There was heavy rain and everything was wet, but the coconut-tree roof had caught fire. He ran to the scene to find Nrsimhadeva untouched, but the shed burned to ashes. Immediately he phonedme, “ Please come and take your Deity. He ’ s burning everything. He ’ s made it clear He wants to go NOW! ” Enthusiastically I traveled to South India, hired a truck, and half-filled-it with sand. I arrived at the sthapati ’ s studio thinking this final stage would be relatively simple. I had foolishly forgotten that Lord. Nrsimhadeva is a very heavy personality: He weighed one ton! After two or three hours we managed to lift the Deity safely from the shed onto the truck. To travel across the border safely, we also needed police permission, along with signed papers from the Central Sales TaxDepartment, the Archeological Director, and the Art Emporium Directorate in Tamil Nadu. All the officers demanded to see the Deity before signing the necessary papers. Once they took darshan of Lord Nrsimhadeva, they all became very obliging and efficient. We had all the necessary, papers in hand within twenty-four hours — a miracle given the usual quagmire of bureaucracy found in government offices in India. The trip back to Mayapur was also amazingly trouble-free and peaceful. Our protector was certainly present with us. Usually the sthapati comes on the day of the installation ceremony, goes into the Deity room, and carves the eyes of the Deity. This is called netra-nimilanam (opening the eyes). It was an exceptional case that our Nrsimhadeva ’ s sthapati had already carved the eyes. He
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