While Gurudāsa got direct instruction on the ceremony, almost every other devotee Prabhupāda wrote received his personal invitation to the Krishna-Balaram Mandir opening. In a letter to Cyavana Mahārāja in West Africa, Prabhupāda wrote,

You want to see me and I also have some important things to discuss with you, so the best thing is if we meet at the end of July in Vrindaban, India. Today I am leaving for the United States to attend Rathayatra in Chicago and San Francisco but at the end of July I will reach Vrindaban. We are having a very big festival there on Janmastami when we will open our Krsna Balaram temple by installing the deities. So you must also attend to help in conducting the ceremonies. I will therefore see you in Vrindaban by the end of July.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s engagement at La Trobe University in Melbourne was like a repeat of the unpleasant incident with the radicals at La Salle Pleyel in Paris. It was, again, a large, free-admission audience of students, and again the disciples had prepared Prabhupāda a standard vyāsāsana. Devotees held a kīrtana onstage and introduced Śrīla Prabhupāda, who began speaking very basically about the distinction between the soul and the body and about how this education is required for all people. But after no more than ten minutes, a young man in the audience stood up and began to shout profanities at Śrīla Prabhupāda. “And how do you explain your Rolls Royce?” he added.

The audience, which had been quiet until the interruption, now became noisy and restless. Three of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s more aggressive disciples left the front row and went to the back, where the man was shouting. Meanwhile Śrīla Prabhupāda stopped speaking and sat tolerantly, waiting. The shouting stopped, and he began again. “As I was explaining, in material life we have been changing from one body to another. This is not a very good condition of life. Nobody wants to die, but he is forced to die.”

After five minutes, the abusive language again broke out. This time Śrīla Prabhupāda’s three disciples pushed the shouters out the back door. In the fight, one of the students pulled a knife from his boot, but a devotee disarmed him.

The atmosphere inside the auditorium was tense, and many people were talking loudly. Some got up to leave. Madhudviṣa Swami, taking the microphone, pleaded with the students to remain calm and continue hearing from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Some students in the audience seemed on the verge of violence, and the devotees feared for Prabhupāda’s safety. But Prabhupāda was willing to continue. He called for questions.

Student: “I am a Christian, and I would like to know what is your opinion of Jesus Christ.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “We respect Jesus Christ as you do, because he is representative of God, son of God. We are also speaking of God, so we respect him with our greatest veneration.”

Question: “You are a son of Jesus too?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Yes, I am a servant of Jesus. I don’t say I am Jesus.”

Question: “I want to know if you have the power of Jesus?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “No, I have no power of Jesus.”

Question: “Well, I’ve got the power of Jesus! [Laughter.] Because I’m a Christian.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “That’s all right. You are Christian. We are Kṛṣṇian. It is practically the same thing.” (Laughter and applause.)

Student: “I have one other question. I believe Jesus is coming back, and not Kṛṣṇa. What are you guys going to do when you see Jesus?” (Laughter)

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “When he is coming, welcome. We shall welcome. It is very good news that Jesus is coming.”

Student: “Jesus had no reputation. He wore sandals and was crucified between two thieves. And your spirituality is on a Rolls Royce and a padded seat, and you’re all into money – you Kṛṣṇas, you want money.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “I don’t want money.”

Student: “And you say violence is violence, that’s what you believe. Jesus turned the other cheek, and he expected his followers to.” (Applause.)

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a sentimental religious system. It is science and philosophy.” Prabhupāda explained that understanding the science of God was transcendental to Christianity or Hinduism. The real goal was to learn to love God.

Second student: “I have a question about Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti stresses that when you are speaking in the Western world, you should speak and present yourself as a Westerner, not as an Indian or as you would speak in India. Instead of sitting on a raised dais and dressing in the robes of a monk, Krishnamurti would say dress in Western clothes and sit on a chair. What is your opinion of this?”

Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Actually a God conscious person is neither a Westerner nor Easterner. So anywhere the devotee goes, as they receive him, he accepts. These devotees have arranged a raised seat, so I have accepted the raised seat. If they wanted me to sit down on the floor, I would have gladly accepted. I have no objection to this or that. But as devotees receive and give honor, that is good for them, because actually we should honor the Supreme Lord God and His representative. Nowadays it is different. Students are not learning to honor. But that is not actually the system. According to the Vedic system, the representative of God must be honored as God.”

Another student (loudly): “Do you consider your movement the major form of enlightenment emanating from the United States today? What particular role does your movement play in the White House psychological warfare department? Will you be coming to our Fourth of July demonstration against the United States this year and take up the real political issues?”

Again many students began shouting. Madhudviṣa Swami took the microphone. “I can answer if you like. Our movement is not from the United States. If you have some paranoia that everything is coming from the United States, well, that is your hang-up, not mine. [Applause.] And second of all, our spiritual master came to the United States to start this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement because he got a free ticket on the boat to go there. If you would have sent him a free ticket, he probably would have come to Australia first. So he is trying to spread love of God. He is not trying to start any kind of political movement. He is trying to spark a revolutionary consciousness. I think you are also interested in revolution. We are interested in revolution also. But we are interested in revolution which will help people to feel peace themselves, whether they are Communists or Marxists or whatever it is you like. We are trying to help people attain happiness whether they are – ”

Madhudviṣa Swami’s remarks triggered the largest vocal protest yet. The commotion rose as students all over the hall began to shout. There was no possibility of a peaceful philosophical discussion.

The devotees’ greatest concern became getting Prabhupāda out of the hall unharmed. Prabhupāda rose from his vyāsāsana and, escorted by his disciples, left by a side exit. A large crowd of students had gathered outside the door as Prabhupāda emerged, but he entered his waiting car without incident. As he rode slowly through a cluster of students a girl kicked at the car with her booted foot. And as the devotees were getting into their vans students threw stones. Finally, as the devotees drove off the campus, they had to pass under an elevated walkway where some waiting students threw black paint down onto the vans.

Riding in his car, Prabhupāda was mostly silent, but he seemed disgusted. He said that in the future, he would only give lectures in classes where he was invited; no more wide-open lectures.

Śrīla Prabhupāda flew from Melbourne to Chicago, stopping overnight in Hawaii. His schedule allowed him only a couple of days in Chicago, where he would attend that city’s first Ratha-yātrā festival.

He was very keen on holding Ratha-yātrās in big cities around the world. And although large crowds often could not hear Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy without becoming restless, angered, or even violent, everyone could enjoy and benefit from a Ratha-yātrā festival. Śrīla Prabhupāda had written in The Nectar of Devotion, quoting from the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, “A person who follows the Ratha-yātrā car when the rathas pass in front or from behind, even if born of a lowly family, will surely be elevated to the position of achieving equal opulence with Viṣṇu.”

In Jagannātha Purī, India, the original home of Jagannātha worship, a Westerner could see Lord Jagannātha only during the yearly Ratha-yātrā festival, when the Deity would come out of the temple and ride on His cart. And besides, very few Westerners would actually go to Jagannātha Purī. But Śrīla Prabhupāda and his Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement were making Lord Jagannātha available to everyone by bringing the Ratha-yātrā right down the main street of their city. It may seem odd to the average American or Australian, but from the viewpoint of Lord Jagannātha and His followers, it was perfectly proper. Lord Jagannātha, “the Lord of the universe,” was for everyone, everywhere, regardless of nationality or religion.

This year’s festival, 1974, would mark the eighth annual San Francisco Ratha-yātrā. And now, at Prabhupāda’s urging, devotees in more and more cities were beginning to hold the festival. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to give utmost prestige to this kind of preaching, and so he had gone out of his way to come to Chicago, where he had never been before, just to ride an hour down State Street on Lord Jagannātha’s cart. Prabhupāda felt that his disciples, by holding Ratha-yātrās in cities on every continent, would defeat false religion. And spontaneously people would be attracted to Kṛṣṇa, simply by enjoying a festival of singing, dancing, feasting, and seeing the Lord.

Prabhupāda stood in downtown Chicago before the large, elaborately decorated car, eager to ascend to the seat where he would ride during the procession. But there was no ladder, so he waited while devotees ran to a hardware store and got one. Then he mounted the cart and sat on his vyāsāsana.

The city was busy with thousands of shoppers and workers. Many members of Chicago’s large Indian community had turned out to receive the Lord’s blessings and to observe this tradition so well known to them. And hundreds of Prabhupāda’s disciples from throughout the Midwest had gathered to pull on the ropes of the cart, lead kīrtanas, and distribute prasādam and Back to Godhead magazines as the big cart plied down one of the busiest streets in America.

Although several policemen on motorcycles led the procession, their mood was hardly that of the King of Orissa, who had traditionally led the Ratha-yātrā procession in India. Each year the king would present himself as a menial servant, leading the parade by sweeping the road before Lord Jagannātha with a gold-handled broom. The Chicago police, however, seemed intent only in getting the parade over with as soon as possible. With stern anxiety they dedicated themselves to keeping open the flow of ordinary automobile traffic. They acknowledged that the devotees had an official permit for the parade, but they continually prodded them to pull the cart faster, threatening to terminate the parade entirely.

By Kṛṣṇa’s grace, however, everyone, including the Chicago police, became satisfied as the procession moved along peacefully for several miles, finally arriving at the Civic Center Plaza. Amid skyscrapers and city noise, Śrīla Prabhupāda addressed the outdoor audience. Immediately following the lecture, the devotees began prasādam distribution and kīrtana. Prabhupāda was pleased by the festival.

San Francisco
July 7
Thousands followed the three carts for several miles through Golden Gate Park. Śrīla Prabhupāda, riding on the second cart, beneath the deity of Subhadrā, wore the same golden wool cap he had worn in Australia, a white bulky knit sweater, and a garland of red roses. Despite his recent extensive traveling, he was alert and well. He looked out at the sea of devotees and parade-followers and took great satisfaction in the transcendental scene.

In his speech before a crowd of ten thousand, Prabhupāda said that the Americans should lead the world in propagating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “I know that all American ladies and gentlemen here are educated and intelligent,” he said, “and I am very much obliged to the Americans who have helped me make this movement popular all over the world. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu first introduced the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, He said, bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra/ janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra. He thus expressed His desire by saying that anyone who has taken birth as a human being in Bhārata-varṣa, or India, should understand the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and spread it all over the world for the benefit of all humanity. He also predicted that in all the villages and towns of the entire world the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will be known.

“So with the cooperation of you young Americans who are kindly helping to spread this movement, it is now factually becoming well known all over the world. I recently went to Melbourne, Australia, where we held a similar festival in which many thousands of people joined and chanted and danced with us. Then I went to Chicago, where we held the same ceremony. Now this morning I have come here, and I am so glad to see that you are also joining this movement.”

Prabhupāda’s fingers tapped lightly against his karatālas as he spoke, his eyes half closed. He chose his words with confidence, and those words echoed across the meadow. Prabhupāda requested his audience not to think that Kṛṣṇa consciousness was sectarian; it was meant for everyone, because the real nature of the self was spiritual. Chanting the holy name and dancing, he said, were not ordinary.

“It is open to everyone who will simply chant the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. You are generally young, whereas I am an old man who may die at any moment. Therefore I request you to take this movement seriously. Understand it yourselves, and then preach it throughout your country. People outside America generally follow and imitate what America does. I am traveling all over the world, and everywhere I see other countries building skyscrapers and in other ways imitating your country. Therefore if you kindly become Kṛṣṇa conscious and chant and dance in ecstasy, in emotional love of God, the entire world will follow you. Thus the entire world can become Vaikuṇṭha, a spiritual world in which there will be no more trouble. Thank you very much.”

Gurudāsa had sent a letter to all ISKCON centers inviting devotees to attend the opening of the Krishna-Balaram Mandir in Vṛndāvana. He had invited life members from Bombay and Calcutta and had reserved cars for them on the trains. Prabhupāda also was inviting his disciples to come to Vṛndāvana for Janmāṣṭamī. Lecturing before hundreds of devotees in Los Angeles, he said, “I invite all of you to come to Vṛndāvana to the opening of the Krishna-Balaram Mandir.”

Prabhupāda had also mailed invitations to his Godbrothers, and when one of them, Śrīdhara Mahārāja of Navadvīpa, accepted the invitation, Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, assuring him of comfortable accommodations and suggesting the easiest way to travel from Calcutta to Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Prabhupāda also told Śrīdhara Mahārāja of his preaching.

You will be glad to know that our books are selling very nicely. Last year we sold about four million books, and this year within six months we have completed last year’s quota, and therefore we can reasonably expect to double the sale of last year. The only difficulty is that we are expanded worldwide organization, and it requires very acute management to keep up the status quo. So by Krishna’s grace everything is going on nicely.

Regarding preaching tour, it has become a little difficult for me because I have got the same heart trouble as you have, and still I am moving just to encourage these young boys and girls who are working on my behalf.

On July 15, only ten days before Prabhupāda’s proposed arrival in Vṛndāvana, he wrote almost identical letters to his sannyāsī disciples, inviting them to come and resolve the many personal matters and items of business that had been pending during his busy tour.

I cordially invite you to attend our opening ceremony in Vrindaban because all of our sannyasis will be present there. You also come there as a regular sannyasi and take part. That is my desire.

When Karandhara, the newly-appointed G.B.C. for India, began to express doubts that everything would be ready on time, Prabhupāda replied from Los Angeles,

The festival must be gorgeously done. It should not be poor. If there is a scarcity of money, it will be supplied. There must be full prasadam for all the guests. You plan for that, and I will supply the funds. Complete prasad distribution must go on.

Regarding the temple not being finished on time, that is your responsibility. What can I do?

Although Prabhupāda had responded to Karandhara forcefully, the note of uncertainty from his head manager in India disturbed him. He wrote to Surabhi, who was in charge of the Vṛndāvana construction, “I am a little agitated in mind because Karandhara’s letter says that there may be some work to be done even during the time of our festival.”

While in Los Angeles, Prabhupāda also received word that the London Ratha-yātrā, scheduled for later that month, had been canceled by the local authorities; the previous year’s parade, officials said, had seriously interfered with traffic. Prabhupāda insisted that the devotees protest this unreasonable ruling. “It is religious discrimination,” he said. And he advised that sympathetic Indians in London approach the ambassador and request him to present the matter before the queen. The recent statements of the Reverend Powell of Melbourne could be used to demonstrate that Christians should not be alarmed by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. “The police objection means that the whole religious ceremony should be stopped?” Prabhupāda challenged. “What is this? Simply for some technical mistake, now they will stop our whole religious ceremony?”

Prabhupāda said that if the City continued to prohibit the parade, the devotees should erect a stationary cart in Hyde Park and hold a festival there, without a procession. “After holding our ceremony,” said Prabhupāda, “we shall take the deity in a palanquin and go to Trafalgar Square. The ratha will stay. It will not move. But we shall take the deities on palanquin and go to Trafalgar Square. In this way, take police permission and, after going there along with the ceremony, protest. They cannot object. But the ratha must be seen. And the people must know that the rascal police government has stopped it.”

Prabhupāda repeated his instructions several times. He was in a grave mood as he instructed his followers. “My Guru Mahārāja used to say, prāṇa āche yāṅra sei hetu pracāra: one who has got life, he can preach. The dead man cannot preach. So you become with life, not like dead man. Just like all my Godbrothers, they are dead men. And therefore they are envious of my activities. They have no life. If you want to make an easygoing life, showing the Deity and then sleep, then it is a failure movement.”

Prabhupāda could not bear to hear that such an important festival as Ratha-yātrā was being stopped. “We shall abide by all the rules,” he said, “but we must have this festival. They saw last year that in the open sunshine thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, stood in Trafalgar Square for three hours. And they do not go to the church. So they have seen there is something. Otherwise, how people have taken so much interest?”

Brahmānanda Swami: “Yes, just like in the San Francisco paper, they admitted, ‘This is the most popular festival.’ ”

Prabhupāda: “Yes, fifteen thousand people attended my lecture silently in San Francisco. So they are seeing there is something in the movement. But sometimes some parties do not want us to go on without objection, or else they will be finished.”

On the day of Prabhupāda’s departure from Los Angeles, he addressed the assembled devotees in the temple, encouraging them to remain faithful in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And he revealed his own feelings of urgency. His constant traveling was for his disciples – so they would remain strong. And if they remained strong, following the simple programs he had given them, then their success was guaranteed. “Some way or other,” he said, “we have introduced this program in the Western countries. And you are so intelligent, you have very soon captured it. So stick to the standard. Then your life is successful. It is not at all difficult. But don’t deviate. Then you are pakkā. Pakkā means ‘solid’: mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. If you remain solid in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā cannot touch you.

“So that is my request. I am traveling all over the world. I am going to see how things are going in Dallas and New Vrindaban. So my touring is natural. I have started this movement. I want to see that it is going nicely. Don’t deviate. That is my only request.” Prabhupāda began to cry and simply concluded, “Then you will remain solid. Thank you very much.”

New Vrindaban
July 18, 1974
A letter from Karandhara reached Śrīla Prabhupāda, informing him of his resignation as G.B.C. for India. The responsibilities were too great for him, for he had only recently come back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He would continue to follow the spiritual program, but he could not be the G.B.C. Again Śrīla Prabhupāda was set back, and before several G.B.C. men in his room at New Vrindaban he asked, “What to do? What shall we do? So maybe I should just give up these projects in India.”

“But Śrīla Prabhupāda,” the devotees replied, “those India projects are very dear to you.”

“But what can be done?” Prabhupāda asked.

Except for Gurudāsa, none of the devotees in Vṛndāvana thought that the building would be ready by the scheduled grand opening. Work was going along slowly, as usual, and except for the Deity hall area, the land was still a construction site. There were no altars, no Deities. Tejās thought Gurudāsa so feared displeasing Prabhupāda that he could not bear to admit that the building would not be ready. The date had been set, and Prabhupāda did not want excuses. “It has to be done by Janmāṣṭamī,” he wrote. “There is no question of delay.” Gurudāsa admitted that the temple construction wouldn’t be completely finished by Janmāṣṭamī, but he reasoned that the opening ceremony could still take place, even if the final touches on the temple weren’t done.

Because there was no regular G.B.C. secretary for India, Prabhupāda did not receive accurate reports on the Vṛndāvana temple construction. When Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami had left in April to preach in the West, several months had passed before Prabhupāda had appointed a replacement, Karandhara. Now, after only a few weeks, Karandhara had resigned. Gurudāsa’s version, therefore, was the only one Prabhupāda had received. The end of July grew near, and devotees prepared to travel to Vṛndāvana – for a fiasco.