Its been a while (over 2 months in fact) since my last posting. Since then I have been on a short tour to Europe and Canada which I’d like to share with everyone. But before that, here’s a Mayapur TOVP update:
Govinda prabhu, one of our key construction managers, informed me that yesterday the construction company, Gammon, hammered in the 1,000th pile for the foundations (out of 2,600+). Things are going well, with the five pile drivers on site hammering away from 5:00 AM to 9.00 PM. Its a comforting sound, knowing that Srila Prabhupada’s biggest challenge to the western, materialistic science-based view of the universe is now underway.
Another milestone: yesterday the first above ground column was started, on the central area of the main temple. This is two months ahead of schedule. No photos since there isn’t much to see since the last posting.
Here’s an interesting question from Bhakta Stanislav in Riga Latvia:
Answer
The various rings that Srila Prabhupada is sometimes seen wearing were all gifts from disciples and admirers. Srila Prabhupada had no interest in wearing jewellry of course, but he liked to recognise the devotion and service of his followers. On that basis, he sometimes was given a ring and he wore them.
Sometimes he would receive a ring, wear it for some time and then give it away:
[TD 1] March 21 1976 – Mayapur
“In the afternoon devotees gathered in Prabhupada’s room for a last darsana. On behalf of the Philadelphia temple, Ravindra Svarupa prabhu gave him an eighteen-carat gold ring made by Gopinatha dasa. Prabhupada held it for a moment, puzzled as to what the design was. “It is a crown?” he asked.
Ravindra Svarupa reached forward and turned it up the other way. That revealed the words “Hare Krsna,” with three small diamonds forming the diacritic dots under “Krsna.”
Prabhupada smiled with pleasure and appreciation, and he slipped it on the little finger of his right hand. Then, opening the drawer in his desk, he pulled out another ring, a large, decorative, golden one with a big, black stone, which he handed to Bhavananda Maharaja. Very gratefully, Bhavananda immediately put it on, and it fitted perfectly.”
April 16 1976 – Bombay
“Prabhupada has been taking his noon massage sitting on the tiny balcony between his bedroom and the kitchen. When we began today, I slipped the Hare Krsna ring from his finger. He has been wearing it continuously since it was given to him in Mayapur, but because it is a little loose I usually take it off to massage his hand.
Prabhupada looked at it when it came off. Then he looked at me and said, “It is loose? So, now you try it.”
Surprised, but very eager, I put it on the little finger of my left hand, but it was a bit slack.
He said, “Oh, too big?”
Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I didn’t reply but quickly tried it on the little finger of my right hand, and it fit nicely.
“All right,” he smiled, “you can have it!”
I immediately offered him my obeisances and very gratefully tucked it into the fold of my gamcha.
Prabhupada doesn’t give away such items often, so I was in ecstasy to get this special gift from him without any prompting and for no apparent reason.”
[TD 2] June 19 1976 – Toronto
“Before he left, Subhavilasa came forward with an unusual gift — a child’s piggy bank. Srila Prabhupada laughed to see it. It belonged to Subhavilasa’s son, Indriyesha, and it was stuffed full of coins. When Srila Prabhupada came to Toronto last year, he had done a similar program at Subhavilasa’s house and Indriyesha had handed the piggy bank to him. Prabhupada had held it in the air and shook it and then laughed — it was half empty. He had handed it back to the boy and told him “Fill it up!” So throughout the year the boy has been faithfully adding one coin after another in anticipation of Srila Prabhupada’s next visit. Now today, he got his chance to again present it. This time Prabhupada very happily accepted it, greatly pleasing the entire family.
Subhavilasa also presented a gold ring as guru-daksina, which Prabhupada put on. Then at about 8:00 P.M. he returned to the temple. A few minutes into the journey Srila Prabhupada slipped his new ring off and gave it to Pusta Krsna, who was both surprised and grateful to receive it.”
[TD 3] July 30 1976 – New Mayapur
“One of the devotees gave Srila Prabhupada a gold ring with the maha-mantra inscribed on it. He put it on and now wears rings on three fingers of his left hand and two fingers of his right.”
A ring he wore constantly on the third finger of his left hand was a small gold ring with a diamond in the center which I believe was given to him by Yamuna dasi.
At about 8.00 AM on March 30 2010 Mayapur received its newest resident– Vishnu-priya the baby elephant.
After a tortuous 2 years of negotiation Hrmati dasi performed the practically impossible task of bringing a new companion for Laxmi-priya from Assam to her new home in the holy dhama. Its not possible to write here what she had to go through to achieve this, it would require a whole book. But all glories to her service, she deserves an accolade!
After five days on the road, Vishnu-priya arrived and was unloaded from the truck at our elephant sanctuary just next to the Taranpur road. Hrmati was a bit worried about how Laxmi-priya would receive her new companion. Laxmi is nine years old and Vishnu is four. It was quite amusing in the event. Laxmi approached the baby with some trepidation, as if she had never seen such a creature before. She came up close, then gave a little jump back; then again she came up, again she skipped back. Finally she came up, sniffed around, and then put her trunk around her little sister and embraced her. Within minutes they were inseparable and had formed a strong bond.
Elephants are very social creatures and in fact it is illegal to keep an elephant by itself. Not only that, recent government laws forbid even zoos to keep elephants anymore. A few months ago a directive was issued to all zoos and circuses to immediately send their elephants to the jungles. So we are very fortunate that Hrmati gained the special permissions needed to bring these two special servants of Sri Sri Radha Madhava from the jungles to a life of devotional service.
Here’s a few photos taken about an hour after arrival. As can be seen, they have become great friends:
On Saturday March 27 2010 I posted the following information regarding the passing of a dear Godbrother:
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances _/\ò_. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
It is with deep regret and yet with joy that we have to inform the devotees that His Grace Sriman Padma Locan Prabhu departed this world at approximately 6.53 AM this morning, dvadasi, March 27 2010 in the holy dhama of Sri Mayapur.
We request all the devotees to please pray for his entry into the eternal lilas of his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, and Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Panca-tattva and Sri Prahlad Nrsimhadeva, the Deities he so lovingly served for many years here in Sri Mayapur dhama.
Padma Locan prabhu had been suffering an undiagnosed illness for more than two months. He was coughing blood and despite some preliminary X-ray and blood tests, plus the attention of several qualified devotee doctors, a clear diagnosis of his condition could not be given.
Padma Locan prabhu did not wish to go into a clinic or hospital for what would have been several days of scans and tests because it would have meant having to leave Mayapur. Many years ago he was informed by an astrologer that he would come near death during March of 2010, and that the worst period would be around 25th. If he made it through this period, the astrologer said he may then live for another 20+ years.
Padma Locan thus decided that he would wait until the main danger period passed before leaving the shelter of Mayapur. He was fixed in his determination to remain in the dhama and he told me a week before his departure that he was prepared to leave his body if that was what Krsna desired. If he got through the difficult period he would consider going to a hospital for tests but if not, he felt at peace with his decision. He told me that he was taking advantage of the critical situation to go deeper within himself in his relationship with Srila Prabhupada and Krsna, and that he had never felt as internally peaceful in his whole life.
He was thus quite prepared for whatever providence decided. On the Ekadasi day just prior to his leaving, he complained of some mental fog or static, and in the evening he reported to his main nurse, Ramadevi dasi, that was feeling cold. He had a semi-peaceful night and at 6.00AM he spoke very briefly with two devotee carers who had spent the night with him.
Then at about 6.40AM his breathing became rapid and at about 6.53 AM he left. To all intents and indications, he attained the highest goal, having departed in the holy dhama on the auspicious day of dvadasi.
Padma Locan prabhu had requested that his body be put in jal-samadhi, a system whereby one’s body is offered to Mother Ganga rather than being burnt and the ashes being put in. However, due to objections from local panchayat authorities we were not able to fully comply with this request. They only gave permission to cremate his body. It was a difficult quandry since there was a strong desire to fulfill this last wish.
Head pujari Jananivasa prabhu intelligently came up with a solution. He suggested doing all the rituals for a jal-samadhi and then fully immersing his body into the Ganga. After this jal-samadhi ceremony was over, the body could then be cremated in accordance with legal requirements.
Padma Locan prabhu with twins Pankajanghri and Jananivasa prabhus
Thus on Sunday March 28, at about 6.00AM the devotees gathered at his room and brought his body in sankirtana procession to the Ganga.
First we stopped at a special tree which Padma Locan would hug every morning on his way to the temple. Then we took his body to the temple entrance where Jananivasa and Pankajanghri prabhus annointed it with auspicious items.
Here’s a few photos of the TOVP construction activity. Since the Gaura Purnima festival the site has been completely fenced off and noone except the contractors is allowed in. The large barn-like structure that has been used for pandals in the last few years has been de-constructed and two more pile drivers, making a total of four, are now on site.
Load testing is going on as the above structure shows. And below, this is the mechanism for measuring the load:
A construction of this size will require huge amounts of cement so we are setting up our own cement plant:
Here’s a couple of night shots:
In this next one you can see the trucks in the back ground behind the pile drivers as they begin to roll in:
Here’s the last of my unpublished pics. (unless I find some more!) from Melbourne 1975. Srila Prabhupada came in mid-May and installed what were then the largest brass Deities in ISKCON and in fact, the largest brass Deities ever cast in Bengal–Sri Sri Nitai Gaura. It was a brilliant event because along with Their Lordships’ appearance, ISKCON Australia also revealed to the world its new headquarters at 197 Danks St. Albert Park. A beautiful 2 acre property that started off as a stately home, became a Christian Brother’s college and then a Heritage-listed monument, and finally a Hare Krishna temple.
Here’s Srila Prabhupada arriving at the Melbourne airport with his servant Sruta Kirti prabhu and his secretary Paramahamsa Swami. They had just flown in after spending ten days in Perth, a city with no official ISKCON temple.
Kurma prabhu writes about it in his book “The Great Transcendental Adventure [TGTA]“:
Saturday May 17, 1975
After the long delay at Perth airport, and four hours in the air, Prabhupada’s TAA flight finally touched down at Melbourne a little before 7.45pm. Srila Prabhupada and his party of five disembarked and proceeded towards the arrivals lounge. All appeared quiet; but suddenly, they heard the distinct roar of an approaching kirtana, like a giant locomotive engine. Within seconds the lounge was filled with a huge band of chanting devotees rhythmically beating on drums and gongs, and blowing on conch shells with an exuberant Madhudvisa Swami at their head, chanting “Jaya Prabhupada, Jaya Prabhupada!” Prabhupada smiled as he was engulfed in a sea of loving disciples, who garlanded him, threw flower petals, and sprinkled rosewater in his path. He entered their midst as a beloved father enters and reciprocates the embrace of his loving children. After a short press conference, Prabhupada, now covered in garlands, was escorted to his waiting Ford LTD limousine.
left to right: Madhudvisa Swami; Hari-sauri dasa; Sruta Kirti dasa; Srila Prabhupada; Paramahamsa Swami; Rama dasa (with dark glasses); Gopikanta dasa; Bhutanatha dasa
This was the first time Sruta Kirti and I appeared in a photo together. At that time I had not even in my wildest dreams imagined that I would occupy his service, one of the most privileged services in ISKCON, that of His Divine Grace’s personal servant. Sruta Kirti was one of the most well known and envied devotees in the Society.
left to rt: Gopikanta dasa; Paramahamsa Swami; Srila Prabhupada; Sruta Kirti dasa; Mandapa dasa (half hidden with glasses; ?; ?; Kurma dasa (in back with glasses); Hari-sauri dasa
Airport greetings and departures in those days were great events. There was hardly any airport security and you could go right up to the plane door to receive or send someone off. My remembrance of this particular arrival was of Srila Prabhupada suddenly appearing off the plane and Madhudvisa Swami going up and draping an opulent garland around his neck and then bowing down in front of Prabhupada and touching his head to his feet.
I had been handed a garland to give to my spiritual master and when I saw Madhudvisa Maharaja do that, I thought, “Great! That’s exactly what I will do too!” And I did. It was the first time I think I had touched Srila Prabhupada’s feet.
In 1973 Srila Prabhupada had promised to attend the Melbourne Rathayatra. We had built two new rathas, but the main factor in attracting him to come was the prominence of the small Australian yatra in the book distribution listings. Inspired by Buddhimanta prabhu, (seen in this photo from NY July 1976 on the right holding the mrdunga)
the Australians were leading the world in their attempts to spread Krsna consciousness and Srila Prabhupada therefore promised to attend the 1973 Rathayatra. Unfortunately he got sick in India and had to cancel:
Letter to: Madhudvisa – Mayapur 12 June, 1973
My Dear Madhudvisa,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1973 and have noted the contents carefully.
So, everything is going on so nicely there. So many books are being distributed. There are good prospects for a new temple. You are going to introduce three rathas this year for Rathayatra. This is all very pleasing and inspiring to me. I would very much like to come there for Rathayatra, but now I am not in very good health, and it is the opinion of Tamal Krsna Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja, Jayapataka Maharaja and Jagadisa that it is best for me if I stay here for now so that I may get my health back. However, you may again invite me next year and, if Krsna wants, I will surely come there. Thank you very much.”
Srila Prabhupada kept his promise the following year:
Letter to: Madhudvisa – Bombay 6 April, 1974
“I am presently fixing a traveling schedule for visiting Paris, France in the second week of May. Then I will visit, Geneva, Rome, Stockholm, and three or four cities in Germany, each place for no more than four or five days. So since I will not have to return to India until August, after Europe I can go to Australia for your Rathayatra if you can purchase our tickets. You can reply to me here in Bombay until the second week of May, when we shall go to Paris.”
Letter to: Jayatirtha – Bombay 5 May, 1974
“Regarding your invitation that I attend the Rathayatra festival in San Francisco, on July 7th, it is possible that I may attend depending on when I finish my European tour. I am due to arrive in Rome on May 23, then after a week Geneva, the Paris and possible Stockholm, Germany and England. If there is time I can fly directly from Europe to Los Angeles and go to the festival, then as you suggest, go to Australia Rathayatra via Hawaii. This is known as jet-age parivrajakacarya.”
He flew into Melbourne on June 25 1974 for his fourth trip to Australia with his secretary Satsvarupa Das Goswami. This time he only visited Melbourne whereas for his first three trips he had visited Sydney as well.
The Rathayatra on June 29 was glorious and Srila Prabhupada, after joining up with the rathas in the main city square, walked the whole route, terminating at the Royal Exhibition Gardens.
above: Srila Prabhupada dances before the 15′ high murti of Lord Caitanya; Gopinatha Acarya plays kartalas
on the parade: Buddhimanta’s forehead; Bhakta “Greek” George; Srila Prabhupada with secretary Satsvarupa das Goswami behind; my first wife Mohini-sakti dasi
The full glorious account of the parade, and Srila Prabhupada’s visit, is narrated by Kurma prabhu in his excellent book “The Great Transcendental Adventure.”
The rathas were taken right inside the main hall and Srila Prabhupada delivered his address from his vyasasana on the ratha.
Satsvarupa Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada and Madhudvisa Swami
Here’s a final pic. from 1973. It was taken in the garden of an opulent house we were renting in Double Bay, one of the more exclusive suburbs in Sydney. The name of the house was “Hare Hatch” so we all thought it was just suitable for the Hare Krishnas. It lasted a few months till eventually the landlord came under so much pressure from the neighbours that he forced us to leave.
It was one of many homes Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha had in the early days of Sydney yatra.
Their Lordships had to change abodes at least nine times before finally settling at their current temple in N. Sydney in the early 1990s.
Amogha prabhu was our resident photographer and he got me to pose on the lawn in the early morning around September 1973. I don’t remember exactly what for, he was doing some kind of photo essay:
Srila Prabhupada entered Australia for his third visit on February 8, 1973.
- 1973 Australian visa and entry stamp
This time he made his entry intoMelbourne first and then went up to Sydney. He travelled out from India with a special entourage:
Wednesday, 7 February 1973
Prabhupada departed out of Calcutta for his flight to Melbourne via Bangkok. Two devotees accompanied him. Srutakirti, a bright young brahmacari, acted as his servant. Bali-mardana, now returning to Australia as a sannyasi, was his secretary.
Prabhupada had planned to install 60cm marble Radha-Krsna Deities in Melbourne. The Deities had been acquired in India and now Bali-mardana and Srutakirti carried one Deity each on the flight out to Australia. It was certainly a difficult task to carry the heavy marble Deities on and off planes, while simultaneously looking after Srila Prabhupada’s luggage and seeing to his comfort on the journey. Prabhupada was encouraging. He stressed to Srutakirti that this difficult austerity was very pleasing to Krsna. “To make spiritual advancement,” he assured, “one has to simply satisfy Krsna. There are so many ways of satisfying Krsna and this is one of them. Krsna is very pleased with your endeavours.” — [The Great Transcendental Adventure by Kurma dasa]
Madhudvisa Swami had requested Srila Prabhupada to install the new marble Radha Krsna Deities and the devotees had worked hard for at least a month to build a new altar similar to the one at Bury Place in London where Radha and Krsna were on ground level and Lord Jagannatha was on a floor above Them. But when Bali Mardan saw the kitchen he complained to Prabhupada that it wasn’t upto the proper standard and he opposed the installation. Consequently the devotees spent all night cleaning and scrubbing and painting, and then Srila Prabhupada agreed to go ahead:
Sruta Kirti dasa, Srila Prabhupada, Smt. Radharani, Madhudvisa Swami
Srila Prabhupada gave the Deities the name Sri Sri Radha Vallabha. On a later visit in 1976 he praised the worship in Melbourne temple as being on par with Los Angeles and New York.
Here’s a neat picture taken by a newspaper photographer of one of our Ratha carts. He cleverly caught it parked in front of an aptly named Universal Rent-a-car sign, and made it look like a Rent-a-Ratha for the Lord of the Universe:
Universal Rent-a-Ratha
This next one was taken a couple of days before the festival when we were on the last stages of constructing two new, bigger size Rathas, one for Lord Balarama and one for Lord Jagannatha. The existing small Ratha became Lady Subhadra’s:
In the above shot, on the Ratha from left to right:
Bhakta Robert?, Krsna Prema dasa (right arm in air), Hari-sauri dasa (leaning on wheel brake), Martin, Praceta dasa (chief carpenter and surfer who legally changed his name to Charles Ofthe Sea. That’s why Srila Prabhupada gave him the name Praceta)
on the ropes, l to rt:
Sahadeva dasa, Bhakta Adrian, Gunavati dasi (in the background), Dusta Mohan dasa.
The Rathayatra was a success, and we ended up in the Botanical Gardens instead of a hall as in the previous year. Vaibhavi dasi, our resident artist (wife of Charu dasa in Utah and the first devotee I ever met) designed these wonderful suits of armour to dress their Lordships in:
Jayadharma dasa with white hat, Dipak dasa and Vidyaranya dasa carrying Lord Balarama, Ambika dasi carrying chamara
Dvaipayana dasa and Hari-sauri dasa carrying Lord Jagannatha, Sukhla dasi in background
The Deities were locally made in 1972 by Dipak and Dvaipayana prabhus. Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with Them (and them).
Here’s Srila Prabhupada’s entry stamp for his second visit to Australia on April 1 1972
It was an amazing time. I moved into the temple on February 15. There were 10-12 full time devotees. By the time of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival six weeks later there were 44. We would go out on sankirtan and chant the Hare Krishna mantra on the street corners for 4-6 hours a day. Almost every day when we arrived back at the temple another new devotee was waiting to be shaved up or put on a sari.
I mentioned in my entry below that when I joined, I donated my life savings, about $1,500.00 (in those days the Australian $ was worth about US$1.50) Most of that went to paying for a revolutionary new piece of preaching equipment:
The bus was converted into a travelling temple, with an altar and wooden floor upstairs and an open carpeted area down below. It was launched on Lord Caitanya’s appearance day, which that year was February 29.
It caused a sensation wherever it went. Australians had never seen a bright orange double decker packed out with two dozen chanting dancing bald kids dressed in bright saffron robes and women wearing exotic saris. We got instant news coverage on all the TV channels and in the major newspapers. Raghunatha das, who was the oldest member of the temple at approximately 28 years, took his test and got the necessary licence and he used to drive us into the city every day for our sankirtan activities
On our first day out we were hanging out of the top windows armed with hundreds of carnations which we flung enthusiastically over the heads of the bewildered passersby whenever we stopped at the red lights.
When Srila Prabhupada visited a month later the bus was parked on the street outside the temple and he was taken on a tour of the facilities, which included a look-see of the bus. When he went up the back staircase to see the upper floor his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “Oh, I could live in this!” He gave it his enthusiastic endorsement and even rode on it one night from the house he was staying in to the temple.
That was a wonderful visit, my first chance to see my spiritual master and I was initiated along with about 15 others onn April 9. It was the first time I experienced what senior devotees told me was a state even higher than Krishna consciousness — Prabhupada consciousness.
I was fortunate to have my first photo taken with His Divine Grace during that visit also:
April 1 1972–Bhakta Harry, Ajita das, Mohanananda das, Srila Prabhupada
There are many stories to tell from those days but I will save them for another time. Readers interested in the development of the Australian yatra can do no better than read Kurma prabhu’s book “The Great Transcendental Adventure” in which he details year by year the growth of the Hare Krishna movement downunder, under the inspiration of Srila Prabhupada. Although seemingly so far away from the rest of the world, Australia was blessed by his presence every year from 1971 through 1976, and that no doubt had a major impact on our successful growth.
1971 continued: This is a special entry:
top right: Srila Prabhupada's entry and exit stamps from his one and only historic visit to Moscow
The entry is 20/06/71 and the exit is 25/06/71
Here some interesting entries into Srila Prabhupada’s passport. It was issued in 1971 and expired in 1974.
Srila Prabhupada's 1971-1974 passport
Note that on the page on the right Srila Prabhupada lists his father as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
Prabhupada's first visit to Australia is stamped May 9 1971
As a new immigrant to Australia I arrived in Sydney on May 16, the week after Srila Prabhupada’s first visit there. I just missed him by a couple of days. I met the devotees standing on a street corner, chanting and dancing, the first day we got off the boat. I bought my first BTG from Vaibhavi dasi, the wife of Charu dasa who for the last couple of decades have been staying at Spanish Fork in Utah.
It was volume 37 and it had a picture of the Rasa dance on the front cover:
I remember paying 20 cents for it and receiving an invitation to attend the ‘Sunday Love Feast’. I had no idea what a love feast was, and come Sunday it was raining so I didn’t go.
When I bought it we had just moved into an immigrants hostel provided by the Australian govt. for one week free. When we got back from our city excursion I pulled out the BTG and we all stared in complete uncomprehension at the multi-colored picture. Noone had a clue what it was. The nearest we came to understanding it was when one of our party, a tall thin fellow from Scotland called Bill whom we had met on the boat coming over, exclaimed, “I think those blue fellas are spirits!”
When I checked out the contents I couldn’t understand a word. The Sanskrit names and the topics were all completely foreign to me and I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Yet instead of throwing it away, I kept it very carefully in my suitcase, thinking that at some point in the future I would have another read. I knew it was important and it felt like the magazine was somehow vibrant and alive. Â I knew I had to keep it with me and that it would help me in my search for some meaning to my directionless life.
I did read it over the next few months and its contents were revealed to me more and more, till eventually, nine months later, I joined the Sydney temple–but that’s another story.
Here’s a few from ’72:
This is April 1st 1972, Srila Prabhupada’s second visit to Australia.
He is seen here on his Vyasasana on his arrival at the temple on April 1 1972. On the left in the photo is his servant Nanda Kumara das. Others members of the party were Shyamasundara dasa, secretary, and Sanskrit editor Pradyumna prabhu.
When he arrived, the vyasasana was on the right wall of the temple so that Prabhupada had his right hand side towards the Deities. He immediately had us switch it to the other wall so that his left side was to the altar.
Note the reel-to-reel recorder on the right. One of the bhaktas, Wally, who was a university professor and who was initiated the following week as Vyasadeva das, lent his expensive recording equipment for recording Prabhupada’s lectures etc. Unfortunately in the week afterwards, he accidentally erased all the recordings!
Srila Prabhupada leaving Glebe temple after the first night’s lecture April 1 1972.
On Prabhupada’s right is Radha Raman, the son of Raghunatha and Gaurangi prabhus. Above him is 17 years old Bhakta Ray, who became Rajendra dasa on April 9 1972 when about 15 of us were initiated. He ’blooped’ (left, fell back into the ocean of material existence) within three days. When this was reported to Srila Prabhupada, who by that time had travelled on to New Zealand, he is said to have commented, “He did not accept me, and I do not accept him.”
On the right of the photo is Sydney temple president Mohanananda dasa, who was only 19 years old!
This next one was taken a few days later in Melbourne when Srila Prabhupada installed small Radha Krishna Deities and also awarded sannyasa to French-Canadian Hanuman dasa:
On the left is Jagatarini dasi and behind Srila Prabhupada is Shyamasundara prabhu.
This next one was taken on the first Rathayatra ever held in Australia in late June 1972. We built one chariot, carved new Deities of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra and marched in procession through the streets of Melbourne, ending up in a small hall. We put on a feast and a drama which concluded with Srila Prabhupada’s image being projected onto the wall while the devotees danced ecstatically in kirtana.
My wife Sitala (here she is last month in Byron Bay on Harinama sankirtana)
just got back from Australia the other week and brought with her some photo albums we had left there in 2004. My last posting was a result of rummaging thro’ them, and here’s some more curiosities from my early days in ISKCON downunder. Almost all of these photos have never been published before, at least to my knowledge.
Here’s a black and white of Srila Prabhupada installing Radha Gopinath in Sydney at the old Paddington temple on his first visit to Australia in 1971
Next to Prabhupada, dressing the Deity of Gopinatha is Bali Mardan prabhu, the first person to bring the Hare Krishna Movement to Australia. On the far right is Dipak das, a Texan and one of the early recruits.
February 14 – a day to remember, at least for me. Not because it is celebrated as St. Valentine’s
day, although it would be wonderful if I could truly say
February 14 1972 was a special day for me because it was the day I changed from this:
Denis "Harry" Harrison, January 1972 Perth Australia
to this:
Bhakta Harry, February 14 1972 - Sydney Australia
This was the day I first had my head shaved and made the final commitment to join the Sydney Hare Krishna temple, which in those days was located at 84 Hereford St. Glebe. Long story, and even longer since then. But looking back, it was the day my life changed and I never looked back. I was 21 yrs. and 2 months old.
I had been attending the temple everyday for a week. I would leave my rented house in Chippendale at 6.00AM, walk the several miles to the temple bare feet, do a day’s service and then walk back again at 8.00PM. Before leaving I would smoke one cigarette, and when I got back, I would smoke one more. Â I had been a 15-a-day man for some years but by this time I managed to reduce it to two a day. Pretty hard habit to give up.
I was waiting for my friends to arrive from north Western Australia where we had all spent the second half of 1971 working on a mining camp in a place called Paraburdoo. After Christmas 1971 I was finished–finished with a mindless existence and finished with material life. I left at the beginning of 1972 to travel several thousand miles to Sydney to find the devotees. My friends stayed behind to earn a bit more money while I went off to meet my destiny. On the way I stopped off in Perth at a friend’s house for 10 days, which is where the above ‘before’ photo was taken.
Once in Sydney I tracked down the devotees and in early February I started regularly attending the temple. There was an unusual character called Hanuman das, a French Canadian, who would grab me by the hair every day and with great gusto ask, “When are we going to take this off!?”. I would reply “When my friends come from WA to take over the house I am renting, then you can shave it off.”
This went on for a week. I hadn’t heard from my friends so I decided not to pay the house rent any more and move into the temple. The same day, they suddenly turned up without warning and I sat down with them and preached to them the glories of Krsna to whatever limited extent I knew. We stayed up the entire night.
Two of the guys, Bob and Chris, were childhood friends who I grew up with from 5 years old and went all the way through infants, junior and high school with. We had emigrated from England to Australia together in April 1971 and now I was leaving their company for an entirely new life.
Chris Hall Feb. 1972
Bob Hornsby and Trevor Feb. 1972
Another guy, Trevor, whom we had met  on the boat over, was astonished. He told me “You hear about people looking for the meaning of life, but you never hear of anyone who actually found it. But you have found what you were looking for!”
The next day, February 14, I went to the temple as usual and as usual Hanuman grabbed me by my shoulder-length locks and guffawed, “When are we going to have this off!?”
“You can do it now if you like,” I told him to great surprise. “My friends have come and I have turned the house over to them. I am ready to move in.”
Hanuman wasted no time. He had me shaved up within minutes, along with another young man who had been attending the temple on a regular basis, Bhakta Phil. (The two of us were initiated by Srila Prabhupada on April 9th 1972 as Hari-sauri dasa and Partha dasa.)
Hanuman was surprised when I told him I was going back to my house to collect my belongings and that I would move into the temple the next morning. But not as surprised as my friends when I walked in the door that night bald and blissful with a long sikha flowing down the back of my neck, the only remnant of a once-proud curling mane. Trevor’s jaw nearly hit the floor in shock. “I know you said you were going to join them, but somehow I didn’t quite believe it. But you’ve done it!” And that was when the above photo of me with my newly shorn head was taken.
That was it, I distributed my extensive record collection to my friends, along with most of my clothes and other possessions. A few things I kept for myself and my new stereo I gave to the temple along with all my life-savings.
I remember as I walked through the front door of the temple the following morning with my suitcase, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I had a very distinct impression that I was now catching up to somewhere that I had left a long time before, and that my real life was just recommencing again. And as I walked through the door my desire to smoke another cigarette simply evaporated and I never had the urge again.
Of course there’s a lot more to this little biography, but the events on the day prompted me to put this down. Happy Valentine’s day, may your love for Radha and Krsna always increase.
January 26 2010 — note the date, its one of the most important in the history of ISKCON.
No, its not because it was Sarasvati-puja, which is observed in West Bengal with great pomp.
Its because a contract was signed with Gammon India Ltd., one of the biggest construction firms in India for the building of the Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium!
ISKCON has contracted Gammon over the next 2-3 years (it varies depending on whether we have any floods) to build the foundations and superstructure of the TOVP
The estimate is that within 5-6 years the building will be ready to receive its eternal occupants, Sri Sri Panca-tattva, Radha Madhava and the Gopis, and Prahlada Nrisimhadeva.
Gammon wasted no time in getting their rigs on site to begin soil tests prior to the sinking of the approx. 2,500 piles which will support the massive structure. Within two days they had their men on site, and this last week has seen two 90 feet high rigs arise, competing with the air space formerly reserved for Srila Prabhupada’s Puspa Samadhi.
These are some of the most welcome sights I have ever seen:
X marks the dead center of the building
Some of our senior-most devotees can barely contain their excitement seeing the construction preparations going on. Badrinarayan prabhu, our GBC for California, came up to me the other morning grinning from ear to ear. “This is it!” he exclaimed, “We are actually going to build Prabhupada’s biggest temple. After nearly forty years of talk, we are actually doing it. Unbelievable!”
On February 14 at 11.30AM the inauguration ceremony will commence, attended by chief donor Ambarish prabhu and all the GBC and devotees from all over the world.
Stay tuned, this is the prelude to something so great it will have ramifications all around the world for centuries to come!
On January 22 we had a brief but I hope ultimately fruitful visit at the library from three family members of a now deceased prominent member of the West Bengal government Sri Tarun Kanti Ghosh.
In the 1970s, as ISKCON was gaining a footing in India, Sri Tarun Kanti Ghosh, a Congress party minister, gave a lot of support to Srila Prabhupada and his disciples. Tarun Babu, as Prabhupada used to refer to him, came in a distinguished line of Gaudiya Vaisnavas. His grand father was Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghosh a contemporary and friend of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The two knew each other well and co-edited certain publications and articles. Â The Ghose family owned a prominent line of newspapers including Amrita Bazar Patrika which was established in 1868 and Jugantar, one of the biggest newspapers and presses in Calcutta.
Tarun Kanti would visit our ISKCON center very often and on March 14 1974 Srila Prabhupada sent him the following letter:
“My Dear Tarun Kanti Babu,
“Please accept my blessings. Since I attended the meeting last night I am feeling a new enthusiasm, over how potential the Krishna Consciousness movement is, based on the teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Your good family has very great interest in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and especially your grandfather Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose was a great friend of Bhaktivinode Thakura. So we are coming down in disciplic succession from Bhaktivinode Thakura and you are coming in family succession from Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose, so if we combine together in preaching the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it will be a great benediction to human society for mitigation of all kinds of problems of material existence.
“This morning you were quoting from Sri Siksastaka, “Ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].” This is the first installment of the benediction of Sri Krishna Sankirtana. “Param vijayate Sri Krsna Sankirtana.” First of all, people are suffering on account of misunderstanding of self realization. The whole world is moving under the conception of the body in different names are caste, creed, nation, culture, like that. By chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra offenselessly, one immediately realizes himself as spirit soul which is described in the Vedas as aham brahmasmi. The Mayavadi philosophers cease to think further than this, but Bhagavad gita teaches us how to realize further advancement in spiritual life in devotional service. This is described in Bhagavad gita as follows:
brahma bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu mad bhaktim labhate param
[Bg. 18.54]
“So bhakti is such a nice thing. Bhakti is transcendental. When one is situated in bhakti life his mission of life is successful. That is called ”ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].”
Everyone of us is suffering from the three fold miseries of material existence. Coming to the platform of bhakti, pure devotional service, one immediately ceases the blazing fire of material existence. That is the effect of Sri Krishna Sankirtana. The whole world is in chaotic condition without understanding this philosophy.
“In the material life there must be division of activities. That is accepted in the Bhagavad gita as catur varnyam maya srstam guna karma vibhagasah tasya kartaram api mam viddhy akartaram avyayam [Bg. 4.13]
“So in the beginning if we start a varnasrama college to teach internationally students from all over the world to learn to be educated as brahmanas, as Ksatriyas, as vaisyas, as sudras, by quality and work, that will be the basic principle of Krishna Consciousness. It is the duty of the government to see that everyone is employed. This is only possible when varnasrama is established. At the present moment everyone is sudra. This is not very good for the human society. Everyone has a right to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead but there must be a process for keeping the society in order. The intelligent class of men or the brahmanas, the martial class of men, the ksatriyas, the productive class of men, the vaisyas, and the working class of men, the sudras, all have the right to chant the Hare Krishna Mantra and by such devotional service everyone will be elevated to the transcendental platform. But there must be a division according to quality and work. At the present moment, so many so-called educated persons are unemployed because the division of work is neglected. If this division of society is maintained no one will be unemployed and there will be no unrest in society. It is a very scientific way of keeping peace in the world.
“The brahmana class should be highly cultured in spiritual understanding; by their Vedic knowledge they will be able to educate the ksatriya and the vaisya in the value of life. It is the government’s duty that according the division of human society everyone should be engaged in responsible duties.
On the whole, at the present moment, there is not guidance from the authorized intellectual class. Therefore everyone is in darkness. The Krishna Consciousness movement is supposed to create actual intellectuals to guide society. The process if very simple.
“If you kindly consider on this point and the varnasrama college is started, I am sure the chaotic condition of human society will be completely settled up. You think over this matter and we shall talk more when we meet again. Or if you like to discuss seriously by correspondence with me I shall be very glad to reply to you point by point on the basis of sastra.
Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg
Tarun Babu has a personal darshan
I just had the now rare treat of staying the whole week in Mayapur. My service at the BRC (Bhaktivedanta Research Centre) demands that most of my time be spent in Kolkata. I have been teaching a small segment of the Mayapur Institute’s Bhakti Vaibhava course and here are the fifteen students taking the module I was teaching:
The course was most enjoyable and is a great way for any ISKCON devotee to spend 3-4 months over the winter season.
I also took a bit of time out to snap a few photos of the progressive work preparing for the building of the new temple:
Here’s the TOVP site on the stretch of land that used to be the park:
Looking towards the present temple from the old Govinda's site
Old Govinda's is completely gone...
And the new Govinda’s is well on the way to completion
new Govinda's should be open within three weeks
The old park area and a large portion of the land south of it has been fenced off as the construction site:
Looking south from the Long Building the perimeter fence is just visible
A new road around the outside of the fenced in construction site will provide access to the temple
new south side road access (still under construction)
the new road begins from the side of the Samadhi
The new road will also give access to a new park, which is bigger than the old one, that runs down the eastern side of the Panca-tattva temple:
new park south side access (runs from nearby the new restaurant directly east)
a new but smaller fountain
looking north towards Sankirtan Bhavan (Panca-tattva temple is on the left)
eastern side of the park
park fencing is almost complete
new public toilets at the southern end of the park
looking west from the new park towards the Samadhi
some people have to work ...
and some have it easy...
... when they aren't being disturbed by nosey photographers that is!
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