Long before, I wrote one letter to Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps in the year 1946, requesting him to preach the gospel of Bhagavad gitaas it is. I told him that, "Mahatmaji, your position is unique, and you are lover of Bhagavad-gita. Now somehow or other your people have attained independence, you can retire from this politics and take to the business of preaching Bhagavad-gita as it is." Unfortunately, I did not receive any reply from him. He was so busy.

The fact is that since a very long time, I was thinking that throughout the whole world there are so many parties for political emancipation, which is only temporary thing, but there is no party representing Krsna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That was my dream, that if Lenin and other big, big political leaders, they could form their party, why not Bhagavad-gita, or the followers of the Bhagavad-gita, or the devotees of Lord Krsna do form a party to preach this Krsna consciousness movement all over the world? That was my ambition.

But I tried to start this movement in India. I saw Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, I saw President Radhakrishnan, I saw Lal Behari Sastri, many prominent men, and requested them that this is Indian original culture — Krsna consciousness — and if we present this Krsna consciousness movement in its right form, people will accept it and the whole world will be benefited. But… Of course I was sympathetically received by Lal Behari Sastri. He was very much sympathetic with me. And our President Radhakrishnan, he promised that, "Swamiji, maybe after retirement I shall join you." Anyway, I could not get any help either from the politicians or from any other party. Then I decided that I should go to America. And I was dreaming that if the American people will accept this Krsna consciousness movement, maybe our Indian brothers may follow them.

So I went to America in 1965, September, alone…

Lecture, MPV College – Surat, India, December 24, 1970