On The Waterfront

Swarup Hebel: A longshoreman is a dockworker who loads and unloads cargo vessels. The dockworkers, especially in New York, are a rough and tumble lot They are part of the AFL-CIO which is the most powerful labor union in the world. The movie starring Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront, depicts the violent early days of the union on the New York docks in the 1950’s.

One of my jobs (services) when I was with ISKCON Press was to fill the book and magazine orders from all the centers. Whether we printed the book ourselves or the actual printing was done by Dai Nippon in Japan — all the books and BTGs were warehoused wherever ISKCON Press was at the time (Boston and then Brooklyn and eventually Los Angeles).

When orders came to Boston from temples in the U.S. and Canada all I had to do was get the cartons ready and call up a trucking company like Associated Transport or Transcontinental Freightways, make out a bill of lading and have them drive up to our loading dock in the backyard. The consignment was loaded onto the truck and off it went to its destination – where anxious devotees were waiting so that they could distribute Prabhupada’s writings.

By 1970–’71 many temples were being opened overseas – in Europe, Australia, Asia, South America and eventually India. When I got orders from those centers I’d have to book passage on cargo ships that left from New York harbor. That process involved loading up the Ford Econoline van (which was shared by both the Press and the Boston temple) and drive to the Brooklyn shipping yards. The docks were always crowded with longshoremen and truckers coming and going with gigantic shipments packed into their 18 wheelers. In comparison my load seemed very small (in quantity perhaps) It was a pretty intense scene down there and I liked getting in and out of there as quickly as possible.

Some orders had arrived from our centers in Fiji, Tokyo, South Africa and Australia so it was time for me to make one of my runs. I booked the consignments on three different vessels all of which were scheduled to leave New York in three days. I packed up the van and hit the road, driving through the night.

When I pulled into the shipping yard the next morning I was shocked. Even though it was very early there were so many trucks backed up that I could barely find a place to park the van. I quickly found out that there was a strike going on. The union shut the docks down and no freight was moving.

Apparently the strike was already in its second day and consequently everything was pretty much at a standstill. I was told that some agreement was made the night before and the result was that a few workers would come back on the job – but only around ten percent of the usual workforce. At least that way while the negotiations were continuing there would be some relief.

Even with a skeletal crew working I was told that I’d probably be there for at least 48 hours before anybody would get to me. Somebody pointed to a desk with a stack of bills of lading a few feet high. He said to put mine on the bottom and wait with everybody else.

What was I going to do? I was supposed to get the van back to Boston as soon as possible since that one van was shared by both the Press and the Boston temple. I was being told that the earliest I would be out of there was in two days – and there was no certainty my orders would be loaded on time since the vessels were keeping their schedules, ignoring the dock strike. I found a chair inside the smoke-filled building and sat there wondering what I should do.

A half hour or so went by when I decided to go to the van and get my Bhagavad-gita. I figured I may as well make the best use of the time I had sitting around and waiting. I opened the Gita randomly and when I looked down I was looking at Verse 38 of the Second Chapter, “Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat—and by so doing you shall never incur sin.”

I began reading the purport when some guy walked over to me and asked me what I was doing there. I told him I was with a nonprofit religious organization and I was trying to get our books shipped out to our overseas centers. He asked me if I had all my paperwork and I told him the bills of lading were in the pile up at the front desk – at the bottom – since I had just arrived not more than an hour before. I figured that he was just one of the truckers and was curious. Then he asked where my vehicle was parked and told me to go get my paperwork and walk with him over to the van.

As we walked he explained that he was a dock foreman and was in charge of whatever little movement was happening during the remainder of the strike. He then said, “I saw you sitting there reading your book and you just didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the palookas here and I got curious so I thought I’d check out your situation. There’s no reason you should have to sit around in this hellhole. Let’s get you going on your way. “

Twenty minutes later all the cartons of books were loaded onto a wooden palate and a forklift picked it up and loaded the palate into a container which would then get loaded onto the ship. The temples would be getting their orders on time.

I got back on the road and headed home — back up to Boston. I had no doubt that Krishna intervened and guided that guy over to me.

P.S.: About a year ago I was telling somebody this story but I couldn’t remember exactly where that verse was that I was reading from the Gita when he approached me. I took my Bhagavad-gita off my shelf and opened it up — and there it was – on the very page I opened the book to – Chapter 2, Text 38: “Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss of gain, victory or defeat – and by so doing you shall never incur sin.”