My dear Madhudvisa Prabhu,
I am feeling your separation so much right now. My mind is flooded with memories of our service to Srila Prabhupada together, not the least of which was our meeting in the last months and remembering his glorious qualities and activities.
All the circumstances surrounding your departure were auspicious. As was your desire, you lived through Ratha-yatra in Los Angeles and sang before all three carts. Then, just two days later, while your caregiver chanted Hare Krishna by your side, you departed—with a smile on your face. You were a great pioneer and champion of Ratha-yatra. During last year’s procession we discussed the importance of following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions in regard to Ratha-yatras, and in our last meeting in your room at New Dvaraka, six weeks ago, you told me how Srila Prabhupada sent you from Juhu to Australia and you introduced Ratha-yatra there:
“I thought, ‘Australia sounds like a pretty good place.’ So I went down there, and it was great. Immediately I decided that we had to have a Ratha-yatra. One leader said, ‘No, no. We’ve got all these books. We have to sell these books. We have a whole warehouse of books here.’ But I said, ‘Yes, we will sell all those books—don’t worry. We’ll hold a Ratha-yatra and we’ll make devotees and all these devotees will sell all the books we can get.’
“Then I said, ‘We are going to make the whole country into one temple. The whole country is going to cooperate, and we’re going to have this Ratha-yatra, and then we are going to sell books.’
“So we started organizing a Ratha-yatra. ‘You need money for Ratha-yatra,’ I told the devotees, ‘a lot of money. We’ll collect a lot of money and use it for building the Ratha-yatra cart and for publicity and for everything like that.’ So we started collecting money like crazy.
“We built a big, beautiful Ratha-yatra cart, and meanwhile we were saving money, too, because we were looking for a temple. They didn’t have any temples down there—just two small centers—and we needed a big temple, a big establishment. ‘But we can’t afford two,’ I realized. ‘We can get one, so let’s get one.’ So I started collecting money for a temple. I didn’t care if it was in Sydney or Melbourne; they were equally good. But we decided to have the Ratha-yatra in Melbourne. So, we collected money and built a Ratha cart. Melbourne was, and still is, an intellectual kind of place, with several universities. And there is a lot of interest in Krishna consciousness—they embrace Krishna consciousness.
“Anyway, Prabhupada decided for me to go to Australia—that it would be a good idea—so I went, and that was great.”
When you left Juhu, it was a loss for us. But I can see, in retrospect, that you went on to do even bigger and better things in Australia.
Now I am deeply lamenting your loss, but I know that you have gone to do greater service. And I hope that just as we met in New Dvaraka, after your serving in Australia and my serving in Bombay, and were reunited in service to Srila Prabhupada and the holy name, we will be reunited again, in service to Srila Prabhupada and sankirtana, and that again, as brothers, we will relish devotional service under Srila Prabhupada’s guidance and shelter.
In separation,
Your eternal servant,
Giriraj Swami
Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord. If one does so, avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, one very easily obtained the most valuable love of Godhead.
Chaitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila 4.71 
By chanting Krishna’s names, one will be transferred to the supreme planet, Krishnaloka, without a doubt.
Bhagavad-gita 8.7,
Srila Prabhupada 
Once upon a time there lived a group of monks in an old monastery in the forest, near to a large city.
In years gone by the religious order had been so esteemed, with positions in the royal court, so much so that no person would ever pass by one of their temples or ashrams without visiting to pay most humble obeisances, to offer foodstuffs and donations and to prostate themselves in front of the deities.
But for a very long time now the religious order had declined, many people who lived in the Cities, towns and villages were so caught up with pleasing themselves that they had forgotten all about the monks. The only devotees left were these scattered old monks, ageing and diseased. And the monks in each monastery were considered by each other to be the last of their order. 
Madhuvisa prabhu has given a beautiful class in Los Angeles just a few days ago. This is the video recording by Mayapur.tv 
Vinode Vani devi dasi first met the devotees in 1970 while working for college credit at the University of California, San Francisco Hospital. She used to walk past the Hare Krishna Temple every day on her way to work and gave donations to the Harinama party in downtown San Francisco, receiving Back to Godhead magazines and sticks of incense in exchange. Being interested in Buddhism at the time, she did not visit the Temple, as she had heard that the devotees were into feasting - she was into fasting! In her hometown of Houston, TX, Vinode Vani prabhu again received BTGs, this time from Dharma-Bhavana das who was going door-to-door. Encountering BTGs once again sparked a fire in her heart, leading her to read every BTG in the University of Houston library. Within days, she went to the Houston Temple, where she met Ananga Manjari devi dasi and many other devotees. After visiting the temple for a week, she shaved up her husband and they moved into the Temple in December 1971. By early summer 1972, they were initiated. 
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In Kali-yuga, if this Vedic maha-mantra is chanted regularly and heard regularly by the devotional process of shravanam kirtanam, it will purify all societies, and thus humanity will be happy both materially and spiritually.
Srimad Bhagavatam 4.18.14,
Srila Prabhupada. 
