Open in App
Open in App

May 18, 1973 : Bombay

Satsvarupa: Municipal officers try to demolish the temple at Juhu. Prabhupada was in Calcutta at the time of the attack, and when the devotees reached him by phone, he told them to organize the local ISKCON sympathizers and life members and protest the attack by mass publicity. They should also expose the persons responsible. This would be very effective against Mrs. N. and her party.

Prabhupada mentioned various life members he thought would help. Mr. Sada Jiwatlal, the head of the Hindu Viswa Parishad, should help with publicity, since his organization was a defender of Hindu dharma and was meant for handling such cases as this. Mr. Sethi should help in preventing further violence. This episode, Prabhupada said, had been part of Krishna's plan; the devotees should not be afraid.

Prabhupada also asked Giriraja to give full coverage of the temple demolition in his Hare Krishna Monthly journal to life members. Prabhupada himself wrote an article for the Monthly describing his movement and the events leading to the attack on the temple. He condemned the Bombay municipality for having the "audacity to smash our temple, against the law and principle of religious faith." A clique in Bombay, he said, had conspired to drive the devotees from their land without returning their money, and he asked for sympathizers and life members of the Krishna consciousness movement to come forward and help him at this difficult hour.


Reference: Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta Volume 5 - Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami