It is going to be a planetarium

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: We went to Navadvipa to visit Srila Prabhupada's Godbrother, Sridhara Maharaja. We went all the way by car. We had to take a crazy motorized barge across the Ganges. It was a steel, broken-down contraption and looked as if it were about an inch above the water. Prabhupada willingly took part, but later, when we got back, he said, I don't want to go there again. That was very dangerous. He said that sometimes cars fall off. He said, "Did you see how close it was to the water?" Then he proposed that he wanted to build a bridge over Navadvipa; it would be a public bridge and we would charge people. In this way, thousands of people would come from Navadvipa, more than they do now. Later, there was an interview with some press reporters and right away, Prabhupada started telling them that we are going to build a bridge from Navadvipa. They started writing it down. At Sridhara Maharaja's, Srila Prabhupada was at ease. He sat on a chair as the sun shone on him and they both talked in Bengali by the hour.

Two other Godbrothers came and joined. He asked Sridhara Maharaja about the position of the planets. He respects him; he is supposed to be a very learned Vaisnava. In fact, the whole scheme of a Vedic planetarium that is going to be inaugurated on Gaura-Purnima came after talking with Sridhara Maharaja about building such a place. It is also a scheme in terms of the government, because there may be some difficulty if we build a big, big temple. This is not officially going to be a temple, it is going to be a planetarium. He asked some questions about the planets and Sridhara Maharaja talked. Prabhupada was relaxed. They spoke in Bengali and I could not understand the language. Jayapataka told me later that Srila Prabhupada had invited Sridhara Maharaja. He said, Come and live with me; it would be bliss. I have no one to consult with. You come with me and live with me in Mayapur. It will be nice. Sridhara Maharaja said it was a tempting proposal. They continued talking in Bengali and Srila Prabhupada described the glories of spreading Krishna consciousness around the world. Even though it was Bengali, I could hear him telling how much money it cost to run the New York temple per month, how much Los Angeles cost, and how many books.

All different facts and figures. He told with such pleasure, not bragging. It is Krishna consciousness and he showed how it was spread all around the world. Then a Godbrother came and Srila Prabhupada said, "Did you see his face, how envious he was?" He said Sridhara Maharaja was feeling sorry in hearing all this that he did not go out and preach, but he is not envious. Riding back, I felt fortunate to be with Srila Prabhupada. Once he gestured to me to give him water and actually tapped me to get my attention to open the window. Later that night, reading the mail to him, I was hoping to be steadfast and not become like the envious Godbrothers, but help him in the glorious mission of worldwide Krishna consciousness, which only he has been bold enough to take up.

When Srila Prabhupada was telling Sridhara Maharaja about ISKCON, I could pick up from his Bengali a number of points. He was speaking of The Hare Krishna Puzzle from the Boston Globe article that said that one doesn't know whether Hare Krishna is good or bad. Then he told how in a meeting in Melbourne, he said that the U.N. is a pack of barking dogs. The news commented that Srila Prabhupada has come to hound them. Also, he mentioned how many lakhs are collected daily and how much the New York temple costs per month to maintain. He also mentioned the brainwashing case. The local Godbrothers are amazed, hearing about Krishna conscious books in so many languages and preaching going on every continent.