Blog

Prabhupada's Air New Zealand flight landed at Auckland airport at 10pm. Although it was quite late, many devotees -- 12 from the temple and 50 from the North Shore -- were there to greet him.

Many of the North Shore devotees had maintained only loose connections with Krsna consciousness, and rarely visited the temple. For Prabhupada's arrival, however, many now presented themselves with shaved heads, tilaka and devotional clothing. Yasomatinandana, Auckland's temple president, started an exuberant kirtana. Prabhupada passed through customs quite quickly and emerged, looking radiant and in good health, smiling broadly at the energetic crowd of devotees. Rama dasa, Auckland's head pujari, carefully placed a garland of flowers around Srila Prabhupada's neck, applied yellow camphor-scented sandalwood paste to his forehead and touched his feet.

Prabhupada walked quickly to the waiting car. On the highway, the devotees' cars one by one overtook Prabhupada's hired limousine. They were determined to reach the temple first for another greeting.

67 Gribblehirst Road, Mt Albert

Back at the temple -- the same two-storey house in the suburbs that Prabhupada had visited three years before -- devotees were completing last-minute cooking and cleaning jobs. The temple had recently undergone extensive refurbishment. Most of the devotees had not slept for the last three days. The exterior of the temple had been pressure steam-cleaned and fully repainted, the grounds landscaped, and new trees and shrubs planted. Devotees had remodelled the altar, cleaned and refitted the kitchen, and built a new vyasasana. Prabhupada's quarters had undergone the most transformation -- from a cold, bleak concrete room to something very comfortable. The floors were now covered with varnished cork tiles and a warm rug. The walls were repainted in Prabhupada's favourite colours -- pale blue with gold trim.

Roy, a newly-arrived and energetic young man, had built a small table for Prabhupada to take his prasadam on, and had assisted in installing a comfortable bed, a new bathroom and framed devotional pictures for the walls. At the very last minute, devotees had rushed off to purchase a book case and elegant new silver eatingware. They were exhausted. As they attended to final details, Prabhupada's car pulled up at the front of the temple.

The air was chilly. It was the start of winter, and the ground was wet from recent rain. As Prabhupada stepped out of his car, he noticed a group of young devotees, some with long hair, playing guitars and singing the Hare Krsna mantra to a slow, melancholy melody.

Jita Girisa, a young brahmacari from the temple, started up his own kirtana, chanting Jaya Prabhupada, Jaya Prabhupada, bounding up and down like a puppy greeting its master. Prabhupada smiled at him -- he seemed to appreciate the young man's spontaneous enthusiasm. Prabhupada mounted a few steps and entered the front door. It was too late to have darsana of the Deities, so Prabhupada decided to go to his room straightaway. The devotees congregated in the foyer as Prabhupada slowly climbed the stairs. He paused on the landing, turned, and surveyed the kirtana for a few moments. As he smiled, the kirtana rose in crescendo, karatalas, gongs, heavy brass whompers and voices all merging in youthful exuberance. Prabhupada completed the climb, and as he entered his room he turned and gave the kirtana party a broad grin.


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu