With great respect they bathed Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet with scented warm water.

We arrived in Fiji at 1:30 P.M. Present at Nandi airport, Lautoka, to greet Srila Prabhupada with fresh, fragrant garlands of frangipani and marigolds, were Upendra dasa, Mr. Deoji Punja, and a small gathering of their friends. Mr. Punja is a respectful, humble, middle-aged man who has seriously taken up Krishna consciousness, observing all the regulative principles and chanting the maha-mantra every day. After seeing Prabhupada's success in spreading Krishna consciousness in Australia, he was inspired to build an ISKCON temple here. Descended from Gujarati immigrants, his family is prominent in the area and have extensive retail interests. Now he is personally raising the funds to build a beautiful temple. Prabhupada has recommended that they install the Deity of Kaliya-Krishna. He explained that Fiji was the island where the serpent Kaliya lived after Garuda drove him from his home. Later, he went to India where he polluted the entire Yamuna river, causing Lord Krishna to chastise him. After this, Kaliya returned to Fiji. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada said, there are no snakes in Fiji because Kaliya ate them. Mr. Punja informed us that according to a centuries-old local legend there is a gigantic, many-hooded snake said to be living in a cave in the interior of the island. The temple is to be built here in Lautoka. It will have three large domes, following the same basic design as ISKCON Vrindavana, but on a smaller scale. It will be the first custom-built ISKCON temple outside India. Mr. Punja drove us to his brother's house, where we quickly settled in, installing Prabhupada's dictaphone and other paraphernalia in the small room reserved for his daytime use. Srila Prabhupada sat on a couch in the living room and the whole Punja family gathered around. With great respect they bathed Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet with scented warm water. The house has been vacated, allowing Srila Prabhupada and his party full use. It is not big, only a few rooms, so Gurukripa Maharaja and I are sleeping on the wide veranda that encircles it. Prabhupada likes Fiji's tropical climate very much, and the island seems largely unspoiled, with few trappings of tourism and little of the garish advertising so typical of holiday resorts. There is no television station, and much of the natural beauty of the island is preserved. On the way to the house I noted many large, heavily-laden mango trees, although this is not quite the season yet. Prabhupada did comment unfavorably, however, as he had done in Gujarat last December, on the concentration in their agriculture on just one cash crop, in this case sugarcane. April 29th, 1976 With few visitors, the day was quiet, and Prabhupada has been able to relax. Fiji appears quite paradisiacal, but it is not perfect. Srila Prabhupada was disturbed by a constant nightlong howling, emanating from what seemed like a multitude of dogs. It started off in one quarter of town and flowed like a cacophonous wave around the entire district, and this prevented Prabhupada from translating.