(Sent from Sarcelles, France, on July 25, 2026)
Where I Went and What I Did
During the twenty-ninth week of 2026, I lived at ISKCON Paris in Sarcelles, and I did harinama for three hours each day, mostly in the city of Paris but at the Sarcelles market and in Sarcelles park on Friday.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam as well as several letters of his. I share a quote from Vrindavana Dasa Thakura’s Sri Caitanya-bhagavata. I also share quotes from Prabhupada Nectar, Volumes 3 and 4 by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on classes by Aksayananda, Dayal Nitai, and Jiva Prana Prabhus, with comments by Mandakini Devi Dasi and Aristanasana Prabhu.
Thanks to Aksayananda Prabhu for the free medical consultation. Thanks to Jiva Prana Prabhu for the chicory, which was part of the prescribed treatment for the swelling in my legs, thought to be a problem with lymph drainage.
Itinerary
June 16–August 13: Paris harinama
‒ August 13–16: Trutnov (Czech Woodstock) harinamas and kirtanas
‒ August 17: Prague harinama
August 18–21: Paris harinama
August 22–27: Balarama Festival at New Mayapur
August 29–September 21: India
September 23: Return to New York
September 26: Philadelphia Ratha-yatra
Chanting Hare Krishna in Paris
Yasomatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Les Halles in Paris and teaches the mantra to a passerby (https://youtube.com/shorts/EP1ugWJMz8k?feature=share):
The devotees decided to have a picnic, a kirtana, and some Krishna conscious games in a park about a twenty minute walk from the temple. We met a couple of Asian people there who participated in our kirtan as you can see in this video.
Yasomatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with ISKCON Paris devotees in a nearby park (https://youtube.com/shorts/vp8AhsmLjtY?feature=share):
Yasomatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Stalingrad in Paris (https://youtube.com/shorts/ZlXhDNIbI_s?feature=share):
While chanting there, he taught the mantra to a passerby (https://youtu.be/-TdvFr3FKog):
Jiva Prana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Stalingrad in Paris (https://youtube.com/shorts/hGFVdj35hh0):
Sudevi Manjari Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Stalingrad (https://youtube.com/shorts/SjvfMwi-z1M?feature=share):
Yasomatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Anvers in Paris (https://youtube.com/shorts/MtRSK2LmOvE?feature=share):
Maev chants Hare Krishna, and passersby dance at Anvers in Paris (https://youtube.com/shorts/gAw0zjxCgAA?feature=share):
She also danced with a kid there (https://youtube.com/shorts/9A6_jNgFNR4?feature=share):
Anvers turned out to be a great venue in terms of the response of passersby. In addition to people dancing with us, people gave us almost thirty euros during our three hours of chanting, whereas the following two days, in the same amount of time, no one gave us a cent.
Patit Pavana Prabhu chants Nrsimha Kirtan at Anvers in Paris, and his tiny son plays karatalas (https://youtube.com/shorts/6-QYEOp8n74?feature=share):
Gus chants Hare Krishna at a street fair at Cluny / La Sorbonne in Paris (https://youtube.com/shorts/IMh3GpPCTAo?feature=share):
The police stopped us after two and a half hours. The vendors did not seem disturbed by our kirtan, but a lady playing some organization role thought we were reducing their business so she called the national police. I told them we would pack up, but that I did not really think we were a disturbance to the business of the vendors. Then we did a walking harinama to Saint-Michel for a little over half an hour.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.19.31:
“After thus killing the most formidable demon Hiranyaksa, the Supreme Lord Hari, the origin of the boar species, returned to His own abode, where there is always an uninterrupted festival.”
[I have always loved this quote. Here we learn that the boar incarnation has an abode with an uninterrupted festival. Just imagine what kind of festival that Krishna, the source of all the incarnations, has in His abode.]
From a letter to Rayarama on May 17, 1969:
“My advice to you under the circumstances is that at least for one hour you must all go to have Sankirtana outside on the streets or in the park. That is your life and soul, first business… Temple worship is not so important. If need be, the whole temple can be locked, but the outdoor kirtana cannot be stopped.”
From a letter to Bhavatarini on May 4, 1974:
“The only concern of the devotees is that so many rascals are suffering in this concocted civilization of illusory sense enjoyment — how can they be saved? So our Krishna Consciousness movement is made for that saving of rascals.”
From a letter on Sivananda on April 19, 1968
“Nobody can say the Bible is meant for the same class of men as the Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita is the ABCs of spiritual knowledge. Beyond that is the Srimad-Bhagavatam. How great Srimad-Bhagavatam is, nobody can imagine. And beyond that is Caitanya-caritamrta. But beginning from the Bible or Koran on up, the principle remains the same. Just like beginning from the pocket dictionary up to the international unabridged dictionary.”
From a letter to Bhakta Dasa on August 3, 1973:
“Those who are preaching in Christ’s name are nonsense because they do not follow even the simplest of his orders, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ I have met with so many Christians, and when I ask them why Christians are killing, they cannot answer. The first principle of spiritual life is nonviolence. They will say killing in this matter means actually murder. But accepting even this argument, it means that the society in which Christ was preaching was composed of murderers. So what kind of men they were? And practically we see it is a fact, because they murdered Lord Jesus Christ. At any rate, there is nothing in the world that can compare with our movement, our chanting and dancing. Chant and dance, and when you get tired, take prasadam. That is our actual solid preaching all over the world.”
From a letter to Rupanuga of December 7, 1975:
“In your country the dog is protected and the cow is killed. The dog is passing stool and urine in the street, and he is considered the best friend, and the cow is all-pure, stool, urine, and milk, but they are taken to the slaughterhouse and killed for food. What kind of civilization is this? Therefore you have to preach against all this nonsense.”
Vrindavan Dasa Thakura:
From Sri Caitanya-Bhagavata, Adi-khanda 1.87:
“Let me offer my respectful obeisances at the feet of the Vaishnavas so that I may not commit any offenses to them.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Prabhupada Nectar, Volume 3, Number 46:
“When Srutakirti was serving as Prabhupada’s personal servant, he often felt embarrassed by the tremendous demonstration of love which the devotees offered to Prabhupada, whereas Srutakirti himself felt a lack of love. Especially in arrival scenes at the airport, dozens of devotees would be dancing around, chanting, crying, and falling down on the ground. It was an amazing sight of love for Srila Prabhupada. On one of these occasions, while accompanying Srila Prabhupada, Srutakirti began to feel very sorry for himself. He thought that all these devotees were dancing and chanting, and here he was, walking beside Srila Prabhupada, but he had no feeling, no real love. This began to disturb his mind.
One day during the massage, Srutakirti expressed it to Prabhupada.“Srila Prabhupada, all these devotees have such love for you. It makes me feel so bad. I have none of this love. When I am with you, I can see everyone dancing and chanting and crying, but I have so much association and yet I don’t feel that this is there.” He was hoping that Prabhupada would say something or do something, but Prabhupada said nothing. He went on massaging and finished. Then Prabhupada went and bathed. After putting on his tilaka and chanting his gayatri, Prabhupada called Srutakirti into the room.
“So, do you like serving me?” said Prabhupada. “Oh, yes, Prabhupada,” said Srutakirti. “I like serving you very much.”
“Then,” said Prabhupada, “that is love. Everyone can do so many things . . . singing, dancing, jumping up and down, but you are actually doing something. Isn’t this love?”
“I guess so, Srila Prabhupada.”
“So you just do your service,” said Prabhupada. “That is all that is necessary. That is what love means—to do service.”
From Prabhupada Nectar, Volume 4, Number 16:
“When I entered the room there were several things going on at the same time. Several GBC men were there, and there was a whole discussion going on that was way over the realm of responsibility I had. I came into the room and offered my obeisances, and he [Srila Prabhupada] turned to me and said he had received a certain amount of money. He wanted me to take the money, bring it to the bank, and send it in a wire transfer to a bank account of his in Los Angeles. It was an ordinary thing, but what really astounded me was how he stopped everything else, told me what he wanted me to do, and explained it to me very clearly. It was the clearest explanation of any activity I have ever received. He told me exactly how he wanted it to be done and made sure I understood what he wanted. He called his servant over to make sure it was properly entered into the books and in the course of making sure of the proper entry in the books he found an error. With great precision and deliberation, not hurried, yet in a short amount of time, he accomplished a whole lot, sent me off, and then resumed his conversation, all with the same kind of precision he exhibited in drinking water.”
Aksayananda Prabhu:
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.24.58 in Paris on July 16, 2026:
Brahma is a pure devotee who is full of compassion, and the secondary creation he manifests out of compassion.
Krishna doesn’t force us, but He creates situations in which we will be inspired to make the right choice.
Krishna does not so much punish as He corrects.
Krishna manifests differently to satisfy His different devotees who want to see him in different ways.
Dayal Nitai Prabhu:
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.24.59 in Paris on July 17, 2026:
Today’s verse is evidence that Krishna does not need to come to kill the demons: “Although the demons who take possession of the government are dressed like men of government, they do not know the duty of the government. Consequently, by the arrangement of God, such demons, who possess great military strength, fight with one another, and thus the great burden of demons on the surface of the earth is reduced. The demons increase their military power by the will of the Supreme, so that their numbers will be diminished and the devotees will have a chance to advance in Krishna consciousness.”
By being absorbed in devotional service, we transcend the modes of material nature, and thus conflicts between devotees will cease.
Living to work hard for a little bit of sense gratification is not the goal of life.
When our minds are peaceful, we can easily engage in devotional service, but if we are agitated by so many desires it will be hard to focus on the holy name.
Comment (by Mandakini Devi Dasi): There is a four-year-old girl in our community who apologized for getting angry saying, “I am sorry, Mother. I was overcome by the gunas.”
Jiva Prana Prabhu:
Not only did Lord Caitanya dance in ecstasy while hearing the sankirtana of the holy name, even hearing the recitation of the Srimad-Bhagavatam would sometimes move him to dance in ecstasy.
Giriraj Swami cites Bhaktivinoda Thakura as saying that love of Krishna is reflected in this world as friendship with devotees.
Comments by Mandakini Devi Dasi:
One of my godsisters would pray to Srila Prabhupada that Srila Prabhupada come to her as she was reading Srimad-Bhagavatam.
One swami would daily recite Srimad-Bhagavatam in Vrindavan. At one point, he didn’t hear his own voice, but he heard Srila Prabhupada’s voice.
Mula Prakrti Devi Dasi told Prabhupada when he asked how she distributed his books. “I explain to people that this is transcendental knowledge that you cannot get in other books and it will make you happy.” Prabhupada replied, “I will explain how to distribute.” He quoted Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.43: “This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the Age of Kali shall get light from this Purana.” Then he said, “Just see. The Bhagavatam sells itself.”
Comment by Aristanasana Prabhu: A chaste disciple brings knowledge he gets from other sources back to his guru for confirmation.
-----
yasya deve para bhaktir
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of the Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23)
