Midnight Preparations and a Last-Minute Altar Crisis

From the street, July 30, 1972, looked like a landmark. From inside Bethaniënstraat 39 it looked like a scramble. A small team of young devotees, with little experience of anything on this scale, was trying to prepare an installation in the summer heat while press crews gathered at the door.

Then Astaratha, a German devotee, arrived and took stock. The milk, yogurt and ghee for bathing the Deities had not been obtained, and the pit for the fire sacrifice was not ready. Reporters already filled the narrow alley outside. He went to the telephone and made an emergency call to Prabhupada’s apartment overlooking Vondelpark.

By the time Prabhupada came, smoke from the yajna hung in the air and the offerings were still missing. Then came the worst discovery: the wooden throne was too small for the three Deities. The curtains were drawn, a saw was found, and the devotees cut the altar to size out of sight while the ceremony went on.

Prabhupada’s displeasure was plain to see. It was a newcomer, a French bhakta who had only just arrived, who asked him why he was upset and suggested chanting Hare Krishna. Prabhupada reached into his beadbag and chanted silently. By the time the curtain opened again the tension had passed. The ceremony continued, Aksoja received sannyasa, and Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balarama and Subhadra Devi took their place in Amsterdam.