Volume 4

USA Tour

Volume 4, Chapter 33 April 20, 2003 – May 15, 2003 The last three weeks of the preaching tour in America were particularly rigorous. Sri Prahlad and I traveled to numerous temples, spending just hours in some while in others holding three programs a day for a week. I never took rest before midnight. The [...]

First they will laugh at you, then they will harass you, and finally they will accept you

Volume 4, Chapter 32 March 28, 2003 – April 19, 2003 After the festival in Laguna Beach, Sri Prahlad and I continued our two-month preaching tour of North America, visiting New Vrindavan, as well as temples in San Jose, Pittsburg, Columbus and Chicago.As we sat at a departure gate in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport waiting for [...]

The war in Iraq can act as a catalyst to inspire devotees in America to preach to their countrymen

Volume 4, Chapter 31 March 05 – 27, 2003 The war in Iraq began just days after my arrival in America for a two-month preaching tour. As a result, I found a people very receptive to Krsna consciousness. Bhagavad-gita describes four classes of men who turn to God: the curious, those seeking material success, those [...]

My real business is reading Bhagavad-gita

Volume 4, Chapter 30 February 07, 2003 – March 04, 2003 I spent two days in Vrindavan recuperating from the close call I’d had at the hands of a bogus taxi driver in Delhi, and then traveled to Durban,South Africa. North India had been experiencing its coldest winter in 50 years. By contrast, South Africa [...]

Chanting softly on my japa beads, the man shouted, “Shut up!”

Volume 4, Chapter 29 January 12, 2003 – February 06, 2003 Soon after my departure from the Persian Gulf, my curiosity as to how Krsna consciousness would spread in Islamic countries was answered when my godbrother, Bhakti Bringa Govinda Maharaja, invited me to Kazakhstan to participate in a five-day festival celebrating the end of the [...]

I wondered what Lord Caitanya’s plan was for the Middle East

Volume 4, Chapter 28 December 11, 2003 – January 11, 2003 While leaving the first country on my visit to the Middle East, I was questioned for some time by immigration officials. Eventually they stamped my passport and allowed me to board the airplane. On the flight I sat next to an American businessman, who [...]

The congregation dubbed me “Mullah Maharaja”

Volume 4, Chapter 27 December 07 – 10, 2002 “Alas, when will that auspicious day arrive when the actual glories of Vrindavan will be manifested to me? The scriptures are unable to touch even one millionth portion of its wonderful glories. Great personalities like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Laksmi, Sukadeva Goswami, Arjuna and Uddhava are [...]

Let the Calamaties Come Again and Again

Volume 4, Chapter 26 November 21, 2002 – December 06, 2002 As the auspicious month of Kartika drew to a close in Vrindavan, Craig asked me if there were other holy places in India that we could visit. I told him that there are countless holy places in India, but generally Vaisnavas congregate at three: [...]

I honestly feel this is the path that you should follow

Volume 4, Chapter 25 October 17, 2002 to November 20, 2002 “While wearing the loincloth and torn quilt of a renunciate, maintaining my life with fruits that have fallen from the trees, discussing transcendental topics, not wasting time in any manner, giving up all kind of false ego, and begging alms door to door, I [...]

I’m searching for something, but I’m not sure what

Volume 4, Chapter 24 September 22, 2002 – October 16, 2002 While in Kazakhstan, I corresponded with several devotees about visiting Nepal before going to Vrindavan, India, for my annual retreat. We made plans to trek to the Kali Gandaki River in the Himalayas during October to search for sacred salagram silas. The great Vaisnava [...]