By Yugala Kishor Gour das
First of all I think it is important to introduce Mohan prabhu, for those not knowing him, and then explain my search for his missing tapes. Mohan prabhu was born in Manchester UK as Michael Gulley on 2nd April 1950. He joined Iskcon in his hometown in 1972 and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada around 1973. He moved to the Manor soon after the property was acquired. He served on rewiring the building and maintaining and reparing Srila Prabhupada’s dictaphone when needed. He was also an all-round handy man who built Srila Prabhupada his palanquin, he used that one during his last stay at the Manor when his health was deteriorating. Together with Shripati he was given the service to set up MetaVision, a video recording studio, at Croome Court under supervision of Jaya Tirtha prabhu. In the next chapter of his life this project fell completely apart, dismantled by Bhagavan prabhu.
That was the start of a confusing period with devotees moving to different parts of the country, amongst them Mohan. Not only devotees spread around, but also administration, archives and artefacts. Mohan prabhu found himself some accommodation and a form of livelihood. He ended up in Leicester in 2001, where in 2017 he left his body to serve Srila Prabhupada in another capacity.
In the MetaVision period Mohan filmed many Krishna Conscious events, seminars and festivals. He even went on an European Tour, recording different temples and their local activities. All these were recorded on a semi professional system called Sony U-Matic. These tapes can not be played on your normal house VHS and/or Betamax systems, they are simply to big. Measuring 3/4 inch. According to several devotees, whom I have spoken to, this archive ended up on Inish Rath in Northern Ireland, brought there by Tribhuvanath prabhu. Some devotees claim to have seen the tapes there. But they are not there anymore and here is where my search stalls. My request is for anybody who knows the whereabouts of these tapes or knows something of them to contact me. This would be such a great help and very much appreciated.
Of course, I hope that someone has the tapes or part of the collection and is not fully aware of this. My gut feeling is that they may have been accidentally thrown out, during a maha clean-up. Whatever the outcome, if you know anything in regards these tapes please come forward and contact me. Your input will help me to progress with my search for this Iskcon Heritage or the reason to cease and close this chapter.
Please find hereby some pictures of Mohan to stimulate your memory and one of a Sony U-Matic tape as identification.
1) Mohan in Manchester 1973
2) Mohan with Srila Prabhupada at the Manor
3) Mohan in Leicester
4) Sony U-Matic tape.
My thanks to Janaki mataji (ACBSP) for her input in this search. I can be contacted at jaapalberts@iskconleicester.org
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