In this talk Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami recounts his memories of Srila Prabhupada, focusing on Prabhupada’s early vision for Mayapur and the practical steps taken to realize it. He describes how, even before ISKCON had a presence in Mayapur, Prabhupada established the Mayapur Vrindavan Trust (1972) to safeguard future deities, envisioned a grand temple, a university affiliated with Calcutta University, and an airport to improve access. Goswami narrates the early G.B.C. (Governing Body Commission) meetings held on the Lotus Building terrace, the practice of reading resolutions to Prabhupada, and his living quarters in 1976‑77. He shares Prabhupada’s teaching that only strict adherence to Krishna consciousness leads to return to Godhead, illustrated by an anecdote about inviting the Indian Prime Minister to the Mayapur festival. The talk then shifts to the 1976 Soviet book‑import inquiry: a Soviet agency requested a catalogue of Bhaktivedanta books, prompting Prabhupada to assign Goswami to travel to Moscow. The narrative includes the involvement of Tamalakrishna Maharaj, the invitation from Dr. Katarsky that enabled Prabhupada’s own 1971 Soviet visit, and reflections on the early challenges of expanding ISKCON under communist regimes. Throughout, Goswami emphasizes Prabhupada’s foresight, devotion, and the collective effort to fulfill his grand plans.
Chapters
Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Om namo prasad raavalayam! Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaiahya! Om namo prasadam ashur devayahyam! Om namo Bhagavate Vaasu Devaayaah! Uh, I'll mention a few things about Mayapur also before I start about Moscow. I didn't have the fortune of coming to India in the early '70s like Shruti Kirti and the other devotees had. I was in Canada and America at that time. But Prabhupada, even before he had come to Mayapur, just after he established the ISKCON temples in, uh, Canada and America, Prabhupada had on his mind the desire to buy land in Mayapur. So, and even at that time he had visualized that there would be a big temple here. So in 1971, even though ISKCON didn't have any presence here, in 1972 Prabhupada set up a trust called Mayapur Vrindavan Trust, and the purpose of the trust was that when Deities do get established here and in Vrindavan, and if there's ever a problem, then that Trust would take care of the maintenance of the Deities. So we can see Prabhupāda's great vision. He had not even purchased the land in Mayapur, but he had already made all plans for the welfare, for the protection of the Deities in the long run. Then I first came to March 1973, from America, and I met Prabhupada over here. At that time we had trouble brewing in New York, so we had come to discuss that. But I did ask Prabhupada one question, and I asked Prabhupada, "Will everyone in ISKCON go back to Godhead?" You know, because the common thinking was that everyone, once you're initiated in ISKCON, you go back to Godhead. Prabhupada told me here in Mayapur, "No! Everyone will not go to Godhead. If you follow the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa rigidly, then you can hope to go back to Godhead. But not if you don't follow the spiritual standards strictly." One thing is, I heard Lokanātha Swāmi describing to you all earlier about the first festival that we had in Mayapur. I remember hearing from Gurudāsa that In the early days, after the first festival was established, Prabhupāda told Gurudāsa that, "Go and bring the Prime Minister to the Mayapur Festival." And he said, "If you go and bring Indira Gandhi to come and attend the Mayapur Festival, then Bhaktivedānta Ṭhākura will take you back to Godhead." So I was thinking that for our next year's festival, we should plan on getting one of these dignitaries here. So they can come and appreciate the wonderful work that Prabhupada has done. So I came to India as JPC in March '75, and when we came here to Mayapur, Prabhupada had a great desire to have a university here in Mayapur, and he wanted that university here to be affiliated with Calcutta University. So Prabhupada sent Rabindra Śrīp and myself to Calcutta for 3 days, and, uh, we were meeting different officials at Calcutta University to try and see if we could, uh, get a university started over here with affiliation to Calcutta. But at that time, Calcutta was under heavy communist rule. It still is. And it wasn't so easy for us to realize that there were a lot of obstacles. Then Prabhupāda also wanted an airport here in Mayapur. You know, you all know that we are making plans to build a big temple here in Mayapur, and one of the big bottlenecks is to bringing important people to Mayapur is a rough road. The road is so bad. So Prabhupāda knew all this and he wanted an airport in Mayapur so that the planes could come straight from Calcutta to Mayapur. So this is another instruction that Prabhupada gave, and we should work to realize. Then the G.B.C. meeting started here in Mayapur in '73, and, uh, I had the fortune of attending the first meeting in '75. So at that time, we didn't have any G.B.C. meeting rooms or something. I remember the G.B.C. meetings were, were conducted other on the terrace of the Lotus Building. And then every evening, after passing all the resolutions, we would go to Prabhupāda and read the different resolutions out to him, and then he would give us his input. And in 1976, we had some better facilities for our meeting, and then in the evening we would go and sit in Prabhupada's room. Prabhupada's quarters in '76 consisted of two rooms, the front room where he gave darshan and the inside was a bedroom. So I remember in '76 we would go and sit in his bedroom in '76 and even '77 and read out all the resolutions and then he would give us his input. So Hari Suri Prabhu had mentioned that, uh, we're going to be showing the Māyāpur Moscow presentation. And Prabhupāda had instructed me here in Māyāpur to go to Russia in May '76. The background is as follows: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Bombay had received a letter of inquiry from an international Soviet agency for importing books. The name of the agency was Mezunarodnaga Könige. Knyiga means books in Russian, and Mezelnarodnaya means international. So that was the international agency in charge of importing books into the former Soviet Union. And they had written to us out of the blue, "Please send us your catalog for books on world." So I got this card and I brought it to the G.B.C. meetings in Mayapur in March '76. And Prabhupāda was so happy that the Soviet government agencies were asking us for books, information on his books. So he, one fine morning, it was about 6:15 in the morning, he had just called in Tamalakrishnamaraj. Tamalakrishnamaraj at that time was the leader of the Rādhā-Dāmudara Party, which was a very successful book distribution party in America. But there were some controversies and in '76. There was a big discussion. So Prabhupada gave him a very challenging assignment. Prabhupada told him, "Tamal, you go to China." And Tamalakrishna Maharaj had just finished paying his respects and leaving the room, and then he sent for me, and he told me, "Gopal, you go to the former Soviet Union." I think he said, "Go to Moscow." So the background was our getting a letter of inquiry from the Russian government, and as Hariswari Prabhu said, at that time the Soviet Union was very friendly with India. You know, they were considered to be countries in the same bloc, and they were politically very closely aligned, and the Soviet Union was an enemy of the West and America especially. So Prabhupāda was very keen that we establish a preaching over there. And you will hear in the presentation how Prabhupāda went to America— to the former Soviet Union in 1971. Uh, he was invited by the late Dr. Kitoski. We had the opportunity later on of having regular contacts with Dr. Kitoski, and then, uh, late '80s he told me said, I took such a big risk in inviting your Swami Ji here, because at that time it was strict Soviet Union communism with no faith in religion or philosophy. And we have a great debt to Dr. Katarsky because it was he who sent Prabhupada an invitation that enabled Prabhupada to get a visa to go to the former Soviet Union. And at that time, when— this was in '89 or '90, I believe— he had come to our— we had just obtained a building in Vegavaya at that time. So I invited Dr. Katarsky for lunch. So he had— at that time in the former Soviet Union, we had, I don't know, X number of temples, not as many as we have now. And he said, Dr. the late Katarsky said, I never thought that Swamiji's movement would become so big in my country. At that time, it's, uh, it was just a fraction of what it is now. So Prabhupada was a great visionary. As I said, even before the first piece of plot was obtained in Mayapur, he had already made a provision establishing the Mayapur Vrindavan Trust so that anything ever happened to the Deities, the Deities will be protected. Prabhupada had full faith that Bhaktivedanta Swami's prediction that one day people from the whole world would come and chant and dance, it would come true. So this all come true, and you're going to be hearing more and more of Prabhupada's katha over the next 4 days. Śrī Prabhupāda ki— Hare Kṛṣṇa. Allez!
