Chapter 28 – Delhi: Heat, Dust, & Flying Tents

(Śrīla Prabhupāda Arrives at the Delhi Airport)

Tejiyas Dāsa: For Prabhupāda’s convenience I had arranged his stay with the Agarwals in Chanakyapuri. There were many devotees who accompanied him from the Māyāpura Gaura Pūrṇimā festival. Besides them, a number of sannyāsīs and senior devotees house-crashed at the Agarwals who seemed supremely delighted by this. Once again, they had given the entire top floor of their house to Prabhupāda and his servants and gave devotees the run of the whole house. I was very happy that there was an excellent facility for Prabhupāda and an abundance of devotees to care for him.

Chanakyapuri was an upscale enclave in Delhi, known for its tree-lined avenues, spacious parks, and the presence of numerous foreign embassies and high commissions. Given the number of devotees already staying with Śrīla Prabhupāda, Mahārāja and Cyavana opted to remain at the temple and commute each day. Every morning, they would take a rickshaw to the Agarwal residence, arriving in time for Prabhupāda’s walk. The area was dotted with nice parks, and during Prabhupāda’s stay, the devotees would accompany him on morning walks through these tranquil green spaces.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: On one of the walks, I remember Prabhupāda was talking about how the living entities are punished because they break God’s laws, then Cyavana asked a question about the Bible – suddenly Prabhupāda cut him off and basically told him, “What’s the point of your quoting the Bible?” Then somebody else asked, “Well, the karmīs break God’s laws, so they are punished with sickness etc., but what about the devotees? Why do they get sick?”
Then Prabhupāda dropped a bomb – “You think it is so easy to be a devotee? Simply by wearing tilaka you have become a devotee? Being a devotee is not so easy!” He said that this was a cheating mentality. We were all very young and naïve, and most of us there were probably thinking, “Hey! I chant my sixteen rounds and follow the four regs, so I’m going back to Godhead.” Then Prabhupāda burst that bubble in less than a minute.

One evening, Mahārāja and the other devotees accompanied Śrīla Prabhupāda to the Imperial Hotel in Connaught Place, where the weekly meetings of the Rotary Club of New Delhi would convene. Śrīla Prabhupāda had been invited as the chief guest and delivered a talk from the second chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā.

(Śrīla Prabhupāda’s at the Delhi Rotary Club)

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: The Rotary Club is an international organisation made up of rich businessmen who are interested in philanthropic works. In Delhi, they would regularly meet at the Imperial Hotel which was a very prestigious building from the British times. When Prabhupāda came there, the members were very respectful to him. They led him into this big hall where we had made a big dais for Prabhupāda to sit on. Prabhupāda spoke from the Gītā and at the end of the talk, he asked if there were any questions, and one gentleman stood up and asked him about Hitler and Gandhi. He said that he was confused because Kṛṣṇa was telling Arjuna to fight, but Gandhi, who believed in ahiṁsā (non-violence), was against punishing Hitler – he wanted to try to talk him out of fighting. Prabhupāda’s answer was in line with what he spoke to us in the morning about punishment. He said whether Gandhi wanted to punish Hitler or not was irrelevant – Hitler would still be punished by material nature. Only those who are fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa are not punished.

In the meantime, preparations were underway for the paṇḍāl program at Ramlila Maidan. Prabhupāda had already told Tejiyas that he considered it an excellent venue for such an event.

Tejiyas Dāsa: The Ramlila Grounds was an ideal venue, central and accessible by an abundance of public transport which ran there frequently. With the direct help of the mayor of Delhi, Lala Hans Raj Guptaji, I had secured the permit as soon as Śrīla Prabhupāda had approved of the festival at the end of his December visit. With the venue irrevocably guaranteed, I was able to plan all kinds of publicity including radio and television interviews, many newspaper advertisements, some of them large and sponsored by our corporate friends, and to plaster posters all over Delhi.

One day before the program, Mahārāja’s travelling Gaura-Nitāi Deities arrived from Bombay. Mahārāja had entrusted Them to the care of Vallabh Bhai Patel, and while in Māyāpura, he had asked a devotee heading to Bombay to bring Them to Delhi. When Tejiyas heard that Mahārāja had Gaura-Nitāi Deities, he immediately requested him to bring Them to the paṇḍāl program on the 26th.

Tejiyas Dāsa: The only thing missing were Deities to preside over the program. At the last minute, the arrangements made by my wife, Madirā, had been side-lined. Miraculously, Mahārāja agreed to put his Deities on the altar with the condition that he be with Them for all the days of the program. And with that, we were ready for the show.

During the first day of the paṇḍāl program at Ramlila Maidan, about ten-thousand people attended. Throughout the day, prasādam was distributed non-stop, books were sold continuously, and there was constant kīrtana. In the evening, hundreds of VIPs gathered to hear directly from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Before Prabhupāda gave his lecture, Tejiyas asked Mahārāja to garland Śrīla Prabhupāda and offer ārati to him.

(Narasiṅgha Mahārāja Garlanding Śrīla Prabhupāda at the Ramlila Maidan Program)

(Śrīla Prabhupāda at the Ramlila Maidan Program)

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: Śrīla Prabhupāda was on his vyāsāsana, and the altar with my Gaura-Nitāi Deities was on the other opposite side of the stage. In the middle of offering ārati to Prabhupāda, all of a sudden, I noticed that he was looking right at me and saying something and motioning. The kīrtana was so loud that I couldn’t hear what he was saying, so I put the bell down, went over and asked, “Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda?”
He said, “Don’t put your back to the Deities!”

I said, “Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda,”and then I stood to the side. He didn’t care how awkward it looked, but he cared that my back was to the Deities. That instruction always stuck with me – “Don’t put your back to the Deities” – I tell that to the devotees all the time.

After Prabhupāda spoke, members of the audience eagerly asked questions. This was followed by a drama performed by the devotees, and then an enthusiastic kīrtana led by Lokanātha Swami as Mahārāja offered ārati to Gaura-Nitāī. After the program ended and Prabhupāda was stepping down from the stage, Mahārāja approached to assist him with his shoes.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: As Prabhupāda came down the back stairs of the stage, I was fortunate to be there to assist him in putting on his shoes. I’d heard from certain devotees this rumour that, “Prabhupāda doesn’t walk! His feet don’t touch the ground – he just levitates above it.” Well, after I finished slipping his shoes on his feet, he began to walk and he stepped right on my little finger! I saw that he definitely walked on the ground and didn’t levitate – although coming in contact with his Divine Grace seems to have left some of his disciples ‘floating in the air.’

All in all, the first day’s program was a resounding success. Unfortunately, before the second day’s program, a serious problem arose. That afternoon, while Tejiyas was sitting with Śrīla Prabhupāda at the Agarwal residence, he happened to glance out the window.

Tejiyas Dāsa: In the little courtyard was a bicycle propped up against a wall. As Śrīla Prabhupāda and I were talking, all of a sudden there was a whooshing sound, as a great gust of wind came upon us. When it reached us, it had so much force that it sounded like a train and as I watched the bicycle was sucked up into the air, then for a few moments held suspended at least ten feet above the ground. As abruptly as the wind had come, it left and when it did, the bike came falling down with a resounding and startling crash as it smashed against the ground. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s was seated in a way that the courtyard was on his right-hand side. When the sound of the wind came, he had glanced to his right and was also witness to all this. However, he was in no way distracted and through-out had continued speaking. I thought at once, “Oh my God! Maybe something happened to the paṇḍāl tent.” Within seconds the telephone rang in the hall outside and someone came in to inform me that there was a call from my wife. Taking permission from Śrīla Prabhupāda, I went to the phone and spoke with Madirā who was quite calm considering what she was narrating. A great unprecedented wind suddenly had come from out of nowhere, and had lifted up the entire huge roof of the paṇḍāl nearly twenty feet into the air, holding it afloat like a kite. While the tent had remained suspended for those few seconds the wooden poles, with florescent tubes attached had been dangling beneath, flopping here and there. Then, as swiftly as it came the wind slipped away and the roof of the paṇḍāl had floated down, snapping almost all of the poles as it did. Fortunately, no one had been hurt. I asked Madirā to find out if we could get the tent back up by the evening. Within minutes she called back with her report. The contractor was in great despair, facing a huge loss as all the tube lights, speaker system and poles were ruined. Even if he could be persuaded to put up the tent again, it would take days. She ended by stating that she wanted me there at once.

I gave a full report to Śrīla Prabhupāda, who remained entirely unfazed and cool-minded. I mentioned a thought that it was as if the Tṛṇavarta demon had personally come just to stop this successful preaching program glorifying his arch nemesis, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda’s solution – spoken as if it would be an adventure – “So, now we will have an open-air program. The weather is nice at this time of the year and it will be especially pleasant at night.”

As the storm swept through Delhi without warning, Mahārāja was inside the paṇḍāl.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: It didn’t last long – just for a few seconds. But in that short time, the whole paṇḍāl just lifted up into the air, and when I saw that, I immediately ran inside to get the Deities. I jumped on the stage, grabbed Them with both hands, and ran out – and while I was running, there were poles collapsing all around me, fluorescent lights smashing on the ground, dust blowing everywhere, people yelling, and suddenly, the wind died down again, and this huge paṇḍāl tent, about 20,000 square feet of canvas, came crashing down out of the sky over me. I’d never experienced anything like that in my life. When the dust settled, I crawled out with the Deities still in my hands, looked around at the site – there were chairs all over the place, broken speakers, and books scattered on the ground. It was a total mess!

Tejiyas Dāsa: Taking leave from Śrīla Prabhupāda, I rushed to survey the scene. Mahārāja came forward to speak with me. A bit jarred, although admirably calm, he related that he had been caught under the tent as it landed. Fortunately, his Deities had been unharmed as well as himself. I then explained to him and everyone else present Śrīla Prabhupāda’s proposal that we just have an open air-program and that it would be an adventure. A lot of the tent had already been removed, including all the stage area and Mahārāja was already setting his Deities back up. I worked it out with the shamiyana (tent) contractor to remove the rest of the tent as soon as possible, and definitely before the evening. He was very shaken by it all.

Due to this unexpected turn of events, that evening’s program was cancelled. However, it resumed the following afternoon in the open air, with an even larger crowd in attendance. Prabhupāda spoke in Hindi about how Indians had forgotten Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His message, the Bhagavad-gītā.

After the paṇḍāl program concluded, Tejiyas Dāsa shared with Mahārāja another interesting incident that had taken place during the event.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: After the program, Śrīla Prabhupāda had asked Tejiyas how he liked the kīrtana at the paṇḍāl that night. Tejiyas replied that it was nice, but Prabhupāda said, “All I heard was the noise of karatālas.” Then Prabhupāda told him that kīrtana must be very sweet, very nice, and he invited the devotees to his room and they did another kīrtana. He led the kīrtana for about forty-five minutes, and when it was over he said, “Like that – very nice, very sweet.”

Over the next two days, Śrīla Prabhupāda visited Modinagar and Aligarh before continuing on to Vṛndāvana. In the meantime, Mahārāja planned to proceed directly to Vṛndāvana to await Prabhupāda’s arrival. As he was packing up his Gaura-Nitāi Deities at the Delhi temple, Cyavana entered in a cheerful mood.
“What’s up?” inquired Mahārāja.
Cyavana started chuckling and sat down.
“A few days back, Ṛddha from South Africa arrived – he drove Prabhupāda’s new Mercedes all the way from Māyāpura to Delhi, and as soon as he got here, someone stole his passport and some of his money. I suppose because I’d been a bit out of sorts lately, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Swami immediately suspected me. He came straight up and accused me. I simply shrugged and told him I had no idea what he was talking about. Then, the next day, another devotee reported that he’d been robbed of $500. So yesterday, while I was out, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa came here, went through my bags, and found this.”
Cyavana handed Mahārāja a bankbook, and as Mahārāja flipped through it, he noticed a deposit of $25,000. He looked up to see Cyavana grinning from ear to ear.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: Cyavana told me that Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa had taken it straight to Śrīla Prabhupāda, then Prabhupāda had called for Cyavana. When he entered Prabhupāda’s room, Prabhupāda had hid the bankbook under his cushion. First, Prabhupāda was talking to him about spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then told him that he wanted to purchase a bigger house in Delhi to use as a temple. Then Prabhupāda asked him, “Do you have any money to help us do that?”
Cyavana replied, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, I don’t have any money.”
Prabhupāda asked, “You don’t have any money at all?”
“No Prabhupāda.”
Then Prabhupāda took out the bankbook from under his cushion and said, “It says here that you have $25,000 in the bank.”
Suddenly, Cyavana started to laugh. “Oh Prabhupāda, that’s all bogus.”
Prabhupāda said, “Bogus?”
“Yes, you see, $5 is the first entry – that is the only real one. All the other entries were typed out by me. I typed in the dates and money, so that when I go from country to country in Africa and the Middle East, they will not hassle me. When you arrive at immigration, they always ask you if you have a return ticket or money. So I show them that I have $25,000 in the bank.”
Then Prabhupāda began laughing, gave him back his book and said, “You made this to trick the non-devotees, but now you have tricked us!”

Hearing about Cyavana’s exchange with Prabhupāda made Mahārāja laugh as well. Cyavana slipped the bankbook back into his bag. “Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa really thought he had me,” he said with a smirk.

******

On the morning of March 31st, when Prabhupāda’s Mercedes pulled up outside the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple, Narasiṅgha Mahārāja was among the many devotees joyfully welcoming him with enthusiastic kīrtana. Most had come straight from the Māyāpura festival, while others had also participated in the Delhi paṇḍāl program before making their way to Vṛndāvana.
As Prabhupāda stepped out the car, everyone paid obeisances, and devotees rushed forward to place garlands around his neck. Akṣayānanda Swami, the temple president, led Prabhupāda into the temple in time for the greeting of the Deities. Prabhupāda first paid obeisances to Gaura-Nitāi, then Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, and finally Rādhā-Śyāmasundara. Turning around, he walked to his vyāsāsana and after the guru-pūjā, he gave a short class on the nine processes of devotional service.

(Śrīla Prabhupāda’s in Vṛṇdāvana April, 1976)

After Prabhupāda finished his class and retired to his room, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Swami spoke to Mahārāja and recounted a recent incident. Just a few months earlier, Śrīla Prabhupāda had been involved in a car accident in Mauritius. The President of Mauritius had personally sent a car and driver for Prabhupāda to use. Prabhupāda was seated in the back with Brahmānanda Swami, while Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa sat in the front beside the driver.
As they drove past a stretch of sugar cane fields, the car took a left turn and, in an instant, collided head-on with a Volkswagen Beetle coming from the opposite direction. Because the sugar cane was so high, neither vehicle saw each other. Both were moving very fast, and there was no time for either to brake. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa braced himself against the dashboard, but his head and elbow still struck the windshield. The driver beside him took the full impact, cracking his head on the glass and bleeding profusely. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa immediately turned around to check on Śrīla Prabhupāda. Brahmānanda had instinctively wrapped his left arm around Prabhupāda’s shoulders to shield him from the blow. Prabhupāda had been sitting cross-legged with his cane between his legs; the force of the collision had thrown his face forward into the back of the front seat. His lower lip and hand were bruised, and his leg was cut.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa leapt out of the car, and he and Brahmānanda – whose arm now bore a large gash – managed to flag down a passing vehicle occupied by white South Africans. Brahmānanda told them that his ‘grandfather’ had been in an accident and urgently needed to get to a hospital. Confronted by the imposing figure of Brahmānanda – a towering, bald-headed American with an intense expression and blood pouring from his arm – they could hardly refuse. They helped load Prabhupāda into the car.
However, it soon became clear that the South Africans had no idea where the nearest hospital was. Their priority was to return to their hotel. Seeing this, Brahmānanda asked them to stop and flagged down another passing car – this time driven by local Indians. When Brahmānanda instructed them to take them to the hospital, Prabhupāda, who had remained silent throughout the ordeal, softly interjected: “No! We don’t need to go to a hospital. Take us back to our place.”
Upon reaching their residence, Prabhupāda instructed the devotees to bring neem leaves, turmeric, and lye. He then prepared a poultice himself and personally applied it to the wounds of Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa and Brahmānanda, as well as to his own injured leg.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: At the time, I don’t think this incident was known to most of the devotees – perhaps to the leaders, but the rank and file had no idea. I certainly didn’t. I was shocked when I heard this from Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda was still putting a neem poultice on his leg every day, so Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa asked me if I could arrange for some neem leaves while Prabhupāda was in Vṛndāvana. So early every morning before maṅgala-ārati, I used to walk down the road near Fogla Ashram, and I would climb the neem trees, pick a bunch of leaves, and bring them back to Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple for Prabhupāda’s servant to make a neem poultice for Prabhupāda’s leg.

Mahārāja also took the opportunity to join some of Prabhupāda’s morning walks. These walks were usually attended by the sannyāsīs and GBC men, though occasionally other devotees would accompany them as well.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja:Just being with Śrīla Prabhupāda anywhere was always a transcendental experience, but to be with him in Vṛndāvana was something extra-special. I remember one morning walk in particular – Prabhupāda had not spoken very much, but then he started talking about the speciality of Vṛndāvana. Then he suddenly stopped and looked around at all the devotees – the group surrounding him were all sannyāsīs. There were no GBC householders or any other gṛhasthas there. Then Prabhupāda said, “Vṛndāvana is tapo-bhūmi (the land of austerity). Actually, it is not for meant for householders and women. But do not tell this – otherwise they will say I am women-hater”
Then I looked behind, and there was a householder and his wife who was carrying a baby in her arms, running to catch up with the group, and as they did, Prabhupāda changed the subject and walked on.

It was early April, and the summer heat had just begun to set in. Many devotees chose to sleep on the roof of the gurukula building, and Mahārāja was no exception. Lying on his mat beneath the open sky, he could hear the distant sound of all-night kīrtanas echoing from various āśramas. Now and then, the cry of a peacock pierced the stillness – or the voice of a lone sādhu calling out into the night, “Rādhe!”
One night, Mahārāja suddenly woke up around 2:00am and made his way towards the temple roof.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: I figured that if I went there, I could look down into Prabhupāda’s room and watch him translate, because I knew that he got up at two o’clock to do his translation of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So, when I got there, I could see through his window – there was the desk, the lamp, his seat – the lights were on, but nobody was there. I waited for about two hours but he never showed up. I thought, “Where has Prabhupāda gone?” Then I walked to the other end of the roof and looked into his garden behind his room. It was summertime and there was a bed outside and Prabhupāda was sleeping during maṅgala-ārati. That particular night had been very hot, so instead of doing his translation, he went outside and rested. And so, I just sat there alone, chanting japa, watching Prabhupāda sleep.

On April 4th, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Swami – who was not only Prabhupāda’s personal secretary, but also the GBC for South Africa – arranged a meeting between Prabhupāda and the devotees preparing to depart for South Africa – Narasiṅgha Mahārāja (Jagat-Guru Swami), Ṛddha Dāsa, Īśvara Dāsa, Devānanda Dāsa, and Ranjahit Dāsa. In their conversation, they discussed their strategy for preaching.

Prabhupāda: All of them are South African?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, actually, he’s from South Africa and he’s from South Africa. These two devotees are going down for the first time, and Jagat-Guru was preaching there once before.
Prabhupāda: So they will get visa?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They don’t require visa except for Jagat-Guru. He’s British, he’s Canadian. He’s South African boy. He’s South African.
Prabhupāda: Oh, they don’t require visa.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Only Jagat-Guru Dāsa, American.
Prabhupāda: Oh. So he’ll get visa?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Oh, yes.
Prabhupāda: So all five, you are going?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Now, we have studied this South Africa. They like our movement. And they are purchasing books. That is very good sign. Is it not? They are purchasing? Who are purchasing books? Educated circle?
Devotee (1): Colleges.
Prabhupāda: College. That is…college, universities, that is educated. So I was surprised when, after my meeting, they purchased books, because these South African white men, they do not like very much Indians. Is it not?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It’s a fact.
Prabhupāda: But still, they like this culture. That is very good sign.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Even the Indians are attracted to our Indian culture.
Prabhupāda: Because they lost their culture.
Jagat-Guru Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we were thinking that this is 1976, and in July there is Ratha Yātrā. So by next year, ’77, we hope to be able to have Ratha Yātrā in Durban. There may be a quarter of a million, half a million Indian people. One cart and three deities on one cart.
Prabhupāda: And whether government will allow?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think so. They already have permission.
Jagat-Guru Swami: They can give permission…won’t be a problem. And also we want to establish also, apart from the temple, one bus program which will reach all the towns and villages there in South Africa.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Jagat-Guru Swami: And also we will go to Rhodesia and possibly Malawi and maybe Mozambique, which are countries in our area. And also I spoke to the boys from Mauritius, and we would have some…
Prabhupāda: Mauritius, we have got now devotee.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You have kept his address?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Two devotees.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: One is that gentleman, Mr. Narayan. He’s an engineer with the city electrical department. And the other is a full-time devotee. I have his address, Mr. Narayan’s address.
Prabhupāda: So they are still here?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He’s anxious to go back. He’s going to London until August; then he’s going back to Mauritius with his family.
Jagat-Guru Swami: We will invite him to come to our Durban festival. And also I’ve suggested that they also arrange something big, festival, because there are 600,000 Indians there, and that some of our men then go to the island and give them association.
Prabhupāda: So they’ll give visa? Me?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: For you? Oh, yes. I think we have to make a chest x-ray again and take several shots for you, (laughter) no problem.
Prabhupāda: So when you are going back? Tomorrow?
Jagat-Guru Swami: Yes.
Prabhupāda: When? Early in the morning?
Devotee: Yes. We’re making the arrangements tomorrow to go. We’re getting tickets and some books. Then Jagat-Guru will follow a few days later.

At the end of the darśana, Narasiṅgha Mahārāja asked Śrīla Prabhupāda about his travelling Gaura-Nitāī Deities:

Jagat-Guru Swami: Also, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have seen on our altar, Gaura-Nitāi? We have large Gaura-Nitāi and two small – three actually – three small sets of Gaura-Nitāi Deities. The ones on the far left, just under Lord Nityānanda’s feet, They are going also to South Africa. They came originally from East Africa. I mentioned it when I first came to Māyāpura. So we will be taking Them. We have a very nice siṁhāsana built for Them, finished tomorrow, and we’ll be displaying Them at all our programs…preaching programs.
Prabhupāda: Do the needful.

Although Mahārāja had planned to leave for Delhi the following day to organise plane tickets for all the devotees, he had to delay his departure until a local carpenter finished the new siṁhāsana for Gaura-Nitāi – and also because the travel agent was closed over the weekend. In the meantime, he continued collecting fresh neem leaves each morning for Prabhupāda’s poultice.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: I’d taken so many leaves off the trees near Fogla Ashram that I figured I’d end up stripping them bare, so I went looking somewhere else. One morning, after maṅgala-ārati, I walked down to the Chhatikara road junction which leads to Vṛndāvana. Suddenly, I heard a car coming behind me – back in those days, cars were very, very rare in Vṛndāvana – and when I looked, I saw it was Prabhupāda’s Mercedes. He was going somewhere for his morning walk.
The junction was busy, even at that time of the morning, and there were hundreds of people around, but I immediately paid full obeisances when I saw Prabhupāda’s car and almost got run over by a rickshaw. When I got up, I saw that Prabhupāda had stopped the car and rolled down the window – he was patiently waiting for me to get up of the road to talk to me. I ran over and Prabhupāda asked, “You are still here?”
“Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.”
Puṣṭa Kṛṣna Swami was sitting next to Prabhupāda and he told him, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, the travel agent in Delhi is not open till Monday, so he’s planning to leave tomorrow night.”
Prabhupāda just wiggled his head a little, then smiled at me, said “Hare Kṛṣṇa,” and the car continued.

As planned, Mahārāja departed for Delhi on Sunday night. By the time he reached there it was already late and most of the devotees were already sleeping. The summer heat remained unrelenting, and the only way Mahārāja and the other devotees camped on the temple roof could find relief was by tying a few dhotis together to shield themselves from the scorching sun. Beneath these makeshift saffron tents, the brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs would read, chant japa, and doze. By day, they fended off persistent flies; by night, they endured mosquitoes, eager for their first taste of Western blood.

The next morning, after purchasing the tickets for South Africa, Mahārāja was walking back to the temple when he passed a sweet shop in Bengali Market – and suddenly froze in his tracks. There, seated inside the shop and leaning on a cane, was Śrīla Prabhupāda…or so it seemed.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: I did a double-take! There was this man in the shop who was the exact spitting image of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He sat there on a chair as his son was running around taking care of the customers. He was the same size as Prabhupāda, same sort of face – the only difference was that he was wearing a white dhoti. But all his hand gestures – even the way he scratched his upper lip and drank water – were exactly like Prabhupāda. I went in there and sure enough, he was a Bengali. Whenever new devotees came to Delhi, I’d always make it a point to take them to that shop just to see that man, and they would completely flip out!

The real Śrīla Prabhupāda was scheduled to arrive in Delhi from Vṛndāvana three days later, on April 11th. In the meantime, Mahārāja decided to keep himself busy by preaching on the campus of Delhi University.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: I was by myself. I just threw a chaddar down on the ground, put three or four books there, and did a kīrtana with a pair of karatālas. My eyes were glued shut, and when I opened them, there was one student sitting in front of me. He was a Bengali boy from a brāhmaṇa family in his second year of university. I preached to him for a while, brought him back to the temple, and two days later, he quit university and joined full time. Before he could even catch his breath, he was sent to Māyāpura and I think he ended up taking initiation from Śrīla Prabhupāda. I can’t remember his name and I don’t think he remained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But that was the mood back then, especially in India. Not many Indians were joining at that time, so as soon as an intelligent person from a good family came along, everyone got excited.

Although the devotees in Delhi knew that Śrīla Prabhupāda would be arriving on the 11th, none of them knew he would be coming directly to the temple – it was assumed he would be staying with the Agarwals again. But as the devotees ran outside to greet Śrīla Prabhupada, a wave of shock swept through them.

Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa told me later that he had been the driver, one Punjabi devotee, Caitya Guru Dāsa, was in the passenger seat, and Prabhupāda and Hari Śauri were in the back. They were driving pretty fast, and Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa was busy showing Caitya Guru all the bells and whistles of the Mercedes and wasn’t paying attention. Suddenly, WHAM!!! He hit a bullock cart from behind! The whole bullock cart flipped over, the wheel flew off, and the axle smashed into the door of the rear passenger seat where Prabhupāda was sitting and buckled it. Luckily, nobody in the car was hurt, and the two villagers on the cart were thrown into the pile of hay that they were carrying, but the bullock was trapped under the cart, with its four legs in the air. Prabhupāda immediately hit Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa on the shoulder and told him unequivocally, “Drive! Fast!” After a minute or so , Prabhupāda told Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa, “You are driving too fast!” Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa told me, “The rest of the drive was so tense, you could cut the air with a knife!”
As the car pulled up outside the temple and we saw the damaged door, everyone just stood there, stunned. The buckled door was jammed, so Prabhupāda had to climb out the other side. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa and Hari Śauri were totally shook up and started arguing with each other – Prabhupāda just looked at them both for a moment, then turned around and walked past everyone into the temple. His upper lip was quivering and that was always a sign that he was really upset.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived, it was a mad scene because nobody knew he was coming. Nothing was ready. Devotees were running around cleaning his room, preparing things etc. The Deities, Rādhā-Pārthasārathi, were in this small closet in the temple room and that was closed. Anyhow, eventually everything was sorted out, and Prabhupāda came downstairs to the temple room. Whatever trace of transcendental anger there had been when he arrived had completely vanished. He sat on the vyāsāsana, sang ‘Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava’ and gave a short talk on the prayers of Queen Kuntī.

After the class, he remained on the vyāsāsana and one of the managers brought some papers for him to sign, then he requested some oranges to eat. A devotee brought a plate of oranges and they were cut in such a way that the seeds could not be seen inside the pulp. I was on Prabhupāda’s left, next to the kitchen door along with some other devotees. Suddenly, Prabhupāda spat a seed out of his mouth which flew past my ear, bounced on the floor, hit the wall, spun on the floor and stopped, and before I could do anything, a devotee had already grabbed it. I thought, “I’m so stupid! I should have put my hand out so that Prabhupāda could spit the seeds into my hand.” But while I was thinking that, another seed came whizzing past me. All this was right in front of the Deities! He was just spitting these seeds off to the side, and all the devotees were grabbing them as if they were pearls that had rolled out of the ocean. It was as if Prabhupāda was in cowherd boy bhāva – as if he was in the meadows with Kṛṣṇa, spitting the seeds into the grass, oblivious of who was around.

*****

Śrīla Prabhupāda stayed the night and flew to Bombay the next morning, en route to Australia. Meanwhile, Mahārāja prepared to return to South Africa taking with him a heart full of mixed feelings. After his rooftop darśana with Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpura, he felt deeply that his true prabhu-datta-deśa – his place of service assigned by his guru – was India, not South Africa, which had been foisted upon him by Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa. Still, he accepted his present circumstances as Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement and resolved to follow wherever the Lord might lead him next.