In June of 1993, I retired from my work as a Professional Business Computer Systems Consultant; specializing in Hewlett Packard Main-frame Computer Systems. I left Los Angeles California, and in less than 20 hours I arrived in New Delhi India.
The last time I had traveled to India was in 1974; that is a very long story which you will have to refer to my Autobiography, which I plan to write, for details. It was so hot when I arrived at the New Delhi Air Port. I arrived just after mid-night, and I thought that I would make my way to the New Delhi train stations, where I thought I would catch a train to Matura, and then a rickshaw of some kind to Vrindavana. Before leaving Los Angeles, one young x-gurukuli devotee told me that I could catch a taxi from New Delhi to Vrindavana for 700 Rupees. I totally forgot this advice due to my mind was operating on the bases of last experience of traveling between New Delhi and Vrindavana 20 years prior. Totally, oblivious to the fact that I could have engaged a taxi from the airport to Vrindavana, for 700 rupees; I secured a taxi, an old Ambassador, from the airport to the train station.
The ticket counters at the train station were lined up with hundreds, thousands it seemed; of people trying to get tickets for trains. If you do not know, in India, amongst the masses, there is no such thing as any orderly clam straight line in front of counter. It is the opposite, which is very difficult to describe, other than to say it was CHAOS. & MAYHEM. It was absolutely madness, if you catch my drift.. All signs were in Hindi, everyone spoke Hindi, and I was absolutely, lost and started to feel terrified a little; that maybe I made a mistake in coming to India in the month of June. Before I left Los Angeles one God-brother said to me that “I was crazy”, to go to Vrindavana in June.
In India, especially in New Delhi, there are always persons trolling the airport, the train stations; hunting for business, so to speak. The biggest catch for these people is westerner, or just anyone who is not familiar with navigating this part of India. I noticed this one fella, staring at me. Eventually he came over to me and said,
“Sir my name is Neetu, I speak English, can I maybe help you in some way?”
“Oh yes! I need a train ticket to Matura, please help me and I will pay you something”.
“No! No! Jee, there is no train to Matura until morning time. I have taxi, and I can take you to hotel for you to spend the night, because you look tired, and in the morning, I can arrange a taxi to take you to Vrindavana directly”
“I do not have too much money; I do not know if I can afford all that expense. So, how much will all that cost?”
“Do not worry about the cost Jee, it will be very cheap, you first rest the night at my hotel, I have taxi to take us there, and we take care of you, and tomorrow morning we arrange taxi for Vrindavana”.
I was so exhausted, burned out, everything. Forgot the advice of that young devotee about the 700 Rupee taxi from the airport to Vrindavana;
I was sweating like a pig, or a ditch digger underneath a blazing sun, with a temperature of 116 Fahrenheit. Talk about experiencing Bhagavad-gita 15.15,
“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and FORGETFULNESS, …”
So, I submitted to these young man’s intention of helping me get to Vrindavana. I desired a 7-Up soft drink with crushed ice, and I was hoping that following the lead of this young Indian man, would lead me to my desire.
At the hotel, all shops around it, where closed, so in no time I realized that my desire for a cold 7-up was not to be fulfilled by my Supersoul. The following morning, I hired a taxi to take me to Vrindavan, at the front counter at the hotel that I spent the humid-hot-night. On the way to Vrindavana the taxi came up with some serious engine problems. I know automobile engines, and this 4-cylinder engine was running on at least 2 cylinders, maybe 3 sometimes, and a 3-hour trip took 7 hours, with the taxi crawling along a about 20 miles per hour. On top of that, I was charged 2,800 rupees for the fare, which at that time was about $100, but it should have cost me $25; however, I did not know that at the time. Talk about getting “fleeced”.
Vrindavana was the same as I remember; DRY and SUPER HOT. Yep! What a coincidence; I arrived in Vrindavan in the same month in 1974.
I will now jump to around early 1994. I do not remember the actual date. Nevertheless, the story on how I came into the possession of a trunk full of typed manuscripts that resulted in this book, is as follows.
I was by that time, a well-established member of the JIVAS project. Briefly, this project was commissioned by BBT International (BBTI); to translate the literatures of the Six Goswami’s of Vrindavan, and especially those of Srila Jiva Goswami from Sanskrit into English, and then print these books in the same manner as were the books of Srila Prabhupada. For more information on this terminated project, I refer you to the brochure for this project (The Jiva Institute for Vaisnava Studies), which you will find on this Website in an article, about the its short history; which is actually a very interesting story. This project was inspired by Srila Prabhupada himself, and this testimony by Srila Prabhupada is reproduced in this brochure.
Moreover, it was understood by the BBTI and the GBC that Srila Prabhupada would have transudate the Six Sandarbhas by Srila Jiva Goswami, right after he finished the Srimad Bhagavatam. Un-fortunately for all of humanity; he only completed up to the 10th Canto. This project was comprised of 5 initial devotees, including myself. It was 1994 and the BBTI has given this initial JIVA project team, $450,000 USD’s, to purchase land, design, and construct a very large building that would house all the devotees that would take part in this project; from translation of the six Goswami’s literatures, to book production, to include artist to paint pictures just like the BBT did for Srila Prabhupada’s books. This project was a vision of Srila Prabhupada, and that vision was that he wanted an institute to do this. Moreover, he wanted to call it the Jiva Institute for Vaisnava Studies, thus the acronym JIVAS.