Paris
I had been told by the Indian Consulate in New York that I did not need a visa for France since I was "half-American," the holder of a Green Card, designating me as a permanent resident of the United States. When we boarded the plane in New York, nobody asked me for a visa. But when we arrived at the airport in Paris, they would not let me in. They said that since I had no visa, I would have to go back to England. At six o'clock was my talk, and at four o'clock they were telling me that I had to return to England, get a French visa and then only could I come back to Paris. Now what could I do?
Now it always happens that when there is a West Indian from Jamaica, he shows special concern for me. Wherever I go, I see that if there is a Jamaican, that Jamaican tries to help me. Now this particular Jamaican overheard our conversation and, saying that he would try to help me, took me to a particular place and said to the Customs Officer, "Can't you keep your eyes closed?" It turned out that the Jamaican himself was also a Customs Officer.
He said that if I had to go back to England, I needed an English visa, but if I went from France to some other place, they wouldn't mind because my destination was not France. But no other destination was in my ticket. If my ticket had mentioned Italy, they could have said, "Let them have the trouble and problem in Italy." The Customs Officer said, "Here we cannot do that. Italy is not mentioned in the ticket." The Jamaican replied, "You just keep your eyes closed and write down that he is going to Italy." The Customs Officer said, "No. I have to keep my eyes open." But to help me, he went to the Station Police Officer who is the final head and can allow a person to pass through at his own discretion. The Police Officer said, "No, no, I cannot do it."
Two other Officers spoke to the Police Officer on my behalf, saying, "You have allowed others through in similar cases. How is it that in this case you don't want to?" The Police Officer replied, "I have allowed people, yes, but they have touched my feet and cried." I said to myself, "I cannot touch your feet and cry."
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Then they reverted to the first plan and phoned the Indian Consulate. There a South Indian official said that it was a very sad situation and that he would try to help me. This official went to his superior officer, who said, "If the Americans cannot help, we can try the French Government."
The French government official, when contacted, said, "Non, non, non! C'est impossible!" The South Indian explained, "He has come to Paris only to give two talks on Indian philosophy, and then he will leave France. He has an American Green Card. " The French official replied that he did not believe what Indians say. He said, Indians do not return to their country; they remain in France. They do not go back, and they become a real problem for us." He added, "He is already in America and that is no problem for us, but the French Government cannot allow him to remain in France."
Now the South Indian spoke to his own Consul, who said, "The only thing we can do is to refer this whole matter to the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C." If they make a request to the French Government, the French will listen to them because if the French authorities, in their turn, make any request of the Indian Embassy, the Indians would simply say, "No." For example, when French lecturers go to India without visas, they run into this same problem. Each country does the other a favour.
So the Indian Consul in Paris made a long-distance call to the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Fortunately the phone there was answered by a very high-ranking Indian official working directly under the Indian Ambassador to the United States. As soon as he heard the name, Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, he said, "One Ghose is in trouble; another Ghose has to save him." Can you believe it? This man's name was also Ghose! He said immediately, "Don't worry. Tell Mr. Ghose that I am taking care of him." He phoned the Customs people at the Paris Airport and said, "I want to talk to the Police Officer who is creating this problem for Mr. Ghose."
The Police Officer came to the phone and the Indian official said, "I am calling from Washington, D.C. I am the Ambassador's aide. Let Mr. Ghose in immediately; otherwise I shall make a complaint to the French authorities. At six o'clock he has to give a talk, and it is nearing five o'clock now."
The French Police Officer came running to me, "Mr. Ghose, you are going to give a talk, and your tie is not on properly." How could this be? He started to fix my tie. Half an hour before, he was making me feel that I should touch his feet and cry; now he started fixing my tie! So you can imagine what I was going through.
Well, we got to the talk at six-thirty. It was all God's Grace. I must say that there were a few people there who were sincerely interested in the spiritual life ... others, no. Four or five were smoking, asking questions while smoking. They felt that this was normal behaviour. Many speakers in France encourage an informal atmosphere in their audience, and the people in the audience, on their part, indicate their seriousness by smoking with deep, contemplative puffs of smoke. They were asking questions on Kundalini Yoga, how to raise their Kundalini. I answered, "Yes, your Kundalini has already risen ... perhaps from your lower vital."
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We realised something in France that we had seen also in Pondicherry, a former French colony. Educated French people do not like to use the English language, even when they speak it well. Most of them don't want to learn English in the first place, but even if they know it, they refuse to use it, almost on principle. A hundred years ago, French was the international language for cultured people, more so than English. If you were truly educated, you spoke French. So now the French people, remembering this in their cultural memory, refuse to give way to another international language.
Now, my reason for mentioning this is that very few people in Paris understood us. So for this talk at the American Academy, even though we knew there would be many Americans present, we had hired an interpreter. He worked at the American Embassy in Paris. He was a Frenchman with an excellent knowledge of English. He was about forty-two years old.
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The following day we went to the outskirts of Paris to see the Palais de Versailles of Louis XIV. Their achievements, their grandeur, their pomp, their opulence! Glory is not the word! Perhaps in our time only a multi-millionaire could have this kind of splendour. In each room the decorations themselves, apart from the furniture, must have cost thousands or millions of dollars. Sometimes three enormous rooms were joined to make a salon that was so gorgeous, one did not know where to look first. We saw magnificent portraits in every room of people like Napoleon and all the royalty and aristocracy of France. It was overwhelming!
The French Revolution ... why did it take place? Here you can understand how some human beings can exploit the sincere but weak ones. This revolution, the French Revolution, took place to save poor mankind from tyrants. The aristocracy became supremely powerful at the expense of the sweat and blood of the poor, sincere people. Their downfall took place in due course.
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