The Bhakti Sangam Festival in Ukraine is surely one of the most amazing events in the three worlds....
Unfortunately it had to be canceled last year due to the political situation of war raging in Eastern Ukraine. And as the saying goes: absence makes the heart grow fonder - by missing it one year, we all realized even more how dear and meaningful this event had become to us.
Unfortunately it had to be canceled last year due to the political situation of war raging in Eastern Ukraine. And as the saying goes: absence makes the heart grow fonder - by missing it one year, we all realized even more how dear and meaningful this event had become to us.
This year the festival took place in the very Western part of Ukraine, around three hours' drive from Lvov. This would give indeed enough distance to the war zone.
"Only" seven thousand devotees assembled - on previous festivals we had twelve thousand people coming together to be part of this gigantic transcendental mela. The heavy economic crisis which had been shaking the country since the war had broken out made it for many devotees very difficult to find the money to travel all the way across Ukraine to the festival site. And for Russian devotees it had become almost impossible to enter Ukraine - only by invitation of a family member.
Thus it felt like great victory to once again have the festival take place - despite all odds. The devotees had worked very hard for this. It had not been easy to relocate the event by finding a suitable site where to hold it. It required a lot of accomodation for so many devotees, nice VIP facilities and an area where a gigantic tent could be put up - for the morning program and the evening kirtans. Also it required around six suitable venues and halls for all the parallel seminars to take place. Only well established holiday areas and resorts could offer such possibilities. And the devotees had done some extensive research and had finally found such a place - hidden away in the forest, and situated on the banks of a big lake....
I had flown from Frankfurt to Lvov on the 24th of August, arriving late in the evening. On the next day the devotees drove us to the festival site - on very bad and narrow roads, through deserted forests and fields. At some stage I was truly wondering where the hell we were going, and whether we would ever arrive at the right place! The navigator seemed to take us in circles, and the roads were so deserted that we didn't even meet a single car for a long time. It was almost a bit creepy, and the driver himself seemed to be rather lost. But finally we got to a main road which took us there....
I was nicely accomodated in a three-room flat in one of those new wooden block houses of a holiday resort, and I shared the flat with Nagapatni Mataji who is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and comes every single year, all the way from the States to attend the festival, and Bhakti Mataji from Hungary who was accompanying Sivarama Swami to distribute his books here at this joyful event. So I had the best company...!
"Only" seven thousand devotees assembled - on previous festivals we had twelve thousand people coming together to be part of this gigantic transcendental mela. The heavy economic crisis which had been shaking the country since the war had broken out made it for many devotees very difficult to find the money to travel all the way across Ukraine to the festival site. And for Russian devotees it had become almost impossible to enter Ukraine - only by invitation of a family member.
Thus it felt like great victory to once again have the festival take place - despite all odds. The devotees had worked very hard for this. It had not been easy to relocate the event by finding a suitable site where to hold it. It required a lot of accomodation for so many devotees, nice VIP facilities and an area where a gigantic tent could be put up - for the morning program and the evening kirtans. Also it required around six suitable venues and halls for all the parallel seminars to take place. Only well established holiday areas and resorts could offer such possibilities. And the devotees had done some extensive research and had finally found such a place - hidden away in the forest, and situated on the banks of a big lake....
I had flown from Frankfurt to Lvov on the 24th of August, arriving late in the evening. On the next day the devotees drove us to the festival site - on very bad and narrow roads, through deserted forests and fields. At some stage I was truly wondering where the hell we were going, and whether we would ever arrive at the right place! The navigator seemed to take us in circles, and the roads were so deserted that we didn't even meet a single car for a long time. It was almost a bit creepy, and the driver himself seemed to be rather lost. But finally we got to a main road which took us there....
I was nicely accomodated in a three-room flat in one of those new wooden block houses of a holiday resort, and I shared the flat with Nagapatni Mataji who is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and comes every single year, all the way from the States to attend the festival, and Bhakti Mataji from Hungary who was accompanying Sivarama Swami to distribute his books here at this joyful event. So I had the best company...!
And so many wonderful sadhus had assembled to freely give their association to all the devotees by conducting seminars and leading kirtans, with HH Niranjana Swami being the welcoming host of them all. I was especially delighted to meet my well-wisher HH Sivarama Swami, who once again gave me very generously his personal association by inviting me to sit with him near his book table so we could share some thoughts and views on things while he was occasionally signing one of his books purchased by the devotees.
Also my well-wisher HH Badrinarayan Maharaja had come to attend the festival for the very first time, and he visibly enjoyed his stay....
Also my well-wisher HH Badrinarayan Maharaja had come to attend the festival for the very first time, and he visibly enjoyed his stay....
I had chosen the topic of "The False Ego - Our Constant Companion And Trouble Maker" for my five-session seminar. Even though I was scheduled parallel to four Maharajas my speaking venue was packed out with devotees - the catchy topic had attracted many eager listeners who faithfully returned every day, keen to hear the continuation of the discussion. On two days we even had a sweet little role play being demonstrated by a group of devotees from the audience. Later one devotee shared with me privately how these role plays had brought tears to his eyes....!
Throughout the day I was rather busy meeting with devotees privately who had approached me for guidance and advice. From my early travels around Ukraine I knew so many devotees, and many of them I had not met for a long time. So it was especially heart-warming to meet them again. Every evening I joined the ecstatic kirtans on the stage of the main tent. Sitting on the stage gave me an opportunity to get insights into the subtle ways of communication between the kirtan leader and the instrument players, and I could feel more part of the actual kirtan scenario, being right there and catching the energies more tangibly.
One evening HH Sivarama Swami lead the most amazing kirtan - very powerful and surcharged with transcendental energy! Everybody was simply caught up in the waves of transcendental joy, and once he ended the kirtan all the preachers and godbrothers were awe-struck and expressed their gratitude to Maharaja with whispered words of appreciation, smiles and affectionately padding him on his shoulders or placing his hand to their own forehead. Sivarama Swami humbly accepted their ways of reciprocation and walked off the stage to take rest - visibly unaffected by the praise and glory he had received.
The most ecstatic place of the festival was the kitchen set-up. I visited there several times, and I was deeply impressed about the eager service mood of the devotees. Some had come around ten days before the festival had started in order to set everything up. They had made twelve wooden stoves, which had each a big pot sitting over the fire. And in those twelve pots they cooked nice prasadam for all the seven thousand devotees! And this setting had to be outside of course, with some makeshift plastic roof giving minimal protection against possible rain. And then there was the cutting-up area: many tables, where mostly ladies of all ages cut the vegetables. Inside one nearby building they had set up a bread-factory, where devotees baked bread-rolls. Truly amazing, how devotees could work with such minimal facilities, and actually arrange nice prasadam for so many people.
The serving out was also well arranged, with a whole army of young fellows running back and forth, filling up the buckets again and again with prasadam....
The spirit of selfless service is such a strong element in this entire Bhakti Sangam Festival - the hidden secret of success....! The mood of the spiritual world: how can I serve, contribute, donate, be part of it all....?!
Just before my departure to the airport I had a meeting with my Guru Maharaja, HH Niranjana Swami. I gave a brief up-date on various developments and plans, seeking blessings and confirmations that I was heading in the right direction.
On the 31st of August I flew to Kharkov in the East of Ukraine, together with Hari Sauri Prabhu.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
The serving out was also well arranged, with a whole army of young fellows running back and forth, filling up the buckets again and again with prasadam....
The spirit of selfless service is such a strong element in this entire Bhakti Sangam Festival - the hidden secret of success....! The mood of the spiritual world: how can I serve, contribute, donate, be part of it all....?!
Just before my departure to the airport I had a meeting with my Guru Maharaja, HH Niranjana Swami. I gave a brief up-date on various developments and plans, seeking blessings and confirmations that I was heading in the right direction.
On the 31st of August I flew to Kharkov in the East of Ukraine, together with Hari Sauri Prabhu.....
Your servant, Devaki dd
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