Prabhupada always used to say that only two places in the world a gentleman can live ? India and England

Shyamasundara das: I remember he sent us several letters guiding us on Rathayatra, saying things like "I wish that I was there." We knew we couldn't expect him to be there, but he was with us. Don't forget, this was the height of Krishna awareness in London. Everyone knew us. We were famous. The flashing billboards in the center of London, Leicester Square, everyone knew about the temple. We were part of the broad band culture of London at that time, 1970. George Harrison was our friend. John Lennon was our friend. All the famous people of England were aware of us. We were appearing in concerts. We were on the street every day, Oxford Street, and you can see by this time many people were curious to see, "What is this Hare Krishna phenomenon?" And more and more Indian people had joined us.

At first they were very leery of what we were doing and they stayed away, they shied away. We had several core Indian families who were very, very helpful and very solid. Gradually the majority of Indian people in London began to understand that this was the real thing, that this was Vaisnavism. Nicely dressed gentleman. Prabhupada always used to say that only two places in the world a gentleman can live - India and England. He liked the higher level of culture in England. The bobbies everywhere. They were helping. They were helping move the deities. Afterwards they all said, the bobbies all said that was one of the most delightful public displays they've ever seen. Everyone was perfectly mannered. They got a little taste of the ecstasy themselves. All of the devotees were so enlivened in England in those days. It was such an ecstatic experience all the time. Things were humming. They had a play, "Civil Disobedience." Not a great theme. We were children. We didn't know much about tact and diplomacy, politics. We did this for Prabhupada because we knew he would be happy.