European Sankirtan Newsletter

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The month of October being Kartik month was very special. As Srila Prabhupada writes in the Nectar of Devotion, the devotees like to reside in Vrndavana during the month of Kartik when all devotional services are valued at more than a thousand times. Srila Prabhupada also wanted the devotees who preached and distributed books in the west to come regularly to the Holy Dhams dedicating time to intense study of the books, to become purified from the contaminating atmosphere and association in the west and recharge their transcendental batteries to then preach and distribute books with renewed vigor.

As a result, some countries decreased their distribution a little whereas others increased. Italy increased from the previous month coming back to the number one spot for continental Europe and the Czech Republic increased coming up to the number two spot for continental Europe. Most all the other countries in continental Europe decreased due to engagement in other devotional activities as well as visiting the Holy Dhams.

The most amazing temple of all is the Radha Londonisvara yatra with 13,061 book points almost 3 times the nearest country score. Now London is becoming the capital of the world again but this time the Sankirtan capital of the world.The rest of the UK were a little in the Kartik mode and did less than the previous month. We hope though that some of that Sankirtan energy from the UK can flow over to the rest of Europe!

After the purifiying mercy from Kartik I think that the devotees all over Europe will now be fired up and ready for a really historic Srila Prabhupada marathon

The Live to Give campaign is now in full swing having started just after Bhadra purnima and going until January 7th. All countries can participate fully in this campaign as all countries have the Bhagavad Gita. France just ordered 4 pallets of Indian language Bhagavad Gitas so if you want to keep pace with them for this campaign be sure you have Bhagavad Gita in all the languages present in your country especially Indian languages besides the local language. They can be ordered from the BLS in Radhadesh. This year Gita Jayanti is Monday December 1st so that Sunday feast November 30th is a great opportunity for the Live to Give campaign and starting the Prabhupada marathon with Gita Jayanti. We are asking urgently all the countries to make their pledges of how many Bhagavad Gitas they will distribute during the campaign. Remember your pledge is your wedge!!

This month I would like to quote a couple of letters from Srila Prabhupada. The first is from May 19th 1975 regarding a weekly Sankirtan newsletter that Srila Prabhupada received, “I am in due receipt of your weekly sankirtan newsletters. I am always happy to hear of increasing book sales. These reports are very encouraging to me. Our real business is to print and distribute books. By doing this business, you are all becoming recognized by Krsna. Please try to continue working so nicely for Krsna, following the rules and regulations, chanting 16 rounds, and studying my books, and you will finish your business in this material world in this life and enter into the spiritual world to live with Krsna eternally.”

Near the end of his manifest pastimes Srila Prabhupada said that receiving the reports of books distributed gave him life. So that’s our only desire to make Srila Prabhupada happy by distributing his books.

Another letter “In the six-day book distribution, Eastern zone was first. This is our most important work. ALL THE LEADERS SHOULD TAX THEIR BRAINS FOR INCREASING THE SALES OF OUR BOOKS I have always said that if we simply rely on book distribution all our needs will be met".

Srila Prabhupada kijaya!!!

“I read your Sankirtan newsletter with great relish. Europe and America are in great danger; this Hare Krsna movement is enveloping them. The Sankirtan devotees are very, very dear to Krsna. Because you are doing the field work of book distribution, Krsna has immediately recognized them as true servants.”

So, we want to become dear to Srila Prabhupada and Krsna.

Your servant,

Trai Das

Sankirtan Meeting

Remember that on Friday, November 28th at 19:00 CET and 18:00 UK time we'll have the great fortune to have with us His Holiness Janananda Maharaja!!

Don't miss this opportunity,and invite as many devotees as possible to participate!

Click to Join the Sankirtan Meeting

Sankirtan Scores Continental Europe

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Sankirtan stories

Lorenzo & Camilla
I was worried that I could never actually satisfy the Lord with my devotional service. From my position, I thought it was impossible to ever please Sri Sri Radha Krishna no matter what I did. And that is true, in a sense. How could my contaminated heart ever produce anything resembling bhakti? Then I remembered the words from one of our acharyas. "Pleasing the spiritual master is the only way to get Krishna's mercy!" That was my way in. And I remembered those words on my way out to sankirtan. It was difficult at first but then I met Lorenzo and Camilla.

It felt like the only reason I had gone out was to meet them. Camilla looked bright and spoke as if she was directly answering Krishna's call. I could almost see her entire path unfold. She said that she became interested in spirituality because she met a devotee who gave her Bhagavad Gita. Unfortunately, she never went to the temple to pursue the answers to her questions. She told me "I have always regretted that..." However, the way she articulated her spiritual journey since then was enough to convince her friend, Lorenzo, to purchase a Gita for himself. I was astounded because there was nothing I could say she didn't already feel in her heart.
She explained to me:
"I used to listen to personalities like Rama Dass and Alan Watts but they are just white men who went to India and are now making a show of spirituality and use their profit for their own self interest. They remain on the surface. They can never understand the depth of Bhagavad Gita."
Lorenzo, on the other hand, had only started meditation because of her. But now, he was even more interested. Although he felt like he was unqualified to come to the temple, I reassured him "just come as you are." And Camilla added "this why it is Bhagavad Gita as it is ."
Although I also felt unqualified, I was reminded that Krishna's mercy can reach us at any stage of our journey back home, back to Godhead.

Harinam Sankirtan ki Jaya! 🙏🏿

Short story
On my way back to the temple, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong metro line. So I decided to ask for help

with the idea that I would sell a book to whomever would help me.

I asked one man who looked Portuguese to me.

Turns out he was Nepali. Of course, as a Nepali, he knew what to say. "I already have the books." But he truly did. He even showed me that he was part of our WhatsApp group ISKCON Lisboa!
Unfortunately and fortunately for him, his name was Lakshmi so I insisted that he should at least give a donation for the temple. I argued "it is the month of kartik and any spiritual act will benefit him a thousandfold." He replied: "yes I know, I was born during kartik." At that point, I left him no choice and said "then you have to give a donation and take a Gita to offer to a friend or family member!"
Ultimately, He surrendered to the mercy of Srimati Radharani and accepted the offer.

Harinam sankirtan ki Jaya!
Kartik maas ki Jaya!
Hari Haribol 🙏🏿

Mood of Sankirtan
Traditionally, brahmacaris are known to be surrendered to the spiritual master who engages them full-time in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because they are renounced, society or those engaged in the family life business give them full facility for the execution of their service. Such traditional values are upheld perfectly by SevakPati Gaurhari Prabhu and his Vaisnava family.
For this end of Kartik Maas, they have kindly invited us to their home and served us sumptuous prasad. They fed us so nicely that our tongue could only utter the maha mantra in appreciation! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
A few moments before we arrived at SevakPati's house, Nitai Caran proposed that we visit their son Biplop who owns a grocery store down the same street. But instead of finding their son at the counter, we found their daughter--Vrindavanesvari Mahagopi.
Just like the other members of her family, Vrindavanesvari is part of the inner circle of the Lisbon Yatra. She kindly offered that we bring some bhoga back to the temple after taking prasad at their home.
While Nitai was choosing what bhoga to bring, I decided to distribute my last Portuguese Gita in front of the store. It was not long before I noticed two alien girls crossing the street. Their style meant that they wanted to be different and free from conventional thought. They were tattoo artists from Vienna, Austria.
Kimya and Ida were overjoyed to receive Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita as it is. However, sometimes, in devotional service, we have to face difficulties and I realised they did not speak Portuguese and I did not have anymore Gitas in English. So we tried to compensate by giving them small books but it was too late. They were both already attracted to the Gita and they said in a sorry tone "we really want this one..."
For those reading this story, this next part is very important. Vrindavanesvari looked at us and made a concession in her heart. She understood the heart of book distribution. She hurried back at her house and came back with an English Bhagavad Gita. But it wasn't any kind of Gita...it was the one given to her by her siksa HG Prabir Das Brahmachari prabhu.
The two girls became emotional at the thought of being the recipient of such mercy. Nitai commented in this regard: "this is the mood of Sankirtan. Back in Prabhupada's time, during the early days of the movement, whenever new people arrived at the temple and devotees didn't have extra beads to give them then they would offer their own initiation beads."
Such was the mercy of devotees. And such is the mercy of our acharyas.
Prahlada Maharaj said: My dear Lord Nrsimhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence [mauna-vrata]. They are not interested in delivering others. As for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Krsna consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet.
Such is the mood of Sankirtan. Hare Krishna 🙏🏿
Harinam sankirtan ki Jaya 🧡

This kindhearted gentleman took a Bhagavad Gita from me the day after he got out of a 13 year stint in prison. His parents were involved in the life of crime and thus he was implicated. He didnt have money for donation at the time, but promised to return with something. Today, a month and a half later, He returned and Gave $100 donation, i offered him a Bhakti book bundle, as well as two other books which he lovingly accepted. Just see, with faith and patience, good things come to those who wait.

Jaya Srila Prabhupada

"Radhe Radhe!" Said Laksman, a Nepalese young man with a good natured spirit.
As I was talking to him, Nitai Caran was already loading the nepalese books. We just had a few minutes before getting off at our metro station--Alameda.
Unfortunately, Laksman had no laskmi on himself so he decided to get off at our stop so we could talk a bit more.
He candidly shared that he studied Sanskrit for 6 years but then deviated from his path. "I should have continued..." He admitted.
So we presented him with the Bhagavad Gita as it is in Nepalese. But before he took it, he asked if we had Hanuman chalisa.
Our immediate response (since we didn't have anything directly related to Hanuman) was that Hanuman was present at the battlefield of Kuruksetra as the flag on Arjuna's chariot. An auspicious sign of victory. He smiled and said "yes!" He took the book and gave a donation with a card.

Nectar honey for books of nectar...why not?
Today was a fun Sankirtan day. For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada, we distributed a few books by the technical university of Lisbon. Students of physics, engineering, pedagogy and more came in contact with Prabhupada's books. but the highlight of the day was Diogo, a simple honey farmer with a good heart and a stand near the university. He kindly offered a bottle of his ahimsa honey in exchange for a small book entitled "Krishna, the reservoir of pleasure." Nectar for nectar. Diogo definitely won the exchange. Why? Because the nectar he received is eternal...and the nectar he gave will be offered to the Lord!
The Lord will definitely be pleased with him. May he flourish to become just like a honeybee drowning in the nectarean words of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.

So today started with a prayer...
So today started with a prayer then a shower of mercy by the 6 Goswamis of Vrndavan. By the time we went out, we were fearless and we also had a target in mind--the University of Lisbon. We were just like guided missiles. Guided by the paramatma (the Supersoul in the heart). A few jivas (souls) on our way to the university were caught in the crossfire of sankirtan. Some escaped, but we distributed books to most of them.
When we entered the bus, the driver didn't even have a chance to fight back...he surrendered and took a book, managed to give a donation while he was driving and then posed for a picture keeping his eyes on the road. Now, he was a spiritual accomplice helping us to get to our destination.
Upon arriving at the university, we quickly scanned the surroundings and immediately went to work. Books were flying and for a moment I had to check the false ego and remember that I am just an instrument. "For the pleasure of Prabhupada" I told myself before continuing.
It was really inspiring because it was easy to speak to the intellect of university students and also challenge those who were closed minded.
I told one such closed minded student "everything you study here comes from the Vedas without which you wouldn't have philosophy, law, mathematics and so on...the greatest minds of the world have read such books. Yet you claim that you want to make your own mind through the empirical process without external influence when in fact you are influence by your parents, friends, society, professors and so on and still you think that you have independence of thought..." The debate ended there.
The next ones to fall to the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were two soldiers. They were happy to hear that we appreciated their service of protecting people so monks like us could meditate peacefully.
Our journey was almost over but before we went home, we decided to enter the faculty of law. That's where I met Assis, a Roman law student from Angola. His field of studies focused on the principles upon which modern law has developed. After speaking with him and inviting him to the temple, although he was friendly, I didn't expect him to be that much interested. But he was. In fact, he showed in front of the temple just when we were about to honour prasadam. As a kind hearted and simple minded African young man, he accepted to honour prasadam with us. Then we spoke about the maha-mantra as the only way to reconnect to our spirituality. His response was amazing. "I feel very happy to have come here so I could connect with Krishna."
I was astonished.
So the day started with a prayer... of me asking to be an instrument for Krishna. And even if I had not distributed any books, I was hoping I could bring someone sincere closer to Krishna.
By the mercy of Krishna, the day ended with us chanting the maha-mantra with Assis

Harinam sankirtan ki Jaya!

Set up...
Dear devotees,
Yesterday, we had the wonderful opportunity of
Giving one set of Srimad bhagavatam to Reetam Gosh prabhu. He has been regularly attending the temple programs, engaging in seva and even participated in the Govardhan Lila play by the Bhaktivedanta players. Reetam is a sincere devotee endowed with intelligence, humility, cleanliness, and more qualities. Above all, he has a strong inclination towards bhakti yoga--devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. He particularly helped organize our book storage which is a step closer to us being ready for Prabhupada's marathon of December 2026!
Reetam means truth . Actually Arjuna says this particular verse in Bhagavad Gita 10.14 which indicates how we should receive and accept the words of Sri Krishna.

He says:
Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye
yan māṁ vadasi keśava
Which translates to: O Kṛṣṇa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me!
It is very significant because to be truthful and seek after what is True (in the absolute sense) are important factors in order to receive transcendental knowledge from a bona fide source.
In this case, the bona fide source of knowledge is Srimad bhagavatam spoken from the lips of the bona fide representative of Sri Krishna.
So this is a set up which means that Krishna has arranged this situation for us to understand and accept the Absolute Truth of Srimad bhagavatam as it is and prepare ourselves to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books during the 2026 Prabhupada marathon !
Harinam sankirtan ki Jaya!