"The municipality came to drive Him away!"
Hari Sauri dasa: Prabhupada takes his walks along a beach only half a mile from the temple. He leaves at six-thirty and returns an hour later for Deity darsana. Dr.Patel usually meets him on the beach. He's short, stocky, and always barefoot. With his raucous laugh Dr. Patel seems terribly full of himself; nevertheless, he has developed an attraction for Prabhupada's association. He obviously holds Prabhupada in great respect, although it isn't always the humble and submissive sort that the devotees cultivate. He knows some Sanskrit and has studied Prabhupada's Bhagavatam; this makes for lively conversation on both topical and philosophical matters. Dr. Patel is known among the devotees for expressing strong, and generally tainted, opinions, although he cushions them with good humor, ultimately agreeing with Srila Prabhupada's pure and unbiased spiritual vision. This morning they talked briefly about human civilization. Dr. Patel blamed the spoiling of modern civilization on the atheistic communist philosophers: Marx, Hegel, and Engels. Srila Prabhupada didn't agree. "Everyone is manufacturing his own ideas," he said, "including Indian leaders like Mohandas Gandhi and others. But if people take to the movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the country will change for the better overnight."
As our small group walked along, the Arabian Sea's waves mildly lapped at our feet. By seven o'clock hundreds of people were walking and exercising up and down the flat sandy shore. Occasional sounds of jets boomed overhead as planes arrived and departed from the nearby Santa Cruz airport. Various vendors gradually set up along the hotel fronts, selling dabs (green coconuts), tea, bidis, and the like. Several gentlemen came forward to offer their pranamas to Prabhupada. He responded with, "Hare Krishna! Jaya!"
Dr. Patel introduced one such admirer as a renowned poet from Dvaraka. His name was Bethai, meaning "coming from the Dvaraka bet." Dr.Patel mentioned that Mr. Bethai only wrote poems about God. Prabhupada good-naturedly quoted a Bengali poem that wherever one finds himself he should neither perform religious acts nor sinful ones; he should simply always remember the lotus feet of Krishna. This prompted Dr. Patel to voice a complaint about how our pujaris dress the temple Deities. "Sir, lotus feet. These people are actually putting such a long varga [dress]. I am trying to see the lotus feet of God here, arca-vigraha. Well, I am unable. Instruct them to put up the varga a little, so that we can have darsana of His sacred feet. Please tell them. Too long vargas, you simply can't see anything."
Giriraja patiently explained that the Deities' feet can always be seen throughout the day; but when They wear Their night clothes, Their feet are not visible. Since Dr. Patel only comes early in the morning, while the Deities are in still in Their night outfit, he never gets to see Krishna's feet. There seems to be a mild acrimony in Dr. Patel's dealings with the devotees. He behaves as if he ought to be given some special entitlement by us as a learned and elderly person, and he tries to play off his relationship with Srila Prabhupada to extract some special attention. At any rate, in this instance, Prabhupada didn't take the matter too seriously. His mind was working in a different way. Whether the Lord's feet were visible or not, he was content that after the long hard struggle to establish the temple on Hare Krishna Land, Their Lordships were still with us.
Prabhupada's response to Dr. Patel's complaint was thus full of gratitude and appreciation. "How He [Krishna] sat tight to call everyone to come and see Hm? The municipality came to drive Him away!" For several years Prabhupada has fought on Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari's behalf. The previous owner tried to cheat Prabhupada of the land, while the municipality had presented severe objections to establishing a temple. At one time they had even half-demolished the Deities' temporary shelter. They burned the roof support poles with oxyacetylene torches and carried the protesting devotees off in a police truck. They even went so far as to begin ripping off the Deity room's roof with Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari still inside! Only a last second intervention by a few favorable people in local government prevented the total destruction. Returning to the temple we observed the regular program of greeting Their Lordships, guru-puja, and class. Then Prabhupada retired to his quarters for the day.
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 1 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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