Now I am in Dallas. I haven’t been here since the NA GBC meeting in 1994. In those days of course, Tamal Krishna Maharaja was very much the main presence here.

Keshava Bharati Maharaja is staying in the room next to mine, which is good news because he and I are quite close. He’s in good spirits and his health is pretty good nowadays. A year ago he couldn’t get off his back due to a severe rupture in his vertebrae. Now he has a strict exercise routine that he upholds religiously. 

He is spending 7 hrs a day recording the Brhat Bhagavat Amrta for an audio book for the BBT. There are several other devotees around the world who are working on similar projects. The BBT has finally gotten serious about the genre and I think it will be a big success.

I am staying staying TKG’s old office and it is very comfortable. I will be giving SB class and my evening seminar each day beginning tomorrow Tuesday.

Healthwise I am doing fine, my knee and back haven’t been so bad this last week. I am getting distinctly fatter though due to the many invites for breakfast and lunch-one of the other hazards of traveling. It doesn’t do too much for your digestion either. Even if the prasadam is good, its always different wherever you go. Spending only a few days in each place doesn’t give your body the chance to assimilate the foodstuffs properly, and when you don’t do an iota of exercise like me, well you are asking for it.

June 21 

The programs here in Dallas are going nicely, not a big attendance but everyone is happy with the presentations. We are doing the Chanting seminar. There should be enough time to do the full seminar, its about 9-10 hours in total.Two old friends from San Diego when I was there in 1990-91, Kartikeya and Nandini are here for a couple of days. They have a restaurant in Puerto Rico.

Got this in on June 25 from Sitala who traveled from Mayapur on June 20 with Rasarani-priya to join the festival tour in Poland: “Right now, everyone is gearing up for the festivals-people practising various acts and dances all over the place. Everyone is working very hard to get ready. The first festival will be on the weekend, without the Ukrainian devotees.“IDS should arrive in a couple of days. I think there will be between 200-300 devotees when everyone gets here. Rasarani-priya is fitting right in, and is fired up. She is going to be in two dances and take part in the puppet shows-so she’s fully into practicing.“As for me, I’m just wandering around rather bewildered, trying to find where I could fit in. I’m too old to be in any of the stage programs, and I would rather stay out of the kitchen. Anyway, I’m just piddling around here and there, and generally having a good time. When the festivals start, I’m supposed to sit in the Questions and Answers booth.“I’ve given class for the last three mornings. There are lots of devotees here, but nobody senior-so what to do-I’m just doing my best. At least it gives me something to do and think about. I’ve been talking about one member of the Pancha-tattva each day. Tomorrow I’ll do Gadadhara Pandita, then Srivasa-if no one more capable arrives.

“Tomorrow will be the first Harinam. That ought to be interesting. I have to say it is totally awesome to see what IDS has developed, how many devoted people he has inspired to do this preaching work. There are so many talented devotees-mostly Russian, sewing, cutting, programing, cooking-the whole place is a hive of activity. Srila Prabhupada would love it.

“Meanwhile, I feel a bit of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole-but nevertheless, grateful for the opportunity to feel like I’m taking part in the sankirtan movement for a change.”

June 27

I concluded my seminars tonight here in Dallas. I just about completed the entire chanting seminar, and all of it was filmed. I hope to get that video on my website at some point. The sessions went well but the attendance was small. I still sold about 30 books so that was not bad.

This morning I did a 1.5 hrs. live radio interview on a local Indian radio station and that went well. I also did a video interview with Pandava Vijaya, who puts out shorts on various TV channels.

After that I went over to the WonderBar factory. Baladev prabhu, the owner, was keen to show me his operation. Its impressive. Based on a model established by disciples of Bhakti Caru Swami in California, he has made it a viable business over the last two years.

Its hard work, his overheads for a month are $37,000.00, that’s before he makes any profit. But thousands of bars get sold every month, so that’s a lot of preaching.

There are 8-9 varieties. Baladev told me that his customers say they are completely addictive. I was a bit sceptical at first, but when I tasted one, he’s right. They are excellent and I highly recommend them. He gave me box for my travels.

Baladev:

Poster:

Wonderbars:

Factory:

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