Paris and Luxembourg
Where I Went and What I Did
The twenty-seventh week of 2025, I lived at ISKCON Paris in Sarcelles, eighteen minutes by train north of Paris itself. The sankirtana devotees were finishing their summer book distribution marathon on July 5, and I would join them for the last few days and chant Hare Krishna for three hours each afternoon, usually from 3 to 6 p.m., except Thursday when we chanted from 5 to 8 p.m. with a group of devotees who do harinama after work. Yashomatinandana Prabhu came out every day. Premamoya Narottama Prabhu, a Bangladeshi student who teaches mrdanga, came out frequently. On Sunday the sankirtana devotees did a home program instead of going out, and I attended a two-hour park kirtan program in Luxembourg with Radhadesh devotees, invited by Yadurani Devi Dasi.
Monday was frustrating as I was tired from my seven-hour journey from Radhadesh, and only Yashomatinandana Prabhu joined me from the temple. The police stopped us twice and two vendors made us relocate. We still chanted for two and a half hours somehow or other. Tuesday was much better.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam and from his Bhagavatam lectures. I share notes on classes by Aksayananda, Rasa Parayana, Dayal Nitai, and Yashomatinandana Prabhus.
Thanks to Yadurani Devi Dasi for the opportunity to participate in the Luxembourg park kirtan and for assistance with my stay there. Thanks to Sanjeev of Luxembourg for the Ekadasi lunch and the place to rest. Thanks to Shruti for the Ekadasi dinner. Thanks to Gopinath Prabhu of Radhadesh for letting me stay in the ashram there and for the ride there from Luxembourg and the ride to the train station the next morning.
Itinerary
June 19–August 19: Paris
– August 5–9: Balarama Festival, New Mayapur
August 20: London harinama
August 21–22: Liverpool harinamas
August 23: Liverpool Ratha-yatra
August 24: Manchester harinama
August 25: London harinama and flight to New York
Chanting Hare Krishna in Paris
Premamoya Narottama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles (https://youtu.be/BcLpsmZGq-c):
While Premamoya Narottama Prabhu was chanting Hare Krishna, Ekanath Prabhu swung a passerby (https://youtu.be/SF5DduUme98):
Premamoya Narottama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles, and several passersby play shakers and dance (https://youtu.be/f1vkKUAWS04):
Patita Pavana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles, and a kid claps (https://youtu.be/U94nBDhqNns):
Rohininandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles, and a girl plays shakers (https://youtube.com/shorts/MyMObOah0hw?feature=share):
Priyarani Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles, and a passerby plays shakers (https://youtu.be/bEj3drwd-pg):
Yashomatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, and passersby play instruments (https://youtube.com/shorts/Nh0PVww21_c):
Vrajarenu Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Canal Saint-Martin (https://youtu.be/rv7ZlzxG34k):
Premamoya Narottama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Satya Yoga in Paris (https://youtu.be/HHd19sLnnaU):
Revatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Satya Yoga in Paris, and people dance (https://youtu.be/zRAno-WEPM4):
Later more people danced (https://youtu.be/WpCGaDpw6Do):
Premamoya Narottama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint Michel, and devotees dance (https://youtu.be/k0ecGbhNpEo):
Premamoya Narottama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel, and passersby dance with devotees (https://youtu.be/KKXBN2UxbxM):
Rasa Parayana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna near La Sarbonne, and passersby and devotees dance (https://youtube.com/shorts/uxXGjDifl4g?feature=share):
Subhadra chants Hare Krishna at Kinnekswiss Park in Luxembourg with Radhadesh devotees and locals (https://youtu.be/19ZqLandUo4):
Krishnabhava chants Hare Krishna at Kinnekswiss Park in Luxembourg with Radhadesh devotees and locals (https://youtu.be/yb6SD5itdDM):
Jahnava chants Hare Krishna at Kinnekswiss Park in Luxembourg with Radhadesh devotees and locals (https://youtu.be/FGNCQgl0byo):
Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Hotel de Ville in Paris (https://youtu.be/Ka81l9y-dow):
At one point in his kirtan, a young woman happily played shakers (https://youtube.com/shorts/At5wrvUWu1I?feature=share):
On Tuesday, we did a walking harinama beginning in a new place for me, Luxembourg Garden in Paris. The walking harinama idea was inspired by the fact the police stopped us in two different locations the previous day. When we are walking and chanting, people do not complain, and thus the police do not stop us.
We chanted at the entrance to Luxembourg Garden for about half an hour, and then we walked through the city, passing Saint-Michel and Notre Dame, to Les Halles. While we were chanting there a woman was very happy to take a video of us. It turned out she had a cousin who was living in our New Vrindaban temple in West Virginia.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.8.17, purport:
“The human being is so limited in his capacity that without the help of the Supreme he can hardly understand the mystery of the creation, continuance and destruction of the cosmos by the will of the Lord.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.8.18, purport:
“The most intelligent man is he who tries to find the cause of his personal existence and that of the whole cosmic creation and thus tries to find the ultimate cause. If his attempt is properly executed with penances and perseverance, it is sure to be crowned with success.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.8.19, purport:
“By dint of one’s personal endeavor one may go nearer to the Lord, but without the Lord's mercy one cannot reach the ultimate point. Such understanding of the Lord is possible only by devotional service.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.8.21, purport:
“Samadhi involves concentrating the mind upon the supreme cause of all, even if one is unaware of whether His actual nature is personal, impersonal or localized. Concentration of the mind on the Supreme is certainly a form of devotional service. To cease from personal sense endeavors and to concentrate on the supreme cause is a sign of self-surrender, and when self-surrender is present, that is a sure sign of devotional service. Each and every living entity needs to engage in devotional service to the Lord if he wishes to understand the ultimate cause of his existence.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.8.24, purport:
“Nature’s panoramic beauty, which strikes one with wonder, may be taken as a perverted reflection of the transcendental body of the Lord. One who is therefore attracted by the beauty of the Lord is no longer attracted by the beauty of material nature, although he does not minimize its beauty. In the Bhagavad-gīta (2.59) it is explained that one who is attracted by param, the Supreme, is no longer attracted by anything inferior.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.15, purport:
“A disciple should always meditate on the order of the spiritual master, and that is perfectional meditation.”
From lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.43 in Calcutta on March 23, 1976:
“Without serving Vaiṣṇava, nobody can be delivered, because he is so merciful, he can demand to Krishna, ‘Please, on my sake please excuse him. I’ll take him with me.’ So Krishna grants him, ‘All right, you take them.’”
From a lecture on Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 1.2.5 in Sydney, Australia, on April 3, 1972:
“God is also an individual person as you are individual person, I am individual person, but the difference between God and you and me is this, that you know your business, I know my business, but God knows everyone’s business. That is the difference.”
From a lecture on Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 6.1.1–4, Melbourne, Australia on May 20, 1975:
“In the spiritual world service is always voluntary, some devotees desire to serve Kṛṣṇa as flower; they become flower voluntary, and can change from flower to unlimited forms in the spiritual world including human form if the devotee desires, that is spiritual life, it is always voluntary with no restrictions. If a devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as cow, he serves Kṛṣṇa as cow, as calf, as flower, as plant, as water, as ground, field, or as father, as mother, as friend, as beloved, anything. It is inconceivable, yet a fact.”
Aksayananda Prabhu:
The stories in the Srimad-Bhagavatam are meant to develop a natural attraction for the Supreme Lord.
Once who cannot control his senses cannot comment on Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam contains all the other scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Vedanta-sutra.
Although Hariscandra was an exceptional person, he still fell into maya.
We lie when we have a desire that is not authorized.
If we cannot control our senses, we change the sastra. There is a lower planet for those who change the sastra.
It is the tendency in Kali-yuga to act for sense gratification.
Krishna advises in Bhagavad-gita to control the senses.
Laws do not stop the problems arising from interactions between people, but sense control can solve such problems.
If we can control our senses, we can think beyond ourselves.
In Bhagavad-gita Krishna gives rules, but Srimad-Bhagavatam gives stories that can inspire one to control his senses.
Nistha is the stage of bhakti where events cannot disturb our devotion.
By reading Srimad-Bhagavatam, bhava gradually develops.
Ultimately, as we develop spiritually, what we see reminds us of stories from the Bhagavatam.
On Vyasa-puja day, we should consider what we have done throughout the year to please our guru.
Rasa Parayana Prabhu:
Although Ramananda Raya was not a brahmana, Lord Caitanya engaged him in revealing the topmost limit of love of God.
How to associate with devotees is an important lesson in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita.
In Bhagavad-gita, we learn Krishna’s message. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, we see how Krishna and His devotees behave in different situations. Sri Caitanya-caritamrita we learn how to associate with devotees.
If we do not learn how to live in the association of devotees, we will not be able to live in Goloka Vrindavana.
People will not remember your achievements but how you behaved with them.
It is said that each of the followers of Lord Caitanya has the ability to deliver the universe so how nicely we should treat them!
If we cannot figure out how to have a positive relationship with a devotee, at least we should figure out how to not have a negative relationship with the devotee.
Gopal Krishna Goswami created 17 temples in Delhi alone and widely expanded Krishna consciousness in India. He was asked about the reasons for his success. He said he had only two: (1) a strong morning program and (2) avoiding Vaishnava aparadha.
Dayal Nitai Prabhu:
Gandhari is an example of a wife attaining perfection by following her husband.
It is not by escaping from responsibility we can advance in spiritual life.
Krishna showed by His own example that the duty of the brahmacari is to serve the spiritual master.
Janananda Goswami advised us not do sell incense or paintings in Lyon to supplement our income from book distribution. He said that was not good for brahmacaris. You fall down from the brahmana platform to come down to the vaisya platform, and it is not good for your spiritual life, as many examples in our movement in the past attest to.
Comments by me:
Saubhari Muni, although originally renouncing the world as a yogi, showed he was aware of varnasrama. He realized that if he could not be a brahmacari, he should get married, and he understood that the final duty of the grhastha is to renounce that ashram and move on to the vanaprastha ashram.
The practicality of grhasthas maintaining themselves by book distribution was mentioned. I have two stories about that:
One summer I met a devotee in Ireland, who decided when he got married that he should get a job to maintain himself. He got a job and found that he had no time to visit the temple, associate with devotees, or read Prabhupada’s books. He just had enough time to chant his rounds. He decided that was not such a nice life, so he decided to try to maintain his family by book distribution, his former service as a brahmacari. Then he found he had time to go to the temple, associate with devotees, and read Prabhupada’s books as well as to chant his rounds, and he had just enough money to live. He considered that to be an improvement in his life. During Karttika, I met that devotee in Vrindavan, with his wife and kid. I was surprised that by book distribution that he made enough money to bring his whole family to Vrindavan. He said that his temple president needed someone to do shopping for the deities, so he sent him to do that service.
Hare Krishna Dasa from Italy lived near a city of 5,000 people. He had a map of the city on his wall, and for years every day he would do book distribution in a certain region of the city from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to maintain himself as a grhastha. When he had visited every region in the city, we would start over again. Many people would greet him on the street because they knew him from his visits.
Yasomatinandana Prabhu:
The Caitanya tree is a growing organism that we are part of.
People are attracted by the simplicity of the Hare Krishna mantra.
Although so many mantras are there, Srila Prabhupada gave us the Pancatattva mantra and the Hare Krishna mantra.
Is my desire to go back to Krishna so strong that I am willing to purify my mind so I can actually go there?
There will always be distractions, but we have to keep focusing our minds on Krishna.
By performing devotional service, we become situated in the mode of goodness, and we can be steady and relish our practice.
Srila Prabhupada has assured us that if we maintain our practice to the end of life, we can go back to Godhead.
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.7.2 in Paris on July 8, 2025:
The lists of kings in the Bhagavatam is valuable because Krishna explains that the knowledge of yoga is received by the saintly kings.
Comments by me:
Krishna makes the point that initially one may not have a real desire to attain Him but that by devotional practice that desire will come: “My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.”
To attain Krishna’s abode, we do not have to actually be poor, but we do have to be free from desires for material gain.
-----
There is a popular sticker that you see all over Brussels, like at this Flixbus stop.
It is in French, and because I am studying French, it was attractive to me: “J’existe”. It is philosophical but reveals a lack of complete knowledge. It means “I exist.” That is Krishna’s first point in the Gita:
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire
“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.20)
I have never come into being, or in other words, “I exist” eternally. The rest of the Gita tells how to attain the best venue for our eternal existence. This venue is described briefly in the Gita, in verses such as this:
avyakto ’ksara ity uktas
yam prapya na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
“That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns—that is My supreme abode.” (Bhagavad-gita 8.21)
In Brahma-samhita it is described more elaborately: “I worship that transcendental seat, known as Svetadvipa where as loving consorts the Laksmis in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the amorous service of the Supreme Lord Krishna as their only lover; where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree; where the soil is the purpose gem, all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk; where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.” (Brahma-samhita 5.56)
How the abode is attained is described in the Gita in verses like this:
bhaktya mam abhijanati
yavan yaa casmi tattvatah
tato mam tattvato jñatva
visate tad-anantaram
“One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.55)
We wish everybody all success in their devotional service.
