The prediction was grey clouds, no sun to be seen and chilly temperatures for the Kingsday on Monday. As soon as the day awoke the sun was already shining its first rays. And those rays would keep shining that morning as a warm-up for the harinam that was due to start soon. The city of Amsterdam was already warmed up from the Kings night on Sunday, so it was promising to be a wonderful day.
The ISKCON Amsterdam temple was buzzing with activity. The Kingsday temple team was making sure that they could host the big group of devotees coming from Radhadesh, and other parts of the country. Every year it is a huge task – to prepare an amazing lunch, set up the tents/tables and to be able to serve quickly, to ensure the logistics are all synchronised. Due to the tireless dedication of the temple team we had such a nice experience.
‘Forgotten routes’
Amsterdam is already a colourful city with the orange outfits of the visitors completing the picture. No one can beat the orange saris, the brahmacaris and the dancers with their decorations. We definitely made a splash into the sea of orange. We managed to re-discover routes that were not traversed for more than 10 years. Finally, we visited Rembrandt square and the Central station to entertain the spectators. Some areas were already heavily packed with people, so you could not move. This did not stop us from getting everyone involved and sharing the fun, as we continued spreading ‘the message’ for many hours until it was time for lunch.
The bridge
You know what happens after lunch! Everyone was looking forward to dancing away their tiredness with their belly full of lunch. The Bridge in the Vondelpark has become the most successful in attracting the crowds to make them sing “Hare Krishna” together. Harinamananda, yet again, got the Kingsday visitors dancing and flying off their feet. Some of them might have experienced a higher purpose, but that could have been the alcohol or drugs, who knows.
But we did it again, we had fun and slept very well the next day! Till next year.
Check out this teaser of the Bridge ecstasy on Youtube: https://youtube.com/live/NdQVWMnb3SY.
Kingsday photos
Photos used with permission from Kamavalati ( (Elitza Nedkova). Visit her full portfolio here: https://www.facebook.com/enedkova/photos
https://www.instagram.com/enedkova/
Photos used with permission from Visnu-Jnana (Harinam Ruci). Visit their full profile here: https://www.facebook.com/harinama.ruci
