Search

IN THE SPRING of 1972, after conducting ground-breaking ceremonies at his three new projects in Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana, and Bombay, Śrīla …

Mexico City June 2, 1972 Accompanied by his secretary, Śyāmasundara, and his servant, Nanda-kumāra, Śrīla Prabhupāda flew into Mexico City …

After almost an hour a Mexican couple approached. As the woman bowed down before Prabhupāda, the man introduced himself. He …

“It is a shame they have missed you,” Mrs. Diaz said. “Citsukhānanda, the temple president, has decorated a large car …

Śrīla Prabhupāda commented drily, “What good is a big car if it is not here?”

They arrived at the ISKCON center just as Citsukhānada and a party of devotees were arriving at the airport.

Śrīla Prabhupāda entered the temple through the kitchen door. A single devotee was cooking. Startled to see Prabhupāda, the devotee …

Belatedly, devotees rushed in from the airport. Conchshells blew, kīrtana began. Citsukhānanda arrived, breathless and apologetic, and offered obeisances before …

“You have created a very nice transcendental atmosphere,” Prabhupāda said to him.

“Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda,” Citsukhānanda replied, “it is only because you are here that it is very nice. Otherwise, I cannot …

Citsukhānanda showed Śrīla Prabhupāda to a room on the second floor, where on an altar small deities of Jagannātha, Subhadrā, …

Returning to the main room, Prabhupāda sat on his decorated vyāsāsana and spoke to the waiting guests and devotees. After …

Śrīla Prabhupāda asked from his bed, “Why have they stopped the kīrtana?”

“I thought it was keeping you awake, Prabhupāda,” Nanda-kumāra said.

“I can rest with kīrtana,” Prabhupāda said pleasantly. “It doesn’t bother me. It is transcendental. Tell them to go on.”

Nanda-kumāra then reappeared on the balcony above the crowd and called down, “Prabhupāda wants to know why the kīrtana stopped. …

The crowd cheered and again began chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, …

June 3 The next morning, Saturday, in the first initiation ceremony in Latin America, Śrīla Prabhupāda accepted eight Mexican disciples. …

Prabhupāda had never before met the devotees he was about to initiate, but he was accepting them on recommendation from …