Opening of Kings Cross Temple Sydney 1983 Live on Channel Nine Morning Show

Krishna was regarded as little more than an obscure religious cult. People looked upon its devotees as some sort of non-conformist dropouts. But gradually the Hare Krishnas have gained public acceptance. Today, in fact, there are nearly 50,000 followers in Australia and the movement is a multi-million dollar concern with extensive rural and city land holdings in every state.

Visiting Australia at the moment is the world leader of Hare Krishna, Srila Vishnupad, and he joins us live from the Krishna Centre in Sydney. Good morning to you. Steve Hare Krishna, how are you? I'm fine.

Now, let's back up a little bit. You were once Charlie Backus, New York filmmaker. And I wonder how you came to surrender that fast life for the life of self-denial. Well, I had the good fortune of meeting my spiritual master in Los Angeles in 1969.

And by the mercy of God, the mercy of Krishna, I listened very carefully to what he said and realized that this Krishna consciousness movement was presenting the positive alternative to the crazy chaotic life that was reigning at that time and which is prevalent today. So I just stayed there in the temple and served my spiritual master. Why the Krishna movement though? Why not one of the other alternative religions?

Well, the real point is that the Hare Krishna movement is not a new religion, but it is the most ancient of all religions. those who understand the spiritual sciences understand that god is one and he is for everyone and that the process for realizing him is to develop your love for him what do you say to those colleagues acquaintances friends of yours who remember you then in new york and see you now and say this guy's laughing at us all the way all the way where well i suppose some might say all the way to the bank others may say all the way in another direction but i mean say this fellow is not for real well actually i haven't had that experience my experience has been that all of my friends uh judy collins joni byers all of those people who i knew uh in the before i became a devotee they have great respect for what i'm doing right now in a recent television interview you You suggested that the young people of Australia have no value in their lives, and I wonder what you meant by that and how you form that opinion. Well, one can form that opinion just by common sense and practical observation.

That the rate of drug addiction, especially among the youth of Australia, is one of the highest in the world. There is no respect for family, there is no respect for institutions, educational institutions. There's practically no respect for anything. This is all a result of the permissive society and the Hare Krishna movement is taking hold among the youth of Australia, strangely enough, because we are offering a very, very regulated and disciplined lifestyle which rejects the four principles of irreligiosity.

To be a member of our movement you cannot eat any meat, you cannot have any illicit sex, you cannot take intoxication, and you can't gamble. And the young people of Australia are seeing this as a very pure positive alternative. Do you think that the movement is being better accepted by the community at large these days? I mean, has it lived down those stories of brainwashing, kidnapping, terrorism, that sort of thing?

Have you overcome that suspicion? Well here in Australia, absolutely we have. As a matter of fact, we're seeing that our society is accepted more and more here by all levels of society in Australia. What evidence do you have of that?

Well, the increase in the number of devotees who are joining, the increase in the number of books which we are distributing, the number of people who write into our society. We receive thousands of letters each week. As a matter of fact, we had an insert in all of the newspapers, and within five days we had over 10,000 people wrote in for receiving books from our society. The press release that announced this visit of yours to Australia suggested that you might have, I quote the release, some constructive ideas to offer our Prime Minister on his proposed kibbutz development for unemployed Australians.

What ideas? Well, the main idea is that no communal project, whether you call it kibbutz or whatever it might be, no communal project will work unless there is a spiritual center. a spiritual center, which means God, nothing will work. Just like you have an effort by all the nations of the world to make a world community through the United Nations. And the United Nations has failed miserably because they are not understanding what is the source of their common brotherhood.

They're preaching brotherhood. But in order to be brothers, you have to accept the existence of a common father, and that common father is God. And without that, no matter what you call it, the kibbutz, the settlement is not going to work. Never.

It will never work. We challenge you to make a community which will work without a God-center. Thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you, Steve.

Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, leader Srila Visnupad, by another name these days. But now let's take a look at what's making news at this moment.