Books were flying out
Pusta Krishna das : Many hundreds of people would come to greet Srila Prabhupada at the airport. Riddha prabhu, who was born in South Africa and who had lived in London, garlanded Srila Prabhupada, and the Hindu community in Durban received him with so much affection.
Riddha das : This venue is one of the most prime locations on Srila Prabhupada's 19-day tour of South Africa, 7th of October, 1975, in the evening. It was a grand colonial building called the Durban City Hall. It seated at least 2,000 people including the balcony, and it was full to the maximum. It was 90 percent Indians.
Pusta Krishna das : We had advertised profusely throughout Durban. We had brown-colored posters with pictures of Srila Prabhupada on them. And the people of Durban who were unwilling to accept that Srila Prabhupada had come to preach in South Africa had been tearing posters down, and we kept putting them up. The evening of the program came and we entered through the main entrance, and almost in unison when Srila Prabhupada entered they all stood up. We had kirtan, and then Srila Prabhupada gave his lecture from the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita: dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre, samaveta yuyutsavah. I remember that very simple lecture. I felt as if Srila Prabhupada was re-teaching the culture of Krishna consciousness to the Indian people of South Africa, who had been living under apartheid for so long and who had been deprived of the glory of their own culture by virtue of that oppressive regime. It was a very wonderful program.
Riddha das : I was in charge of selling books, and the books were flying out. We must have sold at least two or three thousand dollars worth of books. That was the most amazing thing about traveling with Srila Prabhupada. For the next 19 days, wherever Srila Prabhupada went, his books would automatically fly out.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Pushta Krishna Dasa
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