politely asked what it meant. Yoko offered an explanation that only confused matters, and so Bob responded by saying that Meher Baba was God. At that point John Lennon intervened and asked Bob, “What is God?” Bob replied, “God is Love.” John quipped back, “Love is Love.” Bob acknowledged the truism with a smile and returned to his table, still bewildered. A few minutes later, Jerry Rubin, who had also been sitting at John and Yoko’s table, got up and approached Bob and said, “John was wondering if it would be OK for them to keep the card.” Bob complied, handing the card back to Jerry. A couple of weeks later, Bob happened to come across that particular Rolling Stone article with a narrative of the incident: “. . . When he (Jerry) returned, John admonished him gently, saying that that wasn’t the way to change someone’s consciousness. Acerbic and skeptical as he could often be, John Lennon never lost his sense of compassion.” Bob Street could only surmise when reading that comment that John Lennon may have felt Yoko’s reaction to be inappropriate and wanted to make amends.
According to the article below, Yoko Ono did not originate the idea of associating a saint or God with Hitler. It had been in John Lennon's mind since early 1967- KM
Hitler Did Not Make The Final Cut On The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” Album Cover The cover of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" features John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and RIngo Starr in front of a collage of life-sized cardboard models of famous people and some of their hero's. Most of the suggestions came from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Harrison opted for a number of Indian gurus to reflect his spiritual leanings while Lennon's list, thought to be half-joking, included Jesus, Hitler, and Gandhi. Sir Peter Blake, who designed the set said "Hitler and Jesus were the controversial ones, and after what John said about Jesus we decided not to go ahead with him – but we did make up the image of Hitler. If you look at photographs of the out-takes, you can see the Hitler image in the studio. With the crowd behind there was an element of chance about who you can and cannot see, and we weren't quite sure who would be covered in the final shot. Hitler was in fact covered up behind the band." Check out the cut-out of Hitler set off to the side of the photo shoot. http://www.feelnumb.com/2010/01/24/adolf-hitler-did-not-make-the-cut-onthe-beatles-sgt-pepper-album
And that’s the inside scoop directly from the man who lived the tale. Meanwhile, the Facebook discussion among Boomers struggling with their memories spawned several other variations, including one in which Yoko’s handwritten message was “Where there is a Hitler there is a Meher Baba.” I am chastened for circulating a false version—in which, however, Bob gets to keep the defaced card, now worth millions. The only thing that keeps me from preferring my own little fabrication is the realization that I could never tell any of these versions as an “amusing story” to Mehera.
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