SpiritualUnbeknownst to most devotees, Hansadutta had also organized preaching behind the Iron Curtain. But he was very cautious to keep it a secret, because religious propaganda was strictly prohibited in the communist countries who aimed to create an atheist society, viewing religion as a hindrance to socialist progress.
Despite all obstacles, Śivānanda had been visiting East Berlin since 1971. Prabhupāda himself had visited Moscow in the summer of 1971, where he had spoken with Professor Kotovsky and accepted a young Russian man as his disciple giving him the name Anantaśānti Dāsa. Hansadutta visited Moscow at the end of October and took a few books with him. Around the same time a book fair was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and Cakravartī and Pṛthu went there to present Prabhupāda’s books.
PṚTHU DĀSA: When we pulled up at the Yugoslavian border in a van full of books, the customs agents didn’t let us through, so we had to turn around. We decided to try another checkpoint. But since it was already noon, we stopped to take prasādam first.
After a while, a huge dog came near our van, and we began feeding it capātīs. Suddenly, I had an idea. We invited the dog into the van and drove to the border. As I had hoped, the dog became the focus of an argument. The border guards were adamantly opposed to allowing our dog into the country. They said, “You can’t take this dog.” We insisted we couldn’t live without our dog. Finally, we agreed to let the dog go, and they waved us through—and we were on our way to Belgrade with hundreds of books. We managed to get a booth at the book fair, and hundreds of Yugoslavians bought our books. We distributed prasādam, and many people took our address and later kept in regular contact.
*** When Hansadutta informed Śrīla Prabhupāda about his trip to Russia and the successful preaching in Yugoslavia, Prabhupāda was extremely pleased. He had a special interest in bringing Lord Caitanya’s message to countries where conditions for preaching and practicing devotional service were the most adverse. He wrote to Hansadutta: It is Krishna’s mercy that you were able to take a copy of Bhagavad-gita to Moscow. It is very encouraging that the boy without any association is maintaining the standard. This is due to his chanting 16 rounds and following the regulative principles. Now he should be in your charge, so you kindly guide him and keep him in our atmosphere and utilize him properly, but steadily and cautiously; I am also glad to note the work going on in East Germany.
Try to impress upon them to make communism God-centered. God is the father of everyone, and we are all His sons. Everything is His property, and everyone has the right to enjoy it. Without being God-centered, Communism will fail. So we have got good potency to be the leaders of the world if we carefully push on this movement.
I am glad to note the work of Cakravarti and Prithu at the Belgrade Book Fair. This is real progress. So from all the literatures you are distributing, you spend this money for spreading Krishna consciousness in Poland, Czecho-slovakia, Hungary, and East Germany, and prepare men. Put all of our books into the local languages.
Yes, I want you give me the facility to write my books, but I can attend some meetings of important people and elites. You have taken the right view of the importance of my books. Books will always remain. That was the view of my Guru Mahārāja, and I also have taken it. Therefore I started my movement with my books. And we shall be able to maintain everything with the sales of the books. The temples will be maintained by the book sales, and if there are no more temples, the books shall remain». EKĀ DĀSA: My first contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness was seeing a TV program in 1971 on Broadcast Free Berlin, a station banned in the former German Democratic Republic. The show documented new religious movements in West Germany but mainly featured the Hamburg devotees. Being philosophical, I felt attracted. But I lived in Potsdam, near East Berlin, so there was no way to meet the devotees.
Then I received a Zurück zur Gottheit magazine. In those days, citizens over sixty were allowed to visit the West, and many of them returned with books and magazines, though that was prohibited. I regularly borrowed Western literature from an acquaintance interested in esoteric philosophy, and he gave me the Hare Kṛṣṇa magazine.
In the spring of 1973, the East German government organized an international cultural event, the Weltfestspiele der Jugend. Young people from all over the world were invited to Alexanderplatz, a famous central square in East Berlin, and allowed to exchange their ideas freely, although no foreign literature was permitted. The government wanted to show the world that life in the German Democratic Republic was as normal as that in any other country.
PṚTHU DĀSA: Śivānanda and I went across the border dressed as devotees, something impossible under normal circumstances. Although we couldn’t take books we had many opportunities to preach. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the event, and we preached all day. Wherever we went in the square large crowds gathered around us within minutes.
During one talk I said, “Wherever there is motion, there must be life. Matter is dead unless it is touched by spirit.” A Communist functionary stepped forward and argued, “What about the atom? The electron and proton move around the neutron.”
I said, “That’s because Kṛṣṇa is inside the atom: aṇḍāntara-sthaparamāṇu-cayāntara-stham.” The guy shut up, the crowd cheered.
From time to time we asked everybody to give us addresses so we could send them literature, and from those contacts, a group gradually developed. One of them became the first East German devotee, Ekā Dāsa. EKĀ DĀSA: I went to the event on Alexanderplatz to meet some interesting people. When I spotted two men dressed in monks’ robes, I remembered having seen this in the Hare Kṛṣṇa magazine. So I went up to them and said, “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” Śivānanda looked surprised to hear someone in East Germany greet him like that. After talking, we went to buy some food. Śivānanda offered it, and I took my first prasādam.
From that day on, Śivānanda regularly came to East Berlin, usually on weekends. He also brought the first books in German, one at a time, so he wouldn’t have a problem at the checkpoint. He gave me a bead bag and beads. And after a few months, he revealed that he had recommended me for initiation. He hadn’t asked me, but he felt I was a fit candidate because I was the only person in the East sincerely practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In January 1974 he came with the initiation letter from Śrīla Prabhupāda and gave me a new set of sanctified beads and my name. Before being initiated I didn’t even know that I was supposed to follow the four rules and chant sixteen rounds every day. I chanted regularly, but sometimes more and sometimes less. I only knew that if you were sincere, you could get initiated and get a spiritual name.
About a month later, we did harināma in public. It didn’t take long for the state security police to arrive and arrest us. They asked Śivānanda to leave the country, and they interrogated me for the rest of the day. I soon attempted to escape to West Berlin, but I was arrested again and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. I wasn’t allowed to keep any books or japa beads, so I made a mālā from strings, with knots as beads. Because I had no other engagement, I spent most of the time chanting. One day I actually chanted 108 rounds.
From time to time, someone from the state security department would come to see me. He wanted to find out where I got the books. He even offered to release me from jail if I would work for them. I declined. After some months, they felt I was a hopeless case and asked me where I wanted to go. I told them I wanted to stay in East Germany, but the problem was that they didn’t let me do what I wanted. Eventually, they gave me a form to sign, a petition to be released to the West. The East and West German governments had a treaty concerning unwanted citizens, and in autumn 1974, the West German government bought my freedom for 40,000 DM. I was allowed to go to West Berlin, where I moved into the temple. *** At the end of December 1973, the German translation of Prabhupāda’s Bhagavad-gītā As It Is went to the printer. Hansadutta informed Prabhupāda and sent him a revised edition of Jenseits von Zeit und Raum (Easy Journey to Other Planets). Prabhupāda replied from Los Angeles: Previously I have seen a copy of the German Easy Journey to Other Planets. It is very nice. The printing is very good, and I’m quite pleased. Thank you very much for helping me spread this transcendental knowledge to the German people. It is a great credit for you and all the German devotees, and Lord Caitanya will bless you with devotion to His lotus feet. I am very anxious to see our Bhagavad-gita in German, so as soon as it is completed, kindly send me a copy.
When Bhagavad-gītā Wie Sie Ist finally came off the press, it was almost time to go to India for the Gaura Pūrṇimā festival. Hansadutta decided not to send a copy by mail but to present the book to Śrīla Prabhupāda in person. In March 1974 devotees from all over the world would be coming together in Māyāpur to celebrate the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Śrīla Prabhupāda described his plan in a letter to Hansadutta: We must meet at least once a year in Mayapur. Not only GBC shall meet, but many devotees from all parts of the world. In Mayapur, we now have facilities to accommodate more than a thousand people. We have a fourstory building and enough space so that even on the balcony we can accommodate thousands apart from the rooms. There are all marble floors, and there is always natural ventilation.”
So at the end of February, Hansadutta, Himavatī, and the four temple presidents—Śivānanda, Sucandra, Cakravartī, and Pṛthu—flew to Calcutta. Prabhupāda was staying at the Albert Road temple for a couple of days before going on to Māyāpur. To receive the first foreign language edition of the Bhagavad-gītā from the hands of his disciples was for Prabhupāda a dream come true. He had Pṛthu read a few passages from Bhagavad-gītā Wie Sie Ist while he leaned back on his cushions and listened with closed eyes.