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Prabhupada said he would go to as many speaking engagements as Aniruddha could obtain. Aniruddha got engagements, but there were many difficulties. On two occasions, Prabhupada, Subala, and Aniruddha were on their way to an engagement at a college when their car broke down. Another time, a policeman arrested Subala for not having a driver's license, and Prabhupada, accompanied by his servant, had to walk back to his apartment. At an engagement at the U.C.L.A. Student Center, not a single student attended; Prabhupada sat waiting for ten minutes and then turned to Aniruddha: "So, what happened?" At an outdoor engagement at Long Beach State College, there was no seat for Prabhupada, and Aniruddha had to run and find an umbrella to shade Prabhupada from the sun. "Aniruddha, this is not very nice," Prabhupada remarked from the podium.

But there were successes also. Mukunda dasa arranged for Prabhupada to appear on national television on the Les Crane Show. He also arranged for Prabhupada to appear on the Joe Pyne Show, as well as on several radio programs. And Life magazine featured Prabhupada's picture and an accompanying story as part of an article, "The Year of the Guru."

Although Aniruddha was prepared to arrange preaching engagements for Prabhupada for as long as he would stay, the devotees in San Francisco, New York, Montreal, and Boston had repeatedly asked Prabhupada to visit them. He had gone to India in July 1967, returning to San Francisco December 14. He had stayed in San Francisco three weeks and in Los Angeles two months. So while his disciples in San Francisco and Los Angeles had seen him, the others had been waiting for more than eight months. It was time to move on.

On March 7, the day Prabhupada left Los Angeles, he thanked Aniruddha for his service in maintaining the center.

"Despite my ill health," he said, "I was very comfortably situated. Krsna will bless you."

"Actually, what did I do?" Aniruddha replied. "Everything was a mistake. All the engagements were messed up."

"No," Prabhupada said, "that's all right. You tried your best."

As Prabhupada was leaving for the airport, he had to walk from his apartment to the car. It was raining, and he had no umbrella or raincoat. Govinda dasi frantically ran into the bathroom, tore down the shower curtain, and wrapped it around her spiritual master to protect him from the rain.

Prabhupada had unlimited plans for expansion-a big city like Los Angeles deserved a big temple, organized distribution of books on Krsna consciousness, and sophisticated cultural programs. And there should be Deities of Radha and Krsna in every home. Yet while enthusiastically planning to make everyone and everything Krsna conscious, Prabhupada waited patiently to see if a stray disciple like Krsna-devi would return. Prabhupada was ready to appear on television or meet boldly with any challenger or travel anywhere in the world, and yet he allowed Govinda dasi to cover him with a shower curtain against the rain.

The Los Angeles temple would become a great Krsna conscious success only with hard work and sincerity. And that, Prabhupada knew, would take time. His disciples were not yet so well trained as to make formidable advances for Krsna against the forces of maya. Yet by his staying for two months in Los Angeles, he was strengthening his disciples' Krsna consciousness. And they would continue to progress. ISKCON L.A. was now a little stronger. A few devotees were going to stay and help. He would come back when they had done more.


- From "Prabhupada-lila" by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami