A notable feature of the 1976 Ratha-yatra parade was the presence of angry demonstrators. This type of animosity, of course, was not a new thing; angry Christians had tried to disrupt the Melbourne Ratha parade in 1974. Yet the latest opposition was far more organised and vehement. This time angry Christians were joined by a band of disgruntled parents. This particular group, calling themselves The Anti-Krishna Movement, followed the procession carrying banners announcing that the movement had "brainwashed" their children.
Although a newly-arrived phenomenon in Australia, the same type of hostilities had been on the increase elsewhere since 1975, especially in America and Europe. Claiming that their children had been kidnapped and indoctrinated against their will to practise the tenets of Krsna consciousness, some parents had resorted to brutal and severe means to reclaim their children.
One such violent method was "deprogramming" -- popularised by self-styled saviour Ted Patrick. Deprogramming involved hiring professional kidnappers to remove the devotees from the temple, and subjecting the victims to various severe techniques to "snap" them out of their so-called brainwashed condition. Such acts, of course, were illegal. Patrick was regularly convicted, spending more time in jail than out. Nevertheless, to some angry and ill-informed parents, deprogramming was becoming a viable option.
Many devotees became alarmed and uneasy by these disturbing trends, but Srila Prabhupada assured them that this was to be expected. Far from being a cause for apprehension, Prabhupada explained, growing opposition was a sign of ISKCON's authority. Antagonism between the demons and devotees, Srila Prabhupada said, had been going on since "time immemorial", but was especially prominent in Kali-yuga.
Prabhupada wrote in his Srimad Bhagavatam purports:
Devotees want to teach Krsna consciousness so that people will be satisfied with plain living and Krsna conscious advancement ...
Demons, on the other hand, are very much interested in advancing a plan by which people will labour hard like cats, hogs and dogs. Not understanding Krsna, such demons regard Krsna conscious life as "brainwashing" and "mind control". Thus, the demons attempt to impede the advancement of the Krsna consciousness movement.
Prabhupada assured the devotees that Krsna would protect them, and that ultimately the outcome would be in their favour.
As he explained in a morning class in Vrndavana: "Our movement is being checked in the Western countries that ‘This is a brainwash movement'. Brainwash -- that we are injecting some ideas by psychology, mental control, and our people they are taking to it and it is spreading like an epidemic. How to check it? Therefore they are now taking action how to stop this Hare Krsna movement in Europe and America. They are trying. Of course, we are not afraid of this attempt. They will never be successful, rest assured, because we are pushing on Krsna consciousness.
"Krsna was attempted to be killed from the very beginning of His life. So many attempts were made by the demons and the raksasas to kill Him, but actually Krsna killed them all. So if you are sincere, if you follow the principles and push on this Krsna consciousness movement, nobody can kill you. You'll go forward, rest assured. We are not going to be killed. They are perceiving that this movement is spreading like an epidemic, and the young men of Europe and America are taking it seriously. This movement is not going to stop. It will go on. Krsna cannot be killed, neither His movement can be killed. Rather, those who are attempting to kill, they will be killed. But we must be very serious and sincere."
* * *
Prabhupada's health was declining, yet he did not hesitate in chalking out more plans to visit all his centres. He had already endured much austerity to carry the message of Krsna throughout the world. Internally, Prabhupada was always meditating on the order of his spiritual master, and therefore he was not disturbed. Thus he felt impelled to travel. By the end of the Mayapur festival of March 1976, Prabhupada's immediate travel plans were finalised. After leaving India, Prabhupada would set off eastward on another world tour. After a week-long visit to Melbourne, he would visit Auckland, Fiji, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Detroit, Toronto, New Vrndavana, Washington D.C., London, Paris and Tehran. The four-month tour would end in Bombay during August.
Biographies and Glorifications of Srila Prabhupada-‘The Great Transcendental Adventure-‘‘The Southernmost Part of this Globe', Part I --Melbourne, 1976–Kurma das
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