Indradyumna Swami likes to have a special ceremony on the final day of Woodstock. In past years usually it was a marriage ceremony. This year, however, because the final day was the day before Janmastami (Krishna’s birthday), we had a special Janmastami festival on the stage. Janmastami is a very popular festival and is celebrated all over India.
   At Woodstock, our festival began with swinging Radha and Krishna. The rope from the swing extended from the stage through the security fence into the crowd so anyone who wanted to could have the opportunity to swing the divine couple on Their swing, and many hundreds took advantage. It was so beautiful to see so many people participate in the Lord’s pastimes in this way and achieve such great mercy.

Next there was an abhiseka (bathing ceremony) for the large Radha Krishna deities. They were originally purchased for Warsaw temple but were never installed. After the ceremony They were garlanded, and later the garlands were thrown into the crowd to eager onlookers.

Next there was a very colorful fire sacrifice performed by Sri Prahlad, who is sitting behind the fire, chanting mantras as he pours ghee (clarified butter) in it. Behind him on a table, you will see part of Krishna’s birthday cake. Candramauli Swami, on the right, throws grains into the fire.

One young lady from Vienna, Austria, named Alexandra, who studied video production in college, came to film the Polish Woodstock festival. However, she became enchanted with the beautiful spiritual attractions present in Krishna’s Village of Peace, and so she spent the whole festival with the devotees. I promised her on the second day of the festival that she could interview me about deity worship, and now was the afternoon of the final day. So although I was tired and was planning to take a nap, I figured I shouldn’t pass up this opportunity. She asked me about the difference between Hare Krishna and other religions and so I choose three differences to speak on.

1. The Hare Krishnas understand the soul is present in the body of all living entities, not just human beings, so it is important that we respect all forms of life. I mentioned that I was brought up as a Quaker and the Quakers have a nice understanding the God is in the hearts of all human beings and so they have a high regard for civil rights. In Bhagavad-gita, however, God is described as being in the heart of all creatures, and so the devotees of Lord Krishna extend such regard to the animals and do not unnecessary kill them for food since they also have a right to live.
2. The worship of the deity form of God is not idol worship as some other religionists claim. In idol worship a person imagines some form and worships it as God. In deity worship, God declares in the scripture that if one makes a deity form of Him according to certain rules and worships Him according to given directions, He will reveal Himself to the worshiper. I explained Srila Prabhupada’s analogy of the mailbox. One may take a box and paint it the appropriate color, write ‘mail’ on it, and put a letter inside, but it will not attain its destination. One must place the letter in the box authorized by the postal system, and then the letter will reach its destination. The deity is an authorized representation of God, to help persons who cannot yet see the spiritual form of God, to render service to Him.
3. In many religions, the highest perfection is to worship God or to become the son or servant of God, but it is possible for pure souls also to engage in relationships as either the friend, the parent, or the lover of God. All relationships in this world are perverted reflections of our perfect relationship with God which is free from the impermanence and imperfection which characterizes our relationships in this world. The ultimate perfection to reestablish ourselves in our eternal relationship with God.

After the interview, I went to the tent to take a nap, but just as I lay down, I heard the Gaura arati song chanted in the temple booth nearby. Since I almost never miss the evening arati, I felt compelled to attend and got absorbed in chanting and dancing with the devotees and visitors as well. This festival was just so nice that even though I couldn’t sleep enough at night, and I was too absorbed to take my usual afternoon nap, I didn’t really care.

The festival was so absorbing that participating in it minimized my consciousness of bodily needs. One day I just had a couple cups of Sprite for breakfast, but I was so busy in chanting, talking to people at the reincarnation booth, dancing in the kirtana, and listening to Jayapataka Swami’s classes that I did not even think about eating lunch till 3:30. At that time the line had over 100 people in it, and I was content to chant peacefully in line waiting my turn. Usually that would be a great cause of aggravation for me, but I wasn’t concerned. One of the security people then saw me waiting in line and escorted me to the back where they served the lunch to the devotees, a place I was previously unaware of.

Not only was the festival so absorbing that it caused me to forget about my body, but many, many nights I found myself staying up to eleven, or sometimes even twelve, to work on this web page, despite having to get up at four every morning. Once I was even forty-five minutes late for lunch.

The last night of the festival when I got to the place where we boarded the bus to take us to our quarters at a high school in Zary, I saw Sri Prahlad among the devotees there. I had such a good time at the festival I embraced him out of gratitude, thanking him for the wonderful festival. Although that may not be very surprising for other people, it is completely out of character for me. I do not recall ever feeling so happy that I felt like embracing someone who helped contribute to my happiness. It was a very nice feeling and a memorable one.

The day after the festival, the morning of Janmastami itself, I was awakened by a devotee named Sabda Prabhu at 3:15 a.m. He told me to get my belongings together, and he would give me a ride to the airport in Berlin, three hours away. Instead of taking me to the train station, since other devotees needed to go to the airport also, he was going to drive us to Berlin. He said I had 5 minutes to get ready. It was amazing to me that someone who had stayed up all night would be willing to drive us three hours to the airport, but that was characteristic of the sacrifices the devotees there were willing to make.

This ends my sampling of scenes from Krishna’s Village of Peace. If you want to see some more pictures of chanting parties accompanied by some personal meditations, you may click here. Otherwise, I offer you just a few more words in conclusion.

The whole mood of Krishna’s Village of Peace was to give opportunites to people to become inspired to take up different devotional activities which are full of spiritual pleasure. Because of that mood everything was very peaceful and happy. I feel very grateful to Indradyumna Swami, Sri Prahlad, and all the other wonderful self-sacrificing devotees who made that beautiful festival of spiritual activities possible. One devotee told me that Indradyumna Swami said to him that you can see pictures of the festival and you can hear people talk about it, but you will never really appreciate it until you go there and participate in it. All I can say is that it is the best festival I ever went to, and I think it had to do with the great number of people who were being freely given great opportunities for spiritual activities of various kinds. The Supreme Lord is very satisfied with those people who take great trouble to give others the chance to come closer to Him, and I think that is reason for the special sweetness of the festival. It is definitely in the mood of Lord Caitanya and His associates who broke open the storehouse of love of Godhead and distributed the contents freely to everyone and anyone. It is our great fortune that Srila Prabhupada created this International Society for Krishna Consciousness through which such auspicious activities are taking place.

I hope that somehow or other by Krishna’s grace, you have experienced some transcendental happiness in the course of viewing this web page and that your natural devotion to Krishna is more aroused.

If you have developed some desire to participate in or contribute to Indradyumna Swami’s festivals in Poland, you can look at their web site on Festivals of India in Poland, or you can can write Indradyumna Swami at indradyumna.swami@pamho.net. If you want to read Indradyumna Swami's wonderful accounts of his experiences at this year's festivals, please investigate his website, traveling-preacher.com, click on 'volume four', and look at the entries for Poland.

Woodstock 2002 happened on August 1-3 and was bigger than ever. If you want to see what that was like, look at Krishna’s Village of Peace 2002.
Woodstock 2003 happened on July 31-August 2 and, amazingly enough, was even bigger than the previous year. If you want to see what that was like, look at Krishna’s Village of Peace 2003.

For information on the Polish festivals for 2004, you may write Vara-nayaka das.

In April 2002, Indradyumna Swami came to Alachua and showed a very professional video on the 2001 Poland festival tour and Woodstock produced by Vince Lane. Its beauty inspired me to write three haiku poems:

Poland video:
Devotees touch people's hearts,
Giving Krishna gifts.

With charming wonder
Polish swing the Divine Two.
Bhakti's seeds thus sprout.

Our eyes fill with tears--
The Polish got such mercy!
Let's go this summer!

If you have suggestions, corrections, or additional text, pictures, or links to contribute to this web page, please don’t hesitate to write me, Krishna-kripa das, at bvi@afn.org, and if you want to see the comments of others, click here.

You may have also some interest in my other web pages, Nectar of the Holy Name, on the glories of chanting the names of God, Bhaktivedanta Institute (Alachua), an organization which produces publications and videos by Dr. Richard L. Thompson (Sadaputa Prabhu) on Vedic knowledge and modern science, and Krishna Devotees Tell 6th Grade Classes About India.

Please chant these names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare,” and uncover your eternally blissful self, which is realized through unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Don’t miss this golden opportunity of your rarely attained human form of life.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Krishna-kripa Das
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Last modified October 13, 2003.