Krishna works in strange ways!
Madhudvisa das : At this time in the early '70s, La Trobe University was in the throes of Vietnam protests. The Vietnam War had become a very unpopular war throughout Australia, and Srila Prabhupada was identified by the students as someone who was taking the thunder away from their anti-war demonstrations by preaching peace and love. Instead of encouraging students to demonstrate against the war, Prabhupada was telling people to chant Hare Krishna and to solve the problems of the world like that. So they had strategically placed many students in the audience that were specifically there just to disrupt the lecture. So after the kirtan was over, Srila Prabhupada began to speak and immediately one student stood up and started to object to what Srila Prabhupada was saying. The gist of what they were saying is that Srila Prabhupada was there just to disturb their anti-war sentiments. Then we had that person removed and brought into the back. Then as soon as Srila Prabhupada started to speak again, someone else stood up and started to speak; and they would be using profanity and wouldn't be reasoned with. I tried from the microphone to try to diffuse the whole situation, but they were determined that they wouldn't listen to any logic. Although the audience wanted to hear Srila Prabhupada speak, these hecklers were determined to stop the meeting. So after three or four of those people did this and wouldn't allow Srila Prabhupada to speak, then Prabhupada finally said, "Just chant." So we chanted, and then Srila Prabhupada left. But while this whole thing was going on, the devotees were taking these hecklers out and bringing them into the vestibule and the fistfights…there was a big fistfight broke out. So although it appears to be calm in the auditorium, just outside the doors there was a full-fledged donnybrook going on. The devotees were defending themselves, and it became quite a bloody scene. One of the students had a knife, and he threw the knife on the ground and he said, "Look, look, they have a knife! They're trying to stab me!" So the security guards came, and it was a big commotion out there. But Krishna was working in such a subtle way. The temple president of Sydney, Australia, now whose name is Atmarama…he was initiated by Srila Prabhupada, but at that time he was a student at La Trobe University. He saw all these people walking into the men's room, they were all bleeding, bloody noses. He said, "Gee, I thought those Hare Krishnas were peaceful people. How come there's a big fight going on?" He said, "Oh, they were heckling his spiritual master." He said, "Oh, these guys are really committed," and he was profoundly affected by the devotees' fierce loyalty to Srila Prabhupada. Soon after that he became initiated, and now he's the temple president of Sydney. So Krishna works in strange ways. Also, the students up on top of the underpasses, as the devotees were leaving they dumped black paint on our white vans. So it was an orchestrated thing by these anti-war demonstrators. So when Srila Prabhupada got back to his rooms, he said, "Now we know, we cannot have any free speaking engagements anymore. Whenever I speak in public like this, you must charge five dollars or two dollars. There must be some admission charge because when we have these free assemblies, then any riffraff can come and cause a disturbance."
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada – Remembrances by Yadubara Dasa
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