namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Kaunteya Das

A couple of days ago we had the pleasant visit, in our office in Sri Mayapur, of two of the main leaders of the Trinidad Yatra, Panca Tattva Devi Dasi Mataji (Temple President and member of the national board) and Santa Vigraha Das Prabhu (secretary of both the temple and the national board).

In February 2007 they are going to celebrate the festival for the 25th anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha. HH Satsvarupa Maharaja, who was GBC at that time and who originally installed the Deities, has confirmed his attendance. They are also inviting other devotees who throughout the years contributed to the spreading of Krishna consciousness in this Caribbean country. The many references in correspondence reveal that Srila Prabhupada had a special interest in Trinidad: "Long ago I was invited by the people of Trinidad but at that time I could not go, although I had great desire to go there . . . Try to have a nice temple for Krishna at Trinidad. It is an important place" (letters of 4 April, 1971, and 14 July, 1974).

by Kaunteya Das

We just met with Suvasa Prabhu from St. Lucia, a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea. Looking youthful for his 59 years, Suvasa is attending the MIHET Bhakti-sastri Course. His wife, Mother Mandakini Devi Dasi, was in Mayapur some ten years ago; I remember her sharing on the challenges they face in their preaching - mainly overzealous, feisty Protestant Christians, allergic to Deity Worship and, consequently, to prasadam.

Suvasa Prabhu got his master degree in Agricultural Engineering in McGill University, Montreal, Canada (whose library contains, from 1896, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's book Lord Chaitanya, His Life and Precepts). Suvasa became an influential figure in this small country of 150,000 people; he served as the Chief Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture and even got into politics. Now he is managing the temple together with his good wife. Both are disciples of HH Guru Prasada Maharaja. St. Lucia, including them, has only four initiated devotees.