Audio
Prabhupada: Oh. "Fifth Avenue, Where East Meets West." Very good idea. Very good idea. Very nice. They have also selected.
Prabhupada: You can send one, this cutting, to Mr. Bajaj, "Fifth Avenue, Where East Meets West." Very good.
Prabhupada: Huh? You can send to many place, but this title is very nice. This is the point. This is the point. East, as I say always, the lame man meets the blind man. Together they'll do wonderful. And different they cannot do anything. He is blind; he is lame. But they join together, Indian culture and American money, they will save the whole world. Here is the... Money required. [laughter]
Prabhupada: Yes, yes.
Tamala Krsna: Very nicely written. "With everybody pulling together and everybody puffing together, a huge float is tugged down Fifth Avenue yesterday during the first Ratha-yatra Parade of International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The parade moved south from Central Park to Washington Square Park, where a free feast, music, art, dance and theater festival was held. According to a spokesperson, 'Ratha-yatra is a time when people come to dance, sing and feast amidst a sublime atmosphere of bright flags, festoons, banners, garlands, flowers and incense, simply to feel the poetry and blissful nature of life.' "
Prabhupada: Very good. This is blissful nature.
Prabhupada: And they have created a civilization: wine, woman, gambling and meat.
Prabhupada: Everything is approved.
Prabhupada: Oh, that is one very important.
Prabhupada: You must purchase some copies. We shall send to India.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamala Krsna: This one is not..., it's not bad, but it's not so accurate. "In size it was dwarfed by 'Operation Sale.' In popular concern it was outweighed by the Democratic National Convention. But for hundreds of Hare Krsna followers, including many Indian immigrants to New York, yesterday's Ratha-yatra festival was by far the most important event in an eventful month. Pulling three brightly-colored chariots down Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Washington Square, the religious group's adherents were celebrating one of the oldest holy days of the Indian calendar, the feast of Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe, according to Krsna doctrine. Most of the participants in the parade were young Westerners, followers from as far away as Caracas and Montreal. But the crowd included hundreds of Indians, who brought the basic Krsna faith with them from Bombay and Calcutta."
Prabhupada: That's nice.
Tamala Krsna: "While Hare Krsna propounds doctrines of world renunciation common to other varieties of the Hindu faith, the sect, officially known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was founded in 1965 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whose fame as a guru came only after he arrived in the United States in the same year. For most of the Indians watching the parade, however, Hare Krsna was close enough to their brand of Hinduism to make them feel at home."
Gurudasa: That's good. It means that we're not a light cult. It means we have a great tradition.
Gurudasa: They're recognizing that.
Tamala Krsna: " 'It's surprising that you find this right in New York City. It's our way of life,' said Nagan Patel, a civil engineer from Jersey City, who immigrated from Bombay. 'We love New York City and America. It's the most beautiful place in the world. No other country will give such freedom for our own ceremony.' "
Prabhupada: That's a fact. That I say always.
Tamala Krsna: "But the Krsna people were not entirely free of harassment. Along the parade route three men, including one who said he was an Evangelical Christian minister, jeered at the parade and called on parade watchers to become Christians. 'Idol worship. This is absolutely ridiculous. Read the Bible,' cried one man, who would identify himself only as a normal Christian. There was a brief scuffle when an Indian immigrant tried to tear a large placard out of the hands of another heckler. The placard read 'Turn or Burn.' The police broke things up but made no arrests. 'They are insulting us,' said the Krsna follower who declined to identify himself. 'I'm a devotee of Krsna and Christ. These people who are doing this in the name of Christ are criminals.' " Very strong statement. "Except for the hecklers, however, the parade was generally very well received by passersby, who enjoyed the three multi-hued floats, the sun, and the chanting and dancing of the young Krsna marchers. 'I think it's great,' said Tyrone Adams of Philadelphia, who was paying a visit to his home town of Englewood, New Jersey. 'I'm not religious, but they're all happy and dancing, and that is what life is all about.' " Even a nonreligious person said that. "In Washington Square a crowd of about three thousand, many of whom were there as part of the normal Sunday afternoon activities, heard Swami Prabhupada deliver a lecture. Later, the crowd was served a free vegetarian feast. Along the side, Krsna followers sold Indian sweets, Krsna scriptures, and what one speaker described as 'transcendental paraphernalia.' "
Prabhupada: Very good.
Prabhupada: The Times first published about my activities from Tompkinson Square. They first published.
Tamala Krsna: They have very big program, and the reporters-Dhrstadyumna was watching-he said that the reporters through the whole news, they were very grim, and then they, because they read what they're saying, and suddenly their faces lit up, and they said, "And Hare Krsna had a parade today!" And then they described the whole parade. And they loved it. They said it was very well received. CBS reported, ABC reported, NBC reported, Channel Five gave big coverage-all the television networks gave a big coverage. It was very well publicized, with a lot of coverage and photos. They were showing movies of the parade, of you lecturing, of the crowds that were gathered taking prasadam.
Prabhupada: Somebody should send this clippings, not our men, to...
Prabhupada: To Indira Gandhi.
Prabhupada: She is little anxious to cooperate with Americans, because the most criticism for his [her] present act... And everyone will criticize. The Americans have criticized like anything. And they are thinking that the American people are capturing that... Actually, the nation is under danger. [break] [end]
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