A report from March 2003

[Guest guest]

A few weeks ago, there was an anti-war rally in NYC near the United

Nations Building and a friend warned me that our regular Harinam

program might be obstructed by police activity at Times Square. Our

kirtana program began at 7:00 P.M. as usual and by that time, many

of the police had gone off duty, though they were still in uniform.

When we reached 42nd Street and Broadway, some of the police

officers asked if they could play our karatalas and one even took

over the mrdanga playing for a brief moment. In more than thirty

years of performing sankirtana on the streets of New York, this was

the first time I had ever seen police in uniform join the chanting

party. Having felt some of the ecstasy of devotional service, one of

the cops said afterwards that the kirtana was like a "stairway to

heaven."

[Guest guest]

On Mon, 21 Apr 2003, Bhakti Vikasa Swami wrote:

 

> A few weeks ago, there was an anti-war rally in NYC near the United

> Nations Building and a friend warned me that our regular Harinam

> program might be obstructed by police activity at Times Square. Our

> kirtana program began at 7:00 P.M. as usual and by that time, many

> of the police had gone off duty, though they were still in uniform.

> When we reached 42nd Street and Broadway, some of the police

> officers asked if they could play our karatalas and one even took

> over the mrdanga playing for a brief moment. In more than thirty

> years of performing sankirtana on the streets of New York, this was

> the first time I had ever seen police in uniform join the chanting

> party.

 

Maybe this is merely the effect of thirty years' chanting in NYC. :-)

 

MDd