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San Francisco

In 1967 Bhaktivedanta Swami established a second center, in San Francisco. The opening of the temple in the heart of the booming hippie community of Haight-Ashbury attracted many new adherents and was a turning point in his movement’s history, marking the beginning of rapid growth. To gain attention and raise funds, his disciples organized a two-hour concert with kirtan led by Bhaktivedanta Swami and rock performances by the Grateful Dead and other famous rock groups of the day. This “ Mantra Rock Dance ”, held at the popular Avalon Ballroom, attracted some three thousand people and brought attention to the local Hare Krishna temple. One commentator dubbed it the “ultimate high of that era”.

Later that year, Bhaktivedanta Swami’s followers organized San Francisco’s first Ratha Yatra, the festival he had celebrated as a child in imitation of the massive parade held annually in the Indian city of Puri. For this first San Francisco version, a flatbed truck with four pillars holding a canopy took the place of Puri’s three huge ornate wooden vehicles. He would later establish this annual festival in major cities around the world, with big vehicles —“chariots” — and thousands of people taking part.

At first, Bhaktivedanta Swami’s followers referred to him as “the Swami ” or “Swamiji”. From mid-1968 onwards they called him “Prabhupada”, a respectful epithet that “enjoys currency with devotees and an increasing number of scholars”.