By Bhajahari das
Earlier, when the party was just about to leave Soho Street, Parasurama prabhu, invited all the devotees to help hand out the two boxes of “Reservoirs of Pleasure” that Bhakta Tom had on his trolley. So there were more devotees than usual distributing this week. The booklets were flying out. Everywhere I looked people had a copy in their hands. With Krsna on the front cover, and Srila Prabhupada on the back cover. During the two hours Samkirtan we distributed 1,500 copies.
Srila Prabhupada wrote on 5 Jan1973:
“But it is always better if there are some devotees chanting loudly on the street,. Even if there is even one man to two men or a small party who are chanting Hare Krsna, that will increase also the book sales. So if there are sufficient men, and if we have got sanction by the authorities, it is always better to have at least a small party chanting, along with as many distributors of books as possible”
After Leicester Square, Ratnavali took over leading the kirtan in Piccadilly Circus. Here (as the video shows) the kirtan exploded. Dozens of teenagers appeared from nowhere and all of a sudden there were twice the amount of souls singing and dancing. Ratnavali, (playing the djembe drum) a veteran of Tribhuvantha’s African preaching programmes, had been out on Sankirtan all afternoon chanting in Reading and Slough. Along with Girdhari and others, she had been advertising the two Hare Krsna Festivals in these towns next week.
If you look very closely at the video you will notice a young lady wearing a Burka, and also a young man wearing a turban. There were definitely Christians and Hindus present amongst the Harinam party members, and almost certainly one or two devotees from a Jewish background. Therefore the following prediction of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura is gradually becoming more and more a reality.
“The principle of kirtana, as the future church of the world, invites all classes of men without distinction of caste, creed, or clan to the highest cultivation of the spirit. This church will extend all over the world and take the place of all sectarian churches which exclude outsiders from the precincts of their mosque, church or temple” Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts, page 62.
All the Acharyas wanted this Sankirtan in the major cities of the world, so it WILL happen. It is just a matter of time.