Hare Krishna Maharaja,

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

I would like to give you an update of our program of this weekend. We've had our 3rd annual Amsterdam Kirtan Mela, paired with a Holy Name Retreat with His Holiness Sacinandana Swami Maharaja. The event received a good 300 visitors, plus several devotees who took up active services. Unfortunately i haven't seen much good photo's online yet.

We took some effort to draw in people from the yoga communities and have seen several faces unknown to us. Still, most of the visitors were ISKCON affiliated, Surinami Hindus and some of the Indian diaspora. I should say there were a lot of 'white bodied devotees'.

After three rounds we concluded this was the best one, with some good lessons learned. We again sold tickets (€25 for grown ups, €5 for kids under 16), and again we received some complaints and had devotees who we've known for years who boycott us). Still we believe it is alright what we do. I've asked feedback from some devotees to hear their thoughts, so we learn a bit and came to conclude that both ways have their advantages and it might not make a big difference. From how everything went, we believe Krishna was pleased with our effort, despite the arguments of some.

The idea that yoga students from around Amsterdam would come because of fixed price tickets is not yet proven. I tend to think the bastion of ISKCON wards of some people. We could make more effort next year to visit more schools and have a talk and see where they stand, and see if they can appreciate what we have to offer.

asa/tb make, agtsp, the popcorn free but salty, then charge a euro for glass of lemonade?

So that's more or less my missionary work for the year. Although i got some impression this weekend that Krishna pulls at me to get my spiritual life together. I've received good food for thought from the retreat today, as well as a lot of inspiration.

I hope you are doing well Maharaja. I hope you feel satisfied in the way you're instrumental in Srila Prabhupada's mission. I haven't followed your steps, i admit. I do think fondly of your example of educating yourself and build bridges. In that sense i am following in your footsteps in my own tiny way actually. I'm doing eclectic reading, bit of history, cultural philosophy, literature (short stories), biographies. I get to know my self and my range better with age. Its funny how that works, its kind of like board games; once you get going nicely, the game is almost over.

Hare Krishna,

A fallen householder,

Raghava Pandita dasa

ASA/hps - what do you think of our twitter posts.

even do it once a year and it accumulates!

nimai evan has dog following him, no?