Prabhupāda: Yes.
Buddhist Monk (1): I was here in 1952, and somewhere in '60 as well. I have been travelling eighteen years in nearly a hundred countries and trying to give a little good will. Of course, I am just one man, and within the capacity of one person, and this boy joined me in New Zealand about one and a half years ago. A few bridges have been made. Every religion that is not lived, according to us, fails the purpose of religion because religion should be a way of living. And if we live that, there'll be less duḥkha and more śānti, more peace. There is an awakening in almost all these parts. I was even in the east European countries, from Sofia right up to Moscow. Even there, I carried all the books, the Bible and the Bhagavad-gītā, Buddhist books. At the frontier, they opened the books. I had all these books with me. Rāmāyaṇa, Vedas, something from Egypt, Kung-fu-tsu, Lao-tse. They opened. They looked. They put them back. Not one question was asked. And that very police officer who was passing my passport, I saw him in the restaurant. He called me. Because I had an old photograph which I had taken when I first started travelling. That's twenty years I didn't take it seriously. So he said, "This is not you." First, you know, before I met him in the restaurant, I said, "Technically you may be right because we are changing every moment. So it's not myself." (sighs) But after some time he passed my passport, and then I went to the restaurant where I saw him. He said, he called me, he said, "Formerly I was an officer, and now you are my friend. What do you eat?" (Prabhupāda chuckles) Well, he asked the waitress to "Come bring him a very fine meal, the best you can offer in the restaurant." I said, "That's very kind." Then he said, "I'll bring you meat and all that (indistinct)." I said, "Please keep me out of it. I am a pure vegetarian." "What do you eat?" I said, "All vegetables. If you have rice, it's good." "Oh, bring him a vodka!"
Prabhupāda: Vodka? What...?
Buddhist Monk (1): Vodka.
Haṁsadūta: Whiskey. Liquor.
Buddhist Monk (1): He tried whiskey. He said, "Come to vodka because vodka's whiskey here," he says, "in this country." I told him, "I don't drink that either." "What do you eat and what do you drink?!" So... He asked me, "What's the matter with you?" "There's nothing wrong with me. (laughter) I am quite healthy, and everything... I am a follower of the Buddha, and our first precept is nonviolence to all mentally conscious living beings. And that's the reason why we follow this." "Ah, you miss the steak don't you?" I said, "I miss nothing. If one wants to have vegetables prepared, there are so many ways of preparing it, healthier, and if one wants taste, it will be even more tasteful." "All right, all right. Bring him as many vegetables. And what do you drink? Beer?" I said, "No. Fruit drinks, if you have." "You order." He gave me a listing. I wanted to pay. He wouldn't allow me to pay, and he paid it. Those people are kind there. And from the time I got, went across, I could talk to anyone without any restriction. I could discuss religion with farmers, factory workers, doctors, lawyers, whom I met in the course of my visit. And they were getting interested. Because people who have not seen materialism, they are very crazy for it. But once they have it, and it is beginning to be a surfeit, and divorces and suicides and other troubles increase, nervous cases, they think, "Oh, now there is a vacuum setting in." So they are interested. I was in every east European country. They never tried to tamper with my books or my talks. Of course, I didn't organize any public talks. I didn't, made no attempt. Then Czechoslovaks, Hungarians, very warm-hearted people. There are yoga classes there. And I met quite a few Hungarians outside who referred to yoga. Then Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Bulgarians. They are friendly people. Swamiji, have you been there in eastern European countries?
Prabhupāda: I have been in Moscow.
