Visakha devi dasi | The Hare Krishna Movement

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I have always enjoyed going back in time and re-reading the old Back to Godhead Magazines. This one was from 1974 and chronicles the arrival of Srila Prabhupada.

The Arrival of a Pure Devotee
by Visakha-devi dasi

New York: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder and spiritual master of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), stopped here for a few days recently as part of his continuing tour of ISKCON centers around the world. At JFK International Airport, as more than one hundred disciples royally greeted him and curious reporters thronged around him, Srila Prabhupada explained, in clear language and with fixed conviction, the Krsna conscious philosophy of a God-centered society in which “everything animate and inanimate is recognized to be controlled and owned by the Lord.”

“Will this solve the energy crisis?” one reporter asked. “Yes, why not?” Srila Prabhupada immediately responded. “The only lack in the world today is the lack of God consciousness.”

Summer Sessions With Srila Prabhupada

As a young devotee/book distributor, we were always anxious to see the new Back to Godhead Magazines “Hot off the Press”, and distribute them to the public. This was one article written by Visakha devi dasi that I fondly remember. Whenever I got tired out on book distribution, I would think of Srila Prabhupada’s rigorous schedule, and it would inspire me to continue on. Srila Prabhupada was tireless in his preaching and generous in giving others his divine association.

Summer Sessions With Srila Prabhupada
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine 1975, Vol. 10, No 10
Article by Visakha devi dasi

In five cities and on a transcontinental jet, His Divine Grace spends a typical month at his favorite pastime—teaching Krsna Consciousness.

He’s probably logged as much flight time in the past ten years as any other traveling emissary. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has gone around the world twelve times visiting his ISKCON centers, lecturing and insuring a high standard of spiritual life among his disciples. The author traveled with him this past summer as he shuttled from West to East coast and back again, holding informal meetings and having dialogues with those who came to ask questions no one else could answer.