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Salagram and Govardhan Silas

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January 30-31, 2002: "Australia to Canada in One Day"

30th January, 2002 - UA Flight 862 over the Pacific Ocean

Well, that's it. I'm outta here. I'm on the way from Sydney to San Francisco, then San Francisco to Seattle and finally Seattle to Vancouver. My suitcase is checked all the way to Canada.

Devahotra is gone, too. He flew off to Tasmania this morning, a few minutes before my flight left Melbourne. Devahotra really tried to do well, and he did. He kindly arranged all the internal domestic Aussie flights on Qantas Airline. He often cooked for my weird diet. He took care of my laundry. He worked hard. A nice devotee.

I ran into Ramai Swami this morning, GBC Chairman this year. Ramai Swami is a native Aussie, and he was visiting Melbourne. He gave the morning class, and it was very enjoyable. His association is always pleasant.

This will be a long trip back to Canada. It was a one-hour flight to Sydney, a 14-hour trip to San Francisco, 2-hour flight to Seattle, and a 1-hour flight to Vancouver. Added to that are waiting times at each airport, and the travel time to and from airports at either end, and it will be about 26 hours from the door of the Melbourne temple to the door of my room at the Vancouver temple.

I'll be in Vancouver for a month, and then back to England for 2 weeks. Then I'll be off to New York for 10 days and then back to England again. I will not be able to go to the Mayapur meetings this year in India. I regret that. I like the association of my senior Godbrothers. That's the best part about going to Mayapur.

United Flight 1496 from San Francisco to Seattle

Snow. Outside. 38,000 feet below. Lots of it. The whole ground is white. I heard in the SF airport that they had about 2 inches of snow in Seattle yesterday, and I can see snow all over below on the ground. What a change from Australian weather.

My flight from Sydney to San Francisco arrived on time, but due to a security violation in the San Francisco airport, all domestic flights had been shut down for a period of time. Apparently someone had been suspected of having a bomb in his shoes and managed to disappear into the crowds, or so I was able to pick up by hearing from people with cell phones.

So I had to stand in a lineup for the x-ray machine that was about 2 hours long and had thousands of people in it. Anyway, they held up the flight to Seattle, and I'm on it. The last leg of the journey, a flight from Seattle to Vancouver, should be okay, even though I'll be getting to Vancouver quite late. I was scheduled for a four-hour wait in the Seattle airport. Now it will be a short wait.

It's 2 PM here on the Pacific USA coast, but in Australia, where I just came from, it is 7 AM. I left the Melbourne temple for the airport at 10:30 AM. I've been traveling for 21 ½ hours so far, and it ain't over yet.

My legs feel cramped. My eyes sting. I have hardly eaten anything. The only thing I had was some cheese and nuts that I brought from Australia. I refuse to eat what they prepare on the airplane, even if it's vegetarian. That's not only because I like to be really strict about not eating food prepared by those who aren't devotees. It's about keeping ahead of jetlag and more quickly adjusting the body clock to the local time when you travel. Eat less, drink more liquid. That's a good secret. Thoroughly confuse the body about what time it is, and then take good solid rest when you arrive, near the time when everyone else goes to bed. That's how to adjust to the local time quickly.

7:30 PM, 30 January, 2002 - ISKCON Vancouver

I'm sitting in my room at the Vancouver temple. I have bathed and worshipped my Salagram Silas. Now I am heating up some prasadam that my disciple Vraja Vilasini prepared for me.

There is about 8 inches of snow on the ground outside. It is dark, a little above freezing, and drizzling. Welcome to Vancouver!

There is no phone in my room. I'll have to see about that, and getting an Internet account, tomorrow.

6:00 AM January 31, 2002

The trip left me totally exhausted, and I slept very soundly last night. After I went to bed at 8:30 PM, there was a knock on my door at 9:45. When I answered, it was Ajay Sharma, son of my disciple Citralekha devi dasi. Behind him, in the car outside my room, surrounded by the patches of melting snow, were Vraja Vilasini and Citralekha, who are my Fijian disciples here in Vancouver. Krsna Mayi devi dasi, an elderly Indian disciple of Tamal Krsna Maharaja, was also in the car. Her husband apparently died two days ago due to a long bout with prostate cancer. I want to see Krsna Mayi today. Vraja Vilasini, also an elderly Indian lady who is a widow, is staying with her a few days to comfort her. Krsna Mayi has been good to me, always taking care of me like my own mother.

Anyway, when Ajay knocked on my door and I answered, after having been asleep, he paid obeisances and I became confused. I think I thought I was still in Australia, though there was snow outside the door, and I asked him, "Ajay, what are you doing here?"

His response was that he had just been near by and came to see if I was in, because they had some prasadam to bring me. It took me a few seconds to get oriented, realize it was perfectly normal for him to be there, and that I was no longer in Australia, which should have been obvious because of all the snow! Such is the way of extensive traveling. The "life airs" become imbalanced, and for a few seconds I couldn't even figure out where I was.