I arrived in Chittagong on the 30th of November - just in time to prepare for my birthday feast on the evening of the 1st of December....

Since there was a strike on my arrival, the devotees met me at the airport with an ambulance. Once again it was a mad drive through town - as if it was a life-death situation......
In this part of the world the ambulances are very basic: simply a clapped out van with a stretcher in the back and a flashing light on the top with a siren. No other equipment whatsoever.
And during times of strikes it is certainly a good business to have an ambulance - they are in demand and can thus ask for a horrendous price.

It was nice to be back in Chittagong temple, and devotees were greeting me with happy smiles.
And I could immediately see that the temple construction was nicely progressing. Some marble workers had come all the way from India to work on the inside and put the marble on the floor, the walls and the columns. Most of them were Muslims. They would live with the devotees for one year, take prasadam and hear kirtan or lectures while they eat....! What great mercy they were receiving, apart from the opportunity to engage in service and build a nice temple.

Nitai Priya Prabhu and myself arrived in Sylhet on the 19th of November. The devotees happily met us at the airport and immediately took us to Kulaura Farm, around 2 hour's drive from the city.

The year 2013 had been a very troubled year for the population of Bangladesh. Almost every single week there have been several days of strike which doesn't allow any mode of transportation to operate. Petrol bombs are thrown onto busses and on people at random in the streets, and everyone is in fear of aggression and crime.
The atmosphere carries an ordor of violence, insecurity and fear, and people in general are becoming tired of the instability and are wearing thin. The economy of the entire country is going down with the prices of everything shooting high into the sky.
And the reason for all this are the upcoming elections in the beginning of 2014.

Nevertheless, we devotees are not allowing ourselves to get overly affected by this nonsensical stage performance of material existence.

On my arrival in Dhaka on the 8th of November the devotees happily welcomed me and were eager to immediately engage me: I was invited to give the SB class the next morning, and to give a three-day seminar to the student boys.
Around seventy enthusiastic students practising Krsna consciousness assembled for four hours every day to discuss the topic of "The False Ego - our Constant Companion and Trouble Maker." We had eye opening discussions, and I engaged them in performing role plays illustrating various aspects of the workings of the false ego which was very humerous indeed.
The false ego is the most subtle element of the subtle body - it is so subtle that we often aren't aware of it at all, and rather identify with it thinking it to be us. And it is constantly whispering some nonsense into our ears: you are great, your opinion is the best, you are right, you are the center of attention, your view is most important, etc. And thus it is acting as our worst trouble maker, inducing us to believe we are something which we are not, and making as act in ways we should not act....

On the 22nd of October I returned to Vrindavan - it was nice to be back....

Meanwhile a lot of devotees from all around the world had arrived to spend the Kartik month here.
It was not easy to find a little spot in the temple room during Mangal artik and other temple programs. I quickly developed a certain routine how I would move around the temple room, and I discovered that the best spot for darshan was indeed near the pillar in the back of the temple room facing Sri Sri Krsna Balaram - from there one could also see Radha Syamasundara as well. Often I had to squeeze into the crowds to get there and could only see Their Lordships when standing on the very tips of my toes.
The pastime with Mahaprabhu came to my mind, where one old lady is climbing His shoulders in order to take darshan of Lord Jagannath....

On the 4th of October I arrived in Vrindavan for a short visit of five days. It was so wonderful to be here again, that I decided to change my scedule and return after the GBC meetings in Juhu for another two and half weeks.

I was busy with some errands - getting a few things done which can only be done and bought in Vrindavan. And I spent time with devotees who I hadn't seen for a long time.....

On my arrival in Berlin on the 23rd of September I was received by Bhaktin Dominique at the airport, and we immediately went to apply for my Indian visa.

The Berlin yatra has experienced a troubled year of instability, with no permanent place for the devotees to hold programs, and Lord Jagannath having to live in a tiny little flat and being taken care of by a couple of devotees.

One year ago the devotees had been asked to vacate their spacious flat which had served for many years as their temple and meeting place. It had been a shock to the entire congregation. The disgruntled neighbors had repeatedly complained to the house owner about the noise of the kirtans. And finally the devotees had been asked to leave.

Since then they have not managed to find a suitable place for worship and preaching. There also have been different visions of what kind of place to get: a store front, or better a house in the suburbs? Or a flat within the new-age scene? The devotees have not managed to come to some united conclusion, all the while Lord Jagannath has been patiently waiting.....

On the 16th of September an enormous crowd of ten thousand devotees gathered in the little holiday resort called Evpatoriya, on the Crimea Peninsula situated on the Black Sea in Ukraine.
The annual Bhakti Sangam Festival is surely the most amazing event on this planet, with so many Maharajas and preachers sharing their realizations in seminars, and the evenings are spent in most sublime kirtans.

Each seminar block has six presentations running parallel in various venues. Since there is such a huge crowd of devotees many topics can be offered by a variety of speakers to suit everyone's needs and attractions.

My visit to the Kharkov community was gradually coming to an end....

Before leaving I always spend a lot of time meeting with devotees privately, and we also had a meeting with our girls living in the brahmacarini ashram.

The ashram has become more stabel now, especially since our beloved Nalini Mataji is there to help taking care of the girls. We almost have the atmosphere of an extended family, with two elderly ladies as mother and grand-mother educating and caring for the young girls, some being a little more experienced than others.

Training the ladies is of greatest importance, especially since the success of a marriage is mainly dependant on the wife's behavior and service mood. Better to go through the beating of the false ego in the brahmacarini ashram and become humble there, rather than battling out the ego clashes in marriage and straining the relationship, which too often ends in divorce.

On my arrival in Kharkov/Ukraine I immediately focussed on the upcoming festivals of Janmastami and Prabhupada's appearance.
As we know Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that Vaisnava festivals are the mother of devotion if we celebrate them deeply, with heart and soul.
We had only a few days left to get absorbed in meditating on all the arrangements....

I had made efforts to invite a preacher to come and visit us in Kharkov for those festival days. It always adds a special festive note to the atmosphere and is very uplifting to everyone's consciousness. But this time I had been out of luck. Many preachers were going to the 40th anniversary of the installation of the Deities at Bhaktivedanta Manor, which was a big event.

Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to receive one special guest amongst us: Mahabharata Prabhu from Moscow, who is serving there as the head-pujari.
He had kindly agreed to come and train our pujaris in various aspects of puja, and help us to arrange a very nice abhishek for Janmastami.

On our arrival in Lvov/Ukraine on the 14th of August we were welcomed by my translater Acyuta Priya mataji and several local devotees, who immediately took us on the two-hour journey to the site of our planned Holy Name Retreat in the Carpathian Mountains.Situated in the most Western corner of Ukraine, this area used to be part of the Austrian Empire before the war. And indeed, everything reminded me of Austria: the mountains covered by dense dark-green ferr tree forests and lush meadows, and the little villages with houses almost in the same architectural style like in Austria!
The only difference is the standard of life: Austria being much more wealthy and organised, whereas this part of the world looks like Austria eighty years ago....
In winter this area serves as the only skiing resort of Ukraine, where one can find high enough mountains for engaging in this popular winter sport.

The devotees had rented a simple holiday center which perfectly served our needs: enough accomodation for more than one hundered devotees, a big kitchen and prasadam area, and a suitable room serving us as our bhajan kutir to hold the seminars.