Honouring Gopal
In both Scarborough and Toronto, I began my talk as an homage (eulogy) to someone by the name of Gopal. Gopal’s surname was Agarwal, and he just passed away, at the age of eighty-nine, in Pennsylvania.
The significance of Gopal’s life is his contribution to the start of the world-wide movement of Krishna Consciousness. It was Gopal’s father who was the connection for our guru’s entry into America way back in September of 1965.
Gopal had settled in Butler, Pennsylvania along with his American wife, Sally. Actually it was Sally who signed visa papers on behalf of Swami Prabhupada, as she was an American citizen, and Gopal, her husband, didn’t yet have the necessary status. http://btg.krishna.com/when-swami-met-sally
Gopal and Sally looked after Prabhupada, who stayed in the YMCA, in Butler, for one month. Culturally, they helped him through the integration that seventy-year-old Prabhupada needed at the time. Prabhupada took walks in the middle-class town to and from the Agarwal’s home to the Y. Had he not been accommodated and assisted at that time, there might not have been a Hare Krishna movement to take hold in America where it all started.https://iskconnews.org/gopal-agarwal-prabhupadas-initial-sponsor-in-the-west-passes-away,6643
In the evening, monk Karuna and I took a walk in honour of the Agarwals, who are credited in aiding in the humble steps of ISKCON’s birth. We walked Yonge Street.
May the Source be with you!
7 km
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