By Atma Tattva Das,
In 1975, a small band of determined devotees in apartheid South Africa faced a task that seemed almost impossible: bringing His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to their country. Fifty years later, as ISKCON South Africa celebrates the golden jubilee of that historic visit, one of the movement’s earliest pioneers, Riddha Das, reflects on the challenges, miracles, and mercy that shaped the beginning of Krishna consciousness in the nation.
Born in Durban in 1949, Riddha left South Africa as a young child when his parents fled the injustices of apartheid to settle in England. Educated in London, he excelled in the arts and drama before embarking on a life-changing voyage. “I first came in contact with the devotees in the late 60s,” he recalled. “I saw them in Montreal and London while traveling on an ocean liner. By the time I returned to Canada, I was fed up with everything, just 20 years old and praying for guidance. And then the devotees came into my life.”
He joined the Vancouver temple in 1972 and was formally initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1973. Soon after, he became part of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s Traveling Sankirtana Party, distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books across North America and the Pacific. “I was always praying that people would take the books for what they are,” he said. “Not through trickery, but on the merit of the books themselves.”
That sincere spirit of service would carry him back to his homeland, now under the weight of apartheid laws, to help establish ISKCON’s presence and welcome Srila Prabhupada himself.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/the-dream-that-came-true-reflecting-on-srila-prabhupadas-historic-visit-to-south-africa/
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