For the first time in almost three years, Srila Prabhupada returned to Calcutta, India in August, 1970 with a party of ten devotees. He was met by Acyutananda and Jayapataka. He soon asked for 20 more to join him.

In Bombay, at Chowpatti Beach, thousands waited to hear the last speaker Srila Prabhupada speak about his accomplishments in the west. He first told his disciples ?Begin chanting.? With mrdangas and karatalas and the devotee?s ecstatic chanting, thousands rose to their feet to dance with the devotees, some crying in uncontrolled happiness. Srila Prabhupada and his disciples became the talk of Bombay.

Srila Prabhupada then introduced an eleven day pandal (huge marque) programme which included initiations and a marriage. This was very successful with hundreds of thousands attending. It was the biggest public event in Bombay.

One evening in March 1971, Srila Prabhupada sat alone at midnight. He was anxious as he had sent two of his disciples, Tamala Krsna and Bali-Mardana to purchase land in Mayapur. He had been trying for years and they had been gone six days, and had not yet returned.

The land they were trying for was a plot on Bhaktisiddhanta Road less than a mile from the birth site of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The Sek brothers, Muslim farmers, were asking a high price and Srila Prabhupada was concerned that his boys might have been robbed.

:Suddenly Prabhupada heard footsteps on the stairs, then a soft knock. Tamala Krsna entered and protrated himself before Srila Prabhupada who asked ?So, what is your news??

Tamala Krsna looked up triumphantly. ?The land is yours.?

Prabhupada leaned back with a sigh. ?All right,? he said. ?Now you can take rest.?

Srila Prabhupada in May of 1971 travelled to Sydney, Moscow, Nairobi then on to London where he was meeting with disciples experienced in design and architecture to draft plans for his Mayapur project. He wanted a modern guesthouse, residential buildings,for five hundred devotees, a large prasadam hall with seating for several thousand, a kitchen complex and a gosala to shelter cows. In time ISKCON would acquire adjoining land and develop parks with trees and gardens with fountains. The main building, the temple, would be no less than three hundred feet high.

Srila Prabhupada after travelling from city to city with his forty foreign disciples, headed for Vrndavana a small village that was Krsna?s childhood home five thousand years ago. A Mr S. and his wife wanted to donate land at Ramana-reti (literally ?charming sands?) to a group who would build a Radha-Krsna temple there. The land was located on a busy road leading to Agra and the Taj Mahal, and was adjacent to the parikrama path where millions of pilgrims passed annually, visiting temples and holy places. Prabhupada appointed disciples to remain in Vrndavana to draw up a deed.

From 1965 to 1970 Prabhupada had concentrated mainly on establishing Krsna consciousness in America, but now he wanted to construct big temples in Vrndavana, Mayapur and Bombay ?the gateway to India?.

In Bombay in November 1971 a Mr N. offered to sell ISKCON five acres in Juhu, practically on the shore of the Arabian Sea. The locale was ideal not only for hotels but for a Krsna conscious centre because it bordered on Juhu Road, the main traffic artery back to Bombay. The nearby beach was clean and attracted many people. Although apprehensive about moving to the mosquito-ridden land teeming with rats, the devotees regarded the move as a formidable spiritual challenge.

For the Mayapur cornerstone-laying ceremony of the world headquarter of Krsna consciousness, Prabhupada wanted to hold a pandal festival with all his students. It was February and Gaura-purnima. Lord Caitanya?s appearance day was chosen for the event. Prabhupada stayed in a humble twelve feet square, dirt floor, thatched Bengali hut provided by the devotees. They apologised for the humble accommodation and Prabhupada replied. ?Even if you build me the biggest Palace,? he said, ?still I would prefer to live here?.

After the cornerstone-laying ceremony and five day festival, Prabhupada left Mayapur for Vrndavana where he planned to hold another ground-breaking ceremony. As in Mayapur, Prabhupada descended into the ceremonial pit where placed the Deity of Ananta. He had explained, ?the serpent bed on which Lord Visnu rests. He will hold the Temple on his head.?

Later that night the land was attacked by gundas sent by an angry elderly widow known in the area as a sadhu. The brick foundation of the cornerstone was dismantled because she had not been given the land. The police were called and the attackers were warned that if they returned they would be arrested. And that was the end of that.

Sources: Let There be a Temple : Part 1, Srila Ptabhupada-lilamrta ,Volume 5, Your Ever Well-wisher by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami.