It was midnight. Srila Prabhupada sat on a pillow behind his low desk, his light the only one on in the building. All the other devotees were in bed. On the desk before him rested the dictating machine and a volume of Srimad-Bhagavatam with Bengali commentary. A small framed picture of his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, sat between two small vases of roses and asters. On the floor beyond the desk was the broad mat covered with white cotton fabric, where a few hours before, devotees and guests had sat.

But now he was alone. Although usually he retired at ten, rising three or four hours later to translate, tonight he had not rested, and his Bhagavatam lay closed, his dictating machine covered.

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Still while India constantly celebrates festivals, they continue to use our ToVP design for their pandals! The design has become immensely popular in West Bengal and here is an example that was made this past week in Navadwip.

This pandal shows an almost exact replica of our temple and we are so joyful to see that the local devotees and Indians are just as enamored with it as we are.

We are now in the process of making a new ToVP video showing the newest images and renderings. This video will be ready at the end of the month for when the GBC come to Mayapur. In the video you will get to witness up-to-date information about what we have done and what we have yet to do.

Deva Gauri Hari, our talented Acoustics and Lighting Engineering, is taking many hours filming and recording the video. We have brought in a professional camera to interview devotees from Mayapur that speak a plethora of different languages, such as; German, Latin, Arabic, and Hindi. All angles of this magnificent temple will be covered in this inspiring film and we hope that you look forward to seeing it!

Lena Alikina hails from Russia as an 8-10 year experienced architect. Before coming to Mayapur she was traveling around India for two months. Then by chance a friend told her about the ToVP and that she should lend her expertise to such an auspicious project. So Lena literally showed up on our doorstep wanting to get involved and she will be staying with us until May.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM LENA!

Mahotsaha Prabhu first came to Mayapur in 1981. "It was amazing because we had the rooms along the boundary fence where we stayed and the long building where he stayed (Srila Prabhupada). We would look out the bars of the windows and it was just pasture as far as the eye could see. And there was this Muslim guy who plowed the field with his oxen every single day.

It has been 25 years since Mahotsaha's last visit.

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Ugrasrava Das first lived in the mud floor huts along the boundary wall and eventually moved into lotus building in 1973, the same year as Srila Prabhupada. He has been here since the very beginning and has had cherished darshan with His Divine Grace while Mayapur Dham grew up to become what it is today.

One sunny afternoon, while sitting outside on couch, Srila Prabhupada exclaimed "Why is it that no Bengalis are coming, because this is such a beautiful temple." Now he would be so proud to see all of the pilgrims that come every day to see Lord Caitanya's birthplace".

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The colossal range of the main entrance to the temple is nothing to rival with. A good amount of stairs will need to be scaled in order to see Their Lordships and these transcendental steps are being completed at this very moment! Here are a few images showing the progress so far. As you can see, the right wing of stairs is finished and we are now focusing on the left. Above the top of those will be a central staircase leading to the doors. To see these stairs manifest can truly give one the feeling of the majestic nature that will be the ToVP.

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Construction is truly gaining momentum and literally continues to reach the sky every day. Recently Sadbhuja Das wanted to see how the structure looked from his roof in the grhasta park, so he took his trusty camera to the top and captured this remarkable shot!

At this height we can see Srila Prabhupada's Samadhi alongside the ToVP. It may look like the Samadhi is grander but it only appears this way because it is closer to Sadbhuja’s home. The levels of the temple that are visible are the second and third museum floor; after this comes the service floor and then the dome starts.

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