This is a record penned with gratitude by a shy, introverted Englishman who achieved the good fortune of passing from the darkness of incomprehension into the light of truth, understanding and awareness.

           Finding the status quo of his homeland intolerable he left home at the age of twenty-three to work as an expatriate in Africa. That privileged life in Zambia doomed his life thereafter to be one of perpetual search and wandering.

           A spiritual awakening in Southeast Asia profoundly changed his consciousness. As a result, he became a seeker of truth rather than sensual gratification. Gradually he came to think of himself as a child of destiny with an unknown guide directing his wanderings. Endeavoring to renounce the unnecessary things of the material world, he experienced happiness undreamt of. Finally, as the coup de grace, he realized his mentor was the Supreme Lord, who resides within his heart and the heart of all living entities, and is the source of all that exists.

           In 1979 destiny led him to a temple of Lord Krishna in Guyana, South America. One year later, he was initiated in New York by his guru, His Holiness Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, and given the spiritual name Maitreya Dasa.

           Before his initiation, Maitreya engaged in multifarious occupations, from privileged expatriate worker to trainee bank manager to street sweeper. Since then, he has served Lord Krishna as a priest, cook, treasurer, book distributor, farmer, landscaper, and gardener. A vision of beauty motivates many aspects of his life.