Four Swamis Walking Cross-Country

This article titled as "Four Swamis Walking Cross-Country," was published in The Xenia Daily Gazette, September 7, 1970, in Xenia, Ohio. 

Motorists and shoppers were curious Saturday morning when four men clad in orange robes with partially shaven heads strolled through Xenia on W. Main St. heading west toward the University of Dayton. The four Swamis (controller of senses) have been on tour for a month since leaving their monastery in Los Angeles and arriving in Boston, Mass. 

Their names are Subal Swami, 22, Vishnujana Swami, 23, Gargamuni Swami, 22, and Brahmananda Swami, 27. The latter had graduated from New York University and two had attended Pratt Institute and a college in Grand Junction, Iowa. They have been in the order since 1966.

They claim to be disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad of Los Angeles and were carrying a book he had written entitled the "Bhagavad Gita."

The group chants from Hare Krishna Mantra and prepare East Indian food stuffs call Prasadam.

The devotees of spiritual life have four principles: no intoxicating liquors including coffee and tea; no meat, fish or eggs; no illicit sex and no gambling.

Photo: EN ROUTE TO the University of Dayton along U.S. Route 35 in Xenia Saturday morning were these four devotees of a spiritual life. They are disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad of Los Angeles. The men, all in their 20s, had spoken at Antioch College, Bowling Green, and Michigan after a tour of eastern cities and colleges. The group will head for Cincinnati and the south after their UD stop - (Gazette Photo)