On the 18th of September I arrived in Barcelona/Spain - it was my first visit to this temple. It is in a good location - in the centre of the city, on a square in a touristy area, off the main mall leading to the harbour, with little shops, bistros and the Spanish style street cafes. Childhood memories came to my mind - I had been here before in my childhood, in 1968.
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This was my second visit to the Spanish yatra - I came here before in 2016. In my childhood I had sometimes spent my school holidays in Spain, together with my family. In those days, it was a rather poor but beautiful country, and people lived very simple and off the land. Now, 55 years later, economic development and the advancement of Kali-yuga have brought along so many changes - like everywhere else in Europe...
After visiting Krishna Island in Northern Ireland, I spent some days visiting the preaching centre in Dublin, offering a variety of programs at the centre and in devotees' homes.
The preaching centre is in excellent location - in the middle of the city, with a Govinda's Restaurant on the ground floor, and three more floors above, with the temple room on the top floor. They worship a relief carving of the Pancha Tattva - perfect for a preaching centre with a simple standard of worship. Especially on Sundays a good crowd of people come, but also during the week people are interested to join discussions on relevant and catchy topics. This year I spent Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada's appearance in Ireland - on Inish Rath, or Krishna Island.
As last year, I once again decided to visit New Mayapur in France for the festival of Lord Balarama's appearance. In any other temple in Europe, it would be a three-hour festival, but here in New Mayapur the devotees celebrate the event over three to four days...!
New Mayapur is an historic early-20th-century castle - Srila Prabhupada installed beautiful, big marble Krishna-Balarama Deities here in 1975 - the first Krishna-Balarama Deities ever installed in the Western world. Furthermore, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Sri Radha-Govinda-Madhava are mercifully accepting our loving service. Srila Prabhupada visited here twice, in 1975 and 1976, and his quarters are being maintained as a museum - a peaceful place to chant japa. |
Devaki Devi Dasi's Traveling DiaryDevaki Devi Dasi is sharing her realizations and adventures in her Traveling Diary. Welcome to relish this nectar! |
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