May 4th we drove back down to KL for my final evening program. The attendance was good considering that most of the devotees work and it was the middle of the week.

I was especially pleased to Sriman Vrndavana Candra prabhu. He was the temple president the last time I visited in 1987. Now aged over 80 he came for the program even though nowadays he is wheelchair bound after suffering a stroke.

After a final session of Srila Prabhupada The Living Bhagavatam, I showed my powerpoint presentation of the BRC to great appreciation.

One last program on the morning of May 5th brought a wonderful tour to an end. HH Bhakti Rasamrta Swami (formerly Devamrta prabhu, the ex-temple president of Vrndavana temple) attended, he was on his way to Singapore.

I was extremely impressed and happy to see so many devotees and centers, and so much preaching going on. My next trip to Malaysia will be longer and I won’t wait for another 24 years before going.

Before departing in the evening to Brisbane I had one last meeting. Sriman Sundar Shyam prabhu came to see me with his wife Bhumi priya.

He was involved in the development of ISKCON in Malaysia from early 1979. One of his old school chums was who I believe to be the second Malaysian devotee of ISKCON. His name was Jatismara dasa, and I personally knew from when he was serving in the Vrndavana Krsna Balaram temple when I was temple commander there in 1975.

I had heard that Jatismara prabhu had passed away some years ago so Sundara Shyama and his wife met me to give more information on him. They brought with them some photos of Jatismara prabhu and the early Penang yatra.

Jatismara was formerly know as Jacob Mahesa and hailed from a Christian Protestant background. He traveled abroad from age 17 onwards and later met the devotees and joined the temple in Amsterdam about 1974.

Jatismara prabhu began preaching to his old school friends in Penang and by 1979 there was a small but active temple. HH Prabhavisnu Swami went to Malaysia in 1979 to check it out and was surprised to find a temple already established in Butterworth. It was in a small wooden shack but it was a definite start.

Prabhavisnu Swami third from right back row; HH Bhakti Brajendranandan Swami 2nd from rt back row;

Sundara Shyam first left front row

Jatismara continued traveling especially in India. He could speak about 10 languages and spent on and off about ten years in Italy where he also built up a small following of devotees.

Unfortunately he passed away in Madras at the age of 47 from a heart attack. His ashes were returned to Penang and are interred next to those of his father. Even today about 200 devotees regard him as their siksha or Patha-pradarsaka-guru

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