Mayapur Cornerstone Laying Ceremony by Śrīla Prabhupāda
Prabhupāda was sorry to learn through the Indian high commissioner that the prime minister could not attend the cornerstone-laying ceremony in Māyāpur. Yet he took it as Kṛṣṇa’s desire. He said he would invite a prominent Vaiṣṇava to officiate, or he might do it himself. “On the whole,” he wrote, “it was Lord Caitanya’s desire that a Vaiṣṇava shall lay down the cornerstone instead of asking some material man or woman to perform the holy work.”
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During this visit to Calcutta, Prabhupāda had also spoken of his plans for Māyāpur. Nara-Nārāyaṇa had built a scale model of the building ISKCON would construct on the newly acquired property, and Prabhupāda had shown it to all his guests and had asked them to help. Seeing Prabhupāda’s absorption in this project, Girirāja had volunteered to help in any way required. “It seems the two things you want most,” Girirāja had said, “are for the books to be distributed and to build a temple at Māyāpur.”
“Yes,” Prabhupāda had said, smiling. “Yes, thank you.”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, Volume Two, Chapter 37 – “The Land Is Yours”)