At the airport, our drama group looked interesting to the staff in Visakhapatnam. Some of us are white, some brown, and some black. We’ve got the races more or less covered. The devotees from Africa, in particular, are colourful in splash-coloured lungis. Then, there’s me in my saffron. One of the staff pulled out a camera, “We’ll use the photo as promotion, if you don’t mind?”
Goodbyes were plenty coming from so many devotees from Andra Pradesh, Kolkata, Europe, and Africa. It’s hard to make those farewells. All went relatively well with collective services such as the kirtans, the classes, the swimming, the walks, and most of all, the special one – theatre for Krishna.
This year in India was unique for me with His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami not with us this year. His passing last year leaves a gap. He has been involved in the mission in Canada since the 80s. Always supportive and always so hardworking to open new centres for Krishna in the world.
I’m also feeling the pinch of separation from Bhakti Caru Swami (also deceased, during Covid). And although my Dutch sannyasi friend, Kadambha Kanana Swami, rarely attended meetings in our capital of ISKCON in Mayapura, we do, indeed, feel someone amiss. The list continues. It should lead us to take seriously to succession planning.
Source https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/farewell-and-separation
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