In 1971, as a young devotee in Calcutta, Giriraja Swami approached Srila Prabhupada, “I have been trying to understand what your desire is, and two things seem to please you the most: distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.” Prabhupada’s face lit up, his eyes opened wide, and he smiled, saying: “Yes, you have understood. If you all build this temple, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur will personally come and take you all back to Godhead.”
Building the TOVP was so important to Sri
