Slowly the exalted devotees are arriving to the green and lush Ardennes mountains that surround Radhadesh. With a day of rain behind us, at least the streets of Amsterdam are now cleansed, we are looking ahead to the Vyasa-puja ceremony here in Radhadesh. And already excited for the main event, the Kingsday in Amsterdam. It promises to be a wonderful festival.
On Thursday, the arrival day, around 50 devotees already landed in Radhadesh, with the main bulk coming today, the Vyasa-puja day. We expect at least 120 devotees to celebrate this wonderful festival with us. The morning started with a the class on Srimad Bhagavatam by Gopinathacarya, our astute sage from Oxford. And almost sharply at 10:00 the official ceremony commenced.
After the gurvastakam prayers were sung and the wooden sandals of GM’s were purified by Abisheka we had the good fortune of listening to Jayadvaita Swami. He recollected how Srila Prabhupada mentioned, when attending a pandal program in Bombay, that he is here to encourage, but also to be encouraged. That is what spiritual life in Krishna consciousness is about. We give inspiration and we get inspiration from others. The Vyasa-puja day was a packed event and the schedule was filled to the brim. Preparations started already days ago, but today was reserved for glorifying our dear spiritual master.
This amazing event was live streamed so you can enjoy it from the comforts of your home. Please visit our Youtube channel and watch the live stream here:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axbuzHox5Os
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ufJacs1q0
African Preaching Fundraiser
The main item on the schedule was the fundraiser for African preaching projects in South Africa. These projects were very dear to Kadamba Kanana swami. He mentioned in his will that he wanted us to support them. Gour Mohan lead the fundraiser and introduced us to current African preaching projects.
You can watch the fundraiser online on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6BhvGUOApQ
Here is an overview of all the African preaching projects
Please consider supporting these projects! You can donate directly or visit our donor page.
The Kadamba Kanana Swami App
We had a special surprise planned for everyone. After 1.5 years of development we announced the launch of the app for Kadamba Kanana Swami. With this app you can download and listen and audio classes and kirtans, even while on the go. And for each recording you can view more information. And each recording is linked to its corresponding video on your Youtube channel. And the coming weeks more recordings will be added so stay tuned!
You can find the app on the Apple App store and the Google play Store. And MacOS users can find the same app on the app store as well!
Till next year in Radhadesh!
Kingsday 2025
It was crowded. It was hot and it was long. But most of all it was FUN. With almost a million visitors coming to experience the amstermadness, they got an extra bonus from our big procession. With almost 250 singing and dancing “hare krishna’s” we were again a sight to behold! And we got the visitors ‘off’ their feet and dancing in the kirtan!
The party started at the ISKCON Amsterdam temple. Once both buses had arrived we were welcomed with a bharat natyam dance and a lovely breakfast. But it was time to rock and roll, so the sound system was heated up and the singer and musicians got ready for the first part of the grand tour.
First stop “Apollolaan”. The massive group mades its way through the uptown streets of posh Amsterdam. This is the day that people can bring out their secondhand stuff and try to sell it to floods of visitors. And we are there to distract their senses a bit by singing the holy names. Its always fun to see the reaction of the neighbourhood residents. And from the Apollolaan we slowly, but surely, made our way onto the courtyard of the Rijksmuseum.
The Rijksmuseum square is always a nice spot to engage visitors in our party. And we even got the police rattled as they thought we were protesting against the Rijksmuseum 🙂 ! After an amazing group photo we move onwards to the Vijzelgracht. This year we did not manage to visit the Leidseplein or the Leidsestraat as the crowds were already enormous. So down the Vijzelgracht we moved slowly to the Muntplein. And again we had to decide not to visit the Dam Square per advice of the local authorities. The crowds were overwhelming. But no matter where the harinam party is, we ARE the party.
The first part of the harinam was concluded with an amazing lunch. The organisers of ISKCON Amsterdam wanted to make sure that every attendee would be fulfilled to be ready for part 2. And the food was amazing. There were more than 10 different items on the menu and judging by the silence while eating, every one was perfect!
We really owe a big part of the success of this day to the team of volunteers that built the resting site, the transport and the serving teams. And of course, the whole clean-up afterwards! And after our bellies were almost exploding, and a very short rest, we got ready to take up the second part of the harinam.
With Vraja Krsna and Harinamananda in the lead we made our way to the Westeringstraat, towards the Vondelpark. And we all know what that means, the Bridge. But before we even managed to walk to the bridge we engaged the thousands of park visitors in our chant & dance ritual. As all good things have an ending, at least in this world, the bridge was again the cherry on top of the cake. As it was getting time to catch the bus back to Radhadesh and Cologne, we were guided by Citralekha, through the winding path of the Vondelpark until we reach the end.
So at 7 pm the buses arrived, devotees boarded, and we were left with a bag full of experiences, ears full of mantra’s and feet full of blisters. But we had fun!
Also till next year!