Graham Pay was born in 1956 in South London.

He grew up in New Addington, a suburb of Croydon and left school to become a gardener in around 1973…

As Graham reached his late teens & early 20s, he began to develop a curiosity and interest in the spiritual side of life.

This curiosity led Graham to eventually relocate to Radlett, Hertfordshire, in the mid-80s, to facilitate his association with Krishna devotees at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Letchmore Heath.

Whilst tending local devotees’ gardens he soon became an enthusiastic attendee at the daily morning programmes at the temple and would, almost without fail, be found at mangal arati, the 04.30am, pre-sunrise gathering, to welcome Sri Sri Radha and Krishna into the new day.

During this time, Graham could also invariably be found making himself useful in practical ways at Bhaktivedanta Manor, under the watchful eye and guidance of Akandadhi das prabhu, the then president of the Manor Community.

In 1986, the then guru and overall spiritual leader of Bhaktivedanta Manor, Bhagavan das Maharaja, decided to resign from his role as guru, which threw the Community into an unstable period.

At about the same time, the Manor Community continued to come under intense pressure & scrutiny from a pressure group of disgruntled villagers in Letchmore Heath, some of whom believed that the Manor had exceeded it’s role as a theological college and was turning into a not insignificant place of pilgrimage for the local N.London Hindu diaspora.

Due to this, beginning in 1981, ISKCON was engaged in a legal campaign to save Bhaktivedanta Manor from closure as a public temple, as the popularity of the site led to increased traffic through Aldenham.

Due to all this, Graham made the decision to return home to his parents, who by this time had moved to Bognor Regis to enjoy their retirement.

Thus Graham spent the best part of the next 30 years of his life living with his parents, doing his gardening services and practicing his spiritual life from the family home.

Eventually, with both of his parents having passed away by about 2015, Graham made the decision to return to the The Manor Community again and resume his visits to the early morning and other devotional gatherings.

He successfully made the transition around 2016 and with the help of long-standing and kind friends, Shyamasundara prabhu and Lalita Sakhi Devi, & lived out his last 8 years or so at their family house, visiting the temple to associate with devotees as far as his, by then, gradually declining health would allow.

Graham was a very loyal follower of the ISKCON movement and supportive of all it’s efforts and in later years when, due to his greatly decreased physical capacity to personally attend the temple, would faithfully attend all the morning & evening services on-line and would often call me up to see if I had heard the morning class and could recall the lessons thereof.

Whilst able, Graham greatly relished association with fellow devotees at the Manor and his gentle and humble ways endeared him to all those whom he honoured prasada & engaged in conversation with.

He will undoubtedly be greatly missed by all his friends at the Manor whom I’m sure all join me in heartily wishing Graham a successful continuation of his journey towards pure devotional service at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda

Thank you Graham, you well be missed by all of us.