Giriraj Swami : In order to build the Juhu temple, we needed a No Objection Certificate from the police commissioner. After waiting and waiting and making so many efforts, finally the police commissioner sent a letter in which he refused to issue the No Objection Certificate on the grounds that the bhajan singing which has been complained about in the past is likely to be a nuisance in the future as well. We sent news to Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavan, and when he received it he became furious. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says satatam kirtayanto mam, that one should always engage in kirtan, and how dare the commissioner call kirtan a nuisance. So Srila Prabhupada wanted to protest the words of the commissioner and the refusal of permission, and so he asked the devotees who had come to India for the annual festival in Mayapur and Vrindavan to travel to Bombay. He wanted them to do Harinam Sankirtan throughout the streets of the city, to distribute books and to hold programs. And then when the people of Bombay were convinced about the value of Krishna consciousness, they themselves would prevail upon the government to give us the permission for the temple. He also wanted some of the more qualified devotees such as Balavanta prabhu to meet with the political leaders to get support. Eventually we were able to meet the Chief Minister of Maharastra, and he somehow saw through the whole case. He saw that actually we were innocent and we were being victimized by political interests, and within one day everything was reversed. The news spread everywhere to every government office that the Chief Minister is in favor of the temple, and it was like night and day. Suddenly everyone was very friendly and cooperative, and very soon thereafter we began the construction.
