In early 1978, Tribhuvanatha Prabhu gathered together a small group of devotees with the aim of spreading Krishna consciousness in the Middle East for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. The group traveled overland from London to Beirut, where 5,000 Arabic Bhagavad-gitas and thousands of Arabic Isopanisads were distributed in the midst of civil war. Some devotees were imprisoned -- risking life and limb -- but were eventually released.
Over the next four-and-a-half years, books were distributed and programs were held in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman. Eventually a preaching center was established in Cairo (see photos below), where a dedicated congregation was gradually cultivated over the years. Some prominent members of Egyptian society -- including a well-known journalist, yoga teacher, and movie star --attended classes regularly, and a core group of serious followers took up the chanting of Hare Krishna on a daily basis.
A number of devotees came and went over the years, and the program met with both success and failure. Nonetheless, Srila Prabhupada's books were distributed in the thousands and many Islamic people received prasadam and chanted the holy names of Krishna. Despite the risks involved, devotees there took great comfort in remembering Srila Prabhupada's prophetic words from a lecture at London's Conway Hall in 1969:
"Since we have started this movement in the Western countries, Europeans, Americans, Africans, Egyptians, and Japanese are all chanting. There is no difficulty. They are chanting very gladly and they are getting the results. What is the difficulty?"
(Science of Self-Realization, Chapter 5)
THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
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Srila Prabhupada's
Middle East Preaching Program
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