Šrilos Bhaktivedantos Svamio Prabhupados mokinio Mukundos Gosvamio aprašymas prisiminimų knygoje "Miracle on 2nd Avenue". Veiksmas vyksta 1969 m. rugsėjo mėn., Džonui Lenonui tuo metu priklausiusiame Tittenhurst Park dvare, 40 km į Vakarus nuo Londono.
CitataDuring our stay at Tittenhurst, Janaki, Malati and Yamuna befriended a red-haired Scottish woman named Mrs. McDougal who was living in a small Georgian house on the property. Her husband was a bricklayer who was working on the estate and whom the Lennons were happy to accommodate in addition to paying him. Howard McDougal, the bricklayer, was a very quiet man.
One evening Janaki told me that Mrs. McDougal had confided in her that she and her husband were being kept awake at night by strange noises coming from the top floor of their house. They were afraid they were going to lose their home and employment because Mr. McDougal had to sleep during the day and wasn't getting enough work done on the Lennon property.
"They're convinced it's a ghost," Janaki said. "She said she thinks it's the work of the 'deil.' I think that's Scottish for devil. She asked me if I thought she was crazy, and I said no, that the Vedas say it's possible for a soul to be in a ghost body, I mean a subtle body, but no material body and senses."
"Maybe they should tell John and Yoko," I suggested.
"I said the same thing," Janaki said. "She said they'd told them, and Yoko hired an exorcist to get rid of it, but he couldn't do anything about it. He said the ghost was too powerful."
"What kind of sounds do they hear?" I asked.
"She said they hear heavy chains rattling and something being dragged across the floor."
"Like what?"
"She said it sounded like a body being dragged, or like boots."
"Chains and dragged bodies sounds pretty cliché to me," I said.
I had always been skeptical about ghosts and supernatural beings, but when I met Prabhupada, I'd discovered that ghosts appear in many of the scriptures of India. Although the Vedas supported the idea of some ghosts being friendly, most of them seemed to be malevolent because they were frustrated. According to the Vedas, ghosts still had minds and desired food, sex and other sensory pleasures, but they could not fulfill these desires because they had no sense organs. Prabhupada said it was possible for a disembodied being to continue to reside in a particular house because of excessive attachment to the dwelling. He also said some powerful ghosts had the ability to possess others' bodies to gratify their desires, especially the bodies of those who had taken alcohol or drugs or were in some kind of vulnerable state.
"They're really upset about it. Can we ask Prabhupada what we should do?"
"I think so," I said.
When I told Prabhupada about the situation, his response was direct.
"Drive it out," he said gravely.
"How?" I asked. "They hired an exorcist and even he couldn't help!"
"Yes, but Krishna can!" Prabhupada insisted. "On a cloudy day, ask the people to leave the house. Then you have loud kirtan. Use mrdanga, karatalas and keep blowing conch shell. Sprinkle water offered to Krishna on floor. Burn lots of incense. You must chant Hare Krishna in the house all day."
"You think that will drive away the ghost?" I asked a little doubtfully.
"Yes," he said with certainty. "A ghost cannot remain in presence of Krishna's name."
A couple of days later, twenty devotees gathered in the McDougals' home for a spirited Hare Krishna chanting session.
"We're gonna be a few hours," Janaki said to Mrs. McDougal. "Why don't you take a walk?"
"Well, there's a wee bit of rain, but we can take our brollies," Mrs. McDougal agreed.
The kirtan lasted five hours. We threaded our way through all the rooms of the small house, singing and playing our instruments loudly. At three o'clock we finally concluded our "exorcism" and I scuffed out across the sodden park to find the McDougals. I found them sitting on a damp bench among the rhododendron bushes.
"The coast's clear," I said. "You can go home now and, I hope, get a good night's sleep tonight."
The next morning, Mrs. McDougal reported that they had slept peacefully throughout the night without any disturbance coming from the attic. For the months that we stayed at Tittenhurst, the sounds were not heard again. The McDougals were immensely grateful to us and to Prabhupada for saving their sanity and their livelihood.