(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 07 January 2018, Brisbane, Australia, Q&A Programme)
How did you go to Vrndavan? Is this when you took up Krsna consciousness seriously?
I was walking with the cows one evening on the outskirts and arrived into Vrndavan by foot. I walked straight into the Krsna Balaram Mandir where they were just starting Tulasi Puja and I saw all these people bow down to a plant and I went, “Here we go… now we bow down to a plant.” (laughter) It was a bit of a shock at first, but then the altar doors opened and out came this albino pujari and blew the conchshell, and for me, that was something really from out of this universe. So this is how it started for me. I then stayed in India from 1978 to 1995, except 1 year when I took a break in Australia. This way, I really became part of the movement and the Indian culture. In fact, once when I was on a flight, there were these people behind me whispering in Hindi, “Oh, this guy is a religious fanatic.” Little did they know that I can also speak fluent Hindi, so I turned around and thanked them in Hindi for their comments. (laughter)