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The carts proceeded into Exhibition Street on the final leg of the parade. The sun, now visible through the sombre cloud covering, made the metallic braid on the backs of the fibreglass horses glisten. Occasionally, bursts of gold and silver glitter thrown from the carts also caught the warming rays of the sun.

Arca Murti: Towards the end of the parade, Srila Prabhupada started dancing. His movements were not gymnastic, but they were graceful and calm. He would start from the waist and shoulders, moving up and down in rhythm with the kirtana and then jump. He seemed to leap effortlessly into the air, and it appeared as if he was jumping in slow motion. His hands in the air, he would turn towards the Deity of Lord Caitanya, his face shining in bliss. I felt very privileged to see all this.

Vaikunthanatha: As the parade reached the last stretch and Prabhupada had been dancing somewhat, he suddenly turned to me, "Get me some water," he said. I became a little panic-stricken and disappointed that I had not brought some water on the parade. I looked over and noticed a little house on the right. I ran over and there I saw two middle-aged couples leaning over the little picket fence watching the parade go by. I asked them if I could have some water and they ran in and handed me a full glass. I apologised that I would probably not be able to bring the glass back because the kirtana party was moving so fast. They said: "No, go ahead, take it. Hare Krsna. Good luck."

As I reached Srila Prabhupada, I looked up and noticed a huge rainbow -- the most beautiful, crystal-clear rainbow that I had ever seen, nestled in the middle of a very unusual cloud formation. The rainbow came down and ended right on top of the buildings where the parade was soon to finish.

The Royal Exhibition buildings were amongst the largest of their kind in the southern hemisphere. The main dome, resembling that of Florence Cathedral, housed a hall whose roof was no less than 24m high.

At around 4pm, all three Ratha-yatra carts were pulled, one by one, into the large hall, where their coloured canopies were again raised to full height. While Madhudvisa co-ordinated the manoeuvring of the carts and the thousand or more guests and devotees took their seats, Prabhupada rested on a chair in a small room.

One of Prabhupada's young brahmacari disciples entered with some incense. Dipak introduced him to Srila Prabhupada. "This is Gopinatha Acarya, one of your leading book distributors in Australia."

Prabhupada opened his eyes wide with interest. "Oh! So, what do you say to sell these books?"

Gopinatha Acarya was already shy and unassuming. In Prabhupada's presence he became even more so. Flustered, he blurted out what he knew was a foolish explanation, adding that he told his customers the books were about yoga and meditation.

Prabhupada did not appear overly impressed with the boy's description of his techniques. Yet he appeared thoughtful and compassionate. After a moment he said: "I think we should say like this: that these books will help to solve all the problems and miseries of life, and save you from so much suffering."

Prabhupada went on to describe his plans for spreading Krsna consciousness all over the world. He quoted the famous verse from Caitanya Bhagavata:

prithivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

One day, he said, there would be a temple in every town and village. In every temple would be Deities, with at least six brahmanas to look after them.

Madhudvisa Swami walked into the room. Prabhupada turned and smiled broadly, chanting spontaneously: "Madhudvisa Swami ki jaya! Madhudvisa Swami ki jaya! Madhudvisa Swami ki jaya!"


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