My Time in the UK and Ireland

My Time in the UK and Ireland
By Krishna-kripa Das

I decided to write about what I have been doing in the UK and Ireland to inform Praghosa Prabhu, the Governing Board Commissioner (GBC) for that area, as I have been spending several months each year there. Later it occurred to me that it might be interesting for other devotees to know about some of the devotional activities going on in that region, so I decided to make it a special issue of my online journal.

First I tell about the history of my visiting the UK and Ireland, then of my experiences in 2013, both in summary and in detail, with pictures and videos (as extracted from my journal). Then I tell of new successes for the year 2013 and plans for 2014.  To jump to a particular section, click on the appropriate link below. To see everything, just scroll through the entire document.

History

Activities in the UK and Ireland in 2013 in Summary

Activities in the UK and Ireland in 2013 in Detail

New Successes in 2013

What About 2014?

History

I came in August of 2001 to Ireland to attend a ten-day seminar by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. While in Ireland, we did harinama for three hours in front of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin. During that trip to Europe I went to the Polish Woodstock festival and was amazed to see so many thousands of people engaged in hearing kirtana that I went every year since assist with it.

In 2002 I met the UK festival devotees, headed by Giridhari Prabhu, at the Polish Woodstock. On the way back to America, I spent a few days doing harinama on Oxford Street in Central London, and once I traveled with the UK festival devotees to Liverpool to do harinama during a Beatles festival.

In 2007 I went to the Ratha-yatras in Dublin and Belfast, as well as doing harinama to promote them. This was the year that Indradyumna Swami came for the Ratha-yatras and the Janmastami festival at Govindadvipa, which I also stayed for.

In 2008 in Mayapur, Kadamba Kanana Swami invited me to come to his maha harinama in Amsterdam on Queens Day, April 30. The cheapest ticket I could get out of India brought me to London the end of March, and I spent a entire month living at the Soho Street temple, and doing harinama every day and giving lectures. I spent a few days more there in September while booking a ticket to America, and I also attended the Manchester Ratha-yatra at that time.

Beginning in 2009, I began to spend more time in the UK. One reason was that as US citizens we were formerly allowed stay for 3 months in each country in Europe, but now with the European Union, we can stay only 90 days in Europe as a whole in any period of 6 months. However, we can stay in the UK for six months.

Another reason I was inspired to come to the UK was Kadamba Kanana Swami encouraged me to preach in the places in England outside of London, as the swamis mostly just stick to London, and Bhakti Rasa Prabhu invited me to visit Newcastle.

In the end of October of 2009, I returned from Europe to London to purchase a ticket to go to Mayapur. I found out that the London devotees were arranging a huge festival for the 40-year anniversary of Radha Londonisvara and that four of the original six devotees who started Hare Krishna outreach in the UK would been there. Even Radhanath Swami was coming. I thought with all those great souls coming to London, it would inauspicious to leave so I stayed the month of November 2009 at Soho Street. temple. I took thirty pages of notes on the 40 years festival. I especially liked the six-hour harinama on the doubledecker bus, and all the nice memories from the senior devotees of the early days.

In the summer of 2010, Gaura Krishna Prabhu arranged that I speak at the nama-hatta programs in the Manchester area in cities like Preston, Sheffield, Leeds, and Liverpool. Since then I have gone to these programs every year, some as many as three times. Also that year I began going to the London Ratha Yatra, the Birmingham 24-hour kirtana, and the Stonehenge Solstice festival which I have also attended every year since. I would also go to the UK Brahmacari conferences when they would have them at the Manor.

In 2011, influenced by Bhakti Rasa Prabhu and Premanjali Devi Dasi, I presented a paper in the conference Premanjali organized on “Empowerment and Religion” at the University of Leeds. My paper was on Srila Prabhupada and how he was empowered and how he empowered others.

In 2011 I also went to Belfast twice to do harinama, invited by Caitanya Candrodaya Prabhu, a friend of mine who had become the temple president there.

Niranjana Swami, my siksa guru, and perhaps my future sannyasa guru, advised me to go to fewer places, perhaps two or three, and stay longer, and try to increase the devotional service going on there. I was committed to Krishna House in Gainesville already, and as Caitanya Candrodaya Prabhu invited me to Belfast, and Janananda Goswami had invited me to Newcastle, I decided to focus on those two places too. Since then, Caitanya Candrodaya Prabhu left Belfast, and Niranjana Swami encouraged me to support Rama Raya Prabhu’s harinama program in New York City, and so now I am trying to focus on Gainesville and North Florida, New York City harinama, Newcastle and the North of England, and spend several months in each place. When I told Janananda Goswami about the extra twelve-hour harinamas and kirtanas I did in Ireland in 2012, he encouraged me to continue to go there, and so I try to do that as well.

Activities in the UK and Ireland in 2013 in Summary

On April 23, 2013, I flew to London where I did harinama and gave lectures for a few days before going with Parasurama Prabhu’s party to the Queen’s Day harinama, which was better than ever. While in the UK, I chanted with the Hare Krishna festival team in Reading and Slough, two new cities for me, and one day I attended record number of five harinamas in London. I also chanted on the ferry between England and France, enroute to Holland which I hardly ever do. When I returned from Holland in early May, I did a day of harinama in London, harinama and a nama-hatta program in Sheffield, and went back to Newcastle, my summer base, where I stayed for four days of harinama and the Sunday feast lecture. Then I went on to Northern Ireland, where I chanted with Ananta Nitai Prabhu in Belfast for one day, and with both Ananta Nitai and Bhagavata Dasi in Lisburn, Bangor, Newry, and Hillsborough, all cities within an hour of Belfast, for the next four days. Thus it was a very busy time for me. In Dublin in mid May Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I did our usual program of a twelve-hour harinama on Saturday and a twelve-hour kirtana in the temple on Monday. I also participated in the kirtana following the Sunday feast, new since my last year’s visit there, which lasted an hour and forty minutes, and the two-hour Tuesday kirtana program. Then I returned to Newcastle for their Wednesday kirtana program, Nrsimha Caturdasi harinama, and the Sunday feast. Every day in Newcastle I went on harinama, almost always for three-hours. On the final day, I went to Sunderland with Satya Medha Gouranga and his kid, Bhana, and we chanted there for almost two hours, and I share his account of that. Then I went to Sheffield for a well-attended nama-hatta program that is getting new attendees and a two-hour birthday kirtana program in Preston. Then I went to London to take my sister to Govinda’s Restaurant during her brief stopover from New York to South Africa.

Because I was in London to see my sister, I learned of the Bath Ratha-yatra on June 1 and had the opportunity to go to that and the wild London Saturday night harinama that evening. Then on to Leeds for an afternoon program, with harinama before and after, the one before having five people. Then three days in Newcastle and back to London for the UK Brahmacari Conference, a Camden harinama, another London Saturday night harinama, the London Ratha-yatra, and a few days of harinama, with Vishnujana, Gaura Karuna, and Syama-rasa Prabhus, old friends from the Polish Woodstock, who are traveling all over the world doing harinama, along with Harinamananda Prabhu. Then those harinama devotees and I joined Janananda Goswami in his visit to Brighton in mid June, where we did harinamas and a stage show at People’s Day, along with Mahavishnu Swami. After two days in Brighton, Janananda Goswami and the world harinama sankirtana party, along with Mahavishnu Swami, came to Croydon for their third Ratha-yatra. Then I returned to Newcastle, desiring to be there for three days of Janananda Goswami’s visit, before I returned to the London area to go with Parasurama Prabhu to the Stonehenge Solstice festival, with its seven hours of kirtana, for the fourth time. After the Stonehenge event was the Birmingham Twenty-Four Hour Kirtan, which I also attended for the fourth time. Then back to Newcastle, my base in the summer, to spend the last week of the month. Janananda Goswami canceled some of his engagements to rest up and to catch up on his work, and we were blessed that he decided to stay in Newcastle. Even though resting up, one day he took us to three towns for harinama! 

I spent the first half of July at my base in Newcastle. The first week we chanted in Newcastle mostly, except to go to Sunderland, which Janananda Goswami calls Syamasunderland, and which is one of the largest cities nearby and which I like to go to once a week. On the weekend I went to York for a day. The second week we also chanted in Chester-le-Street and Durham. Next I went south at the middle of the month to Manchester, Stockport, Hazel Grove, and Sheffield, enroute to London, ultimately to catch a flight to Lithuania for the summer festival. I would go on harinama everyday, either alone or with friends.  After the harinama and evening program in Sheffield, I went to London to do harinamas for a couple days, and go to with Parasurama Prabhu to the Plymouth Ratha-yatra on Saturday, July 20.

After spending a month in Europe going to the Baltic Summer Festival, traveling with some Baltic harinama brahmacaris, going to the Polish Woodstock, traveling with some German brahmacaris, and going to Trutnov (the Czech Woodstock), I returned to the UK.

Toward the end of August, I did three days of harinama in the Newcastle area, and a weekend trip of harinamas and outreach programs in York on Saturday and Leeds on Sunday. Then four more days of harinama in the Newcastle area, including Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja Day. Then off to do harinama and an outreach program in Liverpool and more harinama Manchester, thus ending the month, and my stay in the UK for the summer. Then I took an exhausting but inexpensive train and overnight ship from Manchester to Dublin for the Ratha-yatra on September 1. I also did harinama in Dublin the day after the Ratha-yatra. Then I flew to Orlando to spend most of September in Florida and part of the winter.

Activities in the UK and Ireland in 2013 in Detail

   

Harinamas in Great Britain

Although Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara Temple, ISKCON Soho Street, already did more chanting on the street than most other temples, I found to my great surprise and delight that during the winter, they had increased the program. Now there is harinama between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in addition to the usual afternoon harinama from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Besides this, Bhaktin Erzsebet, who has incredible enthusiasm for harinama and book distribution, often chants with her friends on the streets in the evenings. One time I went with Erzsebet and her friends, and some people videoed us and put it on YouTube. The title they gave for the video was “The Best Job in the World.” It reminded me of how Lord Caitanya describes the congregational chanting as “the prime benediction for humanity at large.” Certainly sharing the prime benediction for humanity at large is the best job in the world!

London is great because you can easily do five or six hours of harinama each day in London just by participating in these existing programs. And all that without mentioning the super ecstatic Saturday night harinama!

In addition to the harinamas, London is a great place for speaking opportunities as well. Thursday I got to go on three harinamas and give two lectures. On Friday, I got to go on five harinamas and give a lecture about Lord Caitanya at the Matchless Gifts in King’s Cross. The kirtana at that program was very lively with one devotee playing a bass clarinet and a regular attender playing the saxophone. As I am not much of a musician, usually I do not so much appreciate the contributions of the additional instrumentalists, but in this case they seemed to add a lot to the kirtana and made the music sound more professional and more alive. On Saturday with the team who arranges Hare Krishna Festivals in different parts of the UK and advertises them, I went on two harinamas, one in Reading and one in Slough.

Then I joined the famous Saturday night harinama in downtown London where lots of people enjoy interacting with the Hare Krishnas. Let me show you some pictures of the people dancing with the devotees. See how happy they are:

On the boat to France enroute to Amsterdam for Queen’s Day, I took my harmonium out our van in case there were an opportunity to play it. During the journey, I went out on the no-smoking deck with my harmonium, and I was talking with my friends when a small Indian-looking girl asked if I could play her some music. I was overjoyed that Krishna had created an opportunity for me, and I chanted the Hare Krishna mantra five times, in the usual call and response fashion with my friends. The girl and her brothers and sisters, all older than her, smiled and clapped along. Her brother asked if I had met His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I explained that I met the Hare Krishnas in 1979 but Prabhupada left this world in 1977, so I had not. The young man explained how he had read Prabhupada’s Life Comes from Life and that he gained the conviction the theory of evolution is incorrect. The family was from The Hague in Holland and was originally from Surinam, the home of many Indian immigrants, including their forefathers. I told the brother about our book Forbidden Archeology which shows how much evidence contradicts the theory of human evolution and gave them my card so I could tell them of our programs in The Hague.

London

In London one young French lady came to the temple one evening, and Erzsebet from Hungary, who is enthusiasm personified in outreach, sold her a book which she read that very night. She returned to the temple the next day and came to the lunch program lecture which I gave. Later I asked the devotee lady who talked to her during the lunch if the class had been beneficial for her. She said the French lady said she really liked the idea that we can have one of five relationships eternally with Krishna. The devotee lady asked her which one she liked, and she said she would like to be the friend or lover of Krishna eternally. I had spoken on the verse where Krishna states that he will reciprocate with us according to how we surrender to him. In his purport Srila Prabhupada writes, “One devotee may want Krishna as his supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Krishna rewards all the devotees, equally according to their different intensities of love for Him.” (Bg. 4.11, purport) I will keep this verse in mind as a good one to give introductory classes on that might attract one to Krishna. The French lady lives in Paris and shared contact information with devotee who spoke to her at lunch, so hopefully her interest will develop, and she will visit our temple there.

Sheffield

I chanted in Sheffield alone before the Wednesday nama-hatta meeting. Some people appreciated but one lady harassed me so much to give her a pound fifty for the bus, that I finally did so just to get her to go away.

It was nice to see a couple new people had become regulars at our Sheffield program since last year.

Leeds Farmers Market Harinama

My bus from Sheffield to Newcastle had a forty-minute rest in Leeds, and as we pulled into the coach station there, I noticed it was right next to the Leeds Farmers Market. When the bus stopped I learned of the break, and the bus driver advised me to go to the farmers market to get a bite to eat. I decided to go, not to shop, but to sing.

As soon as I sat down to saing, someone said, “Haribol!” And someone very soon gave a donation.

Newcastle Area Harinamas

I chanted in Newcastle, and different devotees would come out with me at different times. I would put out a hat to collect donations when we stayed in one place, and I would offer invitations and books to those who gave something, no matter how small. Because not everyone would take a book, I got enough in donations to pay for the books that were distributed. It was nice to always see books going out

The weather was wild. Some days were in the 40s F (5 to 10 C), and with winds from the north at 20 mph (32 kph).

In Sunderland we had four devotees, three singing and one distributing books. In addition, I was able to distribute three books myself by asking people who put money in the hat if they wanted one. We chanted about an hour and forty minutes. I like Sunderland because there are lots of people and always a few favorable ones. Kadamba Kanana Prabhu from Hungary had not been on harinama for ten years, and he was very happy he came out. One young lady who chanted with us got a call from a friend in London who asked if she was singing in Sunderland because someone had taken a video of her singing and put it on Facebook. Her friends from her hometown of Sunderland did not know much about her relationship with Hare Krishna, at least until now.

In Newcastle on Sunday, Bhakti Rasa and his wife, Kirtida Prabhu, came out, and we happened to meet Ekacakranatha Prabhu on the way.

We chanted three hours all together. People danced to the music, like these four guys below.

Harinamas in North Ireland

When my friend, Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu, was temple president of Belfast, I got in the habit of going there and doing harinama. Devotees had occasionally talked about us chanting in different places around Belfast, but it did not happen until this year.

Monday Ananta Nitai Prabhu, who traveled by bus from Dublin, and I who traveled by plane from Newcastle, arrived at the Belfast temple within five minutes of each other. We were greeted by Bhagavata Dasi, our harinama partner from Govindadvipa, who moved back to Belfast and promised to take us out on harinama in her car the next four days. We were also greeted by all kinds of maha-prasadam, the opulence of a small temple. That day just Ananta Nitai and I went out to Belfast city center to chant for three hours. While traveling there by bus, the sun was shining, but as soon as I got off the bus, it started to rain. We found a sheltered spot to chant, and were greatly relieved when the sun shone again. But that was not for long. Soon it rained again. But again we were relieved when the sun again shone. During that harinama, the sun came out four times and it rained five times! As I walked back to take the bus home, chanting on the way, it was raining, but on the bus itself, the sun came out! That was the craziest weather I had experienced recently, but we were able to keep the chanting going the whole time, and collect donations and give out books and invitations as well.

On Tuesday, Bhagavata took us to Lisburn, about 15 minutes from the temple. We chanted on a main street and several groups of people stopped to watch at different times. At one point, we chanted under the sign of former birthday party shop underneath its sign “Pure Party.”

The congregational chanting is glorified by Lord Caitanya “cleansing the mirror of the mind,” and being “the nectar for which we are always anxious.” It is described by Narottama Das Thakura as imported from the spiritual world. For these reason, I thought “pure party” was a great description of harinama.

We found some teenage kids hanging out, and we sang in their midst for a while. I would have never done it myself, but the other devotees were better at dealing with kids than me, so I went along with it. At one point, the kids decided to harass us. Some of the more rowdy ones placed some nearby road construction barricades to surround our party, and they started throwing empty plastic bottles at us. We just kept chanting, and one of them decided to remove the barricades and throw the bottles in the trash so the other kids could not through them at us any more. Later someone asked us about our philosophy and one girl, who took pleasure in singing the whole mantra with us, gave us each some candy when she left. On the whole, the kids became more favorable as time marched on.

Since we had stopped chanting before we finished my quota of three hours, Ananta Nitai and I chanted in the parking lot of a store while Bhagavata did some shopping for the temple. We chanted for half an hour, and no authorities asked us to move, and some favorable people came by.

Wednesday we chanted in Bangor, and a passerby gave 10 British pounds for a Bhagavad-gita and a Sri Isopanisad. We chanted next to a butcher shop, and employees came out of the shop and looked at us from time to time but said nothing. After we chanted two and a half hours, a policeman came and explained that he had no problem with our singing, but some local vendors were complaining, and he told us of a couple other places where we could sing and would not get into difficulty. He was the most polite policeman who had ever asked us to move, and Ananta Nitai Prabhu gave him a small book which he accepted.

Thursday we chanted in Newry on a day where rain often threatened but was never so severe we had to stop. At several times groups of teenagers would sit behind us and move with the music.

On Friday we chanted in Hillsborough, a town of 3,400 people, where there was that day the Garden Show Ireland, an open house at the gardens of the Queen’s Hillsborough Castle.

John Doherty, an open-minded man, with both Catholic and Protestant connections, was attracted by our party and its chanting, appreciating its religious connection, and he took pictures of us, which he later send to me by email.

Often I give my business card to photographers who take pictures of us and ask them to send me the photos. They actually send me the photos 20% of the time at the very most, but in North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland people sent me the pictures two out of three or four times I asked for them.

A man behind the counter at tourist office, said to me, “Hare Krishna is from North India, isn’t it?"” I explained that the chanting we do in the streets, which we were doing outside his office for the last hour, started in Bengal. He inquired further, “And what is the name of the town in Bengal?” And I replied, “Mayapur.” And he said with a smile of recognition, “Oh yes, Mayapur!” Wow! I couldn’t believe it! In this tiny town in this remote land someone had heard of Mayapur, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Apparently the man spent some time in Kolkata and had eaten at our Govinda's Restaurant there. It is a small world!

The man also knew of Inis Rath island and their Sunday feast, and the lady in the office lived in Dunmurry, the Belfast suburb where our temple is, and she knew of our Sunday program there.

After Hillsborough, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I boarded a bus for Dublin to continue our harinama adventures there.

Our Third Twelve-Hour Harinama in Dublin

On Saturday, May 18, we chanted Hare Krishna on the streets of Dublin from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. In the beginning it was just the organizers, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and myself, and we did a walking harinama around the city for the first two or three hours. Then others joined us, and we chanted on the sidewalk by the intersection of Middle Abbey Street and O’Connell Street, less than half a block from the temple. The weather was good for Ireland, not too cold, windy, or rainy.

The brightest side of this twelve-hour harinama was the participation of Premarnava Prabhu, which dramatically increased since last year from five to nine hours. At one point, he chanted for four and a half hours straight! He is playing harmonium in the picture below accompanied by Ananta Nitai Prabhu on the drum.

Some onlookers enjoyed interacting with the devotees in different ways.

There are always unusual things that happen on harinama.

One lady, who regularly comes to the temple, helped by playing the karatalas, while carrying her pet dog in a knapsack on her back the whole time.

Two guys with horse heads who passed by us four times, dancing every time. Somehow I never got my camera out in time to photograph them.

An orange tiger danced with us, clapping his hands as well, and one brahmacari suggested we have a tiger with us as a regular feature to attract attention to the chanting!

Speaking of tigers, Tyger Lillie, who is from Gainesville but studying in Dublin for Summer A, recognized me from Krishna Lunch and Krishna House. I told her about our Sunday feast program and three Govinda's restaurants in Dublin and gave her a maha-prasadam cookie from Radha-Madhava in Belfast, and she was very happy about that. I hope she can take advantage of our opportunities for connecting with Krishna in Dublin.

Because of the cold and wind, because I had taken small meals for breakfast and lunch, and because I was tired from standing up for so many hours, during the last hour of the twelve-hour harinama I found myself looking at the clock every five minutes. I realized I had do to something about this ridiculous situation. I decided to control my mind with my intelligence, and just focus on two things, chanting Hare Krishna and hearing Hare Krishna. Then the time sped by.

Except for the twelve-hour kirtan day, we did harinama every day in Dublin. Again, as had happened during our twelve-hour harinama, others, sometimes wearing costumes, would briefly join the harinama party in a jolly mood!

Photo (c) 2013 David Gray, another friendly soul in Ireland, who kindly emailed his wonderful photograph to me at my request.

Twelve-Hour Kirtan in the Dublin Temple

Monday, two days after our twelve-hour harinama, we had a twelve-hour kirtan at the temple, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The most striking thing for me was the interest of people who were newly introduced to Krishna consciousness. One Iranian man, who had been coming to the temple programs for at most a week, having received a book by Golukendra Prabhu on the streets, amazed me by participating for over ten hours in our kirtana event. A girl from Brazil, who had only been coming for two weeks, spent five hours in the kirtana, blissfully listening to the transcendental sound vibration. A couple young ladies from the yoga scene, spend several hours in the kirtana. Premarnava told me they had come to a twelve-hour kirtan the Dublin devotees did on Christmas, and just a week before this once in May, they had asked him if there was going to be another one, and so they learned of it and came.

One devotee youth danced with child of an Indian lady during the transcendental music. Both of them, and the child’s mother as well, were present for several hours of the kirtana.

One girl from Slovakia, who spent a lot of time in the twelve-hour kirtana, came out on harinama for the first time the next day and distributed invitations. On the harinama she talked to someone who appeared to really like the chanting, and the girl told how she had danced with us on Saturday, during our twelve-hour harinama.

We took turns leading the chanting during the day.

Nanda Kumar Prabhu and his wife sing sweet kirtan.

Manu Prabhu played the accordion at the end, getting lots of people dancing.

I was pleased to see the great interest in the twelve-hour kirtana event, and the Dublin devotees, also inspired by the participation, spoke of planning another one for the next Ekadasi.

Nrsimha Caturdasi Harinama in Newcastle

Despite temperatures in the forties (below 10 C), with 29 mph (47 kph) winds from the northeast and intermittent rain, a party of seven devotees chanted in downtown Newcastle upon Tyne, for three hours to celebrate Nrsimha Caturdasi. Although daily public congregational chanting was demonstrated in the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, often we do not make it part of our celebration of our festivals, although I personally think it adds a lot. Once thing it does is engage the public in the celebration of the holy day, even unknowingly, to their great spiritual credit. Also the chanting seems to have a more powerful effect on the holy days. Thus I was very happy that leading devotees like Bhakta Rasa and his wife, Kirtida, were supportive of the idea of celebrating Lord Nrsimha’s appearance with three hours of harinama.

Kirtida dd, in the pink sari, led a fired up kirtana, dancing as she played the harmonium. The two young women with her must have danced with us for half an hour, continuing even after it started to rain. They appeared to be so happy dancing with the Hare Krishnas, like it was the most fun they had in a long time. Originally those two girls and two more friends were sitting on a bench and watching us. Then two of them gave donations, and I gave them books and invitations, which they looked at. Then after some time, they came to join the dancing.

Despite the cruel climate, Bhanu, the child of Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu, who took the photos, was peaceful in his stroller (buggy) the whole time except later when he moved his legs with the music so much one shoe fell off.

On the next Sunday feast, we talked about and also had a puppet show about Lord Nrsimha. After the whole feast program, Diya and her friends, were so fired up they had an extra kirtan in the gift shop:

Sunderland Harinama

Satya Medha Gouranga Prabhu writes of our Sunderland harinama, and in his account I include in square brackets additional details of my own, “There was a very sweet harinama in Sunderland (or ‘Shyama-sunderland’ as His Holiness Janananda Gosvami Maharaja calls this place!)

“There were lots of people on the street. An elderly gentleman came to give a donation [as we were walking to our harinama site], and then Krishna-kripa Prabhu approached him to give a book. He said with a smile: ‘For many, many years I have seen the Hare Krishna people on the street. It’s really nice to see you all again.’

“Later on a lady stopped by and mentioned about George Harrison. It’s really great to see how so many people appreciate the harinama.

“After a while a group of [four] teenagers [who had walked past previously] came and stood nearby. They were listening to harinama. Then they started swinging gently with the beautiful tune of maha-mantra and gradually started dancing. They kept on dancing and smiling. It looked so natural for them. Krishna-kripa Prabhu took out few leaflets of maha-mantra from his bag and gave them to the teenagers [pointing out to them the words to the song].

“Now each of them was holding the maha-mantra in her hand, and they started reading word for word and singing to it. Practically each of them was singing as they were reading out the maha-mantra.

“It was a wonderful scene—suddenly so many voices singing maha-mantra, the people on the street were amazed to see this.

“After the harinama Krishna-kripa Prabhu was preaching to the group of young people
and invited them to come to temple programs. 

“As they were leaving they looked so bright, happy and blissful.”

One of the group had taken a video of her friends singing and dancing with us, and asked her to send me a link to the video, but as is mostly the case, she did not. The young people joined in the kirtana for fifteen minutes, and because they had come just as we were going to finish, we ended up staying out an extra fifteen minutes just because of them!

Traveling with the Scottish Brahmacaris

Raghunatha Bhatta and Caitanya Vallabha Prabhu, in addition to distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books in Scotland and The North of England, also help organize and maintain the nama-hatta programs in the Manchester area. The end of this month, I joined them as a lecturer and kirtana leader for their programs in Sheffield and Preston. It was nice to spend a couple of days with a brahmacari party so focused on their spiritual program and their outreach. Three weeks before, I had done the Sheffield program and it was austere to do the public chanting alone. Thus I was so happy to be with three other enthusiastic brahmacaris. The harinama makes more visible impact the more devotees you have. As you can see in this video of our Sheffield harinama, when you have a lively group, people are more inclined to join in:

Later at the program in Sheffield, I was happy to see lots of guests, new and old, and the prasadam consisted of a whole dinner, not just a snack.

In Preston we participated in a special birthday program. Caitanya Vallabha explained:

“Vidyagati Devi Dasi invited all her friends and relatives to come for a two-hour kirtana at her home followed by prasadam for her birthday. We find it is difficult to get people to come to our nama-hatta programs but easy to get them to come to birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Last year one devotee rented a hall for a celebration in honor of his child’s first birthday, and we did kirtana, a drama, and prasadam. It was very successful. And so more and more we are taking advantage of these kinds of events to spread awareness of Krishna consciousness to those who would otherwise might never come to a Hare Krishna program.”

My Sister Visits London

Karen, my sister, who works as a counselor and teaches mindfulness in Albany, New York, had a ten-hour layover in London, flying from New York to South Africa. So I went to London to take her to Govinda’s Restaurant on Soho Street. She has been vegetarian for over forty years, seven years longer than me. I also gave her some maha-prasadam from Radha-Londonisvara for her to share with her daughter Fern and Fern’s boyfriend, Oliver, in South Africa. She got the large thali at Govinda’s and ate practically everything. Coincidentally at Govinda’s, we met London temple president, Jai Nitai Prabhu, also from America, and had a very nice visit with him. As my sister wanted to visit a park to rejuvenate between flights, we went to Regents Park, where Srila Prabhupada liked to take his morning walk and which some London devotees told us he said was like Vaikuntha, the spiritual world.

Seeing the beauty of the gardens, the waterfall, and the birds, you could get a clue why he might have said that.

Later on one web site, I read that Prabhupada disciple, Svati devi dasi recalled:

“One morning some of Srila Prabhupada’s students were walking with him in London’s Regents Park. All kinds of flowers grew there, and I was remembering that each day we offered lovely flowers like these to the Krishna Deity back at the temple.

“Before long I asked Srila Prabhupada, ‘When we offer flowers to Krishna, do their spirit souls go back to the spiritual world?’

“Srila Prabhupada remained silent awhile and then answered, ‘Yes. But factually they are already in the kingdom of God.’ He stopped, waved his cane over the cranes, ducks, people, and flowers in the park, and said, ‘They are all in the kingdom of God.’

“Starting to see from his point of view, I said, ‘Yes, Srila Prabhupada, but they are not aware that they are in the kingdom of God.’

“He replied, ‘That is the duty of a spiritual master to make them aware.’” [Copied from web site: http://backtogodhead.in/some-personal-recollections-by-his-disciples/]

One of Karen’s favorite desserts is cheese cake and one of mine is srikhand, both of which were mango flavored at Govinda’s that day, so after our walking in the park, we got one of each and shared it.

And off Karen went back to the airport, and I did harinama with a friend to King Cross, to do the evening lecture at Matchless Gifts there. Then after the program, a group of four of us did harinama back to the temple, so although spending a few hours with my sister in the afternoon, I was still able to participate in four harinamas, though one quite briefly, on that last day of May.

Bath Ratha-yatra

Parasurama Prabhu likes to do Ratha-yatras all over England, and when I offered to speak at his Friday program in Kings Cross when I came to London to meet my sister, he invited me to the Bath Ratha-yatra the next day. Because I like to dance for Lord Jagannatha at as many Ratha-yatras as possible I accepted his invitation.

The weather was sunny and warm. We spent at least half an hour of the two-hour parade (or carnival as they say in the UK) at one square in the city so lots people got exposure to the event. Lots of people watched, many took photos,

a few danced, like this boy and his mom below,

and some even chanted with us. Some, like the couple below, joined the procession to the park where we chanted for another half hour and had prasadam.

Kids seeing our kirtana party began to dance.

The Bath Hindu Community members helped with the prasadam. Parasurama Prabhu was very liberal and let me lead at least a quarter of the time.

Yuka, a new devotee from a Japanese background who we knew from Newcastle, now works in Bristol, half an hour from Bath, and it was awesome to see her love for chanting and dancing in the kirtana.

I took nine video clips of the Bath Ratha-yatra and the picnic in the park, and placed them in the following YouTube playlist:

London Saturday Night Harinamas

Parasurama Prabhu was so enthusiastic to go to the Saturday night harinama that as prasadam was being served out after the Bath Ratha-yatra, he was packing up the cart to return to the Manor, normally a two-hour drive away, so he could drop off the cart and then go to Central London, a forty-five minute drive, for the harinama.

The next week I was also in London and brahmacaris from the conference at the Manor joined the many lively singers, dancers, and distributors of flyers and books who weekly go on that Saturday harinama in London.

At one point we danced in front of a theater showing Singin’ in the Rain. Fortunately for us, although we were in London, there was no rain to sing in that night!

Devotees took pleasure encouraging others to dance in our harinama procession.

Many people did.

Among them a group of roller skaters, who danced in a circle,

and also in a line.

Seeing the dancing brahmacaris,

they imitated their moves.

Newcastle Harinamas

I had couple austere days chanting by myself in Newcastle that week between my London trips, but I always put out a collection basket and give out a few books, so in that sense it was an increase. The first day back I got 21 British pounds ($32.50) even before I set out my basket. Robert, a former attender at the temple, donated two bananas and a person who was tired of hearing me sing, donated a cup of water as a farewell gift. That was an unusual day.

Newcastle Eight-Hour Kirtana

Seeing an enthusiasm for kirtana among the youth I suggested we have a twelve-hour kirtana, like we did the previous year. They recalled that the first few hours of that kirtana, practically no one came, so we decided to do an eight-hour kirtana instead. We chose Ekadasi as it is a good day to increase our hearing and chanting about Krishna.

It still got off to a slow start. I sang first to get things going. Then Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu chanted, but there were still not many people.

Later Satya Medha’s little boy, Bhanu, was inspired by the others to begin playing on his little drum.

Diya, who has a powerful and beautiful voice, led with a larger group of responders.

Malvika led such a fired-up kirtana that a bunch of men danced.

Ekachakranath Prabhu then led a lively kirtana, getting several ladies up dancing.

The weather was unusually good for Newcastle, sunny and not too cool, so for the last two hours we sang in the park across the street from the temple.

A group of boys, and later, a lady danced with us. I took some great pictures of the boys dancing, but they wanted me to delete the pictures from my camera while they watched, perhaps afraid that their parents or friends might see them. I did so, but was amazed by such fear among boys perhaps ten or twelve years old. The devotees enthusiastically cooked some great Ekadasi prasadam for the event as you can see below:

Camden Harinama

At noon each Saturday a van load of devotees (about seventeen) from Bhaktivedanta Manor chants in public at a different locations in the London vicinity. The party goes out even in the winter, but has about half the number of people. The day before the London Ratha-yatra, I went with them to Camden and helped out by leading kirtana and distributing Ratha-yatra invitations.

Many people danced, like this mom and daughter,

and these guys below.

Many also took pictures of our party. Devotees distributed books and prasadam sweets and packets of dried fruit. On the ride home we had puris and tea. It was a pleasant experience.

London Ratha-yatra

London Ratha-yatra is big with three large carts and lots of devotees. For London the weather was good. In other words, it did not rain and it was not too cold. Many new people were happy to encounter the devotees and see the Jagannatha carts and hear the kirtana. Many people took pictures. There were two kirtana parties before Lord Jagannatha, and of course, other kirtana parties before the other deities. In recent years, I have been thinking my goal in life is to sing and dance for Lord Jagannatha as far as Ratha-yatra is concerned, Thus after seeing Baladeva’s and Subhadra’s carts pass by, I stayed singing and dancing in front of Lord Jagannatha the rest of the time. I did not take many pictures, but if you look, you can find many on the the Internet. I was happy just chanting and dancing for Lord Jagannath, my eternal master and the Lord of the Universe. I would invite people who seemed very interested in the procession to the festival at Trafalgar Square afterward. The prasadam cooked by Parasurama Prabhu and his team was excellent as usual. The sabji with curd in it, and the srikhand were high points for me, and I had thirds on the sabji and seconds on the srikhand instead of thirds only because they ran out. The prasadam was sponsored by the Hinduja Foundation in honor of Dharam Hinduja. Paola, one young lady who came to Ratha-yatra for the first time last year, and who later came to our food distribution at Stonehenge a few days later, was happy when I reminded her of this year’s festival and was very happy to come again.

People danced along with the stage show.

The traveling harinama party did a little harinama by the carts, something that I do not recall was done before.

On the way back to Soho Street temple, we did harinama and some people enjoyed dancing with us.

After we arrived at Soho Street, Vidyapati Prabhu was in such a festive mood from the Ratha-yatra that he continued chanting in the brahmacari ashram, as devotees took some maha-prasadam from Lord Jagannatha, as you can see in the video below:

London Daily Harinamas

It was my great fortune that my friends who travel around the world doing harinama decided to stay in London between the London Ratha-yatra and the Stonehenge Solstice Festival. Another young man from the near Manor, and three young devotee ladies who are friends also decided to spend the week following Ratha-yatra in London, so we had lots of people to go chanting. We had different experience. A costumed man posed with our drum.

A couple of young ladies joined our party, dancing for some time.

One day we encountered a school group visiting London from a town two or three hours away.

The kids were fascinated with kirtana, and almost all took part enthusiastically as you can see in the video:

People seeing the harinamas often seem to be attracted to dancing in a circle, like the group in this video below:

Another day, when we chanted at Piccadilly Circus, we had three wonderful experiences. One was another group of people danced with us all at once in a circle, and they all had a great time, as you can see from this video:

Another was I saw one young woman trying to sing the mantra with an expression of great delight on her face. I came over to her and gave her a mantra card, which she was very grateful for. I asked her if she had met the Hare Krishna devotees before, and to my surprise, she said this was her first encounter with them. She continued singing during both the lead and the response with a blissful smile on her face which amazed me. She told me her name was Irena and she was from a small town in Spain but that Victor, the young man she was traveling with was from Madrid, where I had said we had a center. I hope she continues her interest in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Judging from the joy with which she chanted the mantra, as seen in her expression in the picture below, she must have done some devotional service in a past life.

One Indian lady joined the harinama party and chanted with us for quite a while at Piccadilly and then came back to the Soho temple. She asked to see the temple room, and ended up attending the last forty-five minutes of the japa class that replaces the Bhagavad-gita class on Wednesday night. Then she stayed for the evening arati. After the arati, recognizing her from the harinama, I spoke to her, and she told me the most amazing story. Recently she had been in India and doing pilgrimage to Benares, Hardwar, and Rishikesh. At Rishikesh in the Ganges she found I deity that she did not recognize, and later she learned it was a deity of Jagannatha, a form of Lord Krishna, who she had not encountered before. Although from India, she had never seen Lord Jagannatha worshiped in a temple, and after finding that deity, she developed the desire to see Him worshiped on the altar. That afternoon, immediately after she came out of a movie theater, she saw and joined our harinama party and came back to the temple, and ultimately saw Lord Jagannatha blissfully smiling on the altar. He had fulfilled her desire to see Him worshiped in a temple! She had not known there was a Hare Krishna temple in London. I invited her to next week’s Croydon Ratha-yatra, but she told me she would not be in town and that she lived in Manchester. She did not know we had a Hare Krishna temple in Manchester, so I gave her the address and told her of the web site, and the Friday and Sunday programs there. I also told her that we would be having a Ratha-yatra in Manchester later in the summer.

Norwood Program

Louise, a devotee who attends our Soho Street temple, started a program at Norwood Junction, near where she lives. When Sandipani Muni Prabhu and I exited the Norwood Junction station, a well dressed man, who looked to be in his fifties expressed surprise to see Hare Krishnas at Norwood Junction. I explained that we had just started a program there that met on Thursday evenings. He said he had a friend who had been involved with the Hare Krishnas, and that it did him a world of good. He asked if we accepted donations, and I said we did, so he gave us a five-pound note. I offered him a Bhagavad-gita I had in my pocket, but he declined it because he said he would not read it. It was positive to be greeted with such enthusiasm for Hare Krishna on my first visit to Norwood Junction, and to hear a man report of a positive experience his friend had had with the devotees.

Brighton Harinamas and People’s Day

We got to Brighton by the special mercy of Krishna. I wanted to do harinama in London as long as possible before taking the coach to Brighton. I allowed an extra ten minutes to get to the coach station, but the bus we took there got stuck in traffic, taking an extra fifteen minutes for the journey. We dashed the two blocks between the bus and coach stations, arriving about three minutes after the scheduled departure to see the bus just pulling out of the gate. We banged on the glass and waved to the driver. Janananda Goswami, who was more experienced than us and had arrived much earlier, saw us. He told the bus driver to stop and let us board which he kindly did. And thus despite our gambling, we made the bus. Thus we saw our dependence on the mercy of Krishna and His devotee in our practical life, and we resolved to allow more time to catch the coaches in the future.

Our party included seven people and thus the vehicle sent to pick up Janananda Goswami could not accommodate us. Thus we did harinama to the Brighton temple.

Janananda Goswami describes Brighton as abounding with ex-hippies and their offspring, and so the crowd was more open-minded and receptive than most.

We got good responses as we passed the cafes,

and on the sidewalks as well.

Harinamananda Prabhu swung an onlooker about.

We also did harinama from the temple to the evening program. As we passed a park, a whole family took interest in our kirtana.

They began dancing themselves.

Even swinging their kids.

Then dancing with us.

Even the grandmother swung around.

Then next day Janananda Goswami joined the harinama.

Mahavishnu Swami also did harinama, as you can see below,

even going into shops, like this costume shop, 

and this guitar shop:

Later in the day we performed on the stage at an event called People’s Day. The host was pleased with us and did a few dance steps herself. Mahavishnu Swami led a wild kirtana on the stage, and Janananda Goswami encouraged people to dance in front of the stage. In addition, Mahavishnu Swami paraphrased Srila Prabhupada’s explanation of the Hare Krishna mantra and added music to it. Here is some video of the event:

Croydon Ratha-yatra

Different impressions stuck out in my mind regarding the Croydon Ratha-yatra. I had a desire to go to it since last year when I advertised it by chanting three hours and passing out invitations the day before. I could not go because I previously committed to do a program in the Leeds the same day, but the desire was there, and Krishna fulfilled it this year. Lord Jagannatha did His usual pastime of starting the parade with sprinkles of rain but ending it with a beautiful sunny day. A city official, wearing a flower garland, gave a short speech, and impressively swept the streets for Lord Jagannatha, following in the footsteps of Maharaja Prataparuda of Lord Caitanya’s time.

Mahavishnu Swami was there, with his unlimited energy and enthusiasm for kirtana, and that made it all the more festive. Janananda Goswami was there to encourage us to dance for the Lord with arms in the air. Many devotees came from Soho St. temple for the festival. Yuka, who became interested in Hare Krishna while studying near Newcastle, but who moved to Bristol, surprised me by showing up at the Croydon Ratha-yatra, in addition to the ones in Bath and London.

Both devotee and local onlooker photographers stood on benches to get good shots.

I found some people of Indian backgrounds did not know we had Hare Krishna programs in the Croydon area, so the Ratha-yatra served the purpose of educating them about that.

One common laborer type named Ralph who was slightly intoxicated, found the kirtana to be more intoxicating, and enjoyed it very much. He participated during the end of the parade and during the kirtana in the park where the festival was held. He had friendly talks with devotees, and went on the harinama from the festival site to the van with the devotees who were returning to Soho. It was wonderful to see a regular sort of local guy come appreciate the happiness of the chanting of the holy names.

One young happy and peaceful couple I talked to was attracted to the Ratha-yatra, and they were happy to hear of the festival in the park and the local Croydon programs.

I was happy seeing that the Ratha-yatra reached out and touched people in different ways, what to speak of all the benefit people got from seeing the form of the Lord, hearing the name of the Lord, associating with the devotees of the Lord, and imbibing the food first offered to the Lord.

As usual I could not just be absorbed in the kirtana because I wanted to give out invitations to people who looked interested and to take a few pictures as well.

Vidyapati Prabhu recorded a rather lengthy video of the whole event for those of you who have time to watch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p3xJIg0CZ8&feature=share&list=UU14VMd3QqNZb10NSE2gVwGA):

Stonehenge Solstice Festival

This was my fourth and favorite visit to the Stonehenge Solstice festival. Nearly thirty thousand people come to Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, and Parasurama Prabhu serves out several thousand plates of prasadam, while devotees chant Hare Krishna from midnight on June 21 until 7:00 a.m. When there is good weather, like this year, he has Ratha-yatra at midnight for two hours.

Vidyapati Prabhu shared some video of the midnight Ratha-yatra this year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGgp5vfimrQ&feature=share&list=UU14VMd3QqNZb10NSE2gVwGA):

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Turns out this year the day leading up to the solstice was nirjala Ekadasi, a great day for staying up all night and chanting Hare Krishna, and I think a few more devotees came because of that.

Because Janananda Goswami, my spiritual authority for my summer base in Newcastle, in the North of England, was visiting Newcastle, I decided to stay there as long as possible before coming south to Bhaktivedanta Manor to travel with Parasurama Prabhu to the festival. Thus I booked a train to London which takes three hours to make the journey instead of the six and a half for the bus although it costs 28.50 GBP instead of the 8.50 GBP. Because a train in front of mine struck a person, my train was delayed by 52 minutes, and Parasurama Prabhu had to leave without me to get to the Stonehenge by midnight. Thus after spending an hour on the internet looking for cheap buses, had to spend 36.20 GBP on a train to Salisbury and 6 GBP on a bus to the Stonehenge site. I arrived at 2:30 a.m., missing the midnight Ratha-yatra, but catching most of the chanting afterward. The East Coast train company, to their great credit, gave me train vouchers with 28.50 GBP value which are good for one year, since I said I was delayed over an hour in reaching my final destination.

There are many alternative people who come to Stonehenge on the solstice day, and many people loved listening to our chanting, some in prayerful meditation, like these girls below:

The one on the right also took pleasure in spinning around in circles several times on a couple occasions.

Many people enjoyed dancing with us, and many enjoyed playing their instruments, like djembes [African drums].

The devotees were kind to let me lead the kirtana at one point, and it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the devotees and the onlookers. Several devotees made positive comments afterward, and I considered, despite the difficulty because of the delayed train, that Krishna had arranged that I come and sing. Recently I have been praying to the previous spiritual masters in our line, like Rupa Goswami and Bhaktivinoda Thakura, to chant purely, and I am sure that helped. Janananda Goswami had previously advised that I go to the Stonehenge festival, though it meant leaving his association in Newcastle, and that very morning he gave me 50 GBP, which it turned out I needed to take the train to Salisbury.

Mahavishnu Swami (playing the accordion below)

Saksi Gopala Prabhu, and Vidyapati Prabhus were very lively kirtana leaders. Devotees said that more people followed our chanting party than in other years. I was so happy to see the many people smiling, dancing, and even chanting along with us.

Some stayed for hours. Some said they chanted with us at the Stonehenge every year. Once a lady held the mike of her personal amplifier to the mouth of Mahavishnu Swami so more people could hear.

One young lady, playing the big karatalas in the above picture, danced with us as we were walking to the parking lot. She later took prasadam, and told how she had seen the devotees chanting in London. I gave her the temple invitation for London and told her of the Saturday harinama which leaves the temple at 7:45 p.m. as she liked to dance with us.

Vishnujana, Gaura Karuna, Syama Rasa, and Harinamananda Prabhu, the devotees comprising a world harinama party, shared their kirtana enthusiasm with the people, with Gaura Karuna selling a good number of books. They were a great addition to the festival.

Vidyapati Prabhu shared some video of the chanting after the Ratha-yatra, including some of me leading (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cToOs-ArgGE&feature=share&list=UU14VMd3QqNZb10NSE2gVwGA):

Other people posted videos too like this (http://youtu.be/kWRFi298Y8A):

And there was this clip by CBS with the devotees chanting in the background and me holding Mahavishnu Swami’s danda (http://youtu.be/7DQFdclc6Is):

I also had some video of Stonehenge (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xLJ2lZr4LBCdUdTM3YoVnXT):

Birmingham Twenty-Four-Hour Kirtan

Birmingham Twenty-Four-Hour Kirtan is an annual event that has been going on for fourteen years and is regularly attended by Sacinandana Swami

and Madhava Prabhu.

Different dignitaries spoke at the beginning of it, and I noted some things they said. The only Hindu chaplin for UK prisons begged us for Bhagavad-gitas for the prisons. A leader of Hindu youth said he came for thirteen times and he felt Krishna was present. He said that the Hindu population of prisons is the lowest of any group, and activities like our kirtana program are beneficial for the youth.

Sacinandana Swami:

To praise Krishna is to give attention to Krishna.

We must pray, “For so many years I have forgotten you. Now I am your sincere and serious servant.”

Once we understand that direct connection with the Krishna is the goal, we must become inquisitive to know the means to attain this goal. The holy name is that means.

What is the use of going to churches, temples, and mosques if the heart is filled with inauspicious qualities like envy, etc.

Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna consciousness is meant to purify the impure heart.

Of all the qualities of God, mercy is the most powerful.

Love of God is the highest gift because it is the most powerfully transformational on the heart.

The holy name is like the sun. We are joyful to greet the sun but when the sun is covered by clouds and mist, that is not possible. The offenses in chanting are the clouds and mist.

We have turned away from Krishna since time immemorial and thus that bad habit can attack us at any time. We must bring the mind back to the holy name, and we will find the kirtana to be the most spiritual experience.

I got a letter from a Bedouin in the desert in Arabia who wrote to say he and his camels were listening to the Birmingham 24-hour kirtana [on the Internet] and singing along.

Haridasa Thakura prays, “Be merciful and appear on my tongue in the holy name.”

Today break the habit of inattention.

Regarding habits, I tell one story. In Hamburg, in the north of Germany, some person drove his car into the harbor. Upon investigation, the reason was found to be he was habituated to following his GPS and he was encouraged by his wife to do so. Even though the GPS was sending him straight for the water, he continued following it. Germans are accustomed to obeying authorities, for better or for worse.

I request you give up the world of your own mind and to sing from the heart. You are in the association of devotees, and that will help you.

One devotee of Lord Rama heard that the Lord has appeared in Kali-yuga in Jagannatha Puri on a bluish hill, Nilacala. Eager to see the Lord, he traveled to Puri to see the Lord in the temple, but he was dejected when he saw the blackish form of Jagannatha on the altar, and Lord Rama was not to be seen. He walked some distance and took rest under a tree in disappointment. Subhadra told Lord Jagannatha, “You promise to maintain anyone who takes shelter of you, but this devotee has left your temple hungry.” Lord Jagannatha thanked Subhadra for reminding Him of his promise. In the form of a brahmana boy, He stole His own maha-prasadam and brought it to the devotee of Rama, saying that “Lord Rama has sent me to you to bring His own maha-prasadam.” The devotee was surprised because he had not see Lord Rama in the temple, and the Lord in the form of the brahmana boy advised him to look more closely. The devotee returned to the Jagannatha temple, and this time when he viewed the Deity, He saw the form of Lord Rama, greenish in color and carrying a bow.

The Goswamis taught the whole world to cry out for the Lord, “Where are you?”

-----

The kirtana was great. Some of my favorite singers were Sacinandana Swami, Madhava Prabhu, Manu Prabhu, Radha Londonisvara Prabhu, Gopibhava dd, and the Vaishnava youths, Amala, Nadiya, and Jahnavi.

The kirtana was at a new venue, and I was very happy because there was much more room to dance. Many of my friends from Newcastle danced so hard their bodies ached the day after, such as Lauris below.

I do not dance that hard any more. Some of my friends from Sheffield also danced with my Newcastle friends.

Parasurama Prabhu wanted me to get a bunch of people to dance during his singing slot, and I told my Newcastle friends, and he was pleased with their performance.

I did not know about any sleeping accommodation at the site. I saw a tapestry of Jagannatha hanging from the balcony, and decided that if I took a nap behind, I could be in the presence of the kirtana, get some sleep, and not be noticed by others. I took three naps of about 45 minutes each. I also dozed off for about ten minutes after lunch while sitting cross legged on the floor and leaning against the wall. There was a shower in the prasadam hall, but with only cold water, a minor austerity. Thus I tried to spend as much time in the kirtana as possible, and I think it was an increase since last year. The next night I slept just five hours at the Birmingham temple, and walked 50 minutes to the downtown and took a six and a half hour Megabus to Newcastle and did harinama for three hours that afternoon, without noticeable exhaustion. Kirtana gives you energy. I recall that during the bus ride home I felt a void without the constant kirtana, and that I felt the three hours I did on harinama that afternoon in Newcastle to be not so much at all because of chanting the entire previous day.

I took a little video of the Birmingham Twenty-Four Kirtan at (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xLwPb4RMQ2PjcyM-agpBr1u):

There is a more complete thirty-minute video of the event at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaHibJKpv20):

Harinamas with Janananda Goswami in the Newcastle Area

Janananda Goswami canceled his travels to catch up on his health and his correspondence, but fortunately for us, he stayed in Newcastle, going out on harinama a few days, once to three towns, Byker, Wallsend, and North Shields. These towns see only one harinama per year, so it is an unusual experience for them. In Byker people at an outside cafe looked at us, 

and a couple ladies on the street tried chanting the mantra.

In Wallsend, a couple guys danced with us.

And a couple of ladies took pictures of it.

North Shields was best because it had a crowded central location in front of a mall of shops near the train station. When we came down one street, two girls siting on a bench began clapping in time to the music as we approached them. Seeing they appreciated, we stayed there chanting, and all at once, three respectably dressed men took pictures of our party, with the clapping girls behind us. I could not take pictures as I was leading and playing the harmonium, which was a little frustrating for me. Prema Sankirtana Prabhu did well in North Shields, inducing many people to dance and selling books. I hope to go back to North Shields again, my favorite of the three places.

In Newcastle, we have a two-hour kirtana program every Wednesday. Once the devotees surprised me by serving a feast afterward with four desserts, an event that does not happen every day.

Harinama in Newcastle

One day Bhakti Rasa and Prema Sankirtana Prabhu joined me on Northumberland Street. Some passersby joined in the dancing.

One young lady really got into playing the tambourine and dancing with pleasure.

A jovial extroverted lady who has joined us previously in Newcastle also came by, playing the tambourine and dancing.

Sometimes she induces her friends or even people she does not know to participate. Once when I was singing alone, she came by, and sang and danced for a while. At one point, she encouraged some little girls sitting on the bench to take interest. They came over and their mom took pictures of them with us, gave a donation, and ended up taking a book.

Once on harinama in Newcastle a woman gave a donation. When I offered her a book, she agreed to take one, saying, “Whenever I talk to you people, I always feel more comfortable afterward.”

Another lady gave 50 pence. She told me she really liked that fact that if people do not have any money, they can eat at our restaurants in exchange for an hour of service. I offered her a book, but she felt her donation was not sufficient. I told her that she gave enough and should take a book. She took a small book, which really did cost about 50 pence, and gave a five-pound note on top of her 50 pence, thus giving over $8 for a small book.

Once Malvika surprised me by playing the karatalas while she held Prema Sankirtana Prabhu’s child, Giya, something I had never seen before.

One day was mixed on harinama. A middle-aged man gave me £1 to go toward “my next singing lesson.” A young man spit something at the back of my sweater as I was chanting back to the temple. But on the bright side, one middle-aged lady gave a donation, and when I offered her a book, she said I gave her one last week. I asked if she read it, and she said she was reading it and liked it, and her friend visited our web page. Such are the daily dualities of outreach. The guy who spit at me almost got hit by two different vehicles in the next minute or two afterward. And I noticed it was hard for me to not wish something bad would happen to him, but perhaps not that bad! Later in the day I found the sweet rice I made for the evening kirtana program came out really good, so that minimized the previous unpalatable events!

A Day in York

Just this year devotees began a weekly program in York on Saturday evening. Govardhan Dasi, a Prabhupada disciple, and her husband, come out early, and she plays the harmonium and sings for two hours, while her husband talks to people and passes out invitations. The day I went, she was willing to increase her program by chanting for three hours. I played the drum for her when she sang, and she played the drum for me. She chants in a crowded pedestrian area, so many people heard the chanting. Next to London, devotees say that York is the biggest tourist location in England, and tour groups came by, including one from Italy. Two boys from that group, perhaps ten or twelve years old, happily danced with us for fifteen minutes on two different occasions, playing tambourines as well. Govardhan Dasi, who knows some Italian spoke to them.

I told Govardhan Dasi I like to speak on four topics: Krishna consciousness as a science, bhakti as the universal religious principle, the chanting of the holy name as the primary act of devotion, and the necessity of daily spiritual practice, and I asked her to choose one. She said they were all good topics and that I should speak on all of them, and so I did. Several people liked the lecture which I uploaded to ISKCON Desire Tree:

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/03_-_ISKCON_Prabhujis/ISKCON_Prabhujis_-_K_to_R/His_Grace_Krishna_Kripa_Prabhu/Various/Krishna_Kripa_Pr_Various_-_Science_Bhakti_Nama_and_Sadhana_-_2013-07-06_York_England.mp3

Indre, who met the devotees in Newcastle, but who now lives in Scunthorpe, came with another devotee from Scunthorpe, and had a good time.

Ganesh Prabhu kindly provided transportation, prasadam, and a place to stay in York to make my journey convenient.

I liked my experience at York, chanting in another city, and being a small addition to an existing chanting party, so I decided to go to York one Saturday a month when I am in the Newcastle area.

Harinama in Chester-le-Street

Last year, Prema Sankirtana and I did a memorable harinama in Chester-le-Street, a town equidistant between Newcastle and Sunderland. One devotee, Atul, lives there and was happy to have us chant there last year, so we decided to do it again. This year a new devotee, Mark, also a resident of Chester-le-Street, joined us. Although only associating with the devotees for a few months, Mark has transcended the fear of being seen as a Hare Krishna devotee in his home town. Malvika, who is between education and employment, also joined us. As Chester-le-Street is a small town where we rarely sing, we attracted a lot of attention. Some school students had a great time singing and dancing with us and taking pictures of their friends singing and dancing with us. One slightly intoxicated man and his dog followed us the length of the town and stayed with us for a while at the end. We collected a few donations and distributed a few books, and the devotees were very positive about the experience.

Harinama in Durham

Durham is a college town where Rohit from India and Malvika from Malaysia studied for several years, finally graduating this year. The last couple of years they had Krishna programs there each Friday. Now after completing their university education they decided to move into the Newcastle temple, and on the day we went to Durham to collect their belongings, we decided to do harinama there. Mark, our new devotee friend from Chester-le-Street who was also off work that day joined us. We chanted on a bridge in the middle of the town for a while.

Then we walked from one end of the town to the other, at one point engaging a construction crew in participating with us.

Later we chanted in a central square in front of the HSBC bank.

Harinama on the Beach in Sunderland

On the way to Sunderland, I encountered a sign that was humorous for me as an American. Apparently there is a town called Washington that is part of the city of Sunderland. The sign upon entering the town says, “Welcome to the Original WASHINGTON.” According to Wikipedia, the ancestors of George Washington, who Washington, D.C., is named after, lived in this town in England which bears the family name:

Aside from the beaches in Florida and Poland, I rarely do harinama on the beaches, but the weather was so excellent, a rarity in The North of England, that Lauris and Malvika suggested that we chant at the Roker Beach in Sunderland. Diya decided to join us, even though she is a little shy to chant in her hometown, and we were very happy she came.

We started by chanting to the end of one pier.

Some kids who were fishing complained that our singing was scaring the fish away. A few people were happy for the entertainment, but many did not know what to make of us. Two kids were intrigued and took video of us for about half the length of the pier. Diya sang very well for someone who had slept 45 minutes the night before and had just got off a several-hour Megabus ride from Scotland.

After the pier, we chanted on the sidewalk by the beach.

It was low tide, and we went out on the beach so far the sand was very moist. One young lady came running up to us when Malvika was singing, and began dancing.

She must have danced at least fifteen minutes. She did not know about Hare Krishna, but she was the kind of person who did not miss an opportunity to dance. Her friends left her at one point, disappearing out of sight, but she did not care and went on dancing with us anyway.

Lauris also got into a mood of performance.

We gave the dancing lady an invitation to our Wednesday and Sunday programs in Newcastle and hope she will continue her interest in dancing with the Hare Krishnas. You can see her enthusiastic dancing in this video (http://youtu.be/LqfGk76Lmnc).

Thanks to Diya who took the above video of us chanting on Roker Beach.

Later, as we were getting in the car to leave for the day, some preteenage boys earnestly asked us to play one more song before going thus showing their appreciation.

Manchester Monthly Harinama

I try to participate in the monthly Manchester harinama at least once a year.

Now they do it on the second Sunday after the kirtana and the lecture, and before the feast, for those who do not mind eating a little later. It is just short of two hours, otherwise the parking fees become ridiculous. They are planning to get a van to reduce the parking costs so they can stay out longer. There are lots of people, especially in outdoor cafes, and many people hear the chanting, and some people are attracted. Thanks to Agi Holland for the picture of me at the event.

A Day in Hazel Grove

I planned to chant with Gaura and Gaura Gopala Prabhus in Manchester one afternoon, but unexpectedly chanted for three hours in Hazel Grove by myself instead. Gaura Prabhu left in the morning to distribute books, while I proofread the Back to Godhead magazine above Matchless Gifts, the Hare Krishna charity shop and alternative therapy center run by Jagadatma Prabhu in Hazel Grove. When I left to join Gaura in Manchester, I could not get the key to lock the door behind me, and his instruction “to fiddle with it” was not sufficient for success. I tried moving the key in and out, up and down, and left and right while I turned it, and I tried chanting and offering a few prayers, but nothing seemed to work. I gave up in frustration after 40 minutes and decided Krishna wanted me to chant in Hazel Grove. The traffic was loud and smelly, and there were just a few people on the street. One vegan lady who really liked George Harrison came by, and of all the people, she was the most happy to see someone chanting Hare Krishna in Hazel Grove. She thought it was really progressive. I showed her Chant and Be Happy, and suggested that since she liked George Harrison she might like the book, but she was low on cash till payday. I gave her an invitation to our Thursday program there, but she was from a distance away. So in three hours no one gave any donations or took any books. A few drivers waiting for the stoplight, with windows rolled down, gave expressions or gestures of appreciation. Still when Jagadatma Prabhu returned and heard I chanted Hare Krishna for three hours in front of the shop, he told me that if I stayed there and chanted there every day, he would take care of my needs and find a way to send me to Mayapur each year. I am committed to Newcastle, Gainesville, and New York, so I will not do it, but the next time I go to Sheffield for their Wednesday program, I will go to the Hazel Grove area and chant for three hours and advertize and attend his program on Thursday. And when I visit Manchester for their monthly harinama, I may spend two or three days chanting around Hazel Grove.

After my chanting session, since the Hazel Grove library was closed, I sat in little park nearby to see if I could pick up an unsecured wireless signal to proofread my guru’s blog and check my email. I noticed that Huffy’s next door had a secured wireless connection, and not wanting to wander all over the town looking for a free one, I decided to ask if I could use their connection since the library was closed. The waitress said they usually like you to buy something. When I asked for the cheapest item, an older man standing at the bar overhearing our conversation offered to buy me whatever I wanted. I just took a ginger ale and found a Krishna pamphlet in my computer bag to give the man, and he shook my hand. Later, before he left, he stopped by my table. He encouraged me to “spread the word,” gave me a 5-pound note as a donation, and thinking I was following a path from the East, he made a comment that he was in Vietnam for six years and that it had more culture than the West. I smiled as I reflected on what he said, and he shook my hand again, as he left. It was a surprise to have such a pleasant encounter in Huffy’s Bar in Hazel Grove.

A Wonderful Wednesday

Gaura Prabhu and I chanted in Stockport for 45 minutes before my train to Sheffield. One young man with a beard sat on his skateboard about 13 feet (4 meters) from us, and listened while he ate his lunch. We told him that we had a regular Thursday program in Hazel Grove, and gave him an invitation, as he said that he was from there. After happily listening for fifteen minutes or so, when he left, he smiled and thanked us for coming there, saying he would see us on Thursday. Other people seemed happy to see us and gave donations. The security guard for the mall we were in front of came out a couple times, and must have heard and seen us, but by the grace of the Lord, he did not ask us to move, unlike the one two days before. It was a pleasant, though brief, chanting session, and it was very encouraging to encounter someone in Stockport who wanted to come to the program.

In Sheffield, I chanted for an hour and a half myself before the other devotees joined me for harinama. During that time, two young Indian ladies, one who was beginning her final year at the university and another who was a working lady, both asked me about Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield, and I took down their emails for our mailing list, and gave them the phone number of Kay, our local leader. I love connecting people who are attracted to Krishna with our local programs.

After the other devotees arrived, a lady perhaps in her fifties or sixties came by and asked about what we were doing, and we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along for about 15 minutes. A friend of Geoff, a member of our harinama party came by, and he explained to her what we were doing, and she also took a mantra card and sang along with us for sometime. While those two ladies were singing, a teenaged girl and a kid then came and watched the chanting with curiosity. Later they sat on a nearby bench with an older woman, who I thought was their mother but who turned out to be the girl’s grandmother and who explained that the girl’s mother was a Hare Krishna devotee in Birmingham. It was beautiful to see all these people engaging in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana process by coming in touch with our modest little harinama party in Sheffield.

Harinama in Newcastle

One day Bhakti Rasa and Prema Sankirtana Prabhu joined me on Northumberland Street. Some passersby joined in the dancing.

One young lady really got into playing the tambourine and dancing with pleasure.

A jovial extroverted lady who has joined us previously in Newcastle also came by, playing the tambourine and dancing.

Sometimes she induces her friends or even people she does not know to participate. Once when I was singing alone, she came by, and sang and danced for a while. At one point, she encouraged some little girls sitting on the bench to take interest. They came over and their mom took pictures of them with us, gave a donation, and ended up taking a book.

Once on harinama in Newcastle a woman gave a donation. When I offered her a book, she agreed to take one, saying, “Whenever I talk to you people, I always feel more comfortable afterward.”

Another lady gave 50 pence. She told me she really liked that fact that if people do not have any money, they can eat at our restaurants in exchange for an hour of service. I offered her a book, but she felt her donation was not sufficient. I told her that she gave enough and should take a book. She took a small book, which really did cost about 50 pence, and gave a five-pound note on top of her 50 pence, thus giving over $8 for a small book.

Once Malvika surprised me by playing the karatalas while she held Prema Sankirtana Prabhu’s child, Giya, something I had never seen before.

One day was mixed on harinama. A middle-aged man gave me £1 to go toward “my next singing lesson.” A young man spit something at the back of my sweater as I was chanting back to the temple. But on the bright side, one middle-aged lady gave a donation, and when I offered her a book, she said I gave her one last week. I asked if she read it, and she said she was reading it and liked it, and her friend visited our web page. Such are the daily dualities of outreach. The guy who spit at me almost got hit by two different vehicles in the next minute or two afterward. And I noticed it was hard for me to not wish something bad would happen to him, but perhaps not that bad! Later in the day I found the sweet rice I made for the evening kirtana program came out really good, so that minimized the previous unpalatable events!

A Day in York

Just this year devotees began a weekly program in York on Saturday evening. Govardhan Dasi, a Prabhupada disciple, and her husband, come out early, and she plays the harmonium and sings for two hours, while her husband talks to people and passes out invitations. The day I went, she was willing to increase her program by chanting for three hours. I played the drum for her when she sang, and she played the drum for me. She chants in a crowded pedestrian area, so many people heard the chanting. Next to London, devotees say that York is the biggest tourist location in England, and tour groups came by, including one from Italy. Two boys from that group, perhaps ten or twelve years old, happily danced with us for fifteen minutes on two different occasions, playing tambourines as well. Govardhan Dasi, who knows some Italian spoke to them.

I told Govardhan Dasi I like to speak on four topics: Krishna consciousness as a science, bhakti as the universal religious principle, the chanting of the holy name as the primary act of devotion, and the necessity of daily spiritual practice, and I asked her to choose one. She said they were all good topics and that I should speak on all of them, and so I did. Several people liked the lecture which I uploaded to ISKCON Desire Tree:

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/03_-_ISKCON_Prabhujis/ISKCON_Prabhujis_-_K_to_R/His_Grace_Krishna_Kripa_Prabhu/Various/Krishna_Kripa_Pr_Various_-_Science_Bhakti_Nama_and_Sadhana_-_2013-07-06_York_England.mp3

Indre, who met the devotees in Newcastle, but who now lives in Scunthorpe, came with another devotee from Scunthorpe, and had a good time.

Ganesh Prabhu kindly provided transportation, prasadam, and a place to stay in York to make my journey convenient.

I liked my experience at York, chanting in another city, and being a small addition to an existing chanting party, so I decided to go to York one Saturday a month when I am in the Newcastle area.

Harinama in Chester-le-Street

Last year, Prema Sankirtana and I did a memorable harinama in Chester-le-Street, a town equidistant between Newcastle and Sunderland. One devotee, Atul, lives there and was happy to have us chant there last year, so we decided to do it again. This year a new devotee, Mark, also a resident of Chester-le-Street, joined us. Although only associating with the devotees for a few months, Mark has transcended the fear of being seen as a Hare Krishna devotee in his home town. Malvika, who is between education and employment, also joined us. As Chester-le-Street is a small town where we rarely sing, we attracted a lot of attention. Some school students had a great time singing and dancing with us and taking pictures of their friends singing and dancing with us. One slightly intoxicated man and his dog followed us the length of the town and stayed with us for a while at the end. We collected a few donations and distributed a few books, and the devotees were very positive about the experience.

Harinama in Durham

Durham is a college town where Rohit from India and Malvika from Malaysia studied for several years, finally graduating this year. The last couple of years they had Krishna programs there each Friday. Now after completing their university education they decided to move into the Newcastle temple, and on the day we went to Durham to collect their belongings, we decided to do harinama there. Mark, our new devotee friend from Chester-le-Street who was also off work that day joined us. We chanted on a bridge in the middle of the town for a while.

Then we walked from one end of the town to the other, at one point engaging a construction crew in participating with us.

Later we chanted in a central square in front of the HSBC bank.

Harinama on the Beach in Sunderland

On the way to Sunderland, I encountered a sign that was humorous for me as an American. Apparently there is a town called Washington that is part of the city of Sunderland. The sign upon entering the town says, “Welcome to the Original WASHINGTON.” According to Wikipedia, the ancestors of George Washington, who Washington, D.C., is named after, lived in this town in England which bears the family name:

Aside from the beaches in Florida and Poland, I rarely do harinama on the beaches, but the weather was so excellent, a rarity in The North of England, that Lauris and Malvika suggested that we chant at the Roker Beach in Sunderland. Diya decided to join us, even though she is a little shy to chant in her hometown, and we were very happy she came.

We started by chanting to the end of one pier.

Some kids who were fishing complained that our singing was scaring the fish away. A few people were happy for the entertainment, but many did not know what to make of us. Two kids were intrigued and took video of us for about half the length of the pier. Diya sang very well for someone who had slept 45 minutes the night before and had just got off a several-hour Megabus ride from Scotland.

After the pier, we chanted on the sidewalk by the beach.

It was low tide, and we went out on the beach so far the sand was very moist. One young lady came running up to us when Malvika was singing, and began dancing.

She must have danced at least fifteen minutes. She did not know about Hare Krishna, but she was the kind of person who did not miss an opportunity to dance. Her friends left her at one point, disappearing out of sight, but she did not care and went on dancing with us anyway.

Lauris also got into a mood of performance.

We gave the dancing lady an invitation to our Wednesday and Sunday programs in Newcastle and hope she will continue her interest in dancing with the Hare Krishnas. You can see her enthusiastic dancing in this video (http://youtu.be/LqfGk76Lmnc).

Thanks to Diya who took the above video of us chanting on Roker Beach.

Later, as we were getting in the car to leave for the day, some preteenage boys earnestly asked us to play one more song before going thus showing their appreciation.

Manchester Monthly Harinama

I try to participate in the monthly Manchester harinama at least once a year.

Now they do it on the second Sunday after the kirtana and the lecture, and before the feast, for those who do not mind eating a little later. It is just short of two hours, otherwise the parking fees become ridiculous. They are planning to get a van to reduce the parking costs so they can stay out longer. There are lots of people, especially in outdoor cafes, and many people hear the chanting, and some people are attracted. Thanks to Agi Holland for the picture of me at the event.

A Day in Hazel Grove

I planned to chant with Gaura and Gaura Gopala Prabhus in Manchester one afternoon, but unexpectedly chanted for three hours in Hazel Grove by myself instead. Gaura Prabhu left in the morning to distribute books, while I proofread the Back to Godhead magazine above Matchless Gifts, the Hare Krishna charity shop and alternative therapy center run by Jagadatma Prabhu in Hazel Grove. When I left to join Gaura in Manchester, I could not get the key to lock the door behind me, and his instruction “to fiddle with it” was not sufficient for success. I tried moving the key in and out, up and down, and left and right while I turned it, and I tried chanting and offering a few prayers, but nothing seemed to work. I gave up in frustration after 40 minutes and decided Krishna wanted me to chant in Hazel Grove. The traffic was loud and smelly, and there were just a few people on the street. One vegan lady who really liked George Harrison came by, and of all the people, she was the most happy to see someone chanting Hare Krishna in Hazel Grove. She thought it was really progressive. I showed her Chant and Be Happy, and suggested that since she liked George Harrison she might like the book, but she was low on cash till payday. I gave her an invitation to our Thursday program there, but she was from a distance away. So in three hours no one gave any donations or took any books. A few drivers waiting for the stoplight, with windows rolled down, gave expressions or gestures of appreciation. Still when Jagadatma Prabhu returned and heard I chanted Hare Krishna for three hours in front of the shop, he told me that if I stayed there and chanted there every day, he would take care of my needs and find a way to send me to Mayapur each year. I am committed to Newcastle, Gainesville, and New York, so I will not do it, but the next time I go to Sheffield for their Wednesday program, I will go to the Hazel Grove area and chant for three hours and advertize and attend his program on Thursday. And when I visit Manchester for their monthly harinama, I may spend two or three days chanting around Hazel Grove.

After my chanting session, since the Hazel Grove library was closed, I sat in little park nearby to see if I could pick up an unsecured wireless signal to proofread my guru’s blog and check my email. I noticed that Huffy’s next door had a secured wireless connection, and not wanting to wander all over the town looking for a free one, I decided to ask if I could use their connection since the library was closed. The waitress said they usually like you to buy something. When I asked for the cheapest item, an older man standing at the bar overhearing our conversation offered to buy me whatever I wanted. I just took a ginger ale and found a Krishna pamphlet in my computer bag to give the man, and he shook my hand. Later, before he left, he stopped by my table. He encouraged me to “spread the word,” gave me a 5-pound note as a donation, and thinking I was following a path from the East, he made a comment that he was in Vietnam for six years and that it had more culture than the West. I smiled as I reflected on what he said, and he shook my hand again, as he left. It was a surprise to have such a pleasant encounter in Huffy’s Bar in Hazel Grove.

A Wonderful Wednesday

Gaura Prabhu and I chanted in Stockport for 45 minutes before my train to Sheffield. One young man with a beard sat on his skateboard about 13 feet (4 meters) from us, and listened while he ate his lunch. We told him that we had a regular Thursday program in Hazel Grove, and gave him an invitation, as he said that he was from there. After happily listening for fifteen minutes or so, when he left, he smiled and thanked us for coming there, saying he would see us on Thursday. Other people seemed happy to see us and gave donations. The security guard for the mall we were in front of came out a couple times, and must have heard and seen us, but by the grace of the Lord, he did not ask us to move, unlike the one two days before. It was a pleasant, though brief, chanting session, and it was very encouraging to encounter someone in Stockport who wanted to come to the program.

In Sheffield, I chanted for an hour and a half myself before the other devotees joined me for harinama. During that time, two young Indian ladies, one who was beginning her final year at the university and another who was a working lady, both asked me about Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield, and I took down their emails for our mailing list, and gave them the phone number of Kay, our local leader. I love connecting people who are attracted to Krishna with our local programs.

After the other devotees arrived, a lady perhaps in her fifties or sixties came by and asked about what we were doing, and we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along for about 15 minutes. A friend of Geoff, a member of our harinama party came by, and he explained to her what we were doing, and she also took a mantra card and sang along with us for sometime. While those two ladies were singing, a teenaged girl and a kid then came and watched the chanting with curiosity. Later they sat on a nearby bench with an older woman, who I thought was their mother but who turned out to be the girl’s grandmother and who explained that the girl’s mother was a Hare Krishna devotee in Birmingham. It was beautiful to see all these people engaging in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana process by coming in touch with our modest little harinama party in Sheffield.

Radha, the daughter of Kay, who has been aware of Krishna her whole life, has a nice voice and nice enthusiasm, and it was great to have her sing part of the time on both the harinama and the evening program.

Radha, the daughter of Kay, who has been aware of Krishna her whole life, has a nice voice and nice enthusiasm, and it was great to have her sing part of the time on both the harinama and the evening program.

Plymouth Ratha-yatra

When I knew I was flying out of London to Lithuania on Sunday, I decided to see come a day earlier and go with Parasurama Prabhu to the Plymouth Ratha-yatra. The name Plymouth, is famous in America because of the Pilgrims, and I had been to Plymouth, Massachusetts, but never before to the original Plymouth from which it got its name. I heard that Manorama Prabhu and his youth party, many from America, would come and it would be nice to see them, having traveled with them to Mexico one winter. Thus I planned to go to Plymouth Ratha-yatra, and return to London the next day to fly to Lithuania, while the others went on to do Ratha-yatra in Glastonbury.

In fact as it turned out, two days before the Plymouth Ratha-yatra, in London at our Soho temple, I encountered some of my Vaishnava youth friends, and my friend from Gainesville, Ananda Seva who surprised me by joining them for their tour. We went to the evening arati and took prasadam in Soho Square park together.

The weather was warm and sunny in Plymouth for the Ratha-yatra, and when I got there Amala Harinama was leading a great kirtana, followed by a devotee girl I recalled from Dallas, who also did a good job singing. At one point, Syamananda Prabhu, my brahmacari friend from Ireland, who lives at Radhadesh, and who joined the youth tour to assist with drama and cooking, in a characteristic humorous mood, began drumming a kitchen pot in time with the music.

Several of the devotee girls danced nicely in front of the stage, attracting people.

One of the girls engaging some of the children in the audience in dancing with her.

One older Plymouth woman, with her arm in a sling, danced with the kirtana for quite sometime. The whole Ratha-yatra route was within a pedestrian mall that was mostly closed to traffic. It was not so long in distance, but we stopped several place for a while, and it was crowded with people.

 Manorama Prabhu played the bass during the procession, something you do not usually see, and was a nice addition to the kirtana.

I was happy to see my friend Ananda Seva Prabhu (in the center below) happily engaged in the Ratha-yatra procession. He has been working a lot recently and had missed such opportunities.

Some girls began following the procession and clapping to the music.

Later they joined with the devotee ladies in dancing in a circle.

 One boy danced with us when we were stationary.

 Then later got some friends together and danced in front of the Ratha-yatra procession.

 Another group of ladies also enjoyed dancing in a circle with the devotees.

 After the Ratha-yatra, there was a drama and a bharat-natyam dance, and a short final kirtana.

I felt the program, which ended by 4 p.m., was much too short. I am accustomed to New York City, where the post-Ratha-yatra festival goes to 7 p.m. In London, it is also short, ending at 5 p.m. but this was even shorter. Still a lot of mercy was flowing, and I was glad that my friends and I got to go.

Sunderland Harinama

Sunderland is one of the bigger cities around Newcastle, and we have developed a program of going there once a week and doing harinama, followed by prasadam and kirtana at Ramai and Vrinda Prabhus place there. 

Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu, who works in Sunderland and who distributed books and chanted there as a brahmacari, took his lunch hour when we were chanting there so he could join us. Thus we were wearing dhotis, casual dress, and formal dress, altogether on harinama.

Some boys came and played the tambourines and the gong with such intensity that a shop owner complained, and we learned that you cannot allow kids to play the gong or it will be way to loud

York Harinama and Program

We had our Janmastami program in York the Saturday before, and had about seven people for the harinama in York beforehand. Govardhan Dasi sings in public there every Saturday for two hours along with her husband, who distributes invitations, and she was happy to have many more devotees.

The nama-hatta program for Janmastami had variety, including kirtana, two dramas, and a song about Krishna’s pastimes. I also gave the first of four lectures on Krishna’s appearance, the others being in Leeds, Newcastle, and Liverpool. Twenty-four people came although the program has not been going more than a few months. Govardhan Dasi did a great job organizing it, and Ganesh Prabhu, Dennis, and others helped greatly.

Leeds Harinama

Caru Candra Prabhu was there for almost the entire three-hour harinama, and a couple ladies came near the end so we had three people for the last hour and four people for the last twenty minutes. The last twenty minutes we walked to the car, exposing people along the way to the chanting.

Chester-le-Street Harinama

Ananta Nitai Prabhu, Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, Malvika, Atul, and I went on harinama in Chester-le-Street. I think the residents there must have decided that they liked us when we came last time because the people were so favorable. A friendly older lady praised our singing, gave us a pound, and said she had heard us in Newcastle too. As we often do now, we brought tambourines for interested kids to play. First a girl played.

Then a boy and girl happily played, and the mom was happy to watch them and gave a donation. 

People gave £22.63 ($35.28) in three hours, making probably it the most charitable place we have been in the Newcastle area, and we distributed about seven books.

Newcastle Harinamas

One day in Newcastle many people danced with us and/or played the instruments. It started out with a small girl who played tambourine for 10 or 15 minutes on two different occasions.

Her friend was not interested, but patiently waited on her bicycle, for her to finish. The girl played in time and seemed to have some taste for it.

Then one young lady came who was visiting from Leeds but had lived in Arab countries for many years. She loved to dance and play the tambourine, and stayed for an hour or so.

Then a boy danced.

And then a man.

Then a very energetic young lady.

It was inspiring to see the enthusiasm for participation in Lord Caitanya’s merciful sankirtana process.

During our Janmastami harinama in Newcastle, a jovial man gave us a pound, and accepted a Path of Perfection. Then he told a story: In the 1980s, when in his 20s, he was in Gainesville, Florida, and lost his passport, his green card, and his money. But the Hare Krishnas gave him something to eat, and he said he would never forget it! Krishna Lunch Gainesville ki, jaya!

Harinama on Vyasa Puja was a challenge for me. I am not used to living in temples where the Vyasa Puja feast is served at 5 p.m. so we had no choice but to try to do harinama from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I were ready to leave at 6:30 p.m., but we lost a lot of time waiting for people to take prasadam and then trying to convince them to come with us. We were unsuccessful in our attempts as many devotees either had still to complete their daily chanting on beads or needed to help with the cleanup, so we chanted by ourselves from 7:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.! Most of the shops close at 8:00 p.m., but we chanted across from a McDonalds that is open 24 hours a day. A lot of young people were hanging out with their friends outside the McDonalds. Several people danced with us for awhile, especially the girls and those of African descent. One drunk middle-aged man spoke favorably about us and played the tambourine with us for about five minutes. A couple girls danced for a couple minutes. I am sure because of going out at a time when we never go out, we encountered people who had not seen the devotees before nor heard the kirtana, and that was Srila Prabhupada’s mercy on his auspicious appearance day.

Since I was leaving the next day for Manchester and would not return till next spring, when Ayan began to drive us downtown for harinama, the devotees chanted Hare Krishna as a going away blessing.

Prema Sankirtana Prabhu even blocked the car.

In general, harinama in Newcastle went nicely for me this year. Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, who is full of enthusiasm, and great at getting people to interact with our party, especially by dancing and also by playing the tambourines, would often come out. Malvika, who has a beautiful voice and lots of enthusiasm, would almost always come out. Bhakta Rasa Prabhu, who has been doing outreach in Newcastle for over twenty years, would try to come out once a week. Ananta Nitai Prabhu, who I had done many, many harinamas in Ireland, kindly came to Newcastle for two weeks and went out almost every day. Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu is almost always willing to chant in Sunderland during his lunch break, and on Saturday in Newcastle. Also last, but not least, Vrinda and Vishnu Priya periodically invite the harinama parties over to their places for lunch or dinner to serve and to inspire the devotees, which we are always grateful for. Thus Krishna inspired me by giving me a good group of people to chant with there in Newcastle, and I look forward to returning next year and doing harinama with my friends.

A Double Harinama Day

The coach from Newcastle to Liverpool was too expensive so I booked one to Manchester and found an advance purchase ticket on the train from there to Liverpool for £4. I thought of leaving my bags and getting some prasadam at the Manchester temple, but later decided to do harinama for an hour and a half or so with my friend, Gaura Das Prabhu, who does book distribution in Manchester on Fridays. Then in Liverpool before the monthly nama-hatta, I chanted for two and a half hours there. Several people gave donations, most not taking books. A Polish lady who regularly attends the nama-hatta program happened by and bought an Isopanisad and a music CD giving £5. At one point I was so tired from staying up late on Janmastami and Vyasa Puja, I was falling asleep, and I prayed to Lord Caitanya to keep me awake so I could sing. It worked, and I was thus able to continue.

Unexpected Manchester Harinama

Usually the last Saturday of the month we chant in Bolton, but everyone was wiped out from Janmastami and Vyasa Puja or else had other engagements so there were just three of us. Since two of us lived in Manchester, we convinced Vrajendralal Prabhu, our leader from Bolton, to come into Manchester and chant with us there. He brought another devotee, and ultimately more came, and we had eight or nine devotees singing for almost two hours in Manchester on a very beautiful day in a city filled with many people.

Our leader said we passed out more invitations than ever before, although we gave them only to people who showed some signs of interest. A couple of Muslim girls Jagatatma Prabhu gave cards to, chanted the mantra and followed us for a few minutes, a rarity. A few people danced with us, like the ones below.

People at outside cafes showed their appreciation.

I felt that I was instrumental in saving the harinama, which could have easily been canceled due to too few participants.

Dublin Ratha-yatra

Earlier in the summer, when I saw the Dublin Ratha-yatra date of September 1, I was thinking it was just another Ratha-yatra I would miss out on, but I was wrong. 

Somehow or other I found a flight from Dublin to Orlando that was $150 cheaper than those from London. Thus it was cheaper for me to fly from Dublin, even considering the $50 it takes to go between England and Ireland.

The weather was surprisingly good in Dublin. In other words, it was not raining. Lots of people watched, smiled, and photographed the procession of Lord Jagannatha and His brother and sister, being pulled by His devotees, along with lively singing and dancing.

Photo © 2013 Sebastian Rutkowski (sebrut@ymail.com).

The sound system had serious problems, although the devotees had spent 500 euros on a professional system. One year in Paris, they spent 4000 euros on a professional sound system that also failed.

In the middle of procession, I told Bhakti Vikasa Swami I liked this quote by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura from the biography he had written: “Srinama-sankirtana [The congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord] is the best sadhana [spiritual practice]. If other sadhanas help us in Krishna-sankirtana, then they deserve to be called sadhana; otherwise they are simply impediments to sadhana. Sri-Krishna-nama-sankirtana is the emperor of sadhanas. It is the only infallible sadhana capable of bringing us to siddhi [perfection].” I said it was the most powerful glorification of the congregational chanting of the holy name that I had ever heard. In response he taught me one verse: sadhya sadhana tattva ye kichu sakala/ harinama-sankirtane milibe sakala— “[Lord Caitanya said to Tapan Mishra:] ‘Everything is accomplished by the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, including the goal of life (sadhya) and the means for its attainment (sadhana).’” (Sri Caitanya Bhagavata, Adi 14.143)

One young lady was very ambitiously taking photos during the Ratha-yatra, and I asked if she was with the Hare Krishnas or with the press. She explained that she was doing a report on minority religions in Ireland and happened to learn of the Ratha-yatra. What a wonderful coincidence! Later she interviewed different devotees including Bhakti Vikasa Swami, who gave her some maha-prasadam from Lord Jagannatha. When she interviewed me I told her about the festival on our Hare Krishna island for Radhastami that was coming up in a week and a half, in case she wanted another colorful Krishna festival to photograph.

The Ratha-yatra proceeded on a road frequented by tour buses thus giving many visitors to Dublin a chance to see the Jagannatha procession, hear the kirtana, and take photos.

A little devotee girl had her own little Ratha-yatra cart in the parade.

At the end of the parade, Lord Jagannatha was carried to the park.

There He, and His brother, Baladeva, and sister Subhadra also got to see the stage show.

At the stage show in the park, there were the usual mix of devotional music and Indian dances. There was a nice feast for the public, but just a single vegetable preparation for the devotees that was suitable for Ekadasi, and unfortunately it ran out before some people got it. 

Manu Prabhu did a lively kirtana at the end.

Lots of devotees played instruments and danced on the stage.

In the audience, a Slovakian couple and a few devotees danced.

So did some girls from France and Spain.

Even some of the kids got into it.

The Slovakian couple was fortunate to get a personal interview with Bhakti Vikasa Swami, and the girl got his garland. 

They were interested to hear when I told them I was chanting in their capital of Bratislava for three hours a day for three days last month, and that we have a daily chanting program there now.

The girls from France and Spain were working in Cork and came to Dublin for the weekend. They were very happy to hear when I told them that we have vegetarian food after our programs in Dublin, and they indicated they might drop by our program on a future weekend visit to Dublin. 

For some really professional photos of the Dublin Ratha-yatra, visit this website: http://rathayatra.ie/photo-video-gallery/dublin-2013 

Dublin Harinama

On Monday, we chanted for two and a half hours in Dublin on the big street half a block from the temple. One girl was sitting down on the steps of a shop and smiling as she watched the harinama party. I came up to her and gave her an invitation, and she asked if I had any books. I had two books, and she already had one of them but she bought the other one for a donation of 1.63 euros. She continued sitting there listening and looking at the book she got and showing it to her boyfriend until we left. An Indian student we met on the same harinama and invited to the Gita class actually came to the class that very evening. Now that doesn’t happen every day! After the class he told me how he wanted to do good for society but was worried about having no time for his spiritual life. I told him in that case he should do something for the spiritual good of society. “Have a Bhagavad-gita class at your college, and you will benefit society and your soul in one act.” He appeared to be a serious person, and I hope he takes my advice seriously, or at least corresponds with me about other spiritual alternatives.

I was happy to connect with my friends in Dublin who love kirtana and look forward to seeing them when I return in February enroute to India, for the Mayapur kirtana-mela.

New Successes in 2013

I did my third 12-hour kirtana in the Dublin temple with Ananta Nitai Prabhu, and when I returned to Newcastle I talked with friends about doing one there. They said the last time they tried a 12-hour kirtana, people came three or four hours late, and so they suggested an 8-hour kirtana, and so we had one the first Ekadasi in June 2013. The young people who love kirtana in Newcastle really liked it and made it a regular event on the last Saturday of every month since. Just now, in January 2014, they are proposing a new event for Newcastle, an 8-hour harinama. It is wonderful to witness their enthusiasm.

I had to miss the Green Festival in Newcastle, the last weekend in May, to visit my sister in London, but I encouraged the young people at the temple who like kirtana to sing at the Green Festival. They sang there both on Saturday and Sunday, and they told me of people who they had connected with. They were very happy about the experience and glad I encouraged them to go out.

Now there is a monthly program in York, with Govardhan Dasi and her husband doing harinama for two hours in the city, and then an evening program at a rented location. I went there a couple times in 2013, and I am committed to going there once a month, when I am in the Newcastle area. Leeds has a program the last Sunday of the month, and so I can do the York program on the Saturday before, and then go to the Leeds program the next day and then return to Newcastle, as I did in August of 2013.

This year I went to Brighton for the first time and found it to be a great place for harinama. I am thinking of going there again in the future.

I chanted harinama in Stockport and Hazel Grove, just south of Manchester, visiting Jagatatma Prabhu’s program there.

I invited Ananta Nitai Prabhu to come to Newcastle for the end of August to assist me in harinama. It did that nicely as expected and also pleased the Newcastle devotees by sometimes cooking and giving lectures. He became friends with Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, another lover of harinama, and invited him and Rohit to do a 24-hour harinama in Dublin, which they did.

What About 2014?

I plan to come to Ireland in February and April and do some more 12-hour kirtanas and/or harinamas.

I plan to spend a lot of time in Newcastle and The North of England in May, June, and July, and a week or two in August and September. I hope do three hours of public chanting of Hare Krishna each day in Newcastle or some of the towns in the area. I plan to be there for the Green Festival in May to chant and do outreach. I hope to go to Sunderland once a week, and Chester-le-Street a few times each summer because I have had good experiences in both place. I hope to continue doing harinamas and visiting the nama hattas in Leeds, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool, and Bolton, and go to the Manchester temple for their monthly harinama and some Friday or Sunday programs. I hope to do harinama in York and attend the Saturday evening program once a month, when I am in the Newcastle area. I hope to visit Jagatatma Prabhu again in Hazel Grove and do harinama in that area. I plan to go to the usual UK events like the London Ratha-yatra, the Stonehenge Solstice Festival, the Birmingham Twenty-four Hour Kirtan. I hope to do a few harinamas in Central London, some weekend warrior programs there, and lectures at Soho lunch program, and the Kings Cross Friday program, as in past years. I would also like to go to Brighton again for harinama.

I want to thank all the UK and Ireland devotees for their inspiring association, their friendship, their contributions, and the facility to do harinama and give lectures in their region. I look forward to coming again to that region each year.

If anyone knows of other opportunities for public chanting of Hare Krishna and public outreach programs in The North of England or Ireland in the warm months that I could contribute to in some way, please write to me. If you like harinama and want to do some with me in the Newcastle area, please contact me. You can message me on Facebook where my name is Krishna-kripa Das or write me on pamho.net, where my name is Krsna-krpa.SDG.