"This was the perfect ending"

Chapter Eight - Part three

A shortage of time made our visit short lived, and soon we had to again bid our enthusiastic hosts farewell.

We stopped at a few more villages like that on the way back, but saying good-bye to the people in them became too much of an emotional experience for the devotees, so we passed the rest without stopping and went straight back to Manaus.

As we approached Manaus, we noticed that the villages were situated closer and closer to each other. Through various means of communication, they became aware of our location on the river and could with accuracy estimate how long it would be until our arrival. And guess who was there to greet us as we arrived? You guessed it, the Governess. And she was just as enthusiastic as ever. As soon as we docked, she walked onto the boat and inquired about our trip. She looked in the hold and noted with pleasure that since there was nothing left, huge quantities of prasadam must have been distributed. She was also interested to know how many books had gone out. I kept thinking in the back of my mind that Lord Caitanya must have sent her.

Although the devotees were in many ways relieved to get back to civilisation, in other ways it was like a void, after a big adventure like that. For three days after our return, I stayed in the temple. Although everyone continued to go to the program, we were hankering to get back on the river. We had received such a taste for preaching in one of the most remotest places on earth.

The day before I left, we were invited to the Governor's house, along with the captain and the crew. The captain was feeling very depressed as he was sure he had lost his job. However when we put on one of the videos we'd taken of the trip, the governor watched the distribution of prasadam to the Indians and turned to the captain and said,
"Don't worry about your job. You still have it."

This was the perfect ending. I had really become attached to the captain. He was an "old salt", and in the beginning I never thought that he would be able to make any spiritual advancement. He had been a big fish eater, pot bellied beer drinker, with a vulgar vocabulary. But he had become a gentleman and attached to the devotees. So had many others by the grace of Lord Caitanya and the mercy of Srila Prabhupada.

That afternoon, as my plane circled over Manaus on its way back to Rio, I looked down at the vast green jungle. Reflecting on the last few months of adventure, I looked forward to returning there once again to spread Krsna consciousness amidst the drums along the Amazon.