Sunday Times Interview

First South African swami

At midday Goswami Maharaj and I meet with a reporter and a photographer from the national newspaper, the Sunday Times. Premasindhu Prabhu arranged the interview, which will be published in next week's edition.

Goswami Maharaj plays up the fact that I am "the first South African to become a swami" and I answer questions about where I was born, how I first became interested in Krishna consciousness, and why I took sannyas, or became a swami.

After the interview, we go to "Teacher" and Krishna Kali Devi Dasi's home for lunch. Krishna Kali Devi Dasi is the devotee who gave me a copy of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad's Bhagavad Gita As It Is, which brought about such a revolution in my impious life and started me on the path of Krishna consciousness.

In the evening, at a program at the Shiva mandir in Quarry Road, I meet Ford and his wife, Govinda Nandini Devi Dasi, the parents of my godsister, Saraswati Devi Dasi, the second South African to take initiation from Srila Sridhar Maharaj.