Preface

This third volume of A Transcendental Diary covers the second half of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s last world tour.  

It was memorable in many ways. He visited new properties in Washington, D. C. and New York, and spent time in three rural communities—New Vrindaban, West Virginia; Port Royal, Pennsylvania (since named Gītā-nāgari); and New Māyāpur, France; as well as visiting his centers in London and Paris. 

In Washington he met repeatedly with the members of the newly formed Bhaktivedanta Institute, establishing a firm base for their attempts at scientific preaching, and he also participated in two celebrations—the bicentennial of America, and the tenth anniversary of ISKCON. 

His last visit to New York, the place where he first began his Movement, was brought to a grand climax with a Ratha-yātrā festival organized on a scale not seen to that date in the West. 

His extended stays in New Vrindaban and New Māyāpur, and an overnight visit to Port Royal, brought his keen interest in the development of rural, self-sufficient communities clearly into focus.  

At the same time, warning signs of His Divine Grace’s deteriorating health grew stronger. He suffered attacks of toothache, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, kidney disease and flu all with stoic indifference, and relentlessly pushed himself on despite his weakening bodily condition. It was both distressing and impressive for his servants—distressing because there was very little we could do to relieve him, and impressive because we saw his great and selfless determination to use his body to the last breath in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa and humanity at large. 

As Dr. Shaligram Shukla points out in his Foreword, Śrīla Prabhupāda was one of the great rhetors of his time, perhaps of any time. We have included a good deal of conversational material in this book with the hope the  reader will get some grasp of the global scope and scale which the preaching vision of Śrīla Prabhupāda encompassed. He was a revolutionary in the best sense of the term and we are confident his ideas and words will have a major impact on the lives of the people of the world for many generations to come. 

By the special mercy of the Lord, we were fortunate enough to have been there to record it, and this presentation is a humble attempt to preserve that record.