About five years devotee now, "I had been engaged in Montreal temple as sometimes sankirtana devotee brahmacari cook and pujari of Jagannatha Swami, Baladeva Prabhuji, and Srimati Subhadra-deviji. Between duties, I was one of the best candle carvers of our temple-purchase business, and earned a smallish stipend which enabled me to head to India after the Christmas rush was over. Montreal was big back then, and we had at least 25 brahmacaris living there at any time. Nandikeswara Prabhu was the president. Knowing what variety was there in India from previous visits, I prayed to Jagannatha Swami to guide me to the service He wanted me to do once I got there.
We were standing atop the apartment / brahmacari quarters at the rear of the property behind the temple, shortly after arriving in Bombay. I was wondering what Krsna had in store for me. Then Bhagavata dasa brahmacari saw me there, and came up beside me with, "Jaya Jagannatha! " He proceeded to explain that they were planning a Rathayatra and other services, and could use some help. Seeing this as Krsna's plan manifesting, I quickly agreed.
The Bhubaneswara temple was well outside of town, beside a village called Nayapalli. Red sandy soil, scrub cactus, termites, and ants, adorned the land scape. A large perhaps banyan tree stood towards the rear of the property. There were two small buildings; a tiny go-down, and a rectangular one- floor earth and cement and bamboo structure, no glass in the small windows, no furniture except a chair for a picture of Srila Prabhupada and a small altar in the temple room. This room could comfortably hold maybe twelve persons standing. Attached, in the middle section, was a room about ten by twelve feet.
Gour Govinda Swami and his writing trunk/ book storage place, occupied one corner, Bhagavata another, and I in yet another. It had a cement floor, no fan, strings tied across the back wall for drying clothes, it was very clean, no cover over the electrical wires of the light switch, and a black very old finger-dialing heavy-duty telephone sat on the floor.
I eventually spent many a day there watching Gour Govinda Swami translating intently, quiet and intense. Sometimes, local soldiers or villagers dropped by, and he, Bhagavata, and I would preach.
Rafters held up the straw roof, and tin biscuit cans were tied to these, strings soaked in kerosene to keep the ants and termites away. They seemed quite fond of sastras!
The third room was a duck-in-only clay fireplace at one end of a tiny room. One or two only could squeeze in at a time. This was my sauna during the summer every time it was my turn to cook.
The go-down was seperate, partially completed, and very small, bricks and cement and bamboo again. In back, one or two of the brahmacaris had literally dug a hole in the ground to sleep in, including Lagudi Prabhu.
The veranda or court area was sizeable, covered by bamboo lattice work and branches to give some shade. All round was a sweet garden of Tulsis, all looking good, arranged such that the water could be poured at one end, and it flowed by gravity to the whole garden by a clever system of irrigation that Vaisnava dasa had constructed. The termites built up coverings of sand around the foot of these poles in a matter of hours, and their constructions had to be knocked down daily, or they would eat the whole affair. Ants criss-crossed the landscape in long lines. Geckos clung to the walls, making chirping noises.
The land was unfenced, and no sign. For bathing, there was a slab of concrete, later surrounded by a bamboo mat, with a pole and shower head, next to the outdoor latrine facilities, Indian style. It was always very fresh and clean, and pleasant to shower there. In back, some forty yards behind the courtyard, another pipe had a spiggot. Maharajah often preferred to bath here, with a bucket. This arrangement was fine in the summer, but in winter with the cold wind blowing, it made for some gasping chants of Hare Krsna!"
Across the street was the water tower, and the house of Sooji and Sanat Kumara, tiny devotee children, and not far away, the houses of Dikpati Prabhu and his seven daughters. Dikpati Prabhu, besides being a wonderful Vaisnava, is a very good musician and mrdanga player, and a devotee of Maharajah. Several nice devotee householder families were here, too. About a half mile down the street was the nearest bulding, a Commercial Bank. There, the riksa wallas could sometimes be found. About two miles across mostly barren red packed earth and scrub and cactus, were the Kundagiri hills, which held carvings left by medicants, and even a renounced king, who had once lived in caves carved in the redstone hill sides.
I was not at all disturbed by the simplicity, but rather found it to my tastes, and soon began to fall into the rhythm of life here.
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Dandavats, Prabhu. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga. In these few paragraphs you have shown to us Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja exactly as he is---pure, simple, highly elevated vaisnava. Thank you.