BTG magizine | The Hare Krishna Movement

A Conversation between A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami & Allen Ginsberg

02 Apr 2016 2 Comments

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Allen Ginsberg, Back to Godhead, BTG magizine, Guru das, People, Roger Siegel Tags: 518 Frederick Street San Francisco, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Allen Ginsberg, BTG, conversation with Srila Prabhupada, Guru das, Krishna Consciousness Temple, swami

This morning I was cleaning out one of the sheds, and found this old suitcase filled with cassette tapes. There were some of the old Bhaktivedanta Archive tapes, Golden Avatar tapes, various lectures, bahjans and kirtans. I started to listed to some of the old vintage kirtans and lectures and I was filled with a nostalgic mood of yearning, for the early days of the Hare Krishna Movement. This lead me to re-examine the old Back to Godhead magazine issues. The following is one article I found very reminiscence of those early days.

A Conversation between A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami & Allen Ginsberg
Recorded by Guru Das Adhikary

Swamiji had come to San Francisco in late January, 1967 for the opening of the Krishna Consciousness Temple there, at 518 Frederick Street. Allen Ginsberg had always shown friendly and helpful interest in the Society; and he agreed to attend a giant “Mantra Rock Festival,” which the temple members were planning to hold in the Avalon Ballroom. And so, a few days before that event, the good poet came to early morning Kirtan (7 A. M.), and later joined the Swami upstairs in the apartment his pupils had rented for him.

We were sitting in the glow of this holy man, munching on Indian sweetballs cooked by the Swami, when Allen Ginsberg came through the door, a warm smile on his face.

The Swami offered him a sweetball: “Take.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, radiating mutual love.

Stay High Forever

23 Dec 2014 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead, BTG magizine, Hayagriva das, Prabhupada, The Hare Krishna Explosion Tags: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pabhupada, Back to Godhead Magazine, East Village hippies, Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Mantra, hayagriva das, hippies, Lower East Side, New Vrindaban, Old Vrindaban, Stay High Forever, the hare krishna explosion

I enjoy reading and re-reading to old issues of Back to Godhead Magazine. And it seems the older the issue the more relishable the content, as is the case with this 1969 issue…

The Hare Krishna Explosion
by Hayagriva das
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine 1969 Vol. 1, No. 26

The joyful history of a dynamic transcendental movement

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare vibrates from a walkup temple on New York’s Lower East Side, from the sidewalks of Haight Ashbury, from Golden Gate Park, from a London flat, from student quarters in Hamburg and Amsterdam, from a storefront in Santa Fe, an exbowling alley in Montreal, a sprawling university campus in Ohio, from Old Vrindaban in India to New Vrindaban in the West Virginia mountains, and from Boston and Buffalo to Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver and across the Pacific to Hawaii.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The voices chanting the magic vibrations are invariably young. The chanting, accompanied by khartals (small hand cymbals), tambourines and drums, is often loud and frenetic. The dancing is vigorous. The middle-aged and elderly usually stand in doorways or look through windows, watching in amazement, unaware that they are witnessing a process of spiritual realization that has been practiced on this planet for thousands of years. They do not understand. No one really understands. The chanting just spreads. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna …

The Choice is Yours

13 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead, BTG magizine, God, Jon Nordheimer Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, God, interview with Srila Prabhupada, Jon Nordheimer, Krsna God, New York Times, prabhupada, spiritual sparks

click on image to enlarge

This is a nice article from Back to Godhead Magazine published in 1975. It is an interview with New York Times reporter Jon Nordheimer, and His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, on the subject of God.

The Choice is Yours
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine 1975, Vol. 10, No. 4
Interview with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

PRABHUPADA: When we speak of Krsna, we mean God. Everyone has some vague idea of God, but no clear idea. Therefore God descends to show what He is. If we speculate on God, someone will think one thing, and another person will think another. This is the result of speculation. But if God Himself comes and shows Himself as He is and speaks about Himself, that is perfect knowledge. This Krsna consciousness movement is spreading that message: God Himself is speaking about Himself: “I am this; I am like this; My form is like this; My activities are like this; My address is this and that—if you like, you can come back to Me. This is the situation. Everyone can come to Me.” All this information is in Bhagavad-gita As It Is. In Bhagavad-gita God speaks about Himself and presents Himself as He is. We simply have to take that information; then we can understand God. As soon as we understand God, we can go home immediately. It is very simple.