In the Dust of Orissa

Chapter Four

The Arrival of the First Devotees

Çréla Gour Govinda Swami: Deva-dharma däsa was the first Western devotee to arrive. He was sent to me by the local GBC for Orissa and Bengal, Gargamuni Swami. We were living in the cottage that I collected the money for.

Deva-dharma däsa: I was sent to Bhubaneswar because there were no devotees living there. I imagined Çréla Prabhupäda had told Gargamuni Swami to send some devotees there but he was not very co-operative with the Bhubaneswar project. He would never send any books there. Anyhow, he sent me down to Bhubaneswar just after the Ratha-yäträ festival we had in Calcutta; it must have been around August 1976. It was a very nice experience going to Bhubaneswar, and especially as Gour Govinda Mahäräja was very pleased to have some company at last.

After arriving in Bhubaneswar and finding a rickshawwallah who pretended he knew where the äçrama was, Devadharma journeyed out into the country. He was immediately