Partha Sarathi Das Goswami: This photograph is famous and is also displayed in the museum at Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi in the Krishna Balarama Temple in Vrindavan. I was in the room when Bhagarva Prabhu took this photograph. It was taken in Johannesburg, around October 1975. We had converted the brahmacari room, which had orange and white Marley-tile floors, into Srila Prabhupada’s room during his visit. On the table, there was a framed picture of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura standing. In front of the frame was a potted orchid, which I bought, and promptly left its body when Srila Prabhupada left South Africa.
Riddha Prabhu had gone to the airport to collect the “just printed” Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 5 Volume One and Two and the latest Back to Godhead magazine. He rushed into Prabhupada’s room to present the books and I accompanied him. Prabhupada carefully looked at the pictures. The pictures in this Canto depict hellish conditions and Prabhupada examined each picture very carefully.
From then on, Prabhupada only spoke from the Fifth Canto, Chapter 5, The Teachings of Lord Rsabhdeva. He often quotes Text 1 and Text 2. Text 18 describes how one should not become a spiritual master, a father, a mother, or a guru unless one can free one’s dependents from the cycle of birth and death. This is one of the Srila Prabhupada’s favorite verse.
