Gaura Gopal - On the Road to Freedom Interview

Okay, it's really a case of you're on the road to freedom at present. Yes, we're travelling around, we're gathering a lot of singaches. It's been very successful since Palm Sunday last year to bring attention to the plight of imprisoned Hare Krishna devotees in the Soviet Union. And at the same time we're, I feel we're breaking down a lot of barriers here in this country. We're meeting a lot of people, you'd be quite amazed at who have come on the bus and who have signed our petition.

So I think Australia is a country which the Australian people should be proud of because we're leading the way as far as I'm concerned in human rights and also in understanding that due to technology the world's becoming like a global village. So people are very, people can very easily understand other cultures and we must learn. Can I start that again? Yes, sure. Quite about 10 boys' guns. Okay, no worries at all.

We're going to be away. Oh, I got it. I wanted to say about five things at once and I only got one match. No worries at all. Okay, so you're really on the road to freedom at present, Gary? Yes, we're travelling around, we're gathering a lot of singaches for the freedom people in the Soviet Union.

And at the same time I think we're showing a lot of people that elsewhere in the world there are other cultures, other religions, other ways of life and we have to learn to respect that. Now as we move closer to the 21st century due to technology the world's going to become more of a global image, a global village. So the fact is we have different beliefs, different religions and we must learn to live together. Some people do have a go at us but I think that's due to lack of education.

I think that over the next 15 or so years people will learn more about other religions, other cultures and in a way will help us learn to live together because if we're going to survive the scourages of war and persecution then we must learn to understand that there are other cultures and we're not going to change, this is our home, this world and we have to learn to understand each other's point of view. Now the Soviet Union are understanding our point of view.

You know, Hare Krishna people are singing and dancing on the streets of Moscow and Leningrad right now. And so therefore here we are in Orbury, we've done the same thing, we're supported by the government, we're a registered religion. So people should respect the fact that we're practicing our freedom. And people still see the Christians as a radical sect? No, I think you'll find that over the last 10 years or so the Krishna movement has become accepted as a mainstream religion in this country.

We have a very good school that has recently been stated to be one of the best schools in the country, has a private school and also you'll find our welfare work in both Sydney and Melbourne feeding people who are down and out in our crossway centre in Melbourne and our drop-in centre up in Kings Cross. This is greatly respected by organisations and by the government and a lot of people support that. So we're actually contributing a lot to the Australian society.

When's the cut-off point for the petition and then where does the petition get presented? Well, it finishes in October this year during the Bison Tenary. It's going to be our contribution to show that the Australian people support human rights and support religious freedom. And we're going to present a one million singletures to the Soviet ambassador in Canberra in October. And this idea was actually presented by him in January 1987. He suggested that we actually do this.

We go around and get all these singletures to show the Soviets that the Australian public do support the fact that there should be religious freedom in the Soviet Union. So therefore we're actually very successfully doing that. That's fine, Gary. That's great. Thanks for your time.