travel journal#4.15: Polish Woodstock 2008

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 15
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2008, part one)
Polish Woodstock 2008
(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 8/17/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

We assisted Indradyumna Swami and his team at a spiritual cultural festival at the site of Przystanek Woodstock, the largest European outdoor rock concert, during the period from July 30 to August 3. Here I share some impressions from this year's event and do not attempt to describe it completely. My web pages from previous years, 2001, 2002, and 2003, give an overall impression the whole event. I also advise reading Indradyumna Swami's journal on Woodstock when it comes out at http://www.traveling-preacher.com/ for it is more comprehensive. I only participate in a small part of the festivities, and I only have time to describe some of what I experienced.

Ratha-yatra



We had Ratha-yatra every day at the Poland Woodstock festival.

Some punks were very eager to sweep the street before Lord Jagannatha and successfully competed with the devotees for the service. When they got the chance, they were so enthusiastic the nearby devotees became covered with dust. Some pulled the ropes of the cart with full strength, minimizing the contribution of the devotees in comparison. Some continued for three hours, from beginning to end. They were less in number but were actually doing the job of pulling the cart.

Many people smiled to view Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and
Lady Subhadra, on Their carts and their dancing devotees in front.

Govinda Dasa from Scotland and Hare Krishna Dasa from Italy, seen here playing accordions, were among the visiting kirtana leaders.

The devotee musicians, like Jagannatha Misra Prabhu on the whompers, Syama Rasa Prabhu on the djembe, and Bhakta Tom on the gong, were really fired up.

The dancing in front of the Ratha-yatra was a great joy for the devotees and the Woodstock attendees, and to see it as an observer was a joy as well.

Many, many people danced with us.

Indradyumna Swami himself was one of the liveliest dancers.

Just see the people smiling and dancing!

Indradyumna Swami and B. B. Govinda Swami dance with the Woodstock folks, some quite outlandishly dressed, like the guy with the mask looking at B. B. Govinda Swami.

The young ladies also delighted in dancing with the devotees before Lord Jagannatha's cart.

One girl with dredlocks, wearing a long, shining, golden dress, danced with upraised arms with great pleasure before Lord Jagannatha. She came up to me, in the middle of our first Ratha-yatra, saying she remembered me from my chanting at the train station after Woodstock last year. I dredged my memory and then it occurred to me. One of the hundred or two hundred people, either lining the platform or sitting on the train, and hearing our mini harinama was one girl, who I recalled because as she danced with us, she twirled her longest dredlock, which was so long it touched the ground behind her. Like our martial artist, Dina Dayal Prabhu, who twirls his sword, to the front, the left, the right, and back, she did the same with her longest dredlock. This year, that girl, conspicuous by her long, shining, golden dress, danced in every single Ratha-yatra for at least half an hour, smiling brightly the whole time. After the last Ratha-yatra, I asked the town of her residence, and gave her our invitation to our center in the nearby city of Wroclaw, telling her she can come there and dance with us every week. Perhaps she will for she seemed to have gotten a higher taste.

The participation of the both devotees and the Woodstock attendees in the Ratha-yatra has great spiritual value. Srila Prabhupada writes in The Nectar of Devotion, "In the Brahmanda Purana it is said, 'A person who sees the Lord's Ratha-yatra car festival and then stands up to receive the Lord can purge all kinds of sinful results from his body.' . . . A similar statement is there in the Bhavishya Purana, in which it is said, 'Even if born of a lowly family, a person who follows the Ratha-yatra car when the Deities pass in front or from behind will surely be elevated to the position of achieving equal opulence with Vishnu [the Supreme Lord].'" Elsewhere in the book it is stated: "In the Bhavishya Purana it is said, 'In such a ceremony, if even a candala [dog-eater], simply out of curiosity, sees the Lord on the cart, he becomes counted as one of the associates of Vishnu.'"

Many videos on You Tube show scenes from the Krishna presence at Woodstock, and by searching for "Woodstock 2008 Krishna" you will encounter them. Just after two or so minutes into it, this particular video shows a lot of the lively dancing at the Ratha-yatra.

Bhakti Marg Swami's Spontaneous Kirtana
With the Woodstock Folk

The last two days of the Woodstock, Bhakti Marg Swami decided to do kirtana in the evening in the interior of our village, on the opposite side from our stage. Without arrangement of stage or amplication, he just sat with them, reminding us of Srila Prabhupada chanting under the tree in Tompkins Square Park in the early days, surrounded by the hippies. Some people around Bhakti Marg Swami were sitting eating, some resting, and some intoxicated. The first day he engaged Bhakta Tom as a djembe player, but the second he started just clapping his hands and chanting and gradually attendees and some devotees gathered to participate, some of both groups bringing instruments. The Woodstock attendees really got into the down home kirtana, and jumped up and down, dancing with great enthusiasm. He chose simple tunes that made it easy to learn and chant along with the mantra, and they responded. I as well as others passed many mantra cards to the people, who were in many ways more lively than those dancing in our kirtana tent. The inspired people would drag their friends into the middle and encourage them to participate as well to their mutual delight. That Bhakti Marg Swami was willing to sit down in the midst of the people really won their hearts and inspired them to participate. When Indradyumna Swami and B. B. Govinda Swami began their chanting on the stage, Bhakti Marg Swami slowly walked in that direction, surrounded by his group, and upon arriving at the main tent, humbly requested those following him to dance in front of the stage to the kirtana of the Maharajas, and thus ended his kirtana.

Bhakti Marg Swami also produced a Bhagavad-gita drama that was shown on our stage, both at the Woodstock and the rest of the summer tour, and which makes many of Krishna's main teachings in that book come alive. The devotees all hope he can return next year, and share his enthusiasm with us.

Notable Impressions

For me, what made Woodstock most rewarding this year was connecting interested people with Krishna programs in their local areas. Trisama Prabhu, who has been involved in nama-hatta for many years, gave me a list of all temples and nama-hatta contacts in Poland. I was able to connect about thirteen people, in five regions in Poland, with local groups, so they can continue their devotional association, most essential for spiritual progress, if they are ambitious enough to do so.

The Polish devotees who know English are engaged in many important services, and so none were on hand in the kirtana tent to translate Adi Karta Prabhu’s brief talk about the chanting. Thus he asked for a translator from the audience, and one young lady volunteered. She spoke quite confidently and accurately as far as I could tell. Eager to indentify someone who knew English, and thus someone who I could talk to, I spoke with her afterward. She is majoring in linguistics and had recently taken a course on interpretation. By Krishna's grace, she was just a suitable person to play the role of a translator! She is from Krakow, the city in Poland famous for its university and student population. I told her we have periodic programs there, with singing, food, and philosophy, and she took down the contact information of our local nama-hatta devotee.

Giving out mantra cards to those watching and participating in the kirtanas was a great joy for me. Some people showed their happiness in receiving the cards by smiles, gestures, and with exclamations, and some by eagering showing them to their friends, who then also wanted them. Some exclaimed "Text!" as if a long cherished desire had been fulfilled. A few were so happy they wanted to embrace us. I thank Indradyumna Swami who kindly had the forsight to print 17,000 such cards of which we may have distributed 4,000, and to Jayatam Jaya Sila Prabhu who designed them. We are primarily distributing the holy name in this Hare Krishna movement, and I was happy to assist in this.

Giving out invitations for our festival of spiritual food and entertainment was also rewarding. It is nice to promote an event you believe in and which others appreciate. Practically 90% of the people would take the invitations. Even the final evening, when there were only four hours remaining, still 70% of the people would take the invitations, one time seven people in a row did. I passed out the invitations in a very graceful way with a smile and often a hearty "Zapraszamy" ("We invite you"). And people reciprocated accepting them sometimes gracefully, sometimes with folded hands, and often with a smile. Sometimes they would have a grim or neutral expression on their faces, which would break out in a smile, and they would reach out and take one.

I have corresponded with one girl, Paulina, since she came to our festival in Kolobrzeg in 2006. She visited our Krishna village this Woodstock on the first full day. Later she came by the kirtana tent when I was leading kirtana, and more competent lead singers had deserted to the Ratha-yatra. I was happy to see that she sang along, smiling. I kept the same tune going as I know you can lose people by leaving a gap between tunes or singers, and the crowd built up from two or three to twenty or thirty, including a few dancers. When a couple good lead singers arrived, I ended and asked Paulina to translate a few words for me about the mantra. I knew she was not confident of her English, and would be reluctant, but I thought it would be a good thing anyway. I explained how the mantra was composed of God’s names, and God is not different from His names. God is full of happiness, and by associating with Him in the form of the holy name, you can become happy. She is from near Wroclaw, and I gave her an invitation to that temple which I obtained from our book tent. She promised to come.

For me, Woodstock meant meeting old friends and making new ones.

Besides those I spoke of, on our first harinama, I met a boy I spoke to in the bus from the Ukraine border when I had taken Gour Mohan to Lvov in the beginning of July. He had told me he knew us from Woodstock and said he would see us there, which he did. Had he not shown me the train station, I would not have made the train, scheduled to leave two minutes after I boarded it.

I saw also Izabela, a resident of Kostrzyn, who I also knew from 2006. She was eager to come again for Krishna prasadam.

One girl from near Wroclaw spoke to me during the Ananda Maya (the successor of Village of Peace and 18 Days) concert. We talked about the spiritual Village of Peace songs we both liked. She bought a book from our Wroclaw center a month ago. I told her of our four-day nama-hatta Janmastami festival near Jelenie Gora, and she wondered if she could set her tent up there at our farm, and I promised to send her information about it.

I met a couple girls from north Germany. One knew English well, having lived in Canada three months. She had done charitable work in Tamil Nadu for three months, enjoyed India, and had spiritual aspirations. I told her about our temples in Vrindavana and Mayapur, and gave her the web page addresses for our German and English web sites.

Many people liked the prasadam, which was better than previous years. Even the day after, we served out the leftovers to some very grateful people. I invited one boy from Berlin to next weekend’s Ratha-yatra there.

I thanked the ambassador to India for his great lecture in Kolobrzeg. I mentioned the translation of the Gita verse he spoke on. I said I liked the fact than he showed how the Gita can practically benefit our lives. He says he will retire in a year, although his term lasts three. I reminded him that Vedic culture teaches retirement for the purpose of spiritual development.

 

The kirtana tent was special this year because the dancing had reached another level. The kind of dance where the people form a chain and go up and around and back, in and out, and all around, abounded. It seemed there were fifty or even seventy people in the one, two, or occasionally three, such winding chains of people. Half were devotees and half were on the way. To see the happy smiles of all involved was joyous. Some of the people happily chanted as well. This kind of dancing went on for three hours nonstop, and I could not believe the endurance of the people.

Credit goes to B. B. Govinda Swami, and his traveling musicians, and Indradyumna Swami for the lively chanting, all motivating the late night dancing. B. B. Govinda would start very slow and bring the kirtana to a lively speed, and then start slow once again. Once eleven-year-old Mallika, Indradyumna Swami’s brother’s step daughter, lead the tune B. B. Govinda Swami and his excellent female singer had been chanting. Her chanting there, standing on the stage, with a microphone, was charming, and people loved it.
Sometimes people would watch from the outside, then start moving with the music, and finally rush into the tent and join in. Others, with previously generated enthusiasm, would come running from a distance. Sometimes mothers would dance with their children, or they would encourage their children to dance.

People of all ages took the mantra cards, with few indifferent to them. One girl claimed I offered her a card five times, but it was very hard to remember the faces, and some people I thought I may have given them to, took them like it was the first time.
I saw one boy on several occasions at our different functions. Towards the end of the festival he had a Bhagavad-gita and a blue bead bag. He lamented during our final kirtana that he would be separated from us. I encouraged him that we have periodic programs in many areas, and he said that the devotees told him about the one near him. I asked if his school or work would prevent him from coming, and he said no but his parents would. Still he is fortunate to get Gita and the holy name, and I tried to encourage him as best I could.

B. B. Govinda Swami and Indradyumna Swami did kirtana on our main stage the final night.

The dancing was especially wonderful.

While I helped clean up the festival the day after, a middle-aged woman questioned me in Polish. I referred her to a Polish devotee who often does questions and answers. I noticed a hour later, they were still talking. Some people like that lady were quite inquisitive.

All in all, many, many tens of thousands of people came in touch with Krishna in a favorable way those four days, thus they progressed spiritually. We thank Indradyumna Swami and the selfless devotees working under his directions for their tireless service to make it all possible, and Srila Prabhupada for engaging us all in these auspicious activities.

Bliss at the Train Station the Day After

Remembering our last year’s harinama at the train station, and seeing how the one girl with the dredlocks who had seen us then, participated in all our Ratha-yatras this year, I tried to get a few friends to chant at the train station where a few hundred people would be waiting for trains back home. Everyone was too busy taking down the festival or too tired. One said he would come if I arranged a car, which I failed to do—the fifteen-minute walk being unthinkable. I decided at 9:00 p.m. to go myself with some karatalas and mantra cards. On the way out I found a huge bucket of halava in the parking lot, and recalled how one devotee distributed some at the train station after our harinama last year. When I went into the kitchen to get a smaller bucket it to transfer it to, I saw Radhe Govinda Prabhu. "O great, a surrendered soul!" I thought. I was in bliss because I knew Radhe Govinda liked adventure, sharing Krishna consciousness, and wasn’t afraid to stay up late. I explained that I wanted to distribute some halava at the train station. He said it was a one-man job, and I could do it alone. I replied that that was true, but I did not have the mental strength to deal with the groups of people, some of whom are drunk and some of whom tease you and make life difficult, and I wanted the association of another devotee. He could appreciate that, so we went together, getting there around 10:00 p.m. There were groups of people there, and some were quite eager to get the free halava and most accepted the complimentary mantra cards as well.

One person taking the halava, Dorian Dec, who spoke English, said he had come to our camp and really appreciated our kitchen. He also asked about the mantra, and we explained the meaning of each word. He wanted to hear it, and I took out my karatalas and we all chanted together briefly. He asked about many things and he talked with us, especially with Radhe Govinda, for two hours, until his train left. Sometimes while he was talking with Radhe Govinda, I would chant and distribute halava to others. Dorian said he had come to one of our Baltic coast festivals in 1999 and seen a drama. He thought for a few seconds, and then exclaimed "Ramacandro!" a line from the play, saying it with the same intonation and feeling that the actor does. He then remembered the evil multiheaded Ravana. Radhe Govinda smiled and said, "That was me. I was there in 1999, and I played Ravana." Dorian also remembered the demoness who lost her ears and nose. I was amazed that someone would recall so many details from a play he saw nine years before, beginning with the all-auspicious name of Lord Ramacandra. Dorian also had me write his name in Sanskrit, and he took another cup of halava for his several-hour journey home, as did a couple other people. Dorian lives in Opole, about an hour from Wroclaw by train. I gave him an invitation for our Wroclaw temple. He and we were very happy about our meeting.

While we were talking with Dorian, a boy with a djembe came up to us, introducing himself as the person Indradyumna Swami had danced with on Ratha-yatra two years ago. He had also come and danced in this year’s Ratha-yatra, and devotees told me he was much improved in appearance. He mentioned he lost his meditation beads, but we did not have any extras. Had I been less spaced out, I could have got his address so we could send him some. It is nice how Krishna keeps sending us people with previous relationships with devotees when we go out.

To go from spending fifteen hours a day sharing Krishna consciousness with people, as we had for four days, down to none was too much. Our little two-hour outing helped fill the void. I recall how Srila Prabhupada said in a letter to his press workers, that he liked all the devotees, even those involved in his most sacred book production, to go out on sankirtana at least an hour a day and share Krishna consciousness with others.

Woodstock Impact

One evening as our summer tour drew to a close, I congratulated one new mataji, Isvari Dasi, on her initiation by Kavicandra Swami. To inspire her I told her how Kavicandra Swami once suddenly told me as I entered the temple room in San Diego fifteen years ago, "We must desire that these people become Krishna conscious. So many people became Krishna conscious simply because Srila Prabhupada desired it so." It was such a powerful point it stuck in my mind for so many years.

She told me she first met the devotees a year or so ago when she had come to Woodstock. She saw me in our questions and answers tent. She recalled how I said I wore devotional clothes even while going to the post office and the bank and that it was not a problem. She remembered I showed my bead bag and beads and demonstrated how to chant. After the Woodstock, she got some cloth and made bead bags for her and her husband, bought some beads at a store, and took up chanting Hare Krishna. This year her family spent a lot of time helping out on the tour, and she ultimately took initiation. We always wonder about the results of all our endeavor in putting on the Woodstock and the summer tour. When we see people, like Isvari and her husband, taking Krishna consciousness seriously. We realize it is all worth it.

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmasapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grnanti ye bhuri-da janah
"[The gopis said to Krishna:] The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one's sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them.These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent." (SB 10.31.9)

travel journal#4.14: Polish Festival Tour - Last Half of July

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2008, part two)
Polish Festival Tour
(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 8/5/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I lived in a school with 200 devotees, half an hour from Poland's Baltic Sea coast. We did three hours of harinama and had a four and a half hour festival six days a week at different towns along the coast. Then on July 26, we went to Kostrzyn, a Polish city about an hour east of Berlin, to set up a spiritual cultural festival at the site of Przystanek Woodstock, the largest European outdoor rock concert.

A Prabhupada Story

Mother Sitala tells that in 1976 when Srila Prabhupada came to visit New Mayapur, where she resided, there were many difficulties there. There were difficulties in personal dealings between devotees, problems at the gurukula, a financial strain, etc. One day during his visit, Prabhupada toured the property followed by his disciples. He sat down and the devotees surrounded him. Srila Prabhupada then said to the devotees, "Krsna consciousness is so nice, what is the problem to execute it? What is the difficulty?" Sitala looked around, and she saw all the devotees smiling at Srila Prabhupada. A little anxious, she thought, "No one is telling Srila Prabhupada about the problems. Perhaps I should." Then she went through all the problems in her mind, one by one, concluding that each was not significant enough to bother Srila Prabhupada with. When she came to the end of them, she began to smile too. Looking around at all the devotees beaming at him, Srila Prabhupada said, smiling, "Yes, when we are Krishna conscious, there is no problem." For him there were no problems, and at least for the moment, there were no problems for the devotees sitting there in Srila Prabhupada's presence.

Devotional Notes

Notes from Indradyuma Swami's classes at the festivals:

God gave human beings extra intelligent above the animals not for science and technology but for God realization.

Just as when a student fails final exam, he has to take the course over again, the soul has to take another birth if he doesn't realizes his relationship with God.

There must be a balance between the spiritual and material, but now we are emphasizing the material too much. We destroy the environment because we act out of greed, not out of need. The solution is to lead a spiritual, more natural, way of life.

Bhagavad-gita is like a unabridged spiritual dictionary.

From an Indradyumna Swami ista-gosthis:

Before the marriage ceremony of three couples, the wind was so heavy it tore the decorative flap from one side of the stage. The sky was also cloudy. Amazingly enough, however, by the time of the marriage, the wind stopped and the sun even came out. Indradyumna Swami told us that on the stage, during the marriage ceremony, he mentioned that he would like to thank a very special person without whom the marriage ceremony would not have been able to happen, and that person is God. The people in the audience became thoughtful and glanced toward the heavens. Maharaja remarked that he likes Poland because the people actually appreciate such remarks.

Nothing can replace purity. We have our schemes for preaching and our financial programs, but without purity we have nothing. Why? Because we are simply instruments. For millions of years we have been engaged in sense enjoyment, and for just a few years, we have been practicing Krishna consciousness, so how can this movement be going on because of us. No, it is by the strong desire of Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and the previous acaryas that this movement is going on. We are the instruments, and if we do not remain fit instruments by maintaining our purity, how can there be success?

We are always happy because we are sharing Krishna consciousness with others. Not that because it is not sunny, we are not happy.

Notes from Indradyumna Swami's class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.45-46:

The holy name of the Lord is an incarnation of the Lord, and so the holy name has the same three purposes as other incarnations: to protect the pious, to reform the impious, and to reestablish the principles of religion.

Ajamila was especially sinful since as a brahmana advanced in knowledge, he still acted sinfully.

Wisdom from Bhaktivaibhava Swami:

It may feel artificial sometimes in our present state, but it is the quality of the soul to always glorify Krishna and the Vaishnavas, and to always render services.

Everyone is looking for Krishna, but they do not know it.

There is nothing more important than this sankirtana process.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati explained in a lecture in Puri that when Ajamila called Narayana, his son's name, he soon realized that his son could not save him. Then he remembered the original Narayana, and Lord Narayana sent His servants, the Vishnudutas to protect Ajamila.

A lawyer was taken by Yamaraja at the time of death. As the lawyer used to argue his cases, he protested, "How is it you are taking me? You have given me no warning. Warnings are always given before one is arrested for an offense."
Yamaraja asked him, "How many teeth do you have?"
The lawyer replied, "Two."
Yamaraja asked him, "What color is your hair?"
The lawyer replied, "White."
In this way, Yamaraja asked him about different symptoms of old age all of which the lawyer admitted to having. Finally Yamaraja concluded, "You say I have given you no warning, but I have given you so many warnings!"
In this way we are warned about impending death and should take spiritual life seriously.

Q: What is the most important instruction on chanting?
A: We must hear our chanting. Srila Prabhupada said than you can not artificially think of Krishna's pastimes while you chant, but by hearing the chanting you will become purified, and you will spontaneously remember Krishna's pastimes.

If we have faith but no taste, we may not continue for long. By the blessings of the devotees, we can get this taste, and so we should always associate with the devotees in such a way that we will get their blessings.

Q: How can I surrender to Krishna?
A: Chant Hare Krishna. Krishna is His name. But we think, "That is too easy," and we look elsewhere.

The word "medhi" refers to the pole that the oxen walk around. Thus a grhamedhi is one who walks around in circles with his home in the center, not breaking out of the orbit of familial activities to pursue spiritual life.

Notes from Bhagavatam classes:

Trisama Prabhu, a veteran of the Polish tour, recounted an incident when Pankajangrhi Prabhu joined the tour for three weeks, a few years ago. The devotees who had to stay back at the base to do service and could not attend the festivals requested to have a meeting with Pankajangrhi Prabhu. When he addressed them, tears came to his eyes, and he said, "What qualifications do I have to address you. You are doing the best thing." He continued, "We must remember the most important thing is service. Without that, nothing would go on." The mood changed, and the devotees forgot their fatigue and began to glorify Lord Krishna. 

Festival Experiences

One day on the harinama at Miedzyzdroje, I saw a girl perhaps ten or twelve years old running as fast as she could down a side street toward the middle of our chanting party. When she reached the party, she immediately joined us behind the group of ladies at the beginning and began to copy their dancing movements with great accuracy. After two or three blocks then she disappeared and returned in five minutes with a smaller girl about half her size, and the two of them walked behind the last row of women in the beginning of the party following their dance. I wondered whether she had remembered us from a previous year, but I did not know enough Polish ask her. I wished I had a movie camera to capture her enthusiasm.

Ewa, one inspiring and aspiring disciple of Indradyumna Swami engaged a friend of hers, named Aleksandra, who lives in Niechorze, one of the towns where we have festivals, in translating her Polish to English so she could speak with me. I later asked Aleksandra how long she had come to the festivals and what she likes most about them. She said she has been coming to them for fifteen years, and that she likes everything about them. When I pressed her further, she mentioned the food and the kirtana were special favorites. Two years ago she won a sari in the evening dance contest. Out of curiosity, I asked her age, and she said seventeen—she had remembered coming to our festivals since she was two! Later I saw her in the vegetarian cooking lesson booth. She is developing a desire to learn vegetarian cooking, and she helped us clean up our cooking tent at the end of the evening.

I was very impressed with Bhaktivaibhava Swami's handling of questions in the questions and answers tent, and I felt I learned a lot I could use in my own attempts to present the philosophy of Krishna consciousness:

This mission of human life is to develop a higher consciousness. "Higher" means moving toward the eternal. The soul is eternal. The body is temporary. Thus reincarnation must exist. It is not a belief but a necessity, if we accept the soul is eternal.

Everything here is temporary. It is like a film we see for half and hour and then it is over. Why does the pattern of three colors on the white screen stir up emotions in us? It is because the images are reflections of the world around us. Similarly this world is an attraction because it is a reflection of the spiritual world.

Happiness in this world is based on agitating the senses, and then pacifying that agitation.

The foremost cause of developing the desire for liberation is association with persons already practicing the process of liberation.

What we require now is knowledge, not just another speculative theory. Knowledge is satisfying.

You can have so many doubts, therefore, we have a practice that yields realizations to clear the doubts.

Q: Do you have tolerance of other religions?
A: Yes. Veda means truth. We accept the truth wherever we see it in other religions, but we cannot accept when untruth is promoted as truth.

 

Q: Do you have Satan?
A: Not as a separate competitor to God, but as God's illusory energy who separates us from God.

 

Theistic graffiti:
Nietzsche: "God is dead.
God: "Nietzsche is dead."

Explosions never create order. Otherwise you could to a big business: first set off an explosion, then wait for the pieces to fall into place, forming a house, and sell it, making a lot of money.

To create cells, which are highly complex, and the bodies formed of them, which are still more complex, is so complicated that we cannot believe that anyone can possess such a brain. But God actually has such a brain.

Q: Why is it so difficult to follow a program of self-improvement?
A: Habits are so deeply rooted. Seeing successful examples around us can give us faith that self-improvement is possible. We cannot give up if success is not immediate. We should be like a child learning to walk, who does not remain sprawled out on the floor when he falls, but tries again and again, finally attaining success.

The aura is the effulgence of the prana.

When we say, "We are not the body", it does not mean that the Hare Krishnas hate bodies. Just like if I say, "you are not your car." I am just trying to stress that you are more important than your car. Similarly, the soul is more important than the body.

 

---

 

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrt-karṇa-rasayanaḥ kathah
taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani
sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati

In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin (SB 3.25.25)

travel journal#4-13: Polish Festival Tour & Ukraine Trip

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 13

By Krishna-kripa das

(July 2008, part one)

Polish Festival Tour and Ukraine Trip

(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 7/15/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I am in a school with 200 devotees, half an hour from Poland's Baltic Sea coast. We do three hours of harinama and have a four and a half hour festival six days a week at different towns along the coast. I took two days off to go to Ukraine on a special mission at the beginning of July.

Devotional Notes

Notes from Indradyuma Swami's classes:

Regret about one's past sinful activity is absolutely necessary for the advancing devotee. We must give up the mentality of enjoying sense gratification. Remorsefulness is practically a guarantee that one will not return to such activities again. In this sense, we can agree with the Christian adage, "Repent and be saved."

Sometimes you have to stop and consider the great jewels that our guru and Gauranga have given us.

Once Srila Prabhupada told one inquirer that Hare Krishna means "O my friend! O my friend!"

We gain faith in the holy name not only by witnessing the pure devotee chant but also by seeing the effect of the holy name on materialistic people.

From Indradyumna Swami's introductory lectures at the Polish festivals:

God has given some gift to each of His children. The birds can fly, the fish can swim, but God has given human beings intelligence to understand our deeper spiritual nature.

One Franciscan monk friend of Indradyumna Swami told him, "If there is not life on other planets, then God wasted a lot of space."

As the sun is tiny compared to the universe, but as it lights up the universe with light, the tiny soul illuminates the soul with consciousness. As the universe would be lifeless without the sun, the body is lifeless without the soul.

We are falsely proud of our caterpillar-like existence, ignoring the beautiful butterfly of our higher spiritual nature within.

If we say "I want to tell you" to emphasize this we may point to our heart when we say "I" and point to the others' heart when we say "you". This is because intuitively we understand the soul is in the heart.

You can speak for hours about your body, but how long can you speak about your soul?

The children may think the puppets on the stage move by themselves but the adults know there is a person or a hand inside, moving them. Similarly there is a living soul moving the body.

You make concrete plans about where you will go on vacation. You do not think, "I think we will go north this summer." In the same way, you should make plans about where you will go after death.

Bhagavad-gita is like an unabridged spiritual dictionary. It can answer any question you have about spiritual life.

As man can design a Porsche, God can design a body.

In difficulty people take shelter of intoxication and end up destroying their bodies. Actually difficulty should be used to take shelter of God.

Words from the Indian ambassador to Poland at our Kolobrzeg festival:

Agriculture teaches how to grow crops. Human culture teaches how to grow humans. We presently think school is all that is necessary to grow humans. In school we just learn some skills. Everything else is left to the Internet. Culture today means internet, the cell phone, the best car, etc. But is all this required for good martial and sibling relationships or relationships among humans in general. We need inner-net not internet. The university does not know this inner-net, but Indian culture does. The Hare Krishnas are in contact with both the inner-net and the Internet and that is a powerful combination. Bhagavad-gita 2.63 gives practical instruction on living our daily life, how to control anger. Indian culture teaches how to live practically, raise responsible children, etc.

From an Indryadyumna Swami ista-gosthis:

The Christians say, "A family that prays together stays together." Bhakti Caitanya Swami has added, "A family that dances together advances together."

You cannot chant someone's name every day unless you have some love for them.

One lady to another: "What is this?"
Other lady: "This is the festival."
First lady: "There are so many festivals."
Second lady: "No! This is THE festival!"

One way of defining sincerity is to act at every moment as if your guru is personally present.

Indradyumna Swami said that every successful person has a mission statement or some words of advice to live by. His is that given by Lord Caitanya to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami:

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honor, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, and within your mind render service to Radha and Krishna in Vrindavana." [Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Antya 6.236-237]

Prabhupada Story

Once Srila Prabhupada asked Guru Kripa Prabhu, who had learned many verses for preaching in India, which verse was most important. Guru Kripa recited "In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." Srila Prabhupada replied, "No, only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed."

Festival Experiences

I went to distribute the extra invitations downtown, as we distributed them during the beach harinama only. Some people took, some said they already had them, and others refused. One middled-age man made a nasty gesture as if to say "Get out of here." I wondered, "Should I continue? Perhaps I am doing more harm than good." I decided to do an experiment by distributing to ten people and reporting the results to Indradyumna Swami and ask if he thought I was getting a good enough reception to continue. I also decided to make a special point to be respectful and gentle in my presentation. The next ten people all took the invitations. That never happens! Practically never. I took it that Krishna gave me my answer as to if I should continue, and I went to the park downtown and distributed the rest of the invitations to people most of whom were receptive.

Once while distributing invitations, I met a middle-aged man who was interested in Buddhist meditation, but did not accept the Buddhist philosophy of reincarnation. He wanted to talk to me about philosophy, probably because he finds so few people into philosophy. Because of our training that you have to accept the authority completely in spiritual life, I could not relate to his partial acceptance of Buddhism, yet he was unwilling to change his view. I told about Ian Stevenson's empirical evidence supportive of reincarnation, but he still had no faith in the idea.

As it was our last festival in Ustronie Morksie for July, I tried to pass out all the remaining invitations. While I walked throughout the town, I was heartened to see a girl carrying the Polish version of Science of Self-Realization. I saw a couple other girls wearing saris over their other clothes and several happily decorated with gopi dots. One older woman explained she had been to the festival, and used the universal word "super" to describe it. I really enjoy passing out the invitations as I know how people really benefit from the festival, spiritually and materially, in every way.

In Kolobrzeg two girls came to our festival all three days and danced every day. The first day they won saris, and the last I noticed they heard Maharaja's lecture. Apparently they are residence of Kolobrzeg and regularly correspond with Jayatam, who along with Nandini, organizes the festivals.

The father of one girl who won a sari made the point of proudly identifying himself to Maharaja as a Catholic. The next night the daughter came wearing her new sari and danced in the kirtana. To Maharaja's surprise, the father, with his eyes closed in a meditative mood, chanted the Hare Krishna mantra for the entire last half of the kirtana.

Krishna Protects

I was given a special mission by Indradyumna Swami—to take Gaur Mohan, Gopiparanadhana Prabhu's ten-year-old son, back to his grandmother in Lvov, Ukraine. The boy's parents did not have a problem with him traveling alone, but Indradyumna Swami felt it would be more responsible to send an adult with him, and somehow or other he chose me. Last autumn, I crossed the Poland/Ukraine border three times near Lvov, and I wonder if that was why. During the course of the journey, I felt a sense that Krishna was protecting us several times.

During three-quarters of the sixteen hour train trip, we had a whole compartment which holds eight people all to ourselves, so we could sing our morning prayers and do our chanting of japa on beads together.

In the Wroclaw train station, one drunk young man was disturbing me while I was trying do to my computer work. He was one of the low life people who think clergymen they encounter should contribute funds to their drinking habit, but I was not inclined. Gaur Mohan was not right there but absorbed in the Internet twenty feet away. I did not know enough Polish to talk with the guy and tried my best to ignore him, because I wanted focus on my computer work, but he was determined to get my attention. Finally the cops came and dragged him off to my great relief.

Later we were going toward the Polish border at Przemysl, and the conductor indicated something about changing trains, which we had not been told we had to do. Neither the conductor nor any of the people in the compartment knew English. Finally I drew a map to show my understanding of what they were trying to tell me. And they confirmed it—we had to change trains at the next stop, or we would miss our destination.

After dropping Gaur Mohan with his grandma in Lvov, I had just two and a half hours to make it back to Przemysl to make my 10:03 p.m. train back toward the Baltic coast. If I missed it, I would have to wait at an all night bar to 4:30 a.m. for the next train and miss another festival. I could only make it if there was no delay in getting to Shegyni on the Ukraine border by bus, no delay in going through the Ukrainian passport control, no delay in going through the Polish passport control, and if there was a bus already to go from Medyka on the Polish side to the Pzyemysl train station. I was listening to a Prabhupada lecture while leaving Lvov, and he was saying that we just have to depend on Krishna, because He is ultimately in control. I reflected about the insignificant chance of being successful by material calculation and that success would be only by Krishna's mercy. Still I felt the anxiety plaguing my mind, although I played lecture tapes the entire way. The time was always tight, but I passed the potential obstacles one by one. I did not know where to get off the last bus for the train station and if some kind souls didn't tell me, I would have missed the train. As it was, I boarded the train two minutes before its departure, with great relief and gratitude that Krishna made it easy. Last time, last year, it took over an hour to go over the Ukraine-Poland border, not just twenty-five minutes, and I missed my train.

In the purport at the next day's morning class, we read "According to Vedic civilization, everyone has the responsibility for taking care of brahmanas, old men, women, children and cows." [SB 6.2.28 purport] I reflected how Indradyumna Swami took this to heart and wanted to make sure the young boy had someone to travel with, and I because of trying to be cooperative, I got to assist him in this. When my mother and I traveled with Maharaja briefly in India, I saw then too that Indradyumna Swami was attentive to see that I took care of her properly. It is inspiring to see people who care to protect others, and it reminds us of our dharma.

When I offered obeisances to Srila Prabhupada in the morning upon returning from Ukraine, I occurred to me that Prabhupada had wanted that someone travel with the boy, and so he had inspired Maharaja to make the arrangement. Srila Prabhupada ki, jaya!

travel journal#4.12: European Harinamas / Prabhupada Nectar

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 12

By Krishna-kripa das

(June 2008, part two)

Greece / Sofia / Prague / Brno / Bratislava / Poland

(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 7/7/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

In Sofia, I learned that Thessaloniki, the Greek city where my friend Tara Prabhu lives, is just six hours south on the train, so I decided to visit him. Bhakta Efi, from Israel, who likes Tara, came along. Ultimately Efi decided to travel with me and join the Polish tour. We did harinama in Greece, returning to Sofia to do a harinama the next day on our way back to Prague, where we did two harinamas, including one with Trivikrama Swami, the next two days. After Prague we went to Brno and did harinama there and the Saturday weekly program. Next I went to Bratislava to do the Sunday feast lecture and morning class, and back to Brno for another harinama before traveling 18 hours on five trains from south Czech to north Poland for the Laksmi-Nrsimha traveling festival tour, where I will be through mid August.

Devotional Notes

Nectar from Trivikrama Swami:

Bhakti Caru Swami said in an Orlando lecture: "You have your cell phone which you carry with you always. You should be like that with Bhagavad-gita."

We become weak when we chase after sense objects because we become dependent on them.

Q:(By Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu) The purport to Bg. 9.28 says one who is always thinking of how to spread Krishna consciousness is liberated, but we have experience that some such devotees have obvious anarthas (unwanted desires). How do we reconcile this?

A: If they really are always thinking of spreading Krishna consciousness, we should consider the anarthas to be insignificant. Of course, they may be only thinking of spreading Krishna consciousness part time, as an ordinary person works five days and takes the weekend off. Also they may be working fulltime to spread Krishna consciousness, but have some material motive like fame. Service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to be on the liberated platform.

Nectar from IDS lectures on the Polish tour:

"Although in life we careful to always know where we are going next, we do not know where we will go at the time of death—we make no plan nor do we know how to make a plan—this is a serious omission."

"This is a whole festival without any beer and everyone is happy." [For Poland and many European countries this is amazing and impressive.]

 

Prabhupada-katha

Nectar from Trivikrama Swami:

Srila Prabhupada was strong because his faith was unshakeable. But he was soft like a rose and gave his association to others, although he did not have to.

Once while giving a lecture in Minsk, Maharaja asked if any of the devotees had had dreams of Srila Prabhupada. About a hundred devotees raised their hands. He asked if any of them would share their dreams, and one former Harikesa Swami disciple agreed. He was so distraught when his guru fell down because he felt if his guru was so advanced and he had failed, then how could he succeed? That seemed like an impossibility. He went to sleep in this depressed state. Srila Prabhupada appeared to him in a dream that very night, and spoke the following words: "Who says impossible? I am still here."

Srila Prabhupada liked bhajanas and would regularly sing them, therefore, we should include bhajanas in our daily sadhana.

A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada why Lord Caitanya did not spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Srila Prabhupada answered that Lord Caitanya wanted him to get the credit. This is not an exaggeration.

We do not have to present ourselves as saviors, we just have to cooperate with Srila Prabhupada.

A really great leader can create a movement that will continue after he leaves. There are so many charismatic leaders, but they cannot keep their movements going after they leave. Yet Srila Prabhupada is doing that.

When leading devotees left, people asked Srila Prarbhupada, "Why?" He said that they were not sincere.

Srila Prabhupada left his movement in the hands of his disciples, not his godbrothers. Prabhupada had the expertise to spread this movement all over the world, and he trained his disciples in that way. He said that we should be friendly with his godbrothers, but not that we put them in the center.

Nectar from Mother Sitala:

Mother Sitala, Hari Sauri Prabhu's wife, and their daughter, who was initiated by Indradyumna Swami last fall, both are here on the tour. Sitala often tells Prabhupada stories in her classes.

When Sitala was head pujari in Paris, she peeked through the curtains to watch Srila Prabhupada take darsana of the Deities. She was amazed to see two tears come straight our of Srila Prabhupada's eyes as he viewed the Deities. She felt a little embarrassed to be in the middle of their intimate exchange.

Srila Prabhupada cried tears of love out of gladness when Brahmananda Prabhu returned from Pakistan because there were reports of an American being killed there, and the devotees worried it was Brahmananda.

Sitala was once fanning Srila Prabhupada when Prabhupada indicated she stop. Later the temple president urged her to continue, and when she finally did, Prabhupada again indicated that she stop. She cried, feeling worthless because she was displeasing her spiritual master, and Prabhupada compassionately interrupted his class to say to her, in explanation, "It is not so cold."

Thessaloniki Harinama

Tara and his wife, Mother Radha Sakhi Vrinda, took care of me and my friend, Bhakta Efi, from Israel, so nicely. We had plenty of great prasadam, both during our visit and for our trip. Tara got all the devotees together for harinama. Their previous harinama was two years before, and I was glad that they were going out again after such a long time. They all seemed to be so happy on the harinama. One devotee lady, Syamapriya Dasi, visiting from Serbia, led the kirtana for some time with such delight, she appeared to be "Chant and Be Happy" personified. It reminded me of Sacinandana Swami who also chants with obvious delight. Later Tara told me, to my amazement, that the lady is actually a disciple of Sacinandana Swami! That is a good qualification for a disciple—to remind one of one's guru. Tara Prabhu and his friends are cultivating people through a yoga center in Thessaloniki, where the students chant Vedic mantras and take prasadam, as well as doing yoga, and some of their students happened to come by our harinama. They enthusiastically encouraged passersby to take the books and CDs we had for sale. One young woman, who came by was fascinated by everything Indian, and talked with one of the devotee ladies for half an hour. One student, who was studying photography, took several pictures of our party. Tara gave a free CD to some teenaged girls who were watching us for awhile. I am hoping the devotees can go out more regularly and experience and share the nectar of the holy name there in Thessaloniki in a public way. If you happen to be in the area, you might come by and encourage them, as there are just four of them there and not many visitors.

Sofia Harinama

This time the weather was good enough to do a walking harinama. We encountered a couple teenaged girls who were dressed just like hippies out of the sixties. They had in their knapsacks a couple small percussion instruments that rattled which they shook in time with the music as they danced with our kirtana party for ten minutes with great delight. Later Jagannatha Misra Prabhu explained that now in Bulgaria, people are fascinated with the sixties era. Later a young female photographer who had worked for the Sofia newspaper for two years took several pictures of our kirtana party from all different angles. She explained that she wanders around Sofia looking for potential objects to photograph, and she found our party. The harinama was nice way to spend the two hours between our train from Greece and our flight to Prague, and I am glad the devotees organized it.

Great Harinama on a Rainy Brno Day

In Brno, the train station has a lot of shops underneath and many people walking here and there. Because it was pouring rain outside, we chanted there instead. Sometimes in situations with lots of shops someone complains and we get kicked out but no one did. Also outside the train station, underneath, there is a place near a bus stop where frequently many people get off the bus and would pass our party. Some cities do not have a good place to chant in the rain, but I was grateful that Brno does. I printed an invitation for the upcoming Ratha-yatra, and one devotee lady successfully distributed them all, to my great happiness. A festival good enough to put on, is a festival good enough to advertise.

Back on the Tour

It is nice to be back on the Polish festival tour—to have Indradyumna Swami's association, to see some very dedicated devotee friends, and to see the many thousands of people coming in touch with a spiritual culture that offers them unlimited benefit even unknowingly—all are wonderful experiences.

Indradyumna Swami was amazed that the first festivals went so nicely as many key devotees from Ukraine were delayed by Polish embassy officials, who were not eager to issue them visas, and thus arrived for the third festival. 

Some pictures and videos of our festivals are available on www.nama-hatta.pl.

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva-sastre kaya
   lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

"The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment's association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success." (Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya 22.54).

travel journal#4.11: Harinamas in Six Cities

Harinama in Brno, Czech

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 11
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2008, part one)
Munich / Prague / Brno / Modra / Bratislava / Sofia
(Sent from Prague, Czech Republic on 6/19/08)

Correction: To see more Eiffel Tower harinama pictures, click on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.fr/srisriradhaparisisvara/HarinamTrocadero31Mai2008WithJananandaGoswamiMaharaj that does not work, then click on the link
http://picasaweb.google.fr/srisriradhaparisisvara/ and then on the album named "HarinamTrocadero31Mai2008WithJananandaGoswamiMaharaj".

Addition: Previously on the way to Simhacalam, our car died near Bonn and we took a train to Cologne, Germany, where we have a temple. While on the train, we did a harinama, led by Janmastami Prabhu. Bhaktin Elaine, from near Amsterdam, shares these two videos of the harinama on the train:
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=OWWMpkJRxqU
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=hT5zUotsOcA

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

The first half of June has been very exciting for me, traveling to new cities and old favorites to do harinama: Munich: 2 days, Prague: 3 days, Brno (CZ): 3 days, Bratislava (SK), 3 days and Sofia (BG): 1 day; 12 days in a row without a break, and only 3 days without harinama. Those days also were special, as I got to hear from Janananda Swami in Paris before going to Munich and Bhaktivaibhava Swami in Sofia the last weekend.

Devotional Notes

Jiva Goswami writes in the Bhakti Sandarbha regarding the glories of nama-sankirtana:
"In the Javali Samhita the process of nama smarana has been described. Those who are desirous of obtaining unlimited varieties of spiritual bliss should always perform japa, meditation (dhyana) singing (gana) and kirtana of the topmost names of Sri Hari. But in the practice of nama smarana one cannot obtain spiritual bliss as long as the heart remains impure. Whereas the practice of nama sankirtana does not depend on purification of the heart. Therefore nama smaranam is less effective than nama sankirtanam, and nama sankirtana has greater importance."
--contributed by Janananda Goswami

Wise words from Bhaktivaibhava Swami in Sofia:

"Bhagavad-gita is the art of living in this world."

"If you think this body belongs to you, try to keep it. Actually everything belongs to Krishna."

"People who take to Krishna consciousness are very fortunate to be giving up the stubborn materialistic mentality, and we should encourage them by all means."

"We should not tell people who like to work in a passionate way to act more in the mode of goodness, but rather to work passionately for Krishna."

"People who like to work to acquire wealth should not be discouraged. Rather they should be encouraged to engage their wealth in Krishna's service."

Gems from Kadamba Kanana Swami in Munich:

"Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible."

"We see that Krishna puts the purification of an individual devotee ahead of using him as an instrument in His mission."

"'Sannyasi life is simple. Wherever the women go, go in the other direction.'
—Jayadvaita Swami"

"To go deep into our spiritual consciousness can help us benefit other people."

"Krishna decides what your role will be, and you have to accept that."

"Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura explains that true empowerment means to be empowered with both spiritual knowledge and spiritual happiness."

"Krishna wants to benefit all living beings, and so if you want to please Krishna, you also have to want to benefit all living beings."

Kadamba Kanana Swami said he saw someone with a self-designed T-shirt, "I have heard it all, I have seen it all, and I have done it all. But I cannot remember it all."

That struck me as the epitome of this famous verse spoken by Prahlada Maharaja, "Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Krishna are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both" (SB 7.5.30).

Wisdom from Priti Vardhana Prabhu who teaches at Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami's asrama:

"The Vedic process is to hear from the teacher in the morning and to apply the knowledge during the day."

"If the students do more than is required, we praise them, but not publicly, as that would breed competition which promotes working for rewards [not working in devotion]."

"Children should be given some responsibility. Without exception, they must do their duty before they play. Then they will learn to use their intelligence do their duties quickly so they can play."

"When the parent is busy, and the child comes by, the parent should try to think of how the child can assist, rather than tell the child to get out of the way. In this way, the child feels useful."

"Even primitive societies that worship some aspects of the Lord's material form (virat-rupa) last for centuries, while atheistic societies are short-lived."

--Prana Natha Prabhu (from Brazil) in Brno

An Extra Harinama in Prague

My friend Jaroslav from Prague, who loves harinama and helps organize the Happy Days festivals in Czech Republic as well as their Ratha-yatras, organized a four-hour harinama in Prague on Thursday. Thirteen devotees attended. A couple friends, Prana Natha Prabhu, from Brazil, and Bhakta Tom, from Slovakia, who did harinama with us in Mayapur this winter were there—a nice treat. To see the enthusiasm of the devotees, and the bystanders as well, made me so happy. One young lady watching the party surprisingly gave me a book of Vedic saying in Czech that she takes pleasure in distributing. It is rare to encounter people already attracted to Vedic philosophy. Another promised she would dance with us but remained watching from a distance with her boyfriend. I went to interest her in some books, and she asked me to tell the leader of the band to play faster so she could dance. When he did, she came over and danced for awhile with great delight. I encouraged her to come to the evening programs at Govinda's, where she sometimes dines. In Prague there is a positive attitude among the people in general because of the steady harinama program and three prasadam restaurants, and when you add to that the enthusiasm of the devotees to chant in public, it makes it a great place for harinama. In 2004, when I asked Lokanath Swami the best place to do harinama, he told me, "Prague." People from all over the world see us there. Even my mother saw the devotees chanting there when she visited once.

Surprising Appreciation in Brno

Sometimes I wonder why I bother to travel around and give class as my classes are not any better then anyone else's and probably worse than a lot of people's. Therefore I was very surprised that two bhaktins from Brno decided to stay for my evening class although it meant taking a bus leaving at midnight to go to Prague to attend mangala-arati and Kadamba Kanana Swami's class the next day. I guess one can argue that they are so devotional that they can find merit in even my classes. They expressed gratitude about the extra harinama and the evening programs we had in Brno, and it sort of validated my whole traveling and preaching program, in which I am trying to promote an increase in harinama and evening programs wherever I go.

Among other things, I try to go through the words of our standard songs with the new devotees, as the songs are so much more meaningful when we know the words. I also try to read a little Krishna book in the evening after Bhagavad-gita, so both myself and the audience will increase our attachment to Krishna's pastimes. It is nice to encounter enthusiasm for hearing and chanting about Krishna among the younger and newer people. It makes one feel the mission will continue and flourish.

Bratislava

I did a nama-hatta program at Peter and Jana's in Modra, Slovakia, near Bratislava. They are aspiring disciples of Kadamba Kanana Swami, and some of their friends came, who like to get to together and hear and chant about Krishna. Our gathering reminded me of a great verse:

naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam hrdayesu va
tatra tisthami narada
yatra gayanti mad-bhakta

Krishna explains to the great sage Narada that He is not to be found in the spiritual world nor the hearts of the yogis but where His devotees are chanting His glories. This also calls to mind a Biblical saying where Jesus Christ tells his followers, "Whenever two or three of you are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of you." These references reveal the truth that we can experience the Lord's presence when we get together to chant and talk about Him, an important clue in spiritual life.

After our talks, we had prasadam which made mostly with fruits and vegetables from Peter's own garden, and the strawberry halava was the best I have ever had. We had some nice discussion as we had dinner.

We hoped to do harinama in Bratislava on Sunday, but our hosts were not feeling well and the weather was uncooperative, so Bhakta Tom and I chanted kirtana at the bus station, as we waited for our respective buses. I'd hoped to give the Sunday feast lecture there, but the Sunday program was cancelled due to temple renovation, so I returned to Brno where I knew I had friends to do harinama with. In Bratislava the devotees are fully engaged both in their Govinda's Restaurant, which served a record 248 customers one day that week, and in doing book distribution. The Bratislava restaurant, which is quite successful, has made the local people, who are very much from a traditional Christian background, much more open to the devotees than they originally were. The devotees are committed to their weekly harinama on Wednesday, which I returned for. The enthusiastic party of five devotees chanted in a nice section of town with lots of people and different restaurants with outside seating. The people are less open to getting the invitations than in many places, and I had to really smile at them a lot, and hand them the invitations in a very dramatic way for them to finally accept. Harinamas require permission from the authorities, but not individual musicians, so on Thursday, I played the drum and chanted and passed out invitations to Govinda's for a little over an hour before catching a bus to Vienna to get my flight to Sofia.

Sofia Harinama

The weather was truly miserable, but the devotees have a backup location one floor under the street level. Many teenagers were skateboarding there in the beginning, an odd audience for harinama. Bhakta Stoyan is very enthusiastic at both organizing harinamas and during them, continuously distributing invitations and one page summaries of our philosophy to anyone and everyone, and it was inspiring to see. One group of teenaged girls sitting about twenty feet from us for over an hour finally got enough courage to dance along with us at the end and the devotees gave them prasadam. Another couple of teenaged girls took pictures of the chanting devotees from many different angles. Many people spend several minutes watching us before continuing on their way.

Nirjala Ekadasi

About Ekadasi, Srila Prabhupada writes in Nectar of Devotion, "The basic principle is not just to fast, but to increase one's faith and love for Govinda, or Krishna. The real reason for observing fasting on Ekadasi is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in the service of the Lord by chanting or performing similar service. The best thing to do on fasting days is to remember the pastimes of Govinda and to hear His holy name constantly." I mentioned to the devotees in Sofia that I was willing to stay up all night on Nirjala Ekadasi if anyone wanted to. Bhakti Efi from Israel volunteered. He suggested we read Caitanya-caritamrita, but in light of the above quote we decided on Krishna book instead. We took turns choosing which chapter to read and took turns reading, and when we got tired of reading, and it was past midnight, we chanted four rounds toward the coming day's japa quota, and then returned our Krishna book reading, alternating between the activities in that way. Sometimes I nodded out while either reading or listening and a few times I felt like quitting because staying awake seemed so artificial, but in the end it proved to be quite a manageable austerity. After breaking the fast at sunrise with water and some khira, I took an hour nap before greeting of the Deities. A two-hour nap midday facilitated almost normal functioning of the body on the Dvadasi. Bhakti Efi, amazing enough, only took an hour nap. I write this to inspire others that it is not so hard. In his evening lecture, Bhaktivaibhava Maharaja encouraged such fasting and minimizing of bodily needs because at the end of life the body often cannot digest properly and so we may be forced to fast and to be practiced to remember Krishna in such awkward circumstances can greatly benefit us.