Krishna Gopal dasa: Way back in 1976 the devotees in New York were determined to build three huge Ratha-Yatra carts and hold the respective festival in the most important city of the world. The challenge was to find a place in Manhattan where the carts could be built and then transferred to the festival route. Open real estate in Manhattan is a very rare thing indeed. Tosan Krsna took it upon himself to find such a place that would work. The Pennsylvania Railroad yards where the logical choice and in fact probably the only place that would work. Without reservation he approached the then corporate company owners of the area with a proposal to let the devotees use the space to build the carts. Much to his dismay, he was told they were in the process of selling the property and it would be solely up to the new owner now under contract. That new owner was none other than Donald J. Trump. So Tosan then wrote a proposal which was passed on to this noted real estate mogul. Things seemed dim at that point. However, much to Tosan’s surprise and prayers, he was contacted and asked to come to the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan where all the details of the real estate transaction were to be concluded. There upon he was given the signed permission agreement. It was signed by non-other than Donald J. Trump with permission to use the open rail yards to build the Ratha-Yatra carts for the most famous ISKCON festival. Trump could have easily rejected the proposal but, he did not. Why he did not, at this time, only he and Lord Krishna know.
After reading this story I was curious if this agreement was of financial gain for Trump which would minimize devotional credit he would receive by it. A few days ago in Vrindavan, Hansarupa prabhu, who served intimately with Jayananda prabhu during the carts building process for this event recounted the history. It turns out only a token sum of perhaps $10 for legal purposes was accepted by Trump. Clauses were in the contract signed by Tosan Krishna prabhu, but it was definitely a magnificent act of devotional service done by Trump. Although it was likely all ajnata sukriti or unknown spiritual credit, the seed of bhakti was planted back in 1976 for Trump, and likely had something to do with his unlikely rise to U.S. presidency.