Asking Michael Grant for Help 

A week passed, and no one had found a suitable place for the Swami.  One day Prabhupada suggested that he and Carl take a walk up to Michael Grant’s place and ask him to help. 

Mike:  I was awakened one morning very early, and Carl was on the phone saying, “Swamiji and I were just taking a walk, and we thought we’d come up and see you.”  I said, “But it’s too early in the morning.”  And he said, “Well, Swamiji wants to see you.”  They were very near by, just down the street, so I had to quickly get dressed, and by the time I got to the door they were there.

I was totally unprepared, but invited them up.  The television had been on from the previous night, and there were some cartoons on.  The Swami sat between Carl and me on the couch.  I was keeping a pet cat, and the cat jumped up on Swamiji’s lap, and he abruptly knocked it off onto the floor.  We began to talk, but Swamiji glanced over at the cartoons on the television set and said, “This is nonsense.”  Suddenly I realized that the television was on and that it was nonsense, and I got up very quickly saying, “Why, yes, it is nonsense,” and turned it off.

As Prabhupada talked, he tried to impress on Mike how difficult it was for him to live with Carl and Eva, and Mike listened.  But was the Swami so sure he couldn’t go back to the Bowery loft and live with David Allen?  Except for that one incident, it had been a nice setup, hadn’t it?  Prabhupada explained that David had become a madman from too much LSD.  He was dangerous.  Mike gave the Swami a half-incredulous look – David Allen, dangerous?  Prabhupada then told a story: “There’s an old saying in India that you get yourself a spiritual master, you sit opposite him, you learn everything from him that you can, then you kill him, you move his body to one side, and then you sit in his place, and you become the guru.”  As Prabhupada spoke, Mike began to feel that David was dangerous, so he didn’t ask for any more details.

Mike could see that Swamiji was appealing to him for help, and as they all sat together on the couch, Mike and Carl quietly nodded in agreement.  The Swami was looking at Mike, and Mike was trying to think.