1. Srila Prabhupada’s first Rathayatra

    Just this morning when Srila Prabhupada arose from bed, He spoke to me about how He had held Rathayatra early in His childhood. He recounted as follows: “When I was five or six years old, any carpenter I saw I would ask him why don’t you make a Rathayatra cart for me. ’Yes, why not,’ they would say. I would have my father take me to the carpenter shop, but none of them would make it. One old lady saw me crying on the street because I could not have the Rathayatra cart built. She asked my father why is he crying and my father explained because he wants a Rathayatra cart but no carpenter is making it. I have got one, said the old lady, and my father purchased it from her. He bought oil paint for me and I painted. I was also preparing fireworks for the occasion. I saw little books how to do it. My father gave me anything I wanted and thus put my mother into anxiety. And I was very persistent. All day friends and children would help me and I was never lazy. From my birth I was never lazy neither dull. Neither was I ever defeated by anyone. Whatever I would order to my parents or friends must be obeyed. Krishna has given me always leadership. How I a poor Indian, have leadership of the Europeans and Americans? And amongst the authors of the world I am also the leader.”

    From a letter by  Tamala Krsna Goswami to God-brothers and God-sisters of New Dvaraka-dhama