Prabhupada's passport picture

Upendra : From 1967 I was searching. One day I saw a leaflet that looked like a letter blowing in the wind, and I picked it up, thinking that I was going to read someone's mail. It was a Stay High Forever leaflet. It said something about, "Drop in, turn on, and drop out. Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta." I thought, "Oh, a swami."

I pictured Prabhupada with long hair and a beard. But when I went to the temple at 518 Frederick St. and saw Prabhupada's passport picture in the temple window, I was aghast. He didn't look the way I thought a swami should look. He looked severe. I was scared.

Later I heard that when someone said to Prabhupada that he didn't look happy in that photograph, Prabhupada said, "That was the most ecstatic moment in my life. It was my passport photo as I was fulfilling Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's instruction to travel to the English-speaking world and preach."