European Sankirtan Newsletter

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to SrilaPrabhupada.

April was a steady month with most yatras maintaining their usual level of book distribution with some temples doing a little less and some a little more than usual. Of course, The UK yatra is way ahead of continental Europe with London and Wales leading the way. Then SK dham in Italy in 2nd place with their group of only 5 bramacaris totally absorbed in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Other inspiring scores were from Budapest, Hungary and the Dutch yatra both with exceptional scores. I was thinking that at the end of June we can compare the first 6 months of 2024 with the first 6 months of 2025. This should be interesting to see if we are improving. Srila Prabhupada always said to double it or at least increase anandam buddhi vardhanam the spiritual bliss is ever increasing and for the followers of Srila Prabhupada there is no greater joy than to see more and more books going into the hands of the conditioned souls.

I would like to share some nectar from Srila Prabhupada’s books that inspired me this month.

SB 8-5-23 purport “When Krsna appeared He gave His orders, and when Krsna Himself appeared as a devotee, as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He showed us the path by which to cross the ocean of Kali Yuga. That is the path of the Hare Krsna movement. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, He ushered in the era for the Sankirtan movement. It is also said that for ten thousand years this era will continue. This means that simply by accepting the sankirtan movement and chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, the fallen souls of this Kali Yuga will be delivered. After the Battle of Kuruksetra, at which Bhagavad Gita was spoken. Kali Yuga continues for 432,000 years, of which only 5,000 years have passed. Thus, there is still a balance of 427,000 years to come. Of these 427,000 years, the 10,000 years of the Sankirtan movement inaugurated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago provide the opportunity for the fallen souls of Kali yuga to take to the Krsna consciousness movement, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and thus be delivered from the clutces of Material existence and return home, back to Godhead.” So, we only have 9,500 years left to flood the world with Srila Prabhupada’s books !!! and save the fallen souls from unlimited suffering in the Kali yuga after the 10,000 years of the Golden age of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

SB 7-6-24 “Preaching is the best service to the Lord. The Lord will immediately be extremely satisfied with one who engages in this service of preaching Krsna consciousness. This is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad–gita (18.69) na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ. “There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” If one sincerely tries his best to spread Krsna consciousness by preaching the glories of the Lord and His supremacy, even if he is imperfectly educated, he becomes the dearmost servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is bhakti. As one performs this service for humanity, without discrimination between friends and enemies, the Lord becomes satisfied, and the mission of one’s life is fulfilled.” Remember that when we speak about preaching the best preaching is book distribution. “What will your 3-minute talk do but if he takes home a book then he will have real benefit.”

If you haven’t already sent in your pledges for the Live to Give campaign please sent it to me ASAP.

For our monthly Sankirtan meeting we will inform everyone as soon as the devotee and the date are confirmed.

Your servant,

Trai Das

Sankirtan Scores Continental Europe

Sankirtan Scores United Kingdom

Sankirtan Charts

Sankirtan stories

Spain #1

Recently I heard my spiritual master speaking on the importance of book distribution. He was reading a strong purport of Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada said:

All the devotees connected with the Krishna consciousness movement must read all the books that have been translated. The Chaitanya Caritamrta, The Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita and others. Otherwise, after some time, they will simply eat, sleep and fall down from their position. Thus, they will miss the opportunity to attain an eternal blissfull life of transcendental pleasure.

(CC Madhya 25.278, purport).

One yoga teacher in Alicante showed such interest in Prabhupada's books. So she signed up for our tuesday reading club and brought a friend with her. The club's purpose is to spark the interest of people in reading trascendental literatures such as Krishna book , Ramayana, Mahabharata and counteract the addictive and harmful effect of mundane entertainment.

Bhaktin Vero, as we call her now, comes every tuesday so we can read together and churn the nectar of Krishna book. She asks questions and becomes so absorbed in hearing about the science of Krishna consciousness that sometimes she forgets her daughter is waiting for her at home. Nor do we make an effort to remind her as we too, become absorbed in Krishna katha.

After hearing from my spiritual master and just seeing Vaisesika Prabhu's inaugural bhadra compaign post, I knew bhaktin Vero had to take home a set of Srimad bhagavatam. And she did. Now, we are looking forward for the next tuesday and the next until we attain a eternal blissful life of transcendental pleasure!

Harinam Sankirtan ki Jaya!

Spain #2

A few months back, I met with Bhaktin Noelia during sankirtan. I was Practicing my inner hearing. Before approaching a person, I would ask in my mind "Krishna who should I talk to next?" So Krishna guided me to Noelia. She was just strolling by and was nicely surprised when I addressed her. Her eyes sparked with interest as she was hearing about the books etc. So she asked: "why me? I responded that it was intuition or the supersoul within the heart.

Since then, she has been somewhat chanting, helping with service around the temple and coming to the Sunday feast programs. Now, she even takes home books for distribution. As a yoga teacher, she likes to share books like the perfection of yoga, Ayurveda, vegetarian fantasy etc. In the picture above, Amelia, a friend of Noelia, is showing her new books. She has come to the temple for a book on Ayurveda and ended up leaving with 7 more books. Noelia continues to send her friends to Krishna and naturally, she has attracted the mercy of devotees and Radha Krishna.

Netherlands

One story
I went to the Kirtanmela Festival in Orange church where 400 devotees and guests were singing the Holy Names
In between in the middle of the day, I thought how would it be to distribute books in Amsterdam again.
30 years ago, I had been regularly going out in that area when I lived in the temple
I left with few Science of Self-Realizations and Bhagavad Gita English and 5 intro to Bhagavad Gitas in my hand.
The first person, however, I approached said he was going "Just now" to the Orange Kerk..the church to take care of the evenement.
I said" Yes, they are singing there, The Hare Krsna's "
He said he is taking care, he is the caretaker of the church and events
He then said he had already received some books the years before.
The Bhagavad Gita as it is.
And some smaller books.
And he is reading the books.
I asked if he had the Science of selfrealisation.
He said "No"
(Thinking about all the service he had unknowingly done for Krsna by allowing the devotees to use the Church),
I said: "You can have the book as a gift"
But then he said: "No that I cannot accept.
Reaching his chest where he took his purse, he said.
"I want to give you something for this book"
and then he gave more than double BBT cost
Somehow Krsna inspired him to reciprocate.
That was really nice to see how Krsna attracted this sincere soul by the Holy Names and Prabhupada's books and by a real sincere service attitude.