Sydney, 1972

Srila Prabhupada arrived a day early and no one was ready. A phone call from the airport raised panic: "Srila Prabhupada is here!" Singapore had denied him entry. He arrived at the temple in a taxi just after the devotees left for the airport with a garland. After patiently, blissfully waiting for the devotees to reassemble, he inspected the temple premises, the brahmacari quarters in the rear of the large back yard, and the small shop next to the temple.

He also inspected the Hare Krishna "Positive Alternative" bus, commenting "I could live here."

When he saw the beautiful Sri Sri Radha Gopinath he was pleased. He revealed that when he installed Radha Gopinath the previous year he had prayed, "Now I am leaving You in this mleccha desh (materialistic place). I can no longer take responsibility. You please give these boys and girls the intelligence to worship you nicely."

"Now I can see Krishna has fulfilled my prayer," he said.

Prabhupada visited Melbourne, then returned to Sydney on an Ansett flight.

A morning walk in Centennial Park.(left) Arriving at Sydney University to speak.(right)

His Divine Grace gave many evening lectures, revealing the path to Krishna. At his quarters, a house vacated by a devotee family for his visit, he gave a press conference after staying up all night. He started preaching to a few disciples in his quarters at about 5:00 pm, then lectured at the temple. After returning to his quarters he continued to preach to a few disciples until they were nodding off at 11:00 pm. He told them they could take rest, but then rang his bell, calling Syamasundara, his secretary. Srila Prabhupada continued to preach to him all night. (At this stage only lectures were tape recorded.) The next morning I arrived there as devotees were discussing whether His Divine Grace would rest before the 9:00 am press conference or stay awake. He decided to stay awake, and spoke very strongly to the interviewers.