travel journal#4.9: Holland and Belgium Adventures

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 9
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2008, part one) 
Holland and Belgium Adventures
(Sent from Radhadesh, Belgium on 5/22/08)

 
I am sorry that this one is so long. I will try to reform by next time. If you can read only part, check out my Queen's Day blog and read the Amsterdam harinama stories.

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I was invited by Kadamba Kanana Swami to Amsterdam to take part in Queen's Day, a mammoth street festival attended by over a million people, where the Hare Krishna devotees chanted for ten hours. For those who are interested, I wrote a whole article on it, including some links to a variety of videos that will give you an idea of what it was like. Janmastami Prabhu, a Lokanath Swami disciple, who is an enthusiastic preacher who played accordion before becoming devotee, nicely reciprocated with my desire to do three hours of daily harinama in Amsterdam for the rest of the week. Next weekend I went to Rotterdam for Saturday harinama and to do the Sunday feast lecture. The next week, seeing the beautiful weather, the devotees decided to try chanting in the park in Amsterdam, and it was a great success. The next weekend I did Saturday harinama in Brussels with the Radhadesh devotees, and a Sunday harinama and feast lecture in Antwerp. Finally after many devotees have described and invited to me to Radhadesh, I finally visited, and was struck by the beauty and serenity of that spiritual place and the enthusiasm of the devotees to hear and chant about Krishna. From Mayapur and the Polish tour, I had many friends now residing in Radhadesh, and it was a joy to see them. We did another harinama in Antwerp, and a nama-hatta program at the place of Krishna Priya, a very devoted preacher. After returning to Amsterdam for a final chanting in the park, we leave to go to Simhacalam, Bavarian Germany's rural home of Lord Nrsimha, to celebrate His appearance, along with devotees from all over Europe. The car broke down, and we stayed over night in the Cologne, Germany, temple, where Nikhilananda Prabhu assisted us in repairing the car and continuing on our journey.

Devotional Notes

Gems from Kadamba Kanana Swami in a Bhagavatam lecture in Amsterdam:

Austerity is never the goal. Nor is austerity one of the 64 items of devotional service. Out of prema, Vaishnava acaryas reduce eating and sleeping to focus on devotional service.

Although we can engage the products of passion and ignorance in the service of the Lord, they still have a demoniac features, so we must be careful.

Spiritual life is like going to Badrinatha (in the Himalayas). You go up and then you go down, but not as far down as you went up!

Comment [by me]: It makes senses that since Lord Caitanya has come to give love of Krishna, He would first give it to those assisting in His mission.

Response [by Kanamba Kanana Swami]: Yes. But also Lord Caitanya was very strict with Chota Haridas, Krishna Das, and Damodar. He did not want His followers to act loosely. Still, although we are incomplete, He gives us His blessings. All the acharyas (previous spiritual teachers) are full of compassion and desire our welfare. I envision the Panca-tattva dancing, followed by the acharyas.

Commenting on a lecture on Rama's appearance day, describing Sita being kidnapped when she stepped out of her protective circle, Mother Lila-avatara said that Prabhupada has drawn a protective circle around us, and Maya cannot reach us as long as we stay within the circle—the four regulative principles.
   --from "Tachycardia" by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami.

We do not worship cows as being the Supreme Lord but because of their relationship with the Supreme Lord.
  --Shyamasundara Prabhu from Bhaktivedanta Manor in a Bhagavatam lecture at Radhadesh

In the lyrics of a song [I think it was by Bob Dylan] the point was made that whether you serve the devil or the Lord, you have to serve somebody. That is also our understanding.
  --Gaura Prabhu in a Bhagavatam lecture in Amsterdam

Krishna can be compared to an expert herdsman who nicely takes care of his animals needs, thus we do not have to worry if we take shelter of Krishna.
  --Gaura Hari Prabhu, temple president in Oslo, Norway, in a Bhagavatam lecture in Amsterdam

When Srila Prabhupada said we go back to Godhead if we just chanted sixteen rounds a day and followed the four regulative principles, devotees were surprised it was so easy. Now after many have left, we realize it is not so easy. Thus the people who are still endeavoring to follow are very special souls.
   --Gaura Hari, in a Bhagavatam lecture in Amsterdam

From Hari Sauri's Diary:

Balavanta Prabhu said one American politician said Krishna consciousness was spreading like an epidemic and could even take over the government. Srila Prabhupada mentioned if Krishna consciousness became popular with the masses they could elect a Krishna consciousness consciousness government.

We have many jungles to pass through so we have to sharpen our knife by studying the sastra so we can cut through them all.
  --Caitanya-lila devi dasi in a Srimad-Bhagavatam class in Cologne, Germany

 

Adventure in Rotterdam

I went to Rotterdam for the weekend since Kadamba Kanana Swami suggested I visit other places besides Amsterdam. Every Saturday they have a harinama for two and a half hours. They chant to the Rotterdam Central train station, a convenient five-minute walk from their temple, and stay there for half an hour while more devotees gather. Many of the enthusiastic participants were Indian-bodied devotees from Suriname, formerly Dutch Guiana, whose enthusiasm for helping with the harinama and the temple programs reminded me of the Guyanese devotees I knew from Alachua who were similarly enthusiastic. A couple senior brahmacaris also came from Den |Haag, a town 15 minutes away. Some devotees distributed invitations and books. We chanted in a mall crowded with people checking out the different shops. A good number of people took the invitations. After the harinama was an incredible feast including pizza, spaghetti, curd sabji, and the best sweet rice I have had in months. The delicious sweet rice was simply flavored with toasted coconut, a new and pleasant experience. Having a tasty feast after harinama is a great idea that might be introduced in other temples to encourage reluctant souls to turn out for the event. Everyone likes a good feast.

Although one devotee makes daily offerings to their Pancatattva Deities, they have no morning program there. I took advantage of the situation of being alone with a computer with an internet connection, and caught up on my work before the Sunday lecture.

I talked about chanting the holy name in the form of japa as temple president, Mother Narayani advised. One regular invited a couple friends for the first time as it was his birthday, so I had to summary the main points of the philosophy for them.

They asked me to lead the kirtana which I did for a while and then one of the regulars took over. They put on YouTube: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=bl45NNCqTYg&feature=email

For me the significance of the kirtana was the enthusiastic dancing of all the devotees, a nice feature of that temple. Although I am not a real kirtana leader, they were still able to enthusiastically get absorbed in chanting the holy name and dancing.

They are intent to keep their web page current and Michel, their vice-president, did a whole photo article on my visit.

Harinamas in Amsterdam

Back in Amsterdam, we resumed our daily harinamas. One girl passed us, smiling and moving her body in time to our music. When I gave her an invitation, she said she saw us at Queen's Day. Later I told Bhakta Nir from Israel to try to sell her a book, and she ended up taking one. On Sunday, a couple people came to the temple from seeing us at Queen's Day. It is nice to see so soon some favorable results from our attempts at that awesome street festival.

We chanted in the park in Amsterdam which was very crowded, even on a Wednesday, due to the incredibly beautiful spring weather. Different people who had some relationship with the devotees came by for the cold ginger tea and sweet balls and to hear the mellow bhajanas. New people also came by as well. We were successful in that, despite our mrdanga, we did not get stopped for illegally playing a drum in the park for the three hours we were there. It was such a nice experience that we decided to go for the rest of the week if the weather holds out. Bhakta Nir pedaled me and the instruments, books, and prasadam, all packed into a wagon in front of the bike, back to the temple. I was reclining my back and playing the harmonium and chanting the whole way, Many people smiled and laughed at us because it was such an odd sight, but they also benefited from hearing the holy names.

I talked to one devotee who met Srila Prabhupada in Bury Place in London in 1968. He never got initiated during Srila Prabhupada's presence, but when he went to Vrindavana recently, one day the devotees asked him to lead the temple parikrama kirtana after guru puja and the next day they asked him to do the arati itself. That night he had a dream in which Srila Prabhupada initiated him and gave him a name. He had some doubts that had previously blocked him from coming forward for initiation, but that experience resolved them.

One guitar player, who also liked Beatles music, had a nice conversation with Gaura Prabhu at the park, and lent Gaura his guitar to play Hare Krishna before the other devotees had arrived with the instruments. The next day, the boy came for the second half of the morning program and Gaura Prabhu talked with him and taught him to play the Govinda prayers on the guitar. He left with a set of japa beads. Gaura Prabhu said the park was a preachers' paradise, and it reminded him of the 1970s.

One girl from Brazil chanted and danced with us for nearly an hour. She said she will try to come by on Sunday. She heard the mantra on a CD of Indian music she bought on the Internet. Once her parents had gone to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate some holiday, but it was too crowded to find a place to stay. They ended up meeting the Hare Krishnas and spending the whole time with them.

A periodic attender, Smiles, also came by, with his female friend, and they also participated in chanting and dancing. Now that we had four dancers, others took more interest in our performance, some taking pictures.

Janakinatha Prabhu talked with a couple boys, one with a degree in philosophy. Other people came by as well, and between people he would play karatalas while watching our book, drink, and halava table. He sees chanting in the park superior to walking harinama as persons who are attracted can come forward and associate with the devotees. I tend to agree. In fact, last Sunday another person came to Amsterdam's Sunday feast from seeing us in the park.

We did a final harinama in Antwerp as Janmastami Prabhu's van was repaired and then dashed off for one final harinama in the park in Amsterdam. Although we got there at 7:00 p.m., the other devotees were still there, some singing and passing out tea, as Janakinatha Prabhu, walked around with the tray of halava cubes, meeting with interested people.

I met a girl named Natalie, a junior in cultural and physical anthropology at University of Florida, who regularly attends the Krishna Lunch program. She loves the peaceful atmosphere with the great food and the devotees chanting. I told her last year my service was to chant at that very campus lunch program in the spring. It is indeed a small world. Since she was an anthropology student, I told her a couple friends of mine wrote an amazing book called Forbidden Archeology that describes many artifacts reported by scientists themselves that are too old for theory of human evolution. She was interested and took down the name and authors. She asked if we had a lunch program in Amsterdam, and I told her about our Sunday Feast, with its special festival for Lord Nrsimha's appearance, but she and her sister were only staying another day. I asked their itinerary and when I found they were going to Prague, I told her about our three restaurants there, giving her flyers for two of them. I told her we also celebrated the special festival there and she could find the address at http://directory.krishna.com. It was amazing to find a Krishna Lunch enthusiast in a park in Amsterdam.

One girl, buying some water for a friend, happened by our setup. She said she left Isreal on a spiritual search about nine months ago. She took only one book--one by Srila Prabhupada. She mentioned how she went to our program at Soho St. in London once. She asked about our community in Belgium, and I understood she meant Radhadesh. I told her I was just in Radhadesh and found it very beautiful and serene. I gave her an explanation of the Hare Krishna mantra with the addresses of both our Amsterdam and Radhadesh centers on it, so she can follow up on her interest in Krishna consciousness.

It is amazing the interesting people you meet at Amsterdam's Vandel Park. Janakinath also met some nice people who had some touch with Krishna consciousness and were ready for more. He is excited to continue the program on all the sunny days in the summer.

Harinama in Brussels

We joined a busload of devotees from Radhadesh and a few local Indians to go on a very lively two-hour harinama in Brussels, Belgium's capital. With forty-five devotees, we attracted a lot of attention. Once, when Janmastami Prabhu was leading and we were chanting in one place, about sixty or seventy people surrounded us to watch.

Sesa Prabhu, who was teaching ethics in Radhadesh, came on the harinama, and nicely took part in the dancing at one point, with the encouragement of the devotees. He was so surprised to see me there in Brussels, but I was less surprised to see him, as I know he goes to Radhadesh regularly.

Janmastami Prabhu was so enthused by the harinama that he continued for an hour and a half after the Radhadesh devotees departed, with myself and a three local Indian devotees, one of whom, Ratan, kindly bought us some drinks.

All these Europeon cities have many people on the streets and many restaurants with seating on the sidewalk in front, ideal for sharing the chanting of the holy names with the populace. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we did small harinamas in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Antwerp Harinama and Sunday Program

During the Sunday feast lecture in Antwerp, I asked if there were any new people. There was one person who said it was his first time at the temple, but he had seen the devotees before at their festivals in Poland. I talked with him later and found he was named Piotr and had gone to two festivals, one in the town of Rewal, and another in the city of Kolobrzeg. He lives in Gdansk, four hours from Kolobrzeg by train, and I gave him the web site of our Polish festival which includes the summer schedule so he can come this year when he returns to Poland for summer vacation. Now he is studying organic chemistry in Antwerp. He was so happy to be in the association of devotees, he came to the nama-hatta program we did two days later at the home of Krishna Priya, a former resident of Poland herself.

Krishna Priya Devi Dasi, a disciple of B. B. Govinda Swami, is a colorful personality with great faith in the name, form, and mercy of the Lord. Her front room is glorified by the presence of several sets of deities and few statues of Jesus Christ and Mary, and her walls are completely covered with devotional pictures--a truly incredible sight. She tells that once she was chanting in public, playing harmonium, when a drunk man who hated the chanting threatened to break her harmonium and hurt her. She prayed to Lord Nrsimha. Within a one minute, a group of tourists from Nepal came by, amazed to see Krishna's glories chanted on the sidewalk of Belgian city. They sat down and joined her, playing some instruments she had. They stayed for two hours, and the drunk man, frustrated at not being able to do his mischief, left after an hour. She also told stories of materialistic people who had miraculously gained some faith in the holy name by her prasadam and her words. Inspired by her deities and her devotional art filled asrama, at her nama-hatta I spoke on Bhagavad-gita 8.14, which tells how Krishna can be easily attained by those who always remember Him, in anyone of His incarnations, in one of five relationships. One devotee from Ukraine especially liked it. Krishna Priya kindly supported my travels by giving a donation. I was thinking of passing up Janananda Goswami's invitation to go to France for lack of funds and decided than morning not to go unless some one gave me a donation, so I took it as a clue to I should go there after all.

Just the first half of May was filled with harinama in four cities and the joy of seeing many people coming in touch with Krishna. I hope the rest of the warm season continues in this way.

Queen's Day—Holland's Biggest Festival

Kadamba Kanana Swami Leads Queen's Day Street Kirtana
With Vidya Vicaspati Prabhu of Prague on the Harmonium

In Front of Our Bhajana Tent, I Dance and
Pass Out Invitations to Those Who Watch

Different countries have their special venues where thousands of people gather and Hare Krishna devotees use the opportunity to help the people get in touch with Krishna in different ways. America has its Rainbow Gatherings, concerts, and football games, England, its Glastonbury, Poland, its Woodstock, India, its melas, and Amsterdam, its Queen's Day, known locally as Koninginnedag and described on one web page as “The World’s Biggest Street Party.” On April 30, one to two million people crowd Amsterdam's streets, many of which prohibit traffic on that day, to celebrate the birthday festival of the Queen of the Netherlands.

One might ask why the devotees, who espouse the most exalted and comprehensive exposition of theism in human society, are motivated to go to an event celebrating the birthday of a mundane dignitary, where vendors exploit foolish people dedicated to decorating their bodies by selling them things they do not need and where the vast majority of people are drunk and are getting drunker by the hour? Is this a truly favorable place to demonstrate and to distribute Krishna consciousness? In answer we may say that the devotees are actually attempting to follow in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya and His glorious associates of the Panca-tattva, who did not consider who was fit and who was unfit, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. Whenever they got a chance the members of the Panca-tattva distributed love of Godhead. (Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.23) And how did they do that? By singing and dancing! By singing and dancing? Attaining love for God requires knowledge and renunciation, one might argue. How does singing and dancing help one to attain love of God? Srila Prabhupada writes, "People generally cannot understand the actual meaning of chanting and dancing. . . . Not only did Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates demonstrate this chanting and dancing, but the six Gosvamis also followed in the next generation. The present Krishna consciousness movement follows the same principle, and therefore simply by chanting and dancing we have received good responses all over the world. It is to be understood, however, that this chanting and dancing do not belong to this material world. They are actually transcendental activities, for the more one engages in chanting and dancing, the more he can taste the nectar of transcendental love of Godhead." (Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.22 purport)

All the people of Amsterdam, and any other place for that matter, be they vendors, consumers, or drunkards, are in fact pure spiritual souls having dormant love of God within. Sri Caitanya-caritamrita (22.107) describes "nitya siddha krishna prema sadya kabha naya, sravanadi suddha citte karaye udaya" Pure love for Krishna is already there in eternally in the heart. It is not something gained from an outside source. When one engages in devotional service, beginning with hearing, one consciousness is purified and the love becomes manifest. So this hearing, as Srila Prabhupada often mentions, is so important. We must give as many people as possible the chance to hear the name, glories, and instructions of Lord Krishna, and thus purify themselves, bringing them one step closer to the goal of love of God, which is that rare item that actually satisfies the needs of the soul, our real self.

Therefore to take advantage of a venue where hundreds of thousands of people can hear the holy name in one day and become purified is actual utility. Srila Prabhupada himself chanted the holy name in gatherings of young people addicted to illicit sex and varieties of intoxicants, and many people became purified and began to take up Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada stressed that his followers practice strictly so by their pure chanting others may become attracted to become pure devotees.

What to speak of the spiritual power of the divine sound, just to demonstrate that one can be happy without intoxication, meat eating, illicit sex, and gambling, is valuable in a society where many people suffer from these addictions that do not bring them the happiness they originally desired. People gradually burn out, and if they see the devotees example, they may be moved to inquire about their alternative.

The scene at Queen’s Day was wild. As Her Highness took birth in the Orange dynasty, many people put on orange for the occasion. Some wear orange wigs with straight hair, others with curls, dreadlocks, or mohawks. Head apparel included ski hat, caps, broad-rimmed hats, construction hats, cone-shaped hats, berets, and a variety of crowns, all orange. Some even paint their faces orange. Some wore orange glasses, and I even saw someone on a orange bicycle! Some sport imitation flower garlands, feather garlands, or scarves on their necks, all of which are colored orange and others put the orange garlands around their heads. Many people wore orange T-shirts with “Holland” on the front and “Nederland” on the back. Others wear orange sweatshirts, orange overalls, orange tights, or orange ponchos and others, even wear orange life preservers—some quite humorously attired. Of course, the Hare Krishna brahmacaris and sannyasis were already dressed for the occasion, with their saffron dhotis, kurtas, cadars and caps, and a few ladies donned orange cadars and scarves. One lady wearing a bright orange sari, had hair that might well have been dyed for the occasion.

The big Hare Krishna contribution to the event is Lord Caitanya's desired mass distribution of the jubilant singing of the Hare Krishna mantra accompanied by music and dance. About seventy devotees joined the chanting party which crisscrossed the canal-ridden streets of Amsterdam twice, beginning in the late morning and in the late afternoon for four hours each. Midday we all congregated at a booth where we also had bhajanas all day, and took lunch, resting up for the second harinama. Devotees hailed from Canada, America, England, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and other countries as well. Some were disciples and friends of Kadamba Kanana Swami, who is originally from the Netherlands, and they came to assist him by helping with the festival in different ways.

The crowd comprised people of all ages, and many of them were attracted by the chanting and dancing of the devotees, with some senior citizens moving with the music and accepting invitations, as well as the wilder middle-aged and even wilder youth. Highlights were the fact that so many people began to dance as they passed our party, many taking invitations, as well. Once we came upon some African drummers on a sidewalk, who enthusiastically played along with our kirtana to the mutual enjoyment of all. Mother Sukhayanti, an energetic Israeli devotee living at London's Soho temple, and Bhaktin Tuuli from Finland, would grab the arms of appreciative ladies who were watching from the sidewalks and spin them around in circles as we passed by, to their great delight.

Kadamba Kanana Swami, who is enthusiasm personified, led much of the kirtana, especially in the beginning, fanning the enthusiasm of the other devotees. Another lively kirtana leader was Vidya Vacaspati Prabhu from Czech Republic, who many know from the video about harinama in Prague, where he leads semiweekly harinamas, playing lively tunes on a full-sized harmonium attached to a strap.

At our bhajana tent, different devotees led bhajans all day. In my mind, Gaura Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple visiting from Canada who truly loves bhajana, and Parividha Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple from Amsterdam, who is a talented singer with a lot of devotion, were prominent, in addition to Kadamba Kanana Swami, who also sang some bhajans for awhile during the two hours between harinamas. We almost always had a crowd listening to the performance at our bhajana tent, sometimes as many as forty, many of whom took invitations and prasadam, spiritual food, distributed by the devotees. We also had a table of books and devotional items.

It was often a crazy scene. Sometimes people, often drunk from having a few too many beers or harder drinks, would sit down on the carpet in front of our singers, and try to play some of the instruments, often with friends taking pictures of them. One couple played along, one on the whompers (big karatalas) and the other banging their two bottles of alcoholic drink together in time with the beat. Many people wanted their pictures taken with the devotees. Some would dance with us, and you always hoped you would not get sloshed with beer in the course of their dancing.

As time goes on and people get more drunk, things get wilder. During the last couple of hours we were there, a couple different people in the crowd through different projectiles at me, gaining us some sympathy from the others. Kadamda Kanana Swami said the devotees close their tent at 8:00 p.m. although the event goes all night, because it gets to be too crazy, and I could see why! In fairness to the crowd, I must say of the eighty or a hundred devotees attending the event, I was the only one to my knowledge who was the object of thrown items. Perhaps I am just a good target. One long time Amsterdam devotee commented, "Back in the 80s, we used to get that type of stuff practically on every harinama. The holy name has definitely had its effect, since we now mostly get smiles from the people."

For some, the devotees were just another outlet for their drunken madness, yet others who were more fortunate were attracted, often without knowing why, to the music, the mantra, and the devotees. Some spontaneously came up asking for invitations, seeing me give them to others. A few always give us the universal “thumbs up” gesture of approval. So many thousands of people heard the holy name and gained favorable impressions of the devotees. And hundreds danced with us in the course of the day, maybe even thousands. Many said “Hare Krishna” as they passed us, and a few really enjoyed chanting along with us for awhile. I considered the following verse, reflecting on their good fortune: “One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else], jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.14).

What was the effect of the devotees endeavor? Practically the next Sunday, two new people came to the Sunday program, attracted by the devotees' Queen's Day presentation, and they enjoyed talking to Gaura Prabhu after his lecture. On one subsequent harinama, one girl smilingly swayed to the music as she walked by, and I gave her an invitation. She said she remembered us from Queen's Day. Later Bhakta Nir sold her a book. Such events as the Queen's Day harinama stimulate interest in spiritual life, which at a future time bears fruit, and we cannot properly trace out the benefit to the thousands of people who became freed from karmic reactions, who are more inclined to take a book or visit a temple, or who think well of the devotees because they made the endeavor to benefit them.

Kadamba Kanana Swami encouraged us all to put the event on our schedule for next year. Hopefully we will have more people and make a greater impact. The event is so massive that if we had enough devotees, kirtana leaders, instruments, and amplifiers, we could have several harinama parties moving simultaneously through the packed streets of Amsterdam, purifying the Queen's Day crowd from their innumerable sinful acts and planting and watering hundreds of thousands of creepers of devotion.

The day after felt a little empty by comparison to the previous day of full engagement, and I thought of Polish Woodstock festival with its four days of intensity. There is a always a sense of satisfaction from cooperating together to put on such events, and I plan to add this to my yearly itinerary along with the Polish festival tour, the Berlin Ratha-yatra, the Ukraine festival, and harinama-sankirtana, in its birthplace, the holy dhama of Mayapur. I hope you adventurous souls can come and join us for some great harinama in Amsterdam on April 30, 2009. You should try it at least once. Otherwise you may be missing out on something you might really like!

Videos of the Queen's Day harinamas:

Hare Krishnas (Including Me) Dance in Front of Their Booth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnyOSmoZ-Aw&NR=1

Queen's Day Harinama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5ySEtaemE

Temple Program and Queen's Day Harinama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsaAfjH4SOs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNkLZJJ-Wqs

Hare Krishnas Pass by a Buddhist Temple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNkLZJJ-Wqs

Hare Krishnas Dancing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23kxxt0_HBI&feature=related

Lively Chanting and Tour of Hare Krishna Booth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoFBN_rppbk

travel journal#4.8: The Only Happy People in London!

  Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 8

By Krishna-kripa das

(April 2008, part two)

The Only Happy People London!

(Sent from Amsterdam on 4/30/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

 

I spent almost five weeks in London doing three hours of harinama almost every day. Then by the invitation of Kadamba Kanana Swami, I went to Amsterdam for Queensday, a mammoth street celebration which the devotees do harinama at on April 30. That I will describe in my next issue as it would make this one too large and too late.

Devotional Notes

"Such a false conception [of I am the enjoyer and all I possess is mine] can be given up by thinking, 'I belong to Krishna and Krishna belongs to me.'"—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura on Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.17.54 from Uddhava Gita

Mukunda Dasa, a devotee from 1974 in Amsterdam, once walked to the temple with the desire to help out with Food for Life and another favorite service. When he arrived he found that Food for Life was not happening that day and neither was the other service, so he returned home, having done no service at all. The next day when he went to the temple, he asked the devotees what they needed done, and he was given some service which he happily did.

Harinama in London

Saturday night always has a lively harinama in downtown London. Parasurama Prabhu plays ukulele and Mother Ratnavali plays jdembe, along with the usual Hare Krishna instruments. We have some very enthusiastic female dancers who smilingly grab ladies from the crowd watching our performance, and pull them into the center to dance with them. It is entertaining both for the ladies and their friends and family who watch the fun from the side. Many of the induced dancers and their spectators take invitations. A guy with a British flag medallion stuck to his suit danced erratically through our party at one point. You really never know what will happen on the London Saturday harinamas. A few weeks back Superman and his friends danced with us.

For me the high point was when a respectably dressed man in his fifties, a little pudgy, with glasses and a round face, joined us in a very jovial mood for the last few blocks to the temple. In our conversation after the harinama, he said, "You know what I like about you Hare Krishnas. You are the only people in London who are happy!" We talked briefly. He had come to Govinda's Restaurant sometimes and read our books. Because he is attached to eating meat and drinking liquor, he says Krishna consciousness isn't for him, but he appreciates what we are doing. The most amazing thing for him, however, which he restated several times as I talked with him, is his realization that the Hare Krishnas are the only people in London who are happy.

On Sunday, Prabhupada disciple, Gaura Prabhu, a nice drummer with dozens of delightful Hare Krishna tunes, lead kirtana and Mother Sukhayanti, bouncing from person to person in her youthful enthusiasm, distributed flyers and a book. I was pleased that although our party was small, the two devotees were so enthusiastic it was a great experience nonetheless. We walked to King's Cross where we have a small center with a food distribution program and a weekly kirtana, lecture, and prasadam program. On the way back, Sukhayanti brought one lady she met to the Sunday feast. I suggested to the London devotees that they could make a Sunday harinama a regular event, gathering up people with nothing to do and bringing them to the Sunday feast, as we have done at some of our other temples in our ISKCON history.

 

The next Saturday evening, when our harinama party was stopped, I was passing out flyers to people who appeared to enjoy watching us dancing. I encouraged one young couple to dance with us, and amazingly enough they did, and their friends did, and then a whole group of ten people was dancing, some imitating the devotees and some doing their own thing. It was so lively, and I was happy, for once, to be an instrument in inducing their participation.

A Feast to Remember

Mother Gopi Bhava who works at Soho's Govinda's Restaurant is credited with cooking a notable feast—the only Sunday feast I recall, in twenty-five years, with two curd subjis. It is also the only one with trifle, a typical British dessert made with cake, custard, fruit, jelly, and whipped cream, which was very tasty. Gopi Bhava felt the devotees always see the trifle at the restaurant but never get to eat any, so she affectionately wanted to treat them.

 

Book Distribution

I hardly ever go out on book distribution. I do not like to talk to people. I never know what to say. I never have. Somehow Jai Nitai Prabhu, the temple president, made such an earnest entreaty to get everyone to go out on maha-Saturday, the last Saturday in the month, when everybody in the temple and congregation is encouraged out, that I decided to surrender. I meant to do an hour before the 3 p.m. Harinama, but I spent the day doing computer work and only had fifteen minutes left. I was intimidated by the prospect of stopping the people on bustling Oxford St. and sought those on side streets who were not moving. One person give me 18 pence for a book, less than half its printing cost. I felt a little bad but decided to go out more later. A devotee suggested I try selling books on the evening harinama, and so I did. The first people I talked to, a Russian couple, also gave less than the printing cost. I mentioned to the man about one of the devotees in our party who spoke Russian, a hard working devotee from the Polish tour, and I noticed the couple followed us to Chinatown. I talked to one middle-aged man who was a Buddhist practitioner. He asked about our philosophy. As a true Buddhist, he rejected the necessity of God. I asked where the creation came from and the system that governs karma. He ascribed those functions to material nature herself, which I said sounds a little hard to conceive. He and his friend who had spent time together at Buddhist asramas talked with me for a while, and his friend, claiming he was impressed by my sincerity, give me all his change, as had the others who had bought books from me, although this time it amounted to about 9 British pounds ($18), and thus made up for the previous two people who had given too little. That was Krishna kindness on me. I had not been in anxiety about the previous poor donations, but I was happy to see it balance out. Later a lady took another book for a pound.

Srila Prabhupada's book distribution ki, jaya!

Friends and Enemies

Gadagraja Prabhu, a key participant in Soho temple's Krishna Community Shop, told nice real life stories in class. Before he became a devotee, there was one person he just hated, and that person hated him. Whenever they saw each other, they would fight, calling each other ill names and punching each other out. After he become a devotee, in the course of distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, Gadagraja spied his former enemy. Surprisingly, he now felt no enmity in his heart toward him, although he was apprehensive about the man's reaction to him. The man saw him, but now that Gadagraja had the shaven head of a devotee, he didn't recognize him. He asked if he was a Hare Krishna, and he said he was. Apparently Gadagraja's former enemy had received a Perfection of Yoga from another devotee and wanted some explanation as to what it was about. They had a nice exchange, and the former enemy even offered to watch Gadagraja's stash of books whenever he distributed in that area!

On the other hand, before he became a devotee, Gadagraja had a close friend who he did a lot of activities together with. As Gadagraja was becoming a devotee, however, the friend said negative things about the devotees and tried to discourage him, and the two became more distance.

 

We can learn from this that we cannot always see who our real friends and enemies are, in the ultimate issue. An apparent enemy can assist us in our service to Krishna while an apparent friend can hold us back. We can also see that devotional service can purify our hearts from deep rooted enmity toward others.

 

My Favorite Holiday
(a submission to Back to Godhead's "In Your Own Words")

Srila Prabhupada's appearance day is my favorite holiday because then devotees reveal through their heartfelt offerings the inspiration behind their life of devotional service to Srila Prabhupada and his mission. It's also special because you hear Prabhupada stories you never heard and relish again those you have heard many times. Prabhupada brings everyone together. His Vyasa Puja Day brings out the best in all of us more than other holidays and pools our inspiration, giving us spiritual strength for another year of service. Not only that, but the feast, cooked with great devotion and frequently one of the most opulent, often features his favorites like kacauris, karela, and laddus, another very pleasant way to remember Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja Day ki jaya!

travel journal#4.7: London

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 7

By Krishna-kripa das

  (April 2008, part one) 

London

 (Sent from London, England, on 4/15/08)

 

 

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

 

I am still in London doing three hours of harinama almost every day. I also give a few lectures a week, between the Bhagavatam class, Gita class, and lunch program lecture. Amazingly I got to give a two-hour lecture on Lord Rama on his appearance day at midday and lead half of the two-hour harinama in his honor. My health was getting better but suffered a setback, as I ate too much at Rama's feast.

 

 

Devotional Notes

 

   Once Dr. Patel of Bombay asked Srila Prabhupada if "Rama" in the Hare Krishna mantra referred to Lord Ramacandra. Srila Prabhupada explained that if Dr. Patel was devoted to Lord Ramacandra, he could take it that way. When Dr. Patel left, Srila Prabhupada told his disciples that actually it refers to Lord Balarama, but there is no difference between Lord Balarama and Lord Ramacandra. Lord Balarama is the source of all incarnations, and therefore the source of the other Ramas, Lord Ramacandra and Lord Parasurama.—Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Maharaja

 

Gaura Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada, once gave a Bhagavad-gita to the librarian at the largest Indian reservation in Canada. The next year, when he visited the library again, the librarian explained how a Christian minister outside the reservation was looking for a book on Hinduism to teach classes about other religions at his church, and he borrowed Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is for that purpose. We can never guess what will happen when we distribute Srila Prabhupada's books.

 

 

Harinama in London

 

Krishna-vidhi Prabhu is expert in encouraging the people we meet to participate. We met to groups of students on field trips in London. In each group, Krishna-vidhi got several students to dance along with us. Several also took photos. By Krishna's grace, I had two flyers left, one for each group.

 

One day a group of eight or ten teenaged friends decided to hang out by our harinama party. Two of the girls imitated our dancing. Then the two devotee ladies from Finland encouraged the two to come join with them and they danced in a circle for some time. Then each lady linked arms with one of the girls and swung her around. Finally, the two devotee ladies swung each other around and as did the two girls. Then the girls saw our Hare Krishna maha-mantra sign and without any inducement by us began to sing along, finally getting it down after a few attempts. We smiled and nodded at them to encourage them. I was amazing how they must have chanted for five minutes or so during the twenty minutes they spent with us. Sometimes also they would move in and out, following the devotee dancers. I was impressed. Such enthusiasm to chant for more than just a few mantras is very rare. And most people do not spend as long as twenty minutes with us. I was praying they would get some special mercy from Krishna.

 

Once day, Krishna-vidhi asked me to lead, and my favorite tune came to mind, which is rare for me. It has at least three parts and is difficult to sing, going from the lower end of the musical scale to the higher end. Although I like it, I cannot sing it very well, but I had hardly heard it at all the whole time I was here in London and really missed it. In Mayapur, I would hear it at least once a week, and they like it at the Hungary farm. Instead of playing karatalas, I just danced and passed out flyers, as I sang with considerable delight just to hear the tune again. Krishna Vidhi said one lady came across the street to watch and listen to the kirtana, and Madhukari Dasi sold her a book. I was happy to participate it that.

 

One day an older lady, passing our chanting party, said with disdain, "Get a job!" Tired of hearing such insensitive, ignorant talk for so many years, I turned in her direction, and shouted, "We have a job, and it is better than yours!" Whether she heard or understood, I do not know, but I felt at least the truth should be asserted. Distributing spiritual knowledge is the best service to God and humanity.

 

Sunday Feast Conversation

 

   At the Sunday feast, I lamented as the new person who I planned to talk with during the feast decided to serve out instead of eat. I thought I could pray to Krishna that I might sit next to a new another person I can talk to about Krishna consciousness. But then I thought, "Why should I bother? He knows I want to talk to a new person." There was also a subtle feeling that if I pray, and he doesn't send somebody I might become angry with Him, which is certainly inauspicious. So didn't worry about it. As it turned out I sat next to a primary school teacher, who teaches religion among other things. He came for the first time by the advice of a friend. He liked the prasadam. He noticed we Krishna's like to preach more than the other Hindus. I explained we like to give spiritual knowledge to benefit people. Not necessarily that we are into converting people. Krishna says in the Gita one who shares His message with others is most dear to Him. He asked if there was a word for that. I said, "Pracar", the Bengali word for preach which had coincidentally appeared in the last two morning classes on Caitanya-caritamrita.

 

   He had a doubt about how the holy book of such nonviolent people could take place on the occasion of a war, and with Krishna advocating that Arjuna fight. I explained one must understand the entire context from Mahabharata. Arjuna and his brothers were rightful heirs to the throne, but their cousins tried to poison them, tried burning them by setting fire to their house, and finally rigged a dice match in which Arjuna and his brothers lost the whole kingdom. They even tried to strip Arjuna's wife naked in the government assembly. They were clearly not qualified for government office, and Krishna as the Lord, wanted the rulers to be competent people who would look after everyone's spiritual and material benefit. Krishna Himself went on a peace mission, showed his universal form of great opulence, and requested some land for Arjuna and his brothers. His cousins thought Krishna was merely bluffing them with some magic and declared they would not give them as much land as fits on the head of a pin. It was in that situation, that Krishna induced Arjuna to fight to reinstate righteous government. Furthermore, warriors on both sides, who died in the presence of Krishna attained spiritual perfection, which for the demoniac ones would never have happened otherwise.

 

   Brian, the new guest, asked what it was like after the war, and I told him that Arjuna and his brothers ruled the world and everyone prospered by their competent guidance.

 

   He told me he plans to visit India in August and spend some time in an ashrama. I mentioned about Chowpatty, and the self-sufficient farm near Belgaum. He clearly had a nice time said he expected to come back, and I told him about the restaurant and lunch program, if ever he is in downtown London during the week or Saturday. I urged he take advice from us on his trip because we often go to India, and at the very least we can keep him from getting misled. I get him my card. As he left, I reminded him about the free book the devotees here in London kindly give to first time people. The nice exchange with the guest made my day.

 

   Three or four new guests came to the lunch program when I gave class. It was nice for me since I got to review the whole philosophy. One young lady inquired if there was a secular version of perfection, where one cares for the needs of other people without so much spiritual focus. I explained that as an occupation, she could do welfare work if she wished, but that is not a substitute for spiritual service. Unless we serve God our soul will not be satisfied, and unless we engage other people in God's service their souls will not be satisfied. If the son of a rich man leaves home and spends all his money, we can help him by giving some shelter or food, but the best help is to reconnect him with his father. Then all his needs will be met in one stroke. Similarly, if we connect people with God, He will take care of all their needs far better than we can. Furthermore, Krishna says those who teach His message to others are most dear to Him.

 

 

nadhi-vyadhi-jara-glani-

  duhkha-soka-bhaya-klamah

mrtyus canicchatam nasid

  rame rajany adhoksaje

 

"When Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it." (SB 9.10.53)

 

All these facilities existed because of Lord Ramacandra's presence as the King of the entire world. A similar situation could be introduced immediately, even in this age called Kali, the worst of all ages. It is said, kali-kale nama-rupe krishna-avatara: Krishna descends in this Kali-yuga in the form of His holy name—Hare Krishna, Hare Rama. If we chant offenselessly, Rama and Krishna are still present in this age. The kingdom of Rama was immensely popular and beneficial, and the spreading of this Hare Krishna movement can immediately introduce a similar situation, even in this Kali-yuga.

travel journal#4.6: Chowpatty and London

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 6

By Krishna-kripa das

  (March 2008, part two) 

Chowpatty and London

 (Sent from London, England, on 3/31/08)

 

 

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

 

After a great Gaura Purnima in Chowpatty, I came to London to do harinama. I love our London temple, with its lunch program, harinama program, and evening program. This place is really alive. Being a central location, many sannyasis also come through here. Externally speaking, I am worse off because I got sick due to the cold. I have to just tolerate it, or vow to never live in a place where it gets cold, at least during the season I am there.

 

Devotional Tips

 

Lord Krishna taught devotional service theoretically, but as Lord Caitanya He wanted to demonstrate by His own example how to be fully absorbed in thoughts of Krishna. Our surrender is engaging our mind in Krishna, becoming His devotee, worshiping Him, and offering obeisances to Him (Bg. 18.65). Anyone who chants with firm faith in the process Lord Caitanya has given can attain success.—Niranjana Swami, Gaura Purnima lecture, Chowpatty

 

   Gaura Purnima is the greatest of holy days. It is the Deity in the form of day.—Radhanatha Swami

 

   What is the qualification to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya? The qualification is simply to realize one's fallen position.—Niranjana Swami

 

   The value of a moment's association with a devotee is more valuable than material prosperity. Better one moment of full consciousness than a life inexperienced by years in this world. How does one get this one moment of full consciousness? By one moment's association with a devotee. The Lord incarnates as the holy name, but the devotees make the holy name available to others. The holy name can give the fruit of love of God. We simply have to desire it. This Krishna consciousness movement is for the cultivation of the desire for love of God (Bg. 12.9). By hearing and chanting the seed of love of God is watered. One must hear from the mouths of Vaishnavas. Otherwise we cannot get that seed. The most elevated conjugal love of God, Lord Caitanya came to give, in the form of the holy name.—Niranjana Swami

 

   If some calls us Prabhu [master], we should think, "This person is so elevated that he can see even me as Prabhu." We should not think, "Everyone is calling me Prabhu. It must be true."—Radhanatha Swami

 

   We should not think that a beggar is begging, and I am giving. We should think I am begging for service, and this person [appearing as a beggar] is giving me an opportunity [to serve]. —Radhanatha Swami

 

   The consciousness with which we serve the agents of the holy name is the consciousness we serve the holy name. —Radhanatha Swami

 

   To the degree we are happy to see others getting Krishna's blessings, Krishna will be inclined to bestow His blessings upon us.—Radhanatha Swami

 

   If you say everything is God's but you use everything for yourself, then you are thinking that you are God. —Radhanatha Swami

 

Notes from Jayadvaita Swami's classes:

 

   Better not to take a vow than to not to keep one. Then at least we will be considered honest.

 

   Bhisma vowed to be a lifelong celibate not in front of the Lord but in front of a fisherman, but he kept his vow.

 

   Why does a cockroach move when you try to step on it? He wants to live forever. Not that he thinks, "I have lived long enough, you can kill me."

 

Q: Why are people attracted to spiritual life, and why people not attracted?

A: We are spiritual beings by nature so spiritual life is attractive to us, but we have been conditioned by many births in the material world and therefore we also have a tendency to remain absorbed in material life and neglect it.

 

Madhudvisa Prabhu Remembers Srila Prabhupada

 

Visiting the site of the Ratha-yatra cart construction, Srila Prabhupada offered obeisances to cart saying, "The Ratha cart is as good as the Deity."

 

I can see that you feel frustrated and confused and because you are in the material world, it is not a bad thing that you are feeling frustrated and confused. But do not think that by taking shelter of drugs that things will improve, rather you will become more frustrated and more confused. Better you take shelter of chanting Hare Krishna and taking Krishna prasadam. Then you will be happy.—Summary of  Srila Prabhupada's 1970 Ratha-yatra lecture in San Francisco

 

You never knew how Srila Prabhupada would answer a question because he spoke for the benefit of the particular individual.

 

Srila Prabhupada's mood was, "Whenever someone comes to the temple, I feel he has been sent by my Guru Maharaja, so I must take care of him."

 

 

Darshan with Radhanatha Swami

 

Karuna Sindhu Prabhu invited me to a darshan with Radhanatha Swami. He and a friend were reporting to Maharaja on their program of cultivating foreign tourists. They had different strategies including taking the foreigners on tours of a few notable sites in Mumbai, ending with the Radha-Gopinath temple—Gandhi, Gardens, and God's House. Many people enjoyed the tours and some developed some interest in Krishna consciousness. Radhanatha Swami mentioned that both Giriraja and Sridhara Swamis had said that one of Srila Prabhupada main desires for Mumbai was to have a program for cultivating the foreign tourists. Because of other extensive projects in India, practically no one had done anything in this area, and Radhanatha Swami was excited about his disciples' preliminary results and plans for the future, which include tours of the devotees Mumbai food distribution program and farm in the country.

   I thanked Maharaja for the festival, saying, "You are the only person who can put on such a nice Gaura Purnima festival that people will feel happy leaving Mayapur to come to it." Mother Shyama Sakhi, one of the Bhakti-sastri teachers in Mayapur, in queue with her husband for the next darshan, voiced a loud agreement. (About nine of us Mayapur residents had come to Chowpatty for the festival this year.) Maharaja kindly gave me an incredible beautiful picture of Radha-Gopinath and Lalita and Visakha which I certainly do not deserve. It is a rare shot, as beautiful as the Deities Themselves. He also gave us all cookies. We are always indebted to Radhanatha Swami who is the personification of affectionate exchanges with devotees. I said I hoped to come back when Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami visits Chowpatty next winter. Radhanatha Maharaja fondly recalled how Satsvarupa Maharaja had enjoyed his visit to Chowpatty this year.

 

Harinama in London

 

Each harinama is unique, most having some memorable features. The first day, a young Indian attendee of the temple, coming from work, dressed in coat and tie, joined us for the last hour of harinama. He played the drum and suggested some melodies. After the two-hour event was over, he was so invigorated he insisted we continue another fifteen minutes. He later said Janananda Swami once told him he should go on harinama whenever he had the chance. The next day, Madhukari Dasi, a young and enthusiastic disciple of Tripurari Swami, joined our party and convinced one girl to chant, engaged three people in dance, and distributed eight of Srila Prabhupada's books. Also taking part was Srinivasin, a Chowpatty attendee, probably in his thirties, wearing a suit but with prominent tilaka, here in London for two days on business. There were five of us, and we all took turns leading. Everyone participated so nicely together, it was very blissful. The day after, Victor from Portugal come out to resolve his doubt, "How could anyone stay out on harinama for two hours?" His realization was that as time goes on, it becomes more and more enjoyable, and to see the positive reactions of the public gives one inspiration to continue. One young Canadian man, attracted by our party, held his cell phone up to the mouths of both the lead singer and then a responder as they chanted "Hare Krishna." As he was leaving, he said, "I love you guys! You make the city of London happy!"

   Saturday night is especially lively. A group of six teenaged black girls delighted in moving to the rhythm of the kirtana for a while. Then Superman and a band of five male and two females wearing leotards in the chilly London evening, danced for five minutes. Spectators found that scene particularly humorous. I wished I had a camera. Other people also took great pleasure in dancing with us. That evening I passed out a couple Higher Tastes and many restaurant invitations.

 

Conversation with Traveling

 

   I talked to a Moslem man for an hour or so while waiting for my flight to London from Mumbai. I asked him if he offered his five prayers a day to Allah. He said did. He had familiar misconceptions of Hinduism that I tried to correct, that (1) Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are all on the same level, that (2) Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, and the (3) the goal is to merge our spiritual self with the Supreme Spirit. I explained that we have an eternal relationship with God in the spiritual world, as we have relationships with other people in this world. For example, Arjuna is Krishna's friend and Radha is Krishna's beloved. I asked about the situation of those who attain perfection in Islam. He talked about gardens and beautiful girls, and it reminded me of the situation of heaven but not the kingdom of God. Srila Prabhupada has given us such a wonderful goal, to take part in pastimes of love with the Supreme Lord Krishna in one of five completely satisfying relationships. What a wonderful opportunity!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

travel journal#4.5: Mayapur Festival and More

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 5
By Krishna-kripa das
(March 2008, part one)
Mayapur, Kolkata, and In Between
(Sent from Chowpatty, Mumbai, India, on 3/20/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I have been in Mayapur doing harinama, proofreading Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, Nature's IQ, the second edition of The Uddhava Gita, and the Friends of the BBT Newsletter, and reading over the articles for an anti-Darwinian BBT book timed to coincide with the bicentennial of Darwin's birth in 2009. I have been selling of few of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami's, my diksa guru's, books at the Mayapur festival as well. Now I have come to ISKCON Chowpatty for their Gaura Purnima festival, especially because Niranjana Swami, the wonderful devotee who advised me to live in the temple originally, and Radhanatha Swami, also a great realized devotee and lecturer, are both here. I wish you all a wonderful Gaura Purnima wherever you may be. After the festival, on March 26, I plan to go to London, and do harinama, and from there to other European cities.

Devotional Meditation

Our philosophy is so wonderful. We all have an eternal relationship with an incredibly beautiful person, which becomes more blissful as time goes on. This material world with all its hellish conditions is temporary and illusory, and when we wake up we become free from it. Sometimes it is very intense just to motivate us to wake up.—from an SB class

Devotees Are Everywhere

On March 13, I was meeting devotees left and right in Kolkata, many I knew. Vaishnava youth Kumari, a bharat-natyam dancer studying in Chennai, and who once lived in Alachua, came to my Srimad-Bhagavatam class and liked it. I had breakfast with Ahovalam Nrsimha Prabhu and his son Rsabha who I knew from the Poland tour and from Mayapur. He is happy to use his French to enlighten visitors to Radha-desa in Krishna consciousness, rather than just teaching gurukula and his son is enjoying his studies at Bhaktivedanta College. Later I met a friendly Gaudiya Matha devotee at the Foreign Tour Quota office and two Russian devotees on the ferry to Howrah station. Then I met Gaura Krishna Prabhu and his brother on the train back to Navadvipa. Many people smiled and laughed to see three Western men balanced on a rickshaw from the train station to Mayapura Ghat.

Conversations While Traveling

I had some nice experiences sharing Krishna consciousness with others. As I left the Kolkata temple, I decided to purchase a Bengali book, in case I met someone nice in my travels. The brahmacari at the counter insisted I take two. On the bus to the tourist quota office, one friendly man who works in elections helped arrange my seating and baggage. I showed him the small 6 rupee book on Lord Caitanya's life and instructions, and he got some change from the bus fare collector and bought it. He said he liked music and rightly sensed that I was not up on the latest popular music. He mentioned he really liked a group called Kulasekhara and a title called Govinda. I heard that Kulasekhara was a Hare Krishna devotee from friends who are more into the music scene. The man was so enthusiastic about that group, he told me I should pickup their music the next time I return to America. It was a nice exchange, and I thanked him for his help as I left the bus.

On the train I met a computer science student going to school in Kolkata but originally from Navadvipa where we were both going. I told how I myself got a computer science degree in American back in 1982. I mentioned how Lord Caitanya had predicted this chanting of Hare Krishna would spread all over the world, and although for centuries, people thought it was allegory, now the prediction was coming to pass. I showed him the English and Bengali books I had, but he said he didn't believe in it. I said well it is a historical fact that the prediction was made 500 years ago, and it is coming true. He said Nostradamus has so many true predictions. I said that is true, but those predictions do not have to do with people awakening love for God! I was in shock—I was talking to an atheist from the home of Lord Caitanya's pastimes. I asked if he had adopted another religion or he had an atheistic view and he revealed his atheism. I talked to him about Forbidden Archeology, and all evidence dug up that is inconsistent with presently formulated theory of human evolution. Then I discussed the inability of scientists to explain the cause of consciousness, and how past life memories and out-of-body experiences provide evidence consistent with the Vedic explanation of consciousness. He was interested in the ideas, and I got his email address, and promised to send him the URL for the online version of Origins magazine.

My Experience of the Beginning of the Mayapur Festival

What can one say about the Mayapur festival? So many events attractive to our spiritual senses compete for our attention. One cannot attend them all. Seminars, harinamas, dramas, and kirtanas, all ways of associating with great souls, who bless us with faith in Lord Gauranga, His surrendered representative, Srila Prabhupada, and the holy name of the Lord.

I recall the varnasrama seminar of Bhakti Raghava Swami was popular among many. His disciple gave me Bhakti Raghava Swami's book on the subject to pass on to my guru since Maharaja wanted all the leaders to get one. Varnasrama was a popular topic in the ether this year, and my friend Akhiladhara Prabhu induced me to promise to visit a new self-sufficient varnasrama farm project near Belgaum in northern Karnataka, which he and others predict will fulfill Srila Prabhupada's dreams in that area.

New things making this festival a level above the last included Dravida Prabhu's morning poetry reading prior to the announcements. He has creatively worded English translations in poetic form to profound literary contributions of the previous spiritual teachers, to attract our ears, minds, and hearts to Krishna and His pastimes. One about the delightfully tasty beverage of the holy names of Radha and Krishna was particularly sweet and well received:

Stavavali, by Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami

radheti nama nava-sundara-sidhu mugdham
   krsneti nama madhuradbhuta-gadha-dugdham
sarva-ksanam surabhi-raga-himena ramyam
krtva tadaiva piba me rasane ksud-arte

An excellent fresh nectar drink with endless subtle tastes --
Such is the name of Radha, by whom all three worlds are graced.
Condensed milk that is wonderfully delicious, thick and sweet --
Such is the name of Krishna, in whom all attractions meet.
Now mix these drinks, O thirsty tongue, and add the fragrant ice
Of love, a prize the wise will try to buy at any price.
And then at every moment drink this beverage most fine,
And make my heart supremely blissful, peaceful, and divine.

Another nice new feature was Russian Service Day when the over eight hundred Russian devotees made special contributions to serve the holy dhama and the other devotees. Forty or more Russian devotees cleaned the temple after the noon arati with great delight. They also, with great joy, took over the serving of lunch prasadam, creating a most pleasing mood by their enthusiasm to serve.

The stage show was highlighted by the wonderful dramas, both by the very professional Bhaktivedanta Players, and Bhakti Marg Swami, who directed a cast of mostly local and youthful devotees, in enacting tales from the Mahabharata about Kunti and Karna. The visiting brother of devotee from England said that fight scene in that play was among the best he had ever seen and that all the performances were very professional. That convinced me of their value since it is all too easy for us to glorify our own performers, who often are our personal friends, but when those with no great attachment to devotional service or devotees appreciate, the acting must be truly well done.

Also on stage in the evening, Dravida Prabhu, with his delightful poems, reminded us both of the limitless beauty of Krishna and the fact that poetic is one of the qualities of great devotees. One of his poems was a transcendent rap piece following one of Rupa Gowami's poems, with very creative rhymes. Another was a truly beautiful one about how the holy name is really all that is:

It makes this world appear like bits of straw upon the ground.
It splendorously reigns Supreme—Divinity in sound. . . .
O what great sorrow, what great pain, the worst calamity,
For people to forget the holy name of Sri Hari!
Although the name's a priceless gem, mere broken glass they see.
The holy name of Sri Hari is surely all that be!

There was more to the stage show, but I had my regular service to attend to, my guru's books to sell, and my computer in disrepair, so I could only catch a little nectar here and there.

When you have evening kirtanas led by Lokanatha Swami, Radhanatha Swami, Sivarama Swami, and Aindra Prabhu, you have a lot of devotees smilingly dancing with great happiness, and a lively scene which went past 10:00 p.m. every night. It reminded me of what Mayapur is meant for. One time in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada overheard a wonderfully melodic bhajana coming from the temple, and remarked that he wanted all the devotees to come to Mayapur and experience the wonder of chanting kirtana together here. The leaders were in anxiety calculating how much it would cost. Yet Prabhupada was eagerly thinking of sharing the great mercy Gauranga had come to give.

Personally I love meeting all my friends from America, Europe, and India, all in one very spiritually invigorating place, one friend after the other. I rejoice in their great victory, the attainment of the transcendental land where the son of Mother Saci eternally performs His pastimes. Living on the East Coat of America, I never see my friends from the West Coast, except when we occasionally and unexpectedly meet in Mayapur. My service for the winter in Mayapur was what we call in America harinama or what they call in Bengal nagar sankirtan. We chant for three hours each day, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., either to the bhajana kutir of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the Yoga-Pitha, Jagannatha Mandir, the town of Navadvipa, or a couple villages, one on each side of the Ganges, where we distribute prasadam, spiritual food. The party is very international with regulars from Russia, Nigeria, Ghana, Bulgaria, Australia, Italy, Bengal, and the USA. I encouraged everyone I knew who came to visit Mayapur to come out with us at least once. Some unexpectedly fell in love with the program, coming out almost every day. These included a Prabhupada disciple from Alachua along with his daughter, and an Indradyumna Swami disciple from Poland, who I knew was fond of Deity worship but appeared to develop a great taste for harinama as well.

People who live in Mayapur before the festival time, see how the variegated opulence of the festival covers the peaceful charm of Mayapur, to a large extent, and it is harder for us to focus on our favorite service to Krishna in our favorite place. But we know at heart it is Srila Prabhupada's will, that of his spiritual predecessors, and that of Lord Gauranga Himself. Seeing all the pilgrims, Bengali and international, I recall how Srila Prabhupada told his earlier followers in Mayapur, "If we advertise, 'Bhaktivedanta Swami will speak under a tree,' who will come?" Therefore, Srila Prabhupada wanted to build big temples to invite people to visit and hear about Krishna from self-realized souls and to make their lives successful. In Mayapur that is always going on in a big way, and during the festival, the great mercy is spreading even more. If you didn't come this year, don't miss out again! Commit to coming to next year's festival today! Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival, ki jaya!

Concluding Verse about Lord Caitanya

anarpita-carim cirat karuṇayavatirṇaḥ kalau
  samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah
  sada hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ saci-nandanah

May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Saci-devi [Lord Caitanya] be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 1.4).