Drama of I’ll Build You a Temple—The Juhu Story

Giriraj Swami: I think I would like to speak about the incident when the municipality came to demolish the temple. So we had permission for that small temple for one year, and then I got the permission renewed for another year. And suddenly, one morning, a demolition crew came from the municipality supported by the police. And I approach them, I said, “We have permission.” Then I brought the file which showed we had the written permission. But they were not interested because they have been paid off by Mrs. Nair. Mr. Nair had passed away and it is understood that she got some money from the life insurance that she used the money to bribe the municipality and the police. So, one of the heroes of that incident was a lady devotee pujari named Maithali dasi. She was also depicted in the drama, and she was heavy set and she positioned herself in front of the deities’ doors to keep away the demolition crew. And because she was a woman, it was a little hard for them to deal with her physically. But eventually, it was shown, they grabbed her by the hair, she was kicking and screaming. And later Srila Prabhupada commented that “She would go the back to Godhead with kicking and screaming.” [Laughter] So it is true, we all rush forward to stop demolition and we were all put in the police paddy wagon. And eventually, we were taken to the Santa Cruz lockup. But one person didn’t come rushing forward, but he stayed in the bushes observing the whole scene. He was a Gujarati devotee named Manasvi dasa. And he phoned one of our life members and supporters, Kartikeya Mahadavia and explained what was happening. And Mr. Mahadavia phoned Mr. Bala Thakare, who was the leader of the Shiva-sena political party. And Bala Thakare phoned the municipal commissioner. and he told him to stop demolition. And municipal commissioner falsely said that we don’t have permission. Bala Thakare said, “Don’t forget who owns this city.” [Laughter]

So then the police commissioner got the message. And he phoned the K-Ward officer. We felt we were under the K-Ward, so he phoned the K-Ward officer and told him to stop the demolition. And the K-Ward officer himself, because there were no cell phones back then, the K-Ward officer himself came rushing to the site to stop the demolition. So the demolition was stopped just before they got to the deity room. Meanwhile, we were released from the police lockup, the Santa Cruz Police Station, and we came back to Hari Krishna land and we saw the devastation. The deities’ room and deities were not disturbed. And there was a triangular section above the doors to the deities’ room, and we had kept a picture of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva there, and the picture was still there, just a little bit eschewed. And I really felt that Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva had protected the temple. And through the whole episode, the deities only missed one offering, and then the deities service continued as usual. So then we underwent a systematic campaign to convince all the municipal counselors to give us permission to rebuild the temple. But then one of our friends advised us, “We don’t need permission to rebuild the temple. We already have the permission to have the temple.” So we decided we would just rebuild it. But Mrs. Nair had her spies and they informed her that we were planning to rebuild the temple. That was on a Friday. And she went to the court and her appeal came to a Justice Nayen, and she wanted an injunction to prevent us from rebuilding the temple. But Justice Nayen said he will not grant any injunction without hearing us. She said, “Well, just give the temporary injunction until you can hear from us.” And he said, “No, I will not get any injunction without hearing the other side.” So we knew we had the weekend until Monday morning when the case would come up to rebuild the temple. So one of the major heroes of the Juhu story is Mr. P.L. Sethi. He himself was a builder. So he got some workers and materials from his sites. So meanwhile, Mr. Nair’s accomplice Pushpakant Mahatrey, he was the local municipal counselor, he came to the site. And he threatened, “You can rebuild the temple, but I am going to come with fifty guṇḍās and we will break it down again.”

So, Mr. Sethi turned to his son Brija Mohan and he said, “Brija Mohan, bring my rifle and my revolver.” Then he said, “How many cartridges do I have?” He used the word, cartouche. “How many cartouches do I have?” Brija Mohan said, “Two hundred and fifty.” [Applause]. Then Mr. Sethi told Mahatrey, “Fifty is not enough, you have bring at least two hundred and fifty one because I am going to kill first two hundred and fifty.” So then the work began. And it was raining very heavily, but they were working. And my dear godbrother, late godbrother, His Holiness Sridhar Swami Maharaja, he was sitting in a jeep near the side of the reconstruction, Jeep—a motor vehicle. So Brija Mohan asked him why he was sitting in Jeep there. And Sridhar Swami joked, “So that if there is any trouble, I can make quick escape.” So Tamal Krishna Goswami was the GBC, and I was the temple president. And just a little before this Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami, who was my temple president in Boston when I joined, and he was very humble and who I appreciated a lot. He had passed through Bombay. So anyway, Tamal Krishna Goswami told me that, “You have to stay up all night and make sure the temple gets rebuilt.” And somehow, I mentioned Satsvarupa Maharaja, how humble he was. And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, just control the anger, “Your humility will be shown by your staying up all night and making sure this temple gets rebuilt.” And I thought about it and considered, yes, what he said is true. If I am really humble, I should be ready to do whatever is needed for my spiritual master’s service. So, they worked throughout the night, and by maṅgala-ārati time on Monday morning, the temple was rebuilt. So then we went to the court on Monday morning, and we informed them that the temple was already rebuilt. And the Justice Nayen said, “What is built is built. No one can just destroy the temple.” So that was the one incident.

The other in this event was getting the land signed over. And there was also depicted how Mrs. Nair repented, and Srila Prabhupada consoled her and said, “You are just like my daughter, and I will take care of you.” So, the time was fixed for her to sign over the land. And out of respect for Srila Prabhupada, the registrar of documents came to Juhu from Bombay City, and there was a momentous occasion when she signed over the land. [Applause]. And Srila Prabhupada said, “We should celebrate by having a feast.” So, the devotees would prepare the feast. So, Mrs. Nair and her group of people and Srila Prabhupada’s followers, they all had the feast. And Srila Prabhupada personally oversaw the serving of the feast. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Now we have the land. So now we want to start construction site.” And Mrs. Sethi was wearing some gold bangles, and she took off the gold bangles and gave them for the construction funds. And Srila Prabhupada said, “It is very auspicious that we are beginning with gold rather than paper money.” And Mrs. Sethi is still there. Her husband passed away, but she is still there, she is very old. She is very Krishna conscious, and we are going to be having a program at her home when I go back to Bombay in about two weeks.

But Srila Prabhupada really appreciated Mr. Sethi’s kshatriya spirit. So coming back to when the land was signed over, afterwards, Srila Prabhupada went back into his room, and he reclined against the bolster and he said, “It was a good fight.” He said, “It was a good fight. Someone should write a book about it.” [Applause] That was the seed of the book I Will Build You a Temple—A Juhu Story. So I am glad, so many of you came, and so many students came. [Applause] Srila Prabhupada was very pleased when college students and university students took interest. And he said that, “The students are our best customers.” And he said, “If you make an educated person, a student a devotee, it is equal to making ten devotees. Because each student can make ten devotees.” I am sure he would be glad to see all of you here. So, I very much enjoyed my visit to Ujjain. And I look forward to coming again and spending more time here. [Applause]. I got a few massages in the Ayurveda Clinic, and I really felt His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s love and care there. I imagined that he was saying, “I was waiting you to come, so I can serve you in this way.” [Applause]. I felt His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s love and care throughout the whole visit. And I think you are maintaining the project, managing the project very well. And I very much appreciate the service and association of His Holiness Bhakti Prema Swami Maharaja. [Applause] He is very sweet and humble and Krishna conscious, and he is a worthy leader for the project.

I would come to Ujjain just to get his association. [Applause] But I am very lucky Krishna has arranged for me to meet him in other places. I met him in Bhaktivedanta Manor in England. Then I met him in Mauritius.

Devotee: I missed you in Mayapur. [Applause]

Giriraj Swami: So yes, I plan to go to Mayapur next year.