Holy Name Retreat in Sweden

On my arrival in Sweden on the 24th of April I visited the devotees for three days in the Hare Krishna Center in the city of Stockholm. For many years the devotees have maintained a well established Govinda's Restaurant with an adjacent Preaching Center and Govinda's Boutique.
Indeed ideal preaching facilities....
And a ten minutes' drive takes us to Brahmakund - a nice two-storey Scandinavian style building with around ten little flats where devotees and vegetarian non-devotess are living. And in the cellar is a little temple room and well equipped kitchen. Again perfect facilities....

I gave two evening programs and the Sunday feast lecture, speaking on the topic of the false ego - our constant companion and troublemaker. It is always a relevant topic for one and all - no matter how long we have been practicing Krsna consciousness. And it always gives me deeper insights and awareness how much I myself am still affected by the orders and demands of this 'good old friend' who has accompanied us for so many life times.
I still have a lot of internal work to do.....
It can be so subtle - not always so easy to detect.....
It requires deep introspection, humility and honesty.....

Krsna consciousness is indeed such a deep and internal process. It is all about transforming the innermost chambers of the heart, to finally allow Krsna to reside in there. Within our heart is a big throne, which is meant for Krsna to take His seat there. But at present it is occupied by our false ego, who thinks himself to be the center of the universe. So we gradually have to kick this false ego off the seat, and allow Krsna to take His place.

On Monday Madhuri Radhika Mataji drove me out to our Village Community in Almvik, a ninety-minutes' drive from the city. It was nice to meet all the devotees again, and the weather was very pleasant and unusually warm for this time of the year.

We had scheduled a three-day Holy Name Retreat over the long weekend of the 1st of May, which is a public holiday in this part of the world. And Almvik is the perfect place for such event, since it is so secluded: away from all distractions, and surrounded by peaceful nature - with forest and fields, and a big lake. Even the network connection is poor, so people can't be so distracted by their mobile phone - one of the main sources of distractions.

Devotees arrived from the surrounding countries of Latvia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, England and Germany, and also from various parts of Sweden. We were an intimate circle of around twenty-eight devotees, coming together to focus on the holy name and deepen our relationship with Sri Harinama Prabhu. The wood-panelled yoga room in the tower of the temple building served us as a perfect bhajan kutir for the seminars during the day and the prayerful and deep evening kirtans.

At the end of those three days devotees shared once again heart moving realizations. Some of the participants experienced deep impacts on their consciousness - a life changing experience which gave them the inspiration to embark on a new beginning in regards to their chanting.
Sri Harinama Prabhu had reciprocated with our endeavors and had revealed Himself more tangibly....

Holy Name Retreats are almost the only time when I spend several hours per day in deep meditative kirtans. And only during Holy Name Retreats I manage to really prepare my consciousness and open my heart to receive the holy name on deeper levels. For me nothing can really compare to those kirtans during a Holy Name Retreat. In kirtans in my daily practice my chanting is not of the same quality of feeling. Whenever I have an opportunity to join kirtans on festivals, chanted by our pure-hearted preachers, I immediately feel transported back to the mood of the Holy Name Retreats.....
Living from one Holy Name Reteat to the next, and longing to transform my life into one big Holy Name Retreat.....

I spent a few more days in Almvik, visiting the local devotees in their homes and discussing plans and visions for the future. And we were planning the upcoming Scandinavian Bhakti Sangam Festival in July - one of the highlights of the yatra which brings devotees together in sravanam kirtanam, and in serving the devotees in Vaisnava hospitality. Mukunda Prabhu, one of the local Almvik devotees put two nice videos of our previous festival together, which can be seen on the following links:

                      http://youtu.be/bOqdqCmNGT0

                     http://youtu.be/cUxzAP0tMNQ

On the 8th of May I flew to Munich/Germany to attend yet another joyful event - Nrsimha Caturdasi on Simhachalam....

Your servant, Devaki dd