare Krsna, serving the Deities, and protecting the cows,
Krsna would bless them with success. The community was already
successful, and Krşņa would continue to protect the devotees
against all impediments and difficulties.
Struggling Alone 11 precision of a chemist, would prepare many dishes, and that he had
a gusto for eating. Ramamurti Mishra: It was not bread he gave me-he gave me
orasādam. This was life, and he saved my life. At that time I was not sure I would live, but
his habit to eat on time, whether/was hungry or not--that / very much liked. He'd get up
and say, "All right, this is bhagavat-prasādam, "and I would say, "All right.”
Bhaktivedanta Swami would sometimes discuss with Dr. Mishra the aim of his visit to
America, expressing his spiritual master's vision of establishing Krsna consciousness in
the West. He requested Dr. Mishra to help him, but Dr. Mishra would always refer to his
own teaching work, which kept him very busy, and to his plans for leaving the country
soon. After a few weeks, when it became inconvenient to maintain Bhaktivedanta Swami
at the apartment, Dr. Mishra shifted him to his hatha yoga studio on the fifth floor of 100
West Seventysecond Street, near Central Park. The large studio was located in the center
of the building and included an office and an adjoining private room, where
Bhaktivedanta Swami stayed. It had no windows. Philosophically at complete odds with
Bhaktivedanta Swami, Dr. Mishra accepted the Absolute Truth in the impersonal feature
(or Brahman) to be supreme. Bhaktivedanta Swami stressed the supremacy of the
personal feature (or Bhagavān), following the Vedic theistic philosophy that the most
complete understanding of the Absolute Truth is personal. The Bhagavad-gitā says that
the impersonal Brahman is subordinate to Bhagavān and is an emanation from Him just
as the sunshine is an emanation from the sun planet. This conclusion had been taught by
the leading traditional ācāryasof ancient India, such as Rāmānuja and Madhva. Dr.
Mishra, on the other hand, followed Sankara, who taught that the impersonal presence of
the Absolute Truth is all in all and that the Personality of Godhead is ultimately an
illusion. Whereas Bhaktivedanta Swami's theistic philosophy accepted the individual
spiritual self (ātmā) as an eternal servant of the supreme spiritual being (Bhagavān), Dr.
Mishra's view accepted the spiritual self as not an individual. Rather, his idea was that
since each person is identical with God, the Supreme Brahman, there is no need to
worship God outside oneself. As Dr. Mishra would put it, "Everything is one."

In Every Town and Village 157 talked together for an hour, while
everyone hovered around. "I've really been trying to meet you
people," George said. "Why don't you come to my place
tomorrow?" The next day śyāmasundara went to George's for
lunch, where he met the other Beatles: Ringo Starr, John Lennon,
and Paul McCartney. They all had questions, but George was
especially interested. George: I had a copy of the Hare Krşņa
album with śrila Prabhupāda singing Hare Krsna with the
devotees. I'd had the record at least two years. But I got it the
week it was pressed. I was open to it. You attract those things. So
I used to play that a lot of the time. John and I listened to it. I
remember we sang it for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos,
sailing through the Greek Islands, chanting Hare Krşņa. So I was
chanting the Hare Krsna mantra long before I met śyāmasundara,
Guru dāsa, and Mukunda. I was just pleased to hear the Hare
Krsna mantra and have a copy of the record. And I knew about
Prabhupāda because I had read all the liner notes on that album.
Having been to India I could tell where the devotees were all
coming from, with the style of dress and shaved heads. I had seen
them on the streets of Los Angeles and New York. Having read so
many books and looking for yogis, my concept of the devotees
wasn't like the other people. No, I was aware of the thing and that
it was a pretty heavy one, much more austerities than other
groups— like no coffee, chocolate, or tea. śyāmasundara
continued to see George regularly, and they soon became friends.
George, who had been practicing a mantra given him by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, began to hear for the first time about
bhakti yoga and the Vedic philosophy. He talked openly to
Syāmasundara, Guru dāsa, and Mukunda of his spiritual quest and
his realizations of karma. George: A yogi I met in India said, “You
are really lucky. You have youth, fame, fortune, health, but at the
same time that's not enough for you. You want to know about
some thing else. "Most people don't even get to the point where
they realize there's something beyond that wall. They are just
trying to get up on top of that wall, to be able to eat and have a
nice house and be comfortable and all that. But I was fortunate
enough to get all that in time to realize there's something else to
life, whereas most people get worn out just trying to attain
material things.
Struggling Alone 13 own branch in New York, Bhaktivedanta Swami would be willing to
manage it. But without their own house, he reported, they could not conduct a mission in
the city. Bhaktivedanta Swami wrote that they could open centers in many cities
throughout the country if his Godbrothers would co-operate. He repeatedly made the
point that although other groups did not have the genuine spiritual philosophy of India,
they were buying many buildings. The Gaudiya Math, however, had nothing. Three weeks
later Bhaktivedanta Swami received Tirtha Mahārāja's reply. Bhaktivedanta Swami had
explained his hopes and plans for staying in America, but he had stressed that his
Godbrothers would have to give him their vote of confidence as well as some tangible
support. His Godbrothers had not been working cooperatively. Each leader was
interested more in maintaining his own building than in working with the others to spread
the teachings of Lord Caitanya around the world. So how would it be possible for them to
share Bhaktivedanta Swami's vision of establishing a branch in New York City? They
would see it as his separate attempt. Yet despite the unlikely odds, he appealed to their
missionary spirit and reminded them of the desires of their spiritual master, Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Thākura. Their Guru Mahārāja wanted Krsna consciousness to
be spread in the West. But when Bhaktivedanta Swami finally got Tirtha Mahārāja's reply,
he found it unfavorable. His Godbrother did not argue against his attempting something
in New York, but he politely said that the Gaudiya Math's funds could not be used for
such a proposal. In his solitary wanderings in Manhattan, Bhaktivedanta Swami made
acquaintances with a number of local people. There was Mr. Ruben, a Turkish Jew, who
worked as a subway conductor. Mr. Ruben met Bhaktivedanta Swamion a park bench
and, being a sociable fellow and a world traveler, sat and talked with the Indian holy
man. Mr. Ruben: He seemed to know that he would have temples filled up with devotees.
He would look out and say, "I am not a poor man, / am rich. There are temples and
books, they are existing, they are there, but time is separating us from them." He always
mentioned "we" and

In Every Town and Village 159 America also. He is attracted by

our Samkirtan Party and if Mr. George Harrison takes the leading
part in organizing a huge Samkirtan Party consisting of the
Beatles and our ISKCON boys, surely we shall change the face of
the world so much politically harassed by the maneuvers of the
politicians. For the London devotees, George's friendship
heightened the excitement of Prabhupāda's coming to London.
Now that a worldfamous personality was waiting to meet
Prabhupāda, they felt perhaps they had another way to please
him and to make preaching in London a success. George, by his
association with Krsna consciousness and by dint of his own
spiritual evolution, began to express his devotion to Lord Krsna in
his songs. Reading Prabhupāda's Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, he could
appreciate the superiority of the personal conception of God over
the impersonal. Guru dāsa showed George the verse in the
Gītāwhere Krşņa say that He is the basis of the impersonal
Brahman. George liked the concepts of Krsna consciousness, but
he was wary of showing exclusive devotion to Prabhupāda and
Krşņa. The devotees, therefore, dealt with him accordingly, so as
not to disturb him. On January 11 Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote another
letter to the devotees in London, expressing more ideas of how
George could best serve Kșşņa. I am so glad that Mr. Harrison is
composing songs like "Lord whom we so long ignored." He is very
thoughtful. When we actually meet, I shall be able to give him
thoughts about separation from Krishna, and they will be able to
compose very attractive songs for public reception. The publicis in
need of such songs, and if they are administered through nice
agents like the Beatles, it will surely be a great success. Later
George would record some of these songs. His "My Sweet Lord"
was the number-one single in America for two months, and his
millionselling album Living in the Material World was number one
on Billboard for five weeks. Prabhupāda cautioned the devotees
not to simply depend on George for help but to try to find a
building themselves and rent it.
160 Prabhupāda George did want to help, however, and again he suggested the
devotees make a record on the Apple label. An old favorite idea of the London devotees
had been to get the Beatles to make a record chanting Hare Krsna; if the Beatles did it,
the mantra would certainly become world famous. George liked the idea, but he
preferred that the devotees sing it and he produce it on the Apple label. "You guys make
the money, rather than we get it," he said. "Let's make a record." So the devotees went
over to George's house for a chanting session. George dubbed in his guitar, and a few
weeks later the devotees returned and heard their tape. George was ready to try a
session at the studio, so the devotees agreed to meet him and his musician friend Billy
Preston at Trident Studios on St. Anne's Alley. They recorded for a few hours; the tape
sounded good. George and śyāmasundara agreed on a date for the actual recording. On
the day of the recording about a dozen devotees, including some newly recruited
Britishers, assembled at E.M.I. recording studios on Abbey Road. When the first group of
devotees arrived in George's Mercedes, a crowd of teenagers began singing Hare Krşņa
to the tune popularized by the rock musical Hair. While Yamunā applied Vaişnava tilaka
to the foreheads of the recording technicians, Mālati began unpacking the picnic baskets
of prasādam she had brought, and some of the other devotees put up pictures of Krsna
and lit incense. The studio was Krsņa-ized. With Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda,
operating the control console, the recording session began. Everyone worked quickly,
making Side One of the 45 rpm record in about an hour. George played organ, and
Mukunda played mrdanga. Yamunā sang the lead with śyāmasundara backing her, and
the other voices blended in a chorus, And to make it come out exactly right, everyone
concentrated on Prabhupāda and prayed for spiritual strength. On the fourth take,
everything went smoothly, with Mālatī spontaneously hitting a brass gong at the end.
Then they recorded the flip side of the record: prayers to Srila Prabhupāda, Lord Caitanya
and His associates, and the six Gosvāmīs. Afterward, George dubbed in the bass guitar
and other voices. The devotees, engineers—everyonefelt good about it. “This is going to
be big," George promised.

In Every Town and Village 161 As the record went into production
the devotees returned to their regular work, still living separately.
Prabhupāda set the time of his arrival for early September. He
would go to Hamburg and then come to London, he said-even if
there was no temple. Miraculously, only two months before
Prabhupāda's arrival, things began to come together. Guru dāsa
met a real estate agent with a building on Bury Place, near the
British Museum; the devotees could move in immediately. An
ideal location, forty-one pounds a week, and immediate
occupancyit was wonderful. Mukunda wrote Prabhupāda asking
him for money for the down payment Prabhupāda agreed.
śyāmasundara got a letter from George on Apple Corporation,
Ltd., stationery stating that Apple would guarantee payments if
the devotees defaulted. Within a week, the devotees had a five-
story building in central London. But when the devotees went to
live at their new center on Bury Place, city officials said they did
not have the proper housing permits. The red tape could take
weeks, even months Again the devotees were without a place to
live and worship together. Śyāmasundara, however, on faith that
everything would work out, began constructing a temple room of
California redwood in the building. John Lennon then suggested to
śyāmasundara that the devotees come and live with him at
Tittenhurst, a large estate he had recently purchased near Ascot.
He needed some renovation done, and if the devotees would help
he would give them a place to live. "Can our guru also stay
there?" śyāmasundara asked. John agreed, and the devotees
moved into the former servants' quarters at John's estate. Only a
few weeks before Prabhupāda's arrival, the record, "Hare Krishna
Mantra," was released. Apple Records staged a promotion and
brought press reporters and photographers in a multicolored bus
to a blue-and-white pavilion where the devotees had gathered
with George. The first day the record sold seventy thousand
copies. Within a few weeks the devotees appeared on the popular
TV show Top of the Pops, singing "their song." John Lennon's
estate, formerly owned by the Cadbury family, consisted of
seventy-six acres of lawn and forest, with a large manor
162 Prabhupāda and many smaller buildings. John and his wife, Yoko, lived in the manor.
The servants' quarters, where Prabhupāda and the devotees were to live, were four
separate apartments in a single narrow building near the manor. About fifteen devotees
moved in, reserving one apartment for Prabhupāda and his servant. But this was not the
first time the Lennons had had devotees as quests. A few months before, in May, several
devotees had chanted Hare Krsna with John and Yoko in their suite at Montreal's Queen
Elizabeth Hotel. John wanted the devotees to tear out the hardwood walls and floors in
the main house and replace them with new walls and blackand-white marble tile floors.
While this renovation was beginning, Išāna, who had recently arrived from Canada,
began with a few helpers to convert the old music recital hall into a temple, complete
with a vyāsāsana for Prabhupāda. The devotees worked day and night on Prabhupāda's
quarters, the temple room, and Prabhupāda's vyāsāsana, With such energy did they work
that John and Yoko could see that the devotees were obviously in love with their spiritual
master. When the devotees were making a tape to send to Prabhupāda in Germany,
Iśāna asked John if he had anything he wanted to say to their guru. John smiled and said
he would like to know Prabhupāda's secret that made his followers so devoted. The stage
was set. The time had come for the principal character to enter. Lord Krsna's pure
devotee was at last coming to England. For the six devotees who had pioneered Krsna
consciousness in London, it had been a long struggle. But now it seemed that all their
onceimpossible dreams were coming true. They had found a place for Prabhupāda to
live, and they had obtained a temple in the center of London. This was Krsna's blessing.
September 11, 1969 With the cooperation of Apple Records and Lufthansa German
Airlines, the devotees arranged a reception for Prabhupāda at London's Heathrow
Airport. As soon as Prabhupāda descended the stairs of the airplane, he was escorted to
a car and driven to a V.I.P. lounge,

In Every Town and Village 163 bypassing the formalities of

immigration and customs. As Prabhupāda stepped from the car,
the devotees ran out of the terminal and offered obeisances on
the wet pavement, while Śrīla Prabhupāda looked down on them,
smiling. The devotees rose, brushing wet macadam from their
dhotis and saris, and joyfully surrounded Prabhupāda as he
entered the lounge. The reporters, moving in: "What do you think
of this reception?" Prabhupāda: "I am not very much fond of
reception. I want to know how people give reception to this
movement. That is my concern." Devotees in unison: "Haribol!"
Reporter: "Is this a very special welcome for you, or is this a
performance you go through each day?" Prabhupāda: "No,
wherever I go, I have got my disciples. In Western countries I
have got now about twenty centers, especially in America. So the
American boys are very enthusiastic. I think in Los Angeles and
San Francisco I got a very great reception. In the Ratha-yātrā
festival about ten thousand boys and girls followed me for seven
miles." Devotees: "Haribol!" Sun reporter: "What do you try to
teach, sir?" Prabhupada: "I am trying to teach what you have
forgotten." Devotees (laughing): "Haribol! Hare Krsna!" Sun
reporter: "Which is what?" Prabhupāda: "That is God. Some of you
are saying there is no God. Some of you are saying God is dead.
And some of you are saying God is impersonal or void. These are
all nonsense. I want to teach all the nonsense people that there is
God. That is my mission. Any nonsense can come to me, shall
prove that there is God. That is my Krsna consciousness
movement. It is a challenge to the atheistic people: This is God.
As we are sitting here face to face, you can see God face to face,
if you are sincere and if you are serious. That is possible.
Unfortunately, you are trying to forget God. Therefore you are
embracing so many miseries of life. So I am simply preaching that
you become Krsna conscious and be happy. Don't be swayed by
these nonsense waves of maya, or illusion."
In Every Town and Village 165 When George, John, and Yoko
dropped by after Prabhupāda's lunch, śyāmasundara invited them
to come up and meet Prabhupāda. George turned to John and
asked, "Do you want to go up?" The bearded, bespectacled
master of Tittenhurst, hair down to his shoulders, assented. Yoko
was also curious. So they all went to Prabhupāda's little room.
Smiling graciously from behind his desk, Prabhupādu asked his
quests to enter and be seated. Here were two of the most famous
people in England, and Krsna wanted him to speak to them.
Prabhupāda removed his garland and handed it to śyāmasundara,
indicating that he should put it around George's neck. "Thank
you," said George. "Hare Krsna." Prabhupāda smiled. “This is
Krşņa's blessing." "Hare Krşņa," George replied again. "Yes,"
Prabhupāda said, "there is a verse in Bhagavad-gītā:yad yad
ācarati śreșthas tat tad evetaro janaḥ/ sa yat pramāņaṁ kurute
lokas tad anuvartate. The idea is that anything which is accepted
by the leading persons, ordinary persons follow. Yad yad ācarati
śreșthaḥ. Śresthaḥ means 'leading persons.' Ācarati means 'act.'
Whatever leading persons act, people in general follow them. If
the leading person says it is nice, then it is all right—the others
also accept it. So by the grace of God, Krşņa, you are leaders.
Thousands of young men follow you. They like you. So if you give
them something actually nice, the face of the world will change."
Although George and John were about the same age as most of
Prabhupāda's disciples, Prabhupāda considered them śreșthas,
respected leaders. "You are also anxious to bring some peace in
the world," Prabhupāda continued. "I have read sometimes your
statement. You are anxious also. Everyone is. Every saintly
person should; be anxious to bring in peace in the world. But we
must know the process." He explained the "peace formula”
according to Bhagavad-gītā: only those who recognize the
Supreme Personality of God head as the proprietor of everything,
the object of all sacrifices, and the friend of everyone can find real
peace. Prabhupāda then told the two Beatles even more directly
what he had already hinted at: they should learn Krşņa
consciousness and help
166 Prabhupāda teach it to the world. "I request you to at least
understand this philosophy to your best knowledge," he said. "If
you think it is nice, pick it up. You are also willing to give
something to the world. So try this. You have read our books, this
Bhagavad-gitā As It Is?" John: "I've read bits of the Bhagavad-gitā.
I don't know which version it was. There's so many different
translations." Prabhupāda: “There are different translations.
Therefore I have given this edition, Bhagavad-gitā As It Is."
Prabhupāda explained that the material world is a place of
misery. Nature is cruel. In America President Kennedy was
thought to be the most fortunate, happy man, honored
throughout the world. "But within a second”—Prabhupāda loudly
snapped his fingers—"he was finished. Temporary. Now what is
his position? Where is he? If life is eternal, if the living entity is
eternal, where he has gone? What is he doing? Is he happy, or is
he distressed? He is born in America, or China? Nobody can say.
But it is a fact that, as living entity, he is eternal. He is existing."
Prabhupāda explained the transmigration of the soul. Then again
he requested, "Try to understand it, and if it is nice you take it up.
You are after something very nice. Is my proposal unreasonable?"
The two Beatles glanced at one another but didn't answer.
Prabhupāda gave a soft, amused laugh. "You are all intelligent
boys. Try to understand it." Prabhupāda asked his guests what
philosophy they were following "Following?" John asked. "We don't
follow anything," Yoko said. “We are just living." "We've done
meditation," said George. "Or I do my meditation, mantra
meditation." They began to ask questions—the same questions
Prabhupāda had heard so many times before. After hearing
Prabhupāda's explanation of Brahman, the all-pervading spiritual
energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yoko doubted
whether Brahman could remain pure and not deteriorate in time.
Prabhupāda advised that she would have to become a serious
student before she could actually under stand spiritual
philosophy. John and Yoko, being devoted eclectics, had difficulty
accepting Prabhupāda's concept of Vedic authority.
In Every Town and Village 167 John: "We still have to keep sifting
through, like through sand, to see who's got the best."
Prabhupāda: "No. One thing you try to understand. Why these
people—if Krşņa is not the supreme authority—why they are
taking Krsna's book and translating? Why don't you try to
understand?" George: "I'm not saying Krsna isn't the Supreme. I
believe that. There is a misunderstanding about the translation of
the Sanskrit Gītā into English. And I was saying that there are
many versions, and I think we thought you were trying to say your
version, your translation, was the authority and that the other
translations were not. But we didn't really have misunderstanding
as to the identity of Krsna." Prabhupāda: “That's all right. If you
believe Krsna is the Supreme Lord, if that is your version, then
you have to see who is most addicted to Krşņa. These people are
twenty-four hours chanting Krşņa. And another person, who has
not a single word Krşņa -how can he become a devotee of Krşņa?
How can he, who does not utter even the name of Krşņa, become
a representative of Krşņa? If Krsna is authority—and that is
accepted—therefore those who are directly addicted to Kęsņa,
they are authorities." After more than an hour of conversation,
Prabhupāda distributed some prasādam to John George, Yoko,
and the few disciples in his room. If these sreşthas were to take
up Krsna consciousness, that would be good for them and many
others also. He had done his duty and provided them the
opportunity. It was Krşņa's message, and to accept it or not was
now up to them. John said he had something to do, and he
excused himself. As everyone was leaving, Yoko, walking down
the stairs, turned to John and said, “Look at how simply he's
living. Could you live like that?" The devotees regularly
encountered John and Yoko. Although originally interested in a
business relationship, John was inclined toward the devotees, but
his friends advised him not to get involved with the Swami and his
group. So he remained aloof. iśāna dāsa: I was in the kitchen
working, and John was sitting at the piano. He had a piano in the
kitchen, a great upright piano with all
168 Prabhupāda the varnish removed-bare wood. And in this way
he was sitting at the piano, playing Hare Krsna. The man was
actually a great musician, and he played Hare Krsna in every
musical idiom you could think of bluegrass music or classical
music or rock-and-roll or whatever. He would go at will from one
idiom to another, always singing Hare Krsna. It was so natural for
him, and one could see he was a musical genius. And in this way
he was entertaining me, and he was obviously really enjoying it.
So anyway, while this piano playing was going on with great vigor
and enthusiasm, this chanting Hare Krşņa, his wife, Yoko Ono,
appeared in a nightgown or what have you and said, in a very
distressed tone, "Please, John, I have a terrible headache. Can't
you stop that sort of thing and come upstairs with me?" George
was different. He was drawn to Prabhupāda. When one of the
devotees had asked, "Why out of all the Beatles are only you
interested?" George replied, "It's my karma. One of the things in
my sign is the spiritual side." George Harrison: Prabhupāda just
looked like I thought he would. I had like a mixed feeling of fear
and awe about meeting him. That's what I liked about later on
after meeting him more—I felt that he was just more like a friend.
I felt relaxed. It was much better than at first, because I hadn't
been able to tell what he was saying and I wasn't sure if I was too
worldly to even be there. But later I relaxed and felt much more
at ease with him, and he was very warm towards me. He wouldn't
talk differently to me than to anybody else. He was always just
speaking about Krsna, and it was coincidental who happened to
be there. Whenever you saw him he would always be the same. It
wasn't like one time he would tell you to chant the Hare Krşņa
mantra and then the next time say, "Oh, no, I made a mistake."
He was always the same. Seeing him was always a pleasure.
Sometimes I would drop by, thinking I wasn't planning to go but I
better go because lought to, and I would always come away just
feeling so good. I was conscious that he was taking a personal
interest in me. It was always a pleasure. George was attracted to
Krşņa, and he liked to chant. Even before meeting Prabhupāda,
he had learned something of Krşņa from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
from the autobiography of Paramahansa
In Every Town and Village 169 Yogananda, and from traveling to
India. But Prabhupāda's instructions in particular impressed upon
him that Lord Krsna was the Absolute Truth, the origin of
everything. George: Prabhupāda helped me to realize the
multifaceted way to approach Krsna. Like the prasādam, for
example. I think it is a very important thing, prasādam, even if it's
only a trick. Like they say, the way to a man's heart is through his
stomach. Well, even if it's a way to a man's spirit soul, it works.
Because there is nothing better than having been dancing and
singing or just sitting and talking and then suddenly they give you
some food. It's like it's a blessing. And then when you learn to
touch Him or taste Him, it's important. Krsna is not limited. And
just by Prabhupāda's being there and pouring out all this
information, I was moved. It's like the mind is stubborn, but it's all
Krşņa. That's all you need to know—it's all Krşņa. This world is His
material energy too, the universal form. And in Prabhupāda's
books there are these pictures showing Krsna in the heart of a
dog and a cow and a human being. It helps you to realize that
Krsna is within everybody. Although Prabhupāda might have been
teaching some higher aspect, what came through to me a lot was
a greater understanding of how Krsna is everywhere and in
everything. Prabhupāda explained about the different aspects of
Krsna, and he provided a meditation where you could see Kșşņa
as a person everywhere. I mean, there isn't anything that isn't
Krşņa. Prabhupāda saw George as a “nice young boy" and a
devotee of Krsna. According to the Bhāgavatam no matter what a
person may be materially, if he is a nondevotee and never utters
the holy name of God he cannot possess any good qualities. Many
swamis and yogis in India, even some who considered themselves
Vaisnavas, had no faith in or understanding of the holy names of
Krşņa. But George liked to chant Hare Krsna, and he had put the
holy name of Krsna in his songs, which were tremendously
popular all over the world. So he was serving Krsna through his
music, and that made all the difference. Mr. George Harrison
appears to be a very intelligent boy, and he is, by the Grace of
Krishna, fortunate also. On the first day, he came to see me
In Every Town and Village 171 He was just always friendly. He
was always chanting, and at times he said that to me-just to keep
chanting all the time, or as much as possible. I think once you do
that, you realize the chanting is of benefit. There are some gurus
who go around making out that they are "it, "but Prabhupāda was
saying, "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna,
"which is really what it is, you know. He wasn't saying, "am the
greatest, "and "I am God,"and all that. With him it was only in the
context of being a servant, and I liked that a lot. I think it's part of
the spiritual thing. The more they know, then the more they
actually know that they are the servant. And the less they know,
the more they think they are actually God's gift to mankind. So
although he was obviously a very powerful individual, very
spiritually advanced, he always retained that humbleness. And I
think that is one of the most important things, because you learn-
more than all the words he says—you learn really from the
example of how he lives and what he does. Prabhupāda and his
people and John and Yoko and theirs made an odd combination.
Two days after Prabhupāda's arrival at Tittenhurst, John and Yoko
had flown to Canada to perform with the Plastic Ono Band at
Toronto's Rock-N-Roll Revival at Varsity Stadium. In October John
and Yoko had recorded Wedding Album and begun work on a film,
Rock-and-Roll Circus, and John had recorded "Cold Turkey."
Although John was usually shy, the devotees working at the main
house found him openhearted and generous with his possessions.
He invited the devotees to stay permanently at Tittenhurst and
farm. Whatever he had, he said, he would share with them.
Eventually Prabhupāda and his disciples departed, but their talks
with John at Tittenhurst were reflected in a song John wrote
around that time—"Instant Karma." * * * Even though
Prabhupāda's quarters were incomplete and temple renovation
made 7 Bury Place noisy and hectic, Prabhupāda decided to move
in. "I am not attached to a comfortable apartment," he said. "My
attachment is to living in the association of devotees." He was
moving into the temple at a time when the record sales were low
and
172 Prabhupāda the devotees were having to purchase supplies
piecemeal, whenever they got money. Yet with Prabhupāda living
with them and supervising their work, they were satisfied. One
day a Mr. Doyal phoned, representing a large London Hindu
society. He had heard the devotees wanted Rādhā-Krşņa Deities,
and he had a pair he would donate. When Prabhupāda heard the
news, he sent Tamāla Krsna, Mukunda, and Syāmasundara to Mr.
Doyal's home to see the Deities. Rādha and Krşņa were white
marble and stood about three feet high. Never before had the
devotees seen such large Deities, and they offered obeisances.
When they returned to the temple and told Prabhupāda, he said,
"Take me there at once!" Srila Prabhupāda, accompanied by
śyāmasundara, Mukunda, and Tamāla Krsna, arrived by van at Mr.
Doyal's home. Prabhupāda entered the living room and sat down.
The Deities, covered by a cloth, stood on a table in the corner.
Tamāla Krsna was about to unveil Them when Prabhupāda
checked him: "No. That's all right." Prabhupāda sat and spoke
with Mr. Doyal, asking him about his work and where he had
come from in India, and he met Mr. Doyal's family. Prabhupāda
and his host chatted while the devotees listened. "Swamiji," Mr.
Doyal said at length, “I want to show you my Deities." “Yes,"
Prabhupāda replied, "I will see them after some time."
Prabhupāda began to speak about his Krşņa consciousness
mission, and after a while Mr. Doyal again requested, "Please take
a look at these Deities." And with that he walked over and
unveiled Rādhā and Krsna. "Oh, yes," Prabhupāda said, folding his
hands respectfully. Mr. Doyal explained that he had ordered the
Deities from India for his own use, but in transit a tiny piece of
Rādhārāņi's finger had chipped off; therefore, according to Hindu
tradition, the Deities could not be installed. "Tamāla Krşņa,"
Prabhupāda said. "See how heavy these Deities are." Tamāla
Krsna, placing one hand at Rādhārāņi's base and the other around
Her shoulder, lifted Her. "Not so heavy," he said.
In Every Town and Village 173 "Śyāmasundara," Prabhupāda said.
"See how heavy is Krsna." The Deities were actually heavy for one
man to carry, but the devotees understood Prabhupāda's
intention. "Not bad," śyāmasundara said, holding Krsna a few
inches off the table. "Yes," Prabhupāda said conclusively, "I think
They're all right. Let us take them. We have our van." And
suddenly Prabhupāda was leaving, with his disciples following,
care fully carrying Rādhā and Krsna. Prabhupāda thanked Mr.
Doyal. "But Swamiji! Swamiji!" protested Mr. Doyal, who was not
prepared for this sudden exit. "Please, we will arrange to bring
them. Our society will bring Them." But Prabhupāda was already
out the door and leading his men to the van. "Please wait," Mr.
Doyal persisted. “We have to fix Them first, then you can take
them." "We have an expert man," Prabhupāda said. "He can fix
these things.” Prabhupāda was assuring Mr. Doyal and at the
same time directing his disciples. He opened the door of the van,
and śyāmasundara and Tamāla Krşņa slowly entered, cautiously
setting Rādhā and Krsna within. Tamāla Krsna knelt in the back to
hold the Deities secure, while śyāmasundara got into the driver's
seat. "Now drive," Prabhupāda said. And off they went, with
Prabhupāda smiling from the window to Mr. Doyal and his family,
who stood together on the curb. śyāmasundara had driven but a
few blocks when Prabhupāda asked him to stop the van. Turning
around in his seat, Prabhupāda began offering prayers: Govindam
ādi-puruşaṁ tam ahań bhajāmi... He looked long at Krsna, who
was white with a slight bluish cast, and at the exquisite white
Rādhārāņi by His side. "Krşņa is so kind," he said. "He has come
like this." Then he had syāmasundara continue driving slowly
back to the temple. Carefully, Prabhupāda supervised his
disciples' carrying the Deities up to the second floor. The
devotees were astounded and delighted to see Prabhupāda in
such an animated and intense state, bringing Rādhā and Krsna
into their temple. He had the Deities placed in a curtainedoff
section of his own room, and then he sat at his desk.
174 Prabhupāda Syāmasundara had completed most of the altar,
except for Lord Jagannātha's altar and the canopy over Rādhā and
Krşņa's throne. Both the canopy and Lord Jagannātha's altar
would be supported by four heavy, wooden columns more than
six feet high. Two rear columns would hold a marble slab for the
Jagannātha deities to stand on, and two front columns were now
supporting Rādhā and Kșsna's large velvet canopy. The columns
were big and heavy; śyāmasundara called them "elephant-leg
columns." The columns now stood in place on the altar, although
śyāmasundara hadn't had a chance to secure them. The day
before the installation syāmasundara collapsed upstairs in
exhaustion. On opening day many guests, Indians especially,
crowded the temple, responding to flyers and advertisements.
Apple Records had supplied a professional florist, who had
decorated the room with floral arrangements. A BBC television
crew was on hand to videotape the ceremony. While most of the
devotees held kirtana, Prabhupāda, behind a curtain at the other
end of the temple, bathed Rādhā and Krsna. The plan was that
after the bathing ceremony the Deities would be placed on the
altar and Yamunā would dress Them. Once They were dressed
and enthroned, the curtain would open for all the guests to behold
Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Krsna. Prabhupāda would lecture, and then
everyone would feast. But because of śyāmasundara's oversight,
the installation almost became a disaster. Prabhupāda had
finished bathing the Deities and They had been placed on the
marble altar, when suddenly the "elephant-leg columns" tottered.
The canopy above the Deities began to collapse. Prabhupāda,
seeing the danger, jumped onto the altar and seized the heavy
columns in a split second. With great strength he held the two
front pillars in place. "Get this out of here!" he shouted. While
Prabhupāda's arms protected the Deities, the men removed the
canopy, and then two men at a time carried each of the pillars
away. The Deities remained unharmed. While Prabhupāda was
behind the curtain rescuing Rādhā and Krsna, on the other side of
the curtain guests and reporters awaited the unveiling of the
Deities. Unaware of the mishap, the guests saw only men
emerging from behind the curtain carrying large pillars and
178 Prabhupāda Each temple must remain independent and self sufficient. That was my
plan from the very beginning.... Once there is bureaucracy the whole thing will be
spoiled. There must always be individual striving and work and responsibility,
competitive spirit; not that one shall dominate and distribute benefits to the others, and
they do nothing but beg from you, and you provide. No. Never mind there may be
botheration to register each center, take tax certificate each, become separate
corporations in each state. That will train men how to do these things, and they shall
develop reliability and responsibility. Calcutta August 1970 For the first time in almost
three years, Prabhupāda returned to India—to Calcutta, his hometown. Although it was
late and the journey had been long, Prabhupāda felt happy as he descended the stairway
from the airplane. Acyutānanda and Jayapatāka, his only American disciples in India,
were standing on the airfield, and as they saw him approaching in his saffron silk robes,
they bowed down. Prabhupāda smiled and embraced them. Calcutta was in political
turmoil. A group of Communist terrorists, the Naxalites, had been rioting, murdering
prominent businessmen and threatening the lives of many others. Many wealthy Marwari
industrialists were leaving the city for Delhi and Bombay. Aside from the terrorists,
Bengali college students were growing unruly. But the older people of West Bengal,
comprising most of Prabhupāda's visitors, were alarmed by the violence and unrest. The
only shelter, Prabhupāda told them, was Krşņa. People are in very much perturbed
condition. All of them are expecting me to do something for ameliorating the situation,
but I am simply advising them to chant Hare Krşņa, because this transcendental sound is
the only panacea for all material diseases. Prabhupāda saw no need to fabricate a special
program for the social

In Every Town and Village 179 problems of Calcutta. Chanting Hare Krsna was "the only
panacea for all material diseases." The question was how best to use his American
disciples to give this panacea to the Indians. Prabhupāda had come with a party of ten
devotees, and he had asked his leaders in the West for twenty more within the month.
He had ordered $60,000 worth of books and magazines from Dai Nippon Printing
Company in Japan, and his sannyasis were going daily into the streets to perform kirtana.
The sankirtana party was getting a good response. Shavenheaded Westerners, wearing
śikhās, Vaisnava tilaka, and saffron robes, playing karatālas and mrdangas, chanting
Hare Krsna with heart and soul, quoting Sanskrit verses from Bhagavad-gītā, affirming
Lord Krsna to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead—for the Bengalis this was
sensational, and hundreds would gather to watch. Prabhupāda knew the great appeal his
disciples would have; everyone would want to see them. He therefore affectionately
called them his "dancing white elephants." These same devotees, who had grown to love
chanting Hare Krsņa in the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, were
now going into an exhausting heat never encountered in America and chanting on
Dalhousie Square for several hours daily. Crowds would press in closely, some times
teasing, laughing, or scoffing, but more often looking on with deep amazement.
Prabhupāda's idea was that when Indians saw young Western people adopting the
principles of Krsņa consciousness, the faith of the Indians in their own culture would
increase. Prabhupāda explained to his disciples how formerly, during the time of
Mahārāja Yudhisthira, India had been a Krsna conscious state. For the last thousand
years, however, India had been under foreign subjugation, first under the Moguls and
then under the British. As a result, the intelligentsia and, to a lesser degree, the masses
of India had lost respect for their own and they saw this as more productive and more
practical than religion, which was only sentimental. Westerners living as renounced
Vaisnavas could, as Prabhupāda was well aware, turn the heads and hearts of the Indians
and help them regain faith in their own lost culture. It was not a material tactic,

180 Prabhupāda however, but a spiritual strength. Prabhupāda stressed that the
devotees must be pure in their actions; this purity would be their force. The chanting in
Dalhousie Square and along Chowringee had gone on for about ten days when
Prabhupāda decided to stop it. The street kirtana, although an excellent method of
preaching, was not the most effective method for India, he said. There were many
professional kirtana groups in Bengal, and Prabhupāda didn't want his disciples to be
seen like that as professional performers or beggars. He wanted them to preach in a way
that would bring them closer to the more intelligent, respectable Indians, and he
unfolded his new plans. He called it "Life Membership." His disciples would invite Indians
interested in supporting and associating with ISKCON to become members. A
membership fee of 1,111 rupees would entitle the member to many benefits, such as
copies of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and free accommodation in ISKCON centers around
the world. Speaking one evening in a private home before a group of wealthy
businessmen, Prabhupāda initiated his life membership program. After lecturing, he
invited his audience to become ISKCON life members, and several Calcutta merchants
immediately signed. B. L. Jaju: I was really overwhelmed by the simplicity of
Prabhupāda's nature. He told me how he had been carrying on his regular business when
his guru had told him that four hundred years back Caitanya Mahāprabhu had said that
Hare Rāma, Hare Krsna would be chanted all throughout the world. He said that was the
job given to him by his spiritual master and that he would have to go to America and do
it. I found no snobbery in him. He was very simple. And he was telling, as if my brother
was telling me, simply how he went to the U.S.A., how he started, and how gradually he
planned to have this Krşņa consciousness throughout the world. Seeing his disciples who
had changed their lives, I began to think, “Why not l? In my humble way, I should do
something, without worrying what other people are doing. "I found that imperceptibly he
was affecting my life. My wife and even my son were really surprised when they found
that these white people, whom we thought could

In Every Town and Village 181 never turn to Krşņa consciousness, had changed so much.
So we thought we also must try to follow better the teaching of the Gītā. Prabhupāda
continued holding programs in people's homes and talking with guests in his room. One
day a Mr. Dandharia visited Prabhupāda and mentioned Bombay's upcoming Sadhu
Samaj, a gathering of the most important sadhus in India. It was to be held at Chowpatti
Beach and promised to be a big affair. Mr. Dandharia requested Prabhupāda to attend,
and Prabhupāda accepted. Bombay October 1970 The sand of Chowpatti Beach was fine
and clean. The audience numbered in the thousands. Sadhus sat onstage, Prabhupāda
and his followers among them. It was twilight. The sky above the Arabian Sea was
cloudy, and a pleasant breeze was stirring. There had already been two lectures
expounding the Māyāvāda philosophy, and now it was time for Prabhupāda to speak—the
last scheduled speaker of the evening. The audience was eager to hear him; his
accomplishments in the West had caused great curiosity, especially now that he had
arrived in Bombay and his devotees were chanting daily in public. Prabhupāda's
disciples, bored and exasperated by the preceding two hours of Hindi oratory, could
scarcely wait any longer for Prabhupāda to speak. But Prabhupāda, instead of addressing
the audience, turned to his disciples and said, “Begin chanting." As soon as the devotees
began the kirtana, little Sarasvati, śyāmasundara's daughter, stood and began to dance.
Following her, the other devotees rose and began to dance. As the kirtana came alive
with mrdangas and karatālas, the dancing and chanting of the devotees seemed to
disturb some of the sadhus onstage, who rose one by one and left. The audience,
however, responded enthusiastically, many of them standing and clapping. After five
minutes of ecstatic kirtana, the devotees spontaneously jumped down onto the sand and
headed toward the audience. Thousands in the crowd rose to their feet and began to
move along with the devotees in a dance, backward and forward.

182 Prabhupāda Indians began crying in uncontrolled happiness, overwhelmed by the

genuine Krsna-bhakti of these foreigners. Never before had such a thing happened.
Policemen and press reporters joined in the chanting and dancing. Chowpatti Beach was
in an uproar of Hare Krsņa kirtana, as Prabhupāda and his disciples showed the potency
of Lord Caitanya's sarkīrtana movement. After about ten minutes the kirtana ended,
though a tumultuous unrest pervaded the talkative crowd. Fifteen minutes elapsed
before all the people returned to their seats and the program could continue. The
devotees had left the stage and taken their seats on the ground level, leaving
Prabhupāda alone onstage. Prabhupāda's voice echoed over the public-address system.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I was requested to speak in Hindi, but lam not very much
accustomed to speak in Hindi. Therefore, the authorities in this meeting have allowed me
to speak in English. I hope you will follow me, because it is Bombay and most people will
be speaking English. The problem is, as this evening's speaker, His Holiness Swami
Akhandanandaji spoke to you, how we can make everyone accustomed to take up good
habits-sad-ācāra? I think in this age, Kali-yuga, there are many faults." Prabhupāda went
on to explain the power of Lord Caitanya's movement to clean the hearts of everyone. He
referred to the two great rogues whom Lord Caitanya had delivered, Jagāi and Mādhāi.
"Now we are saving, wholesale, Jagāis and Mādhāis. Therefore, if we want peace, if we
want to be situated on the sad-ācāra platform, then we must spread the hari-nāma
mahā-mantra all over the world. And it has been practically proven. The American and
European Vaisnavas who have come here, who have chanted Hare Krsna mantra— they
were cow-flesh eaters, they were drunkards, they were illicit-sex-mongers, they were all
kinds of gamblers. But having taken to this Krşņa consciousness movement, they have
given up everything abominable. Sad-ācāra has come automatically. They do not even
take tea, they do not even take coffee, they do not even smoke, which I think is very rare
to be found in India. But they have given up. Why? Because they have taken to this Krşņa
consciousness." Prabhupāda ended his talk after about five minutes: "I do not feel

In Every Town and Village 183 that I have to say very much. You can see what is the
result of Krşņa consciousness. It is not something artificial. It is there in everyone. I have
not done anything magical. But this Krsna consciousness is present in all of us. We
simply have to revive it." The audience responded with cheers and a great round of
applause. Prabhupāda, with greater force and eloquence than the long-winded
Māyāvādīs, had shown the essence of spiritual lifeecstatic chanting of the holy names.
And he offered the living testimony of his American disciples. For the next week,
Prabhupāda and his disciples were the talk of Bombay, and they began receiving many
invitations to speak and perform kirtana throughout the city. The Times Weekly's
coverage of the Sadhu Samaj spotlighted the memorable presence of Srila Prabhupāda
and his disciples. A group of twenty Americans, members of the Hare Krishna delegation,
took over the dais. The air was filled with the beating of mridangas, the clash of cymbals
and the music of the maha-mantra. Swaying from side to side, their tufts of hair tossing
in the breeze they chanted: Hare Krishna... One greying reporter whom I had always
regarded as a particularly unsentimental person said to me in an emotion-choked voice:
"Do you realize what is happening? Very soon Hinduism is going to sweep the West. The
Hare Krishna movement will compensate for all our loss at the hands of padres through
the centuries." Surat December 17, 1970 It was like a dream come true. Thousands lined
the street for many blocks, while the devotees, playing karatālas and mặdangas and
chanting Hare Krsna, made their way along. Spectators stood on rooftops or clustered at
windows and doorways, while others joined the procession. The police stopped traffic at
the intersections, allowing only the kirtana procession to pass. The earthen road, freshly
swept and sprinkled with water, had been decorated with rice flour designs of auspicious
Vedic symbols. Green, freshly cut banana trees adorned

184 Prabhupāda either side of the way. Overhead, women's saris strung like bunting
across the narrow roadway formed brightly colored canopy over the kirtana party. Mr.
Bhagubhai Jariwala, Prabhupāda's host in Surat, had advertised the daily parade routes
in the local newspapers, and now, day after day, the devotees were holding a kirtana
procession through various sections of the city. While more than twenty of Prabhupāda's
disciples led the daily procession, thousands of Indians chanted, cheered, and clamored
to see, and women threw flower petals from the rooftops. Often the procession would
have to stop as families came forward to garland the devotees. Sometimes the devotees
would receive so many garlands that their blissful faces would be scarcely visible, and
they would distribute the garlands to the people in the crowd. Never before had the
devotees met with such a reception. "It is a city of devotees,” Prabhupāda said. He
compared the people of Surat to dry grass catching fire. By nature they were Krsna
conscious, but the arrival of Śrīla Prabhupāda and his sankirtana party had been like a
torch, setting the city spiritually ablaze. The entire population of Surat seemed to turn
out every morning, as tens of thousands flocked at seven a.m. to the designated
neighborhood. Men, women, laborers, merchants, professionals, the young, the old, and
all the children-everyone seemed to be taking part. Cramming the streets and buildings,
they would wait for the kīrtana party, and when the devotees arrived, everyone became
joyous. Prabhupāda attended only a couple of the morning processions, preferring to stay
in his quarters at Mr. Jariwala's home. Each morning Prabhupāda would come out onto
his second-floor balcony, just as the devotees were leaving. Although the mornings were
cold and many of the devotees sick, seeing Prabhupāda on the balcony offering them his
blessings eased their troubles. Prabhupāda would wave, and the devotees would set off
down the street, chanting. The devotees had no special paraphernalia other than
mrdangas and karatālasno flags, no marching band, no ratha (cart)—just an enthusiastic
kirtana party. And there was no official pandāl, no Sadhu Samaj, no Vedanta Sammelan,
no Gita Jayanti Mahotsava—just an

In Every Town and Village 185 entire city of krsna-bhaktas waiting eagerly for the
American Hare Krşņa chanters. To be worshiped for chanting Hare Krsna was just the
opposite of what the devotees had experienced in the West. In Hamburg, Chicago, New
York, London, Los Angeles, the devotees had been insulted, threatened with arrests,
assaulted, and ignored. Of course, sometimes they had been tolerated and even
appreciated, but never honored. After several days of kīrtana processions, the mayor of
Surat, Mr. Vaikuntha Sastri, closed all schools and proclaimed a holiday throughout the
city. Everyone was now free to celebrate the mercy of Lord Caitanya and chant Hare
Krsna. Signs throughout the city read, in Gujarati, "Welcome to the American and
European Devotees of Krishna," and "Welcome to Members of the Hare Krishna
Movement." Prabhupāda had accomplished in Surat what he had intended. He had given
the holy name, and the people had embraced it. The people of Surat, though not
prepared to alter their lives radically and live as ISKCON devotees, appreciated that
Prabhupāda had turned Westerners into devotees of Lord Krsna and that he was teaching
the pure message of the scriptures and chanting Hare Krşņa. They had responded to
Prabhupāda not out of dogma or ritual but out of an appreciation of the importance of
spiritual life and a recognition that Prabhupāda and ISKCON were genuine. For
Prabhupāda's disciples, the visit to Surat had given them a glimpse of what the world
would be like if everyone were a devotee. ISKCON's new Bombay headquarters was a
four-room flat on the seventh floor of the Akash-Ganga Building. Rent was nearly three
thousand rupees a month, and the devotees had no guaranteed monthly income. Yet
because the building was in a vital, prestigious location, Prabhupāda had taken the risk.
Such a headquarters would be a necessary base for the preaching he wanted to do in
Bombay, and his next preaching would be a grand eleven-day pandāl program. “If you
are going to hunt," Prabhupāda said, "then you should hunt for a rhinoceros. In that way,
if you don't succeed, everyone will simply say,

186 Prabhupāda 'Oh, it couldn't be done anyway.' But if you do succeed, then everyone
will be surprised. Everyone will be amazed." As Prabhupāda revealed his plans for a
gigantic pandālfestival, the devotees became keenly aware that Prabhupāda's inspiration
was motivating all their preaching; without him they could never attempt anything so
bold and ambitious as a giant pandāl festival in Bombay. Often "the American and
European disciples" had been billed along with him, as if of equal importance, but the
devotees saw themselves as only foolish servants trying to help the genuine pure
devotee of the Lord. Although Prabhupāda credited his disciples, his disciples knew that
Prabhupāda was Krsna's empowered representative. He was their authority and personal
link with Krsna; his words and actions evinced full transcendental potency. As Krsna was
unlimited, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Krsna's dearmost friend, was entitled to demand unlimited
service on Krsna's behalf. In the service of Krsna, no project was impossible. Impossible,
Prabhupāda said, was a word in a fool's dictionary. But as Prabhupāda unfolded his plans
for the pandál festival, the devotees doubted: How could they ever raise the money? How
could they erect such a huge tent? Where would they get so much food? And who would
cook it? Prabhupāda seemed amused at their doubts. "You are all Americans," he said.
"So what is the use of being American unless you do something wonderful?" A Bombay
pandāl, Prabhupāda said, would be the perfect way to link America's ingenuity with
India's spirituality. He gave the example of a blind man and a lame man. Although
separately they are helpless, by cooperating—the blind man carrying the lame on his
shoulders, and the lame man giving directions—the two can work successfully. America,
because of materialism and ignorance of God, was blind. And India, because of foreign
invasions, poverty, and misinterpretations of Vedic knowledge, was lame. America had
technological advancement and wealth, and India had spiritual knowledge. The job of the
Krşņa consciousness movement was to combine the two strengths and uplift the world.
And one practical application would be the Bombay pandālfestival. Prabhupāda divided
the work, assigning śyāmasundara to publicity, Tamāla Krsna to the pandāl
arrangements, Girirāja to fund 1

In Every Town and Village 187 raising, and Madhudvişa to the scheduled programs
onstage. Catching Prabhupāda's spirit of "shooting the rhinoceros," śyāmasundara
organized a massive publicity campaign, with giant posters and banners strung across
the streets, announcing, "His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda will
speak in English language about the science of God. Prasadam distribution and bhajan
singing will be led by his American and European bhaktas—Hare Krishna Festival at Cross
Maidan-March 25 to April 4." Girirāja: Śrīla Prabhupāda took Bombay by storm. The whole
city was alive with excitement about the Hare Krşņa Festival. We had banners at all the
major intersections in Bombay. We had posters up on all the walls, many posters on
every wall, and we had very big advertisements in the news paper, with a beautiful
picture of Srila Prabhupāda superimposed over a globe, and the words Bhagavat Dharma
Discourses: A Hare Krishna Festival. World Preacher of Bhakti Cult, His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami. Day by day the momentum grew more and more, and every day
something new was happening. Finally, in the last two days, we got a huge billboard at
Victoria Train Station, the busiest intersection of downtown Bombay. By then everyone
knew so much about the festival and where it was going to be and everything that all this
billboard said was Hare Krishna in huge letters. By then everyone knew, so just these two
huge words Hare Krishna was enough. Then Syāmasundara had arranged for a big
helium-filled balloon that was attached to a very long rope at the Cross Maidan site. That
balloon just hovered over the city, and there was a streamer attached to the balloon,
saying Hare Krishna Festival. It was real American ingenuity, flair, and dynamism.
Prabhupāda's appearance at the pandālin the evening was always the high point. He
would sit on his vyāsāsana, little Sarasvati would walk out and garland him, and the
crowd would cheer. He would just wait for the crowd to quieten, which never happened.
So he would just begin speaking, his voice ringing over the powerful sound system. He
titled his first lecture "Modern Civilization Is a Failure, and the Only Hope Is Krishna
Consciousness." Girirāja: Prabhupāda was preaching forcefully to the people of

188 Prabhupāda Bombay, and every evening the pandāl was packed with at least twenty
thousand people. Śrīla Prabhupāda would preach so strongly, emphasizing following
religious principles. He knew that these people are Hindus but they are not following
these principles. Prabhupāda was speaking so powerfully that I knew that what he was
saying would be hard for many of the audience to accept. At that time I was thinking that
if Prabhupāda had wanted to flatter the audience or compromise his philosophy, he could
have attracted millions of followers. But because he was preaching so boldly and
forcefully without compromise, many of the audience did not like it, because it was a
challenge to their sense gratification and to their sentiment The fact is that people were
wild about Prabhupāda and ISKCON. One night we showed slides of the Ratha-yātrā in
San Francisco, and the audience was going wild. In front of ten thousand people
Prabhupāda announced that we will hold Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā in Bombay, and
everyone started to cheer and applaud. Day after day, the pandāl festival was a success.
Bombay's most important citizens came and were impressed. White shirted businessmen
and their well-groomed wives joined in the chanting. For hundreds of thousands of
Bombay citizens, coming to the Cross Maidan to attend an evening pandālprogram was
easy enough. Some were intent on listening to the lecture and inquiring deeply into
devotional service; others came mostly to see the Deity, take prasādam, or appreciate
the kīrtana. In any case, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and the Hare Krsna
devotees were a refreshing addition to the life of the city. It was the biggest public event
in Bombay. One evening Prabhupāda conducted a Vedic marriage ceremony and an
initiation before thousands of people. The marriage was arranged between Vegavān, who
was Swedish, and Padmavati dāsī, who was Australian. They completely enchanted the
whole audienceshe with her ornate red sari and Indian jewelry, including a nose ring, and
he with his white dhoti and kurtā and clean-shaven head. Six brahmacārīs were initiated
at that time also. Girirāja: The audience was impressed. First of all they were

In Every Town and Village 189 amazed just to see foreign devotees, foreign sadhus.
Then, on top of that, to see them being initiated, and even more than that, being married
in front of ten thousand people—it was overwhelming. So during the ceremony, as Śrīla
Prabhupāda made the boy and girl husband and wife, he mentioned that she was from
Australia and he was from Sweden. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, "This is the real United
Nations," and everyone burst into applause. May 1971 Śrīla Prabhupāda prepared for
extensive world travel. Although his itinerary was indefinite, his general plan was to
travel widely for a few months, then tour the U.S., visit London, and then return to India.
He had sent disciples to Australia and Malaysia, and he wanted to visit them. He also
wanted to go to Moscow and was awaiting a letter of permission from the Soviet
government. As he had spread his movement in America, visiting major cities and
preaching and then stationing a few faithful disciples there to carry on. he now expanded
his field to include the whole world. Sydney May 9, 1971 The Sydney devotees weren't
ready for Prabhupāda. An early telegram had informed them he was coming, but a later
telegram had said, "Prabhupāda not coming now." A third telegram had come,
announcing that Bali-mardana, the Australian G.B.C. secretary, was coming. When a
fourth telegram had stated only "Arriving" and the date and flight number, the devotees
had presumed this referred to Balimardana, not to Prabhupāda. The devotees had taken
a small garland and had gone to meet the plane, and when the doors to the customs
area opened and Prabhupāda himself walked out, they were flabbergasted. A white
attache case in his left hand, a cane in his right, a lightweight cādararound his shoulders,
Śrīla Prabhupāda entered the airport. Reporters, on hand to interview Balimardana, came
eagerly forward, one of them inquiring why Prabhupāda had come to Australia.

190 Prabhupāda Replying softly, Prabhupāda said he traveled everywhere, just as a

salesman travels everywhere. A salesman looks for customers wherever he can find
them, and Prabhupāda was traveling, searching for anyone intelligent enough to accept
his message. "There is no difference in coming to Australia," he said. "The governments
have made a demarcation—'This is Australia'—but we see everywhere as the land of
Krşņa." These devotees, Prabhupāda saw, knew little of Krsna consciousness. The
devotees who had come to Australia originally, Upendra and Bali-mardana, had opened
the center and left, returning but rarely. Thus an entire temple of inexperienced
devotees had virtually been left on its own. Since none of the Sydney devotees could
lecture well, the daily classes had consisted of readings from Prabhupāda's abridged
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, the only book they had. Yet their firm faith in Prabhupāda
compensated for their lack of training. They accepted him as a pure devotee directly in
touch with God, and they accepted his books as truth and Krsna as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. But many practical things they didn't know, such as how to cook,
lecture, and worship the Deities. They knew Prabhupāda wanted them to chant Hare
Krsna publicly and distribute Back to Godhead magazines to the people of Sydney, and
this they did daily. Despite frequent arrests, they continued with their sankirtana.
Sincerity they had. They only lacked training. Vaibhavī-devī dāsī: Prabhupāda installed
the Deities of Rādhā and Krsna and initiated disciples on the same day. The initiations
came first. He initiated everyone in the temple, anyone who was thereeven one boy who
had just joined that week and had only come across Krsna consciousness the week
before, and people who weren't living in the temple, just anyone who was there and
somehow serving. He wanted Krşņa consciousness to be established in Australia, so he
just initiated everybody. He gave first and second initiations at the same time, because,
having installed the Deities, there had to be some brāhmaṇas. But we didn't know
anything. We weren't even ready. The altar wasn't finished. Prabhupāda explained to me
that we had to string flowers for a garland—the Deity was supposed to wear one. I was

In Every Town and Village 191 running up and down the street trying to find some
flowers and get some thread and make a garland. Same with the sacred thread. There
were no sacred threads. Prabhupāda gave the men a sacred thread at brāhmaṇa
initiation, but no one really knew what it was. So I had to run and buy some string. And
while Prabhupāda was initiating people, I was sitting there in the arena making sacred
threads, copying the one that Bali-mardana had taken off himself. Imade five of them,
and I was next. After the sacrifice, and after/ came out of Prabhupāda's room, where he'd
given me the Gāyatrī mantra, the other devotees said, "You 're a brāhmaṇa now. So you
have to have a sacred thread, too." They told me to make one for myself, which I didn't
because someone told me later a woman wasn't supposed to wear one. We just didn't
know much. Prabhupāda stood with folded hands before the Deities of Rādhā and Krşņa
he had just installed. After less than a week in Sydney, he was leaving. He knew that the
devotees here were not up to the standard required for worshiping Rādhā and Krsna. And
he knew he was taking a risk, entrusting Their worship to neophyte disciples. Yet as an
empowered ācārya and as the representative of Lord Caitanya, he had to implant Krşņa
consciousness anywhere it might take root. The world was in desperate need. If his
disciples followed the process he had given them—chanting, hearing, observing
regulative principles—he knew they would quickly become purified. He had given an
analogy: Although in material life a man must first become a highly qualified lawyer
before sitting on the judge's bench, in Krsna consciousness a sincere devotee is first
allowed to "sit on the bench," to become a brāhmaṇa, and later, by the mercy of the holy
name and the spiritual master, he becomes qualified. The devotees in Sydney, however,
were particularly immature, and Prabhupāda made an extraordinary request of Rādhā-
Gopīnātha: "Now I am leaving You in the hands of the mlecchas. I cannot take the
responsibility. You please guide these boys and girls and give them intelligence to
worship You very nicely." * * *

192 Prabhupāda Moscow June 1971 Prabhupāda, his secretary, and his servant cleared
Soviet customs and immigration quickly and smoothly, and a government tourist guide
escorted them by limousine to the Hotel National. The hotel, near Red Square, Lenin's
Tomb, and the Kremlin, was expensive but plain. Prabhupāda found his room dingy and
cramped, with barely space for a bed and two chairs. The room for śyāmasundara and
Aravinda was far away, and Prabhupāda decided that Aravinda should share the room
with him instead, crowding Prabhupāda's room all the more, Aravinda told the hotel
manager that they would not eat the hotel fare, but would have to cook their own meals.
The manager refused at first, but finally allowed them use of the maid's kitchen. That
problem solved, the next was getting food. Prabhupāda sent Syāmasundara out. Across
the street, śyāmasundara found a milk and vegetables, or rice. Prabhupāda sent him out
again, and this time Syāmasundara was gone practically all day, returning with only a
couple of cabbages. Prabhupāda sent him out the next day for rice. When śyāmasundara
returned with rice after several hours, Prabhupāda saw that it was a poor North Korean
variety, very hard. Prabhupāda asked for fruit, but śyāmasundara had to hike for miles
through the city to find anything fresh- a few red cherries. Wherever Syāmasundara
went, he would have to stand in long queues to purchase anything. Usually, however,
someone in the queue would notice that he was a tourist and bring him to the front of
the line. Everything śyāmasundara purchased was with coupons. Prabhupāda remained
peaceful and regulated, keeping to his daily schedule. He would rise early and translate,
and in the cool of early morning he would go out for a walk through the all-but-deserted
streets. Prabhupāda, wearing a saffron cādar, strode quickly, śyāmasundara sometimes
running ahead to photograph him. As they would pass Lenin's Tomb a queue would
already be forming. "Just see," Prabhupāda commented one morning, "that is their God.
The people don't understand the difference between the body and the spirit. They accept
the body as the real person."

In Every Town and Village 193 Prabhupāda appreciated the sparseness of the traffic
some trolleys and bicycles, but mostly pedestrians. As he walked among the old, ornate
buildings, he saw elderly women hosing the wide streets-a good practice, he said. The
Russian people appeared to live structured, regulated lives, much more so than the
Americans. These simple, austere people, unspoiled by the rampant hedonism so
common in America, were fertile for Krsna consciousness. But devoid of spiritual
sustenance, they appeared morose. For months Prabhupāda had been planning to visit
Moscow. Aside from his desire to preach to the Russian people, he had a specific meeting
in mind with a Russian Indology professor, G. G. Kotovsky. Professor Kotovsky headed
the department of Indian and South Asian studies at Moscow's U.S.S.R. Academy of
Sciences, and Prabhupāda had been corresponding with him for a year. Prabhupāda had
śyāmasundara arrange a meeting with Professor Kotovsky. The tourist bureau provided a
car and guide, and Prabhupāda and his party rode outside the city to Professor
Kotovsky's office in an old, white brick building at the Academy of Sciences. When
Prabhupāda arrived, the middle-aged Russian professor, dressed in a gray suit, got up
from his cluttered desk and welcomed Prabhupāda into his small office. Professor
Kotovsky appeared a bit hesitant, however, more cautious than in his letters. When
śyāmasundara mentioned Prabhupāda's eagerness to lecture before interested scholars
at the Academy, Professor Kotovsky flatly refusedit would never be allowed. Prabhupāda
was disappointed. The next moment, however, Prabhupāda seemed unaffected and
began speaking in his humble, genteel manner, sitting in a straightbacked office chair
beside Professor Kotovsky, who sat at his desk. śyāmasundara turned on the tape
recorder, which the professor eyed cautiously but didn't object to. Prabhupāda: "The
other day I was reading in the paper, Moscow News. There was a Communist congress,
and the president declared that, 'We are ready to get others' experiences to improve.' So
I think the Vedic concept of socialism or communism will much improve the idea of
communism." Professor Kotovsky listened intently and politely as his foreign

194 Prabhupāda visitor explained how the grhastha in Vedic culture provides for
everyone living in his house-even for the lizards—and how, before taking his meal, he
calls in the road to invite any hungry person to come and eat. "In this way," Prabhupāda
explained, "there are so many good concepts about the socialist idea of communism. So I
thought that these ideas might have been distributed to some of your thoughtful men.
Therefore I was anxious to speak." Professor Kotovsky responded with several questions,
which Prabhupāda welcomed, although they were grounded in Soviet socialist vested
interests. He considered the professor not so much an academician as a pawn of the
Soviet university system; much as one political power tries to understand its adversary,
the professor was inquiring into Indian culture so that his government might penetrate it
with their own ideology. Behind Professor Kotovsky's apparent interest in Vedic culture,
Prabhupāda could see the view of the Communist party, a view diametrically opposed to
Vedic philosophy. Nevertheless, Prabhupāda tactfully continued to present Krsna
consciousness in accord with paramparā, and he tried to convince Professor Kotovsky
through scripture and logic. Modern society's missing point, Prabhupāda said, was an
understanding of the purpose of human life. "They do not know what is the next life," he
said. "There is no department of knowledge or scientific department to study what is
there after finishing this body." Professor Kotovsky objected-politely, completely.
"Swamiji," he said, "when the body dies, the owner also dies." Prabhupāda marked his
reply. The learned professor, head of the department of Indian studies in the Soviet
Academy, was caught in a classic moment of ignorance. His concept of who he was was
no more advanced than an animal's. After only three days, Prabhupāda's mission in
Moscow seemed finished. The meeting with Professor Kotovsky over, what was left? The
government would allow nothing else. It had not allowed him to bring in books, and now
he had been refused the opportunity to speak publicly. Foreigners were not to talk with
the Russians. He could go nowhere, unless on an accompanied tour. So with no
preaching and no prospects, he stayed in his cramped room, taking his massage,

In Every Town and Village 195 bathing accepting whatever food śyāmasundara could
gather and cook, dictating a few letters, chanting Hare Krşņa, and translating śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam. Prabhupāda took a guided tour of Moscow, riding with other tourists on a
crowded bus. He saw elderly Russians going to church, armed guards stationed at the
door; and he surmised that the guards were to prevent the younger generation from
entering to worship. He soon tired of the tour, however, and the tour guide got him a taxi
and instructed the driver to return him to the Hotel National. śyāmasundara continued to
spend most of his day looking for fresh food. Hearing that oranges were available at a
certain market across town, he set out across the city. With his shaved head and his
white dhoti and kurtā he drew stares from everyone he passed, and as he was returning,
after dark, uniformed men wearing red armbands accosted him, taking him to be a local
deviant. Grabbing him, they pinned his arms behind his back and shouted at him in
Russian. śyāmasundara caught the word dakumyent ("document, identification”). He
replied, "Dakumyent, hotel! hotel!" Realizing śyāmasundara was a tourist, the officers
released him, and he returned to the hotel and informed Prabhupāda of what had taken
place. "There is no hope in Russia without Krşņa consciousness," Prabhupāda said. Once
śyāmasundara was standing in line at the yogurt store when a man behind him asked
him about yoga. "I really want to talk with you," the man said, and he gave
śyāmasundara his name and address and a time they could safely meet. When
śyāmasundara told Prabhupāda, Prabhupāda said, “No, he is a policeman. Don't go."
Standing at his window, Prabhupāda glimpsed a parade in nearby Red Square—tanks,
artillery, missiles, and troops parading through the streets. By always preparing for war,
he said, the Russian leaders kept the people motivated and thus avoided a revolt. He
compared warlike Russia to the asuras (demons) in the ancient Vedic histories like
śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One day two young men, one the son of an Indian diplomat
stationed in Moscow, the other a young Muscovite, were loitering near Red Square when
they saw an amazing sight. Out of the usual

196 Prabhupāda regimented routine of city traffic, a tall young man with a shaved head,
a long, reddish ponytail, and flowing white robes approached. It was Syāmasundara.
Familiar with śyāmasundara's dress, the son of the Indian diplomat stopped him.
śyāmasundara smiled and said, "Hare Krsņa, brother." And he began talking with the
Indian, whose name was Narayana. The Russian, Ivan, knew a little English and followed
the conversation as closely as he could. The talk grew serious. "Why don't you come up
and meet my spiritual master?" Śyāmasundara asked. Honored, the boys immediately
accompanied Syāmasundara to the Hotel National. When they arrived, they found
Prabhupāda seated on his bed, aglow and smiling, Aravinda massaging his feet.
śyāmasundara entered, offering obeisances before Prabhupāda. Ivan was completely
fascinated. "Come on," Prabhupāda said, and the three of them sat at Prabhupāda's feet.
Turning first to Narayana, Prabhupāda asked his name and his father's occupation.
Narayana liked Prabhupāda and offered to bring him green vegetables; his father, being
highly placed at the Indian Embassy, had produce flown in from India. Ivan was
interested even more than his Indian friend, and Prabhupāda began explaining to him the
philosophy of Krsna consciousness, while Narayana helped by translating. Ivan inquired
with respect and awe, and Prabhupāda answered his questions, teaching as much basic
information about Krşņa consciousness as was possible in one sitting. Prabhupāda
explained the difference between the spirit soul and the body and described the soul's
eternal relationship with Krşņa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He spoke of
Bhagavad-gītā, of his network of temples around the world, and of his young men and
women disciples all practicing bhakti yoga. Prabhupāda mentioned his desire to preach in
Russia, which was a great field for Kșşņa consciousness because the people were
openminded and hadn't been polluted by sense gratification. He wanted to introduce
Krşņa conscious literature in Russia through a library or a reading room or in whatever
way possible. Krşņa conscious philosophy, he said, should be taught to Russia's most
intelligent people, but because of government restrictions it would have to be done
discreetly. Devotees would not be able to sing and dance in the

In Every Town and Village 197 streets, but they could chant
quietly together in someone's home. Prabhupāda then began
singing very quietly, leading the boys in kīrtana. Ivan's taking to
Krsna was like a hungry man's eating a meal. After 11 several
hours, however, he and his friend had to go. They would return
the next day. śyāmasundara began spending time with Ivan and
Narayana. Ivan, a student of Oriental philosophies, was very
intelligent and eager to know what was going on in the outside
world. He was fond of the Beatles, and Prabhupāda told him of his
association with George Harrison and John Lennon. Ivan and
śyāmasundara had long talks about the ambitions and hopes of
young people outside Russia, and śyāmasundara explained to him
how Krşņa consciousness was the basic principle of all spiritual
paths. śyāmasundara also taught him basic principles of bhakti
yoga, such as chanting the prescribed sixteen rounds of japa
daily, and gave him his own copy of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Prabhupāda showed Ivan how to prepare capātīs and rice and
asked him to give up eating meat. Joyfully, Ivan accepted the
chanting, the new way of eating everything. Ivan was being
trained so that after Prabhupāda left, Ivan could continue on his
own. Ivan would be able to feel himself changing and advancing
in spiritual life, and after practicing for some time he could be
initiated. Ivan said he would tell his friends about Krsna
consciousness. With only two days left in Moscow, Prabhupāda
taught Ivan as much as he could. In this young Russian's
eagerness and intelligence, Prabhupāda found the real purpose of
his visit to Russia. Prabhupāda gave the analogy that when
cooking rice the cook need test only one grain to determine
whether the whole pot of rice is done. Similarly, by talking with
this one Russian youth, Prabhupāda could tell that the Russian
people were not satisfied in their so-called ideal land of Marxism.
Just as Ivan was keenly receptive to Krsna consciousness, millions
of other Russians would be also. Cāņakya Paņdita, the Vedic
philosopher, says that one blooming flower can refresh a whole
forest and that a fire in a single tree can burn the whole forest.
From the Marxist point of view, Ivan was the fire that would
spread Krsna consciousness to others, thus defeating
In Every Town and Village 199 said the Indians had a duty to
share their spiritual culture with the Africans. Prabhupāda's G.B.C.
representative in Africa was Brahmānanda Swami. Carefully he
impressed on Brahmānanda that his first duty in Africa was to
give Krşņa consciousness to the Africans. Because of bad
experience in Turkey and Pakistan, Brahmānanda had been
reluctant to hold public kirtanas in Nairobi. Besides, the Africans
spoke mostly Swahili; they were culturally different and usually
too poor to buy books, so Brahmānanda didn't know how to
preach to them effectively. Going to the Indians had been easy
and natural. But Prabhupāda wanted the Africans. "It is an African
country," he said simply. “They are the proprietors. We should be
preaching to them." As with everything else in Krsna
consciousness, Prabhupāda demonstrated how to do this also. He
got the use of a Rādhā-Krsna temple in a predominantly African
downtown area. The temple had a hall with doors opening onto
the busy street, and Prabhupāda instructed the devotees to hold
kīrtana in the hall, keeping the doors open. The devotees did as
he asked, and in five minutes the hall began filling up with people.
It was a shabby area of town, and the people who entered were
illiterate and dirty. But they were curious, and they happily joined
in the kirtana, smiling, clapping, and dancing. Brahmānanda
Swami left the hall and went to the nearby house where
Prabhupāda was staying. "The place is filled with people,"
Brahmānanda said, “but it's not necessary for you to come. We
can carry on and do the program ourselves." "No," Prabhupāda
said, “I must go." Brahmānanda tried to discourage him. “No, I
must go," Prabhupāda repeated. "Are you going to take me?"
When Brahmānanda arrived with Śrīla Prabhupāda, the hall was
even more crowded than it had been a few minutes before.
Prabhupāda, in his silken saffron robes, appeared effulgent as he
entered the dingy, poorly lit auditorium. As he walked, the crowd
parted, leaving an aisle for him to pass among them, and they
watched him curiously. Onstage Prabhupāda led a kīrtana and
lectured.
200 Prabhupāda Although the Swahili-speaking audience was
unable to understand Prabhupāda's lecture, the people were
respectful. And the kirtana they loved. Members of the Indian
community had been apprehensive of Prabhupāda's opening their
hall to the Africans, and some of them had attended to see what
would happen. Observing Prabhupāda's compassionate program,
however, the Indians were impressed. Such an apparently simple
program had the spiritual potency to erase cultural boundaries.
This should be Brahmānanda Swami's mission in Africa,
Prabhupāda insisted offering Krsna consciousness to the Africans.
And the program should be simple: distributing prasādam,
distributing free books, and chanting Hare Krsna with drums and
karatālas. Krşņa consciousness should not be just another Nairobi
Hindu religious society. The Hindus should take part by donating
money, but Brahmānanda Swami's preaching and recruiting
should be among the Africans. When several black American
disciples joined Prabhupāda in Nairobi, Prabhupāda told them,
"Four hundred years ago your ancestors were taken away from
here as slaves. But ah, just see how you have returned as
masters!" Prabhupāda also organized Nairobi's first outdoor
Kirtana performance. The devotees went to Kamakunji Park's
largest tree, a historical landmark connected with Kenyan
independence. As they stood chanting beneath the tree, a large
crowd gathered and many began chanting. Some even danced in
a sort of tribal shuffle. One young man stepped forward and
offered to translate Brahmananda's speech into Swahili. The
devotees distributed sweet bundi, and the people in the crowd
really enjoyed themselves. The whole affair was a great success.
Rushing back to Prabhupāda, Brahmānanda reported on the
wonderful kirtana in the park. Brahmananda felt the same
emotion as in 1966 when he had reported to Prabhupāda the
success of the first kīrtana at Washington Square Park in New
York City. Now, as then, results had been successful. Prabhupāda,
by his personal example and by his pushing Brahmānanda Swami,
had within a few days changed the emphasis of preaching in
Africa—from Indians to Africans.
200 Prabhupāda Although the Swahili-speaking audience was
unable to understand Prabhupāda's lecture, the people were
respectful. And the kirtana they loved. Members of the Indian
community had been apprehensive of Prabhupāda's opening their
hall to the Africans, and some of them had attended to see what
would happen. Observing Prabhupāda's compassionate program,
however, the Indians were impressed. Such an apparently simple
program had the spiritual potency to erase cultural boundaries.
This should be Brahmānanda Swami's mission in Africa,
Prabhupāda insisted offering Krsna consciousness to the Africans.
And the program should be simple: distributing prasādam,
distributing free books, and chanting Hare Krsna with drums and
karatālas. Krşņa consciousness should not be just another Nairobi
Hindu religious society. The Hindus should take part by donating
money, but Brahmānanda Swami's preaching and recruiting
should be among the Africans. When several black American
disciples joined Prabhupāda in Nairobi, Prabhupāda told them,
"Four hundred years ago your ancestors were taken away from
here as slaves. But ah, just see how you have returned as
masters!" Prabhupāda also organized Nairobi's first outdoor
Kirtana performance. The devotees went to Kamakunji Park's
largest tree, a historical landmark connected with Kenyan
independence. As they stood chanting beneath the tree, a large
crowd gathered and many began chanting. Some even danced in
a sort of tribal shuffle. One young man stepped forward and
offered to translate Brahmananda's speech into Swahili. The
devotees distributed sweet bundi, and the people in the crowd
really enjoyed themselves. The whole affair was a great success.
Rushing back to Prabhupāda, Brahmānanda reported on the
wonderful kirtana in the park. Brahmananda felt the same
emotion as in 1966 when he had reported to Prabhupāda the
success of the first kīrtana at Washington Square Park in New
York City. Now, as then, results had been successful. Prabhupāda,
by his personal example and by his pushing Brahmānanda Swami,
had within a few days changed the emphasis of preaching in
Africa—from Indians to Africans.
In Every Town and Village 201 The night of Śrīla Prabhupāda's
lecture at the University of Nairobi, two thousand African students
filled the auditorium, with hundreds more standing outside to look
in through the doors and windows. First Prabhupāda had Bhūta-
bhāvana, a black American disciple, deliver a short introduction,
using some borrowed Swahili phrases. "Harambay," he began—
which means, “Welcome, brothers. Let us work together." Then
Prabhupāda spoke. "The whole world is simply hankering and
lamenting. You African people are now hankering to be like the
Europeans and Americans. But the Europeans have lost their
empire. They are now lamenting. So one party is hankering, and
one party is lamenting... "We have come to these African
countries to invite all intelligent Africans to come and understand
this philosophy and distribute it. You are trying to develop
yourselves, so develop very soundly. But don't imitate the
Americans and Europeans, who are living like cats and dogs. Such
civilization will not stand. The atom bomb is already there. As
soon as the next war breaks out, all the skyscraper buildings and
everything else will be finished. Try to understand from the real
standpoint, the real view of human life. That is the Krşņa
consciousness movement, and we request you to come and try to
understand this philosophy. Thank you very much." The audience
burst into applause, giving Prabhupāda a standing ovation. This
response proved once again that Krşņa's message spoke to the
heart; it was for all people, regardless of their political,
geographic, or social predicament. When Prabhupāda had first
landed at the Nairobi airport, he had assured a reporter that he
would be preaching to the Africans. And now he was. He was
delivering to the Africans the same message and the same
process of devotional service he had delivered to the Americans.
What the Americans wanted and what the Africans wanted could
be realized only in Krşņa consciousness. Krşņa consciousness
would work anywhere, if sincere and intelligent persons would
only come forward and help distribute it. Prabhupāda's preaching
in Nairobi had been especially active. He had established Krsna
consciousness in a new city, setting the example for
Brahmānanda Swami to emulate, showing the standard for
spreading Krsna consciousness throughout the continent. And
202 Prabhupāda śyāmasundara was keeping his G.B.C.
Godbrothers informed of Prabhupāda's amazing activities. The
pace has been lightning fast, and His Divine Grace is opening up
yet another vast theater of operations. The people are thronging
with curiosity and serious questions.... Prabhupada, after finishing
one late-night preaching marathon, asked for food and remarked,
"You see, I am hungry. Keep me talkingthat is my life. Don't let
me stop talking...."