RETURN TO INDIA

When he came back to India in 1967 I met him and his disciple, Kirtanananda dasa, at the airport in Delhi. He had instructed me to do this in his telegram. (Appendix 12). He told me many wonderful accounts and details about his preaching in America, and how miraculous were the results. Humbly he felt that all this was only the mercy of his Gurudeva and the desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates. One special thing he told me was how when he first chanted the Hare Krsna Mahamantra in Tompkins Square Park in New York, he chanted for a very long time (several hours). He told me how he kept his eyes closed, just deeply hearing and depending completely on that mercy.

We stayed for seven days at the Chippiwada Radha-Krsna Temple in Delhi. Because Swamiji was sometimes feeling ill, he sent me along with Kirtanananda dasa to represent him in his preaching programs. He was always encouraging us to preach very strongly. He wanted everyone to see his Western Vaisnava and so he took us to chant and preach to people he knew in Delhi.

After a few weeks another of Swamiji's disciples, Acyutananda Prabhu, came to stay in Vrindavana. Because they were Swamiji's disciples I sat together with them and honored the mahaprasada they had prepared. All the caste Gosvamis and almost all of Swamiji's Godbrothers would never take any prasada or even the water Kirtanananda dasa and Acyutananda dasa offered them. The reason they offered was that those disciples were Westerners and had previously eaten flesh. I spoke out against this policy and encouraged others to accept Swamiji's disciples as bona-fide. I explained how Swamiji's preaching to foreigners was completely authorized and directly in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and our guru varga. I think that most of the Indian Vaisnavas have now accepted this.

In 1967 during his first trip back to India he came to visit my Gurudeva, his sannyasa guru, Srila Bhaktiprajana Kesava Goswami. At that time my Gurudeva was in weak health and was confined to his bed in Calcutta. They had a confidential visit then. It was their last time together in this world. My Gurudeva was overjoyed at Swami Maharaja's devotional service to their Srila Prabhupada. He expressed his appreciation and glorification of Swamiji's preaching so much and pledged to cooperate in the preaching work. They also discussed my Gurudeva helping to arrange a donation of land for Swamiji's future Mayapur temple. Srila Trivikrama Maharaja and Srila Vamana Maharaja were present then. (Appendix 13)

After our Gurudeva Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja departed from this world in 1968, Srila Swami Maharaja along with his disciples sent us a telegram of condolence. He also sent a long letter to Trivikrama Maharaja in Navadvipa. In Seattle, Washington he delivered a lecture about our Gurudeva. There he described the history of his awarding him sannyasa. He wrote about how much appreciation, affection and glorification he had for him, and how he had now entered Krsna's abode. We heard later from some of his disciples that he shed tears when he received the telegram telling of our Gurudeva's entering into nitya-lila.

In one letter to Srila Trivikrama Maharaja, Srila Swami Maharaja asked him for a photo of Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja. He wanted to place it on the temple altars in the West. Swamiji also wrote asking me to send a picture of our Gurudeva to him in America. I remember in one letter he requested, "Please send me a picture of your Gurudeva so I can have a portrait painted for displaying with our disciplic succession in all of our temples." (Appendix 14) Somehow we were never able to arrange that, but I know that if we had been able to, he would have used it.