The Krsna consciousness movement should be spread wherever possible, and one should accept those who thus become Vaisnavas as being greater than brahmanas Hindus or Indians. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu desired that His name be spread in each and every town and village on the surface of the globe.
By the mercy of Guru and Gauranga, I arrived safely in Dar es Salaam after a marathon bus trip. From the start, it was touch-and-go, hopping off from one destination to the next and arriving from Johannesburg to Lusaka the next afternoon, then straight on to the next bus to Dar es Salaam. The luggage hold overflowed, as more of the passenger’s luggage was stored inside the bus - at one stage, I thought that the bus might not move, it was so overloaded. Finally, the bus pulled out of Park Station, the transcendental journey began, by the mercy of Guru and Gauranga, a preaching mission to serve dearest Srila in East Africa began.
I had taken some of Srila Prabhupada’s books to distribute to the passengers, who took them with great interest as I described the teachings of Srila Prabhupada’s books. When preaching, and explaining about the difference of the body and the soul and its temporary nature, the reply would be positive agreement. As I did not have any prasadam to take with me, I found that my hunger disappeared when preaching, making many friends of Krsna and asking them to chant the holy name of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The next night, after a 23-hour ride, in a bus that was comfortable, but a bit on the rustic side compared to the first one, by the mercy of Guru, I arrived at the bustling crowded bus station the next night, with that: “I-a-need-new-body,” feeling! I was met by bhakta Kevin (from Canada who spent nine years of his childhood living throughout Africa) and his friend Gaddy, and then to the house of Mahaprabhu Caitanya dasa – a disciple of Jayapataka Swami from Bangalore, where I was to spend the night and then onwards to Nairobi the next morning.
We departed from Dar es Salaam just after 9-pm in Kevin’s Landrover, the perfect vehicle for traveling in this part of Africa. The vehicle was used by safari companies and is complete with seating for seven, a luggage rack, protective bars and three rooftop hatches for game viewing. Kevin has been assisting Mahavishnu Swami Maharaj here in East Africa since 2006. He comes originally from Canada – he has been coming to Tanzania for the last 3 years to help Maharaj with the Annual East Africa Tour. His service is driving the truck and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. The tour was originally began by that great saint and son of Srila Prabhupada, his grace Tribhubanath prabhu from Ireland, a stalwart preacher, following in the footsteps of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, bringing harinam to the African people. The countryside in Tanzania is amazing, which has that Out-of Africa scenery and feel about it. Vast rolling savannah as far as the eye can see, dotted by acacia trees and mountains. We saw that great majestic African giant, Mount Kilimanjaro towering over 19,000 feet into the air in the far distance - as the sun began to set, casting a blue cloudy haze on its on it snow-capped peak.
Just before arriving at the Tanzania/Kenya border, I began to hear some knocking sound coming from the side of the vehicle near to where I was sitting. About 100 kilometres from the border, it began to get louder. Arriving at the border just after twelve pm, we had our passports stamped. Kevin had to fill in some paper work to take the Landrover into Kenya, and was told by the customs official, that he needed some more paperwork that had to come from the Tanzanian side. We both walked across to the Tanzania customs – this time the official there was not satisfied with some small details, so Kevin and the customs official went together to Kevin’s Landrover. Could I please wait for him while they went? He came back after about 15 minutes and – I could tell from the look on his face, something was not quite right. When he started the engine, the left side shock absorber hit the hood; the engine’s water pump began smoking. Apparently, the shock absorber had separated from where it had been bolted to the chassis, and the top had almost penetrated the hood of the car.
We stayed overnight at a clean guesthouse until next morning, when a mechanic and his team replaced the seized up bearings in the alternator and the shock absorber.
We then took the road to Nairobi arriving in time to catch a glimpse of the ratha yatra parade. We spent five minutes following the procession, then fatigue set in to a point that I could no longer disregard my need for sleep, so we headed back to the temple, where we were able to take darshan of Their beautiful Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Bankibihari and Sita and the glorious association of the glorious saints here. We are now getting some book racks made for displaying Srila Prabhupada’s books to towns and villages in Kenya – the Landrover has a clean bill of health and is ready to be used in the service of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan mission.
By the mercy of Guru and Krsna, we have been invited by a local African devotee, to come and visit his village. Watch this for more nectar - All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Yours in the service of Lord Sri Krsna and His devotees,
Hare Krsna,
Madhumangala das
