Date and time: Sunday 23rd day of  January 2022. 18 hours.

Place: Hastings st, Noosa Heads, Queensland 4567, Australia.

We have decided to add a Hari Nam program to our offensive against the powerful material energy also called Maya. Our choice of time is in unison with Srila Prabhupada’s own time in 1966, in Tomkins Square, New York, i.e. Sunday afternoon. Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, first incorporated in New York City in 1966. Srila Prabhupada is also God’s current prophet. This movement has been growing more and more all over the world and will continue to grow more and more now and in the future as people of the world will come to realize the essential functionality of this movement. Of course, demons will oppose it. That is expected and is a very old phenomenon. But why should demons dictate their terms? Why shouldn’t the devotees of God, Krishna dictate their values? These values are sane, wholesome, beneficial for all living entities and above all these values are bona fide and authorized by the highest authority. And Who is the highest authority? Without any doubt whatsoever, God or Krishna is the highest authority at all times. And He has expressed His views in Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Positively these values are as follows: please chant the Holy Names of God, Krishna as in

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

as much as you can. Committed members will chant a minimum of at least 1728 Hare Krishna Maha Mantras per day and to make the chanting more effective please follow the four regulative yoga principles of No meat, fish or egg eating, No gambling, No illicit sex and No intoxication. Whereas the activities of the demons destroy the world in every aspect,  including environmentally. They destroy people’s livelihood and would rather use machines than pay people a decent wage, thus putting in danger their mental health and certainly destroying their sense of self-worth. And they have created the ultimate threat of atomic destruction. These are the activities of the demon class and we should be careful not to unwittingly support them in their nefarious activities.

This was our second Hari Nam session and during the first Hari Nam session, we noticed police driving past and paying attention to the Sankirtan Party.

This second time, without leaving their four wheel drive vehicle, they have clearly banned the use of kartals. “It is too loud,” a very subjective statement in the sense that to my knowledge no scientific measurements in terms of decibels were made. Some diners at the Hastings street restaurants just felt that the sound of kartals was clashing with the enjoyment of their evening meal and caused the police to be called into action.  We are very sorry that some people felt like that, but we may also ask: Is this really a police matter? Or is it police abuse? Whether is it a permanent ban or not is not clear either at this stage. What will happen the third and next time remains to be seen as well and whether there will be a gradual further escalation of police Hare Krishna religious repression in NOOSA. But we can easily imagine that some individuals fundamentally antagonistic to Lord Caitanya’s of Bengal, India, most beautiful and most peaceful International Hari Nam Sankirtan Movement take advantage of the anonymity of a phone call and abuse police services to give vent to their anti-Hare Krishna feelings. “Hello police, we are peacefully eating our humanely slaughtered animals in Hastings street, Noosa Heads, Queensand, Australia and these Hare Krishnas come around and make some noise and chant God knows what. Please stop them at all costs. Arrest them if you have to.” Police fall into the trap and embarrass themselves. Genuine Hare Krishna members are self controlled and consequently self policed and therefore do not require the attention of the state police. Hari Nam Sankirtan or the public chanting of the Holy Names of God or Krishna is clearly a public religious function and we are not “busking” as one of the officers was suggesting. They did not ask for my identity, neither did I ask for theirs. We remember that 500 years ago in Bengal the Chand Kazi, a Muslim ruler, tried unsuccessfully to stop Lord Caitanya and His Sankirtan Movement. Later he was converted to a devotee.

“After the mass nagara-sankirtana in protest against the magistrate Chand Kazi, the Kazi was converted to a devotee. Then Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned with His sankirtana party to the house of Sridhara, and Chand Kazi followed Him. All the devotees rested there for some time and drank water from Sridhara’s damaged iron pot. The Lord accepted the water because the pot belonged to a devotee. Chand Kazi then returned home. The place where they rested is still situated on the northeastern side of Mayapur, and it is known as kirtana-visrama-sthana, “the resting place of the kirtana party.”
Adi 17.71

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 17.71

One of the officers naturally also asked whether we have to chant the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra in the main street and at peak hour? We replied; “But of course Sir, absolutely Sir, we are not obscurantists, this is sound vibration therapy, we need maximum exposure to the most beneficial sound vibration in the three worlds that of

Hare Krishna

Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama

Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare 

Whether we believe it or not, the mass chanting of this especially designed mantra by the great sages of India will solve most if not all the problems of our miserly modern and degrading life. Therefore our simple and typically Australian request is:

“Please give it a fair go”

We are not sectarian, we are not charging any money for it, it is free of charge, and the benefits are incalculable even in dollars terms. Everyone irrespective of gender, skin color, creed, and age is invited to take advantage and participate to their heart’s content. Even animals are benefitted and sometimes react positively to the chanting because animals as well are divine spirit souls, parts and parcels of God, Krishna just like human beings are. From that point of view that is no difference between man and animal. So we should definitely not kill and eat cows. So again:

“Please give it a fair go”

We are like doctors trying to cure recalcitrant patients from a very serious virus. Besides coronavirus covid 19, there is another permanent virus called Maya Virus or the Virus of Illusion. It has been heard that nowadays sometimes the patient are so very disturbed that they sometimes physically attack the benevolent doctor. In that case, we shall call for your help officer, please do not neglect us. In that case, we shall be totally dependent on your assistance, on the assistance of the law and its enforcers. Please do not neglect us in that case. Thank you very much, officer.

We replaced kartal playing with hand-clapping and found that hand clapping is a very good invitation for people to participate and clap along. This means that people are actually engaging in Lord Krishna’s service, the most therapeutic activity of all.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is V1, 16.11-12:

cintam aparimeyam capralayantam upasritah
kamopabhoga-paramaetavad iti niscitah

asa-pasa-satair baddhahkama-krodha-parayanah
ihante kama-bhogarthamanyayenartha-sancayan

Word for word translation

cintam — fears and anxieties; aparimeyam — unmeasurable; ca — and; pralaya-antam — unto the point of death; upasritah — having taken shelter of them; kama-upabhoga — sense gratification; paramah — the highest goal of life; etavat — thus; iti — in this way; niscitah — ascertain; asa-pasa — entanglement in the network of hope; sataih — by hundreds; baddhah — being bound; kama — lust; krodha — anger; parayanah — always situated in that mentality; ihante — desire; kama — lust; bhoga — sense enjoyment; artham — for that purpose; anyayena — illegally; artha — wealth; sancayan — accumulate.

TRANSLATION

They (the demoniac class) believe that to gratify the senses unto the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification.

PURPORT

The demoniac accept that the enjoyment of the senses is the ultimate goal of life, and this concept they maintain until death. They do not believe in life after death, and they do not believe that one takes on different types of bodies according to one’s karma, or activities in this world. Their plans for life are never finished, and they go on preparing plan after plan, all of which are never finished. We have personal experience of a person of such demoniac mentality, who, even at the point of death, was requesting the physician to prolong his life for four years more because his plans were not yet complete. Such foolish people do not know that a physician cannot prolong life even for a moment. When the notice is there, there is no consideration of the man’s desire. The laws of nature do not allow a second beyond what one is destined to enjoy.
The demoniac person, who has no faith in God or the Supersoul within himself, performs all kinds of sinful activities simply for sense gratification. He does not know that there is a witness sitting within his heart. The Supersoul is observing the activities of the individual soul. As it is stated in the Vedic literature, the Upanisads, there are two birds sitting in one tree; the one is acting and enjoying or suffering the fruits of the branches, and the other is witnessing. But one who is demoniac has no knowledge of Vedic scripture, nor has he any faith; therefore he feels free to do anything for sense enjoyment, regardless of the consequences.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 16.11, Bg 16.12, 1972

The good news however is that a few minutes and a few hundred meters later, we met Tony, of Italian origin and from Melbourne. He is of retirement age and travels around Australia with his female partner. After a long conversation, he seemed to have an instant conversion to Krishna consciousness and concluded: “Look I am not religious at all, but if I had to choose any religion it would have to be Krishna consciousness.” He accepted a copy of Bhagavad-gita As It Is and we wish him not only a great, exciting holiday but also the greatest success in his newfound religion i..e. Krishna consciousness.

Please chant always: 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare 

..to be continued…..stay tuned.

PS: We acknowledge her inspiration and thank you very much, Q. Lazzarus, for creating your famous  song “GoodBye Horses.”

Q Lazzarus says,

As the writer, musician, and producer of the song, I wanted to add a bit of light to it, as it has a rather grisly association with the serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs, but really the song is about transcendence over those who see the world as only earthly and finite. The horses represent the five senses from Hindu philosophy (the Bhagavad Gita) and the ability to lift one’s perception above these physical limitations and to see beyond this limited earthly perspective.

Wikipedia:

Q Lazzarus (born December 12, 1960)^{[citation needed]} is an American bus driver and retired singer known for her 1988 song “Goodbye Horses“. She is noted for her mysterious profile as little is known about the singer’s identity or private life.^[1]…….

Q Lazzarus has a deep, husky, contralto voice. She was born in New Jersey, married young, and fled an abusive marriage that later inspired her to write the song “Tears of Fear.” Moving to New York City, she became a nanny for an English man named Swan, who tried to steer her toward a “practical occupation” rather than encourage her musical gifts. Q decided to drive a taxi instead and continued making music independently with her band, The Resurrection. It was while working as a cabbie that she was discovered as a singer.^[2] One of her fares was director Jonathan Demme, who heard her demo playing in the taxi. Demme took her to Hollywood, where, despite his encouragement, record companies refused to sign her because they believed she couldn’t be marketed. Q replied, “I market myself, I’m an African-American woman who wears locks and sings American rock and roll.”

All glories to Q Lazzarus’ Krishna-service!!! Please keep it up and increase it, Q Lazzarus. You have a “deep, husky, contralto voice.” Congratulations and please use your voice further for Krishna-service. Thank you very much again.