Sato Vrtteh
by Svami Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti
Following in the Footsteps of Previous Acaryas
CHAPTER ONE
PREACHING AND OTHER CHALLENGES
Twice Losing Kesi-ghata
Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaja received as a gift, the Pandavali Kunja, which is next to Kesi-ghata. Somehow or other Kesi-ghata has always been connected to our Gaudiya mission. Kesi-ghatahad almost been donated to Srila Prabhupada, but unfortunately some of the Western followers of Srila Prabhupada offended the donor by rejecting the silver jhulan he had sent to Srila Prabhupada for the worship of the deity. So the donor withdrew his donation, much to everyone's distress.
I had always been very enthusiastic about the location of Kesi-ghata, as it is among the most beautiful spots found along the banks of the Yamuna. It had been practically abandoned by the previous owners, and there were no spiritual practices going on. At that time, Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja also wanted to have a place in Vrndavana. All of this took place prior to my acquisition of Vrinda Kunja, but I had already collected some Laksmi (about five lakhs of rupees or ten thousand dollars) for obtaining a place in Vrndavana. Then I met a person who told me he was selling Kesi-ghata. When I heard this, I immediately attempted to acquire it, and I started negotiating with him. We reached an agreement about the price. I had one year to collect the total price of fifty thousand dollars, which meant I still had to collect another forty thousand. But I wanted to give my gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja, the first choice, since he didn’t have a temple in Vrndavana.
I went to the Sri Caitanya Sarasvata Matha and told Srila Bhakti Sundara Govinda Maharaja, who was managing the affairs back then, that Kesi-ghatawas for sale, that I had negotiated for it, and had made the down payment. I told him that if they wanted Kesi-ghata, they had to come up with another forty thousand dollars, as I would donate the first ten thousand dollars. Maharaja thought this was a very good opportunity and wanted to go ahead with it. So, I gave him the donation, handed over all the papers and informed them that they had to come up with the rest of the Laksmi by a particular date. He said everything would be alright, so I went back to my preaching work in South America. Unfortunately he did not pay enough attention to it, and he missed the deadline. When he finally got around to paying, Kesi-ghata had already been sold to somebody else ten days earlier. My down payment, which had only been one thousand dollars, was lost. Then the donation that I had given for buying Kesi-ghata, was used to purchase Srila Guru Maharaja’s temple here in Vrndavana, which is also a very wonderful place, right next to the Radha Damodar temple, having the darsana of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Samadhi.