By Devaki Devi Dasi
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.
This year HH Radhanath Swami was attending the festival, which attracted even more devotees to come and be part of it. And as every year HH Niranjana Swami was the most caring and affectionate host, welcoming the guest speakers and kirtaniyas and showing a wonderful example of Vaisnava hospitality in devotion. During the opening ceremony on the stage he welcomed HH Radhanath Swami with words of glorification, adding with affection: “And he is also my Lord and Master….” A sign of an advanced devotee – he seeks confidential and sheltering relationships with those of similar mood and taste.
This year a Ratha Yatra cart parked next to the main stage was transformed into the setting of the altar for Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, and Gaur Nitai. It looked very stylish and fitted well into the scene.
This event is a perfect manifestation of service attitude towards the Vaisnavas. The entire festival is so well coordinated – every minute detail is perfectly taken care of. Unless devotees manifest a high standard of selfless service and willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause of this event, it would be impossible to pull of such a big festival.
Over one thousand devotees were simply engaged in service to make everything happen. Nobody had to be pushed, nobody had to be paid. Everybody was simply eager to somehow be part of it by serving, contributing, giving. This is exactly the mood in the spiritual world: everybody wants to give, give, give….
Therefore there is even no need to charge any festival fees or prasadam fees. It is all going on by donations. The only thing people have to cover is their accomodation – either on the campus, or in some Guest House near by, according to their personal choice. Of course, the guest speakers and kirtaniyas are accomodated in a first class Holiday Complex – free of charge. And the VIP prasadam is always excellent – healthy and light, with every single consideration of everyone’s personal diet taken into account.
Attending this festival is the closest experience to Vaikuntha atmosphere within this material world.
Just imagine – to cook prasadam for ten thousand devotees….. And to serve prasadam to ten thousand devotees…. Not an easy task…..
Just like in the spiritual world, also on this festival one could perceive a strong sense of voluntary discipline centered around service, with good coordination and team spirit, everybody assisting each other.
I gave a five session seminar on the topic of “Guru Tattva – Becoming a True Disciple” – not thinking that I am a true disciple, but still endeavoring to become one. It was pretty well attended by a crowd of regulars who had committed to participate every day.
I also conducted a separate meeting for devotees who have a non-devotee husband or wife, since questions to this topic came up during the seminar. This meeting was also well attended by eager devotees.
I truly enjoyed being at the festival and tried to reach out to as many devotees as I possibly could, by giving care, support and guidance.
Some days I was so busy that I did not manage to attend the seminars which I had chosen: Radhanath Swami’s and Niranjana Swami’s classes. And I eagerly used the opportunity to connect with some of the guest speakers to get their uplifting association and build relationships – while taking prasadam, and inbetween seminars.
Every evening I joined the kirtan on the big stage. Seeing the huge crowd of devotees chanting blissfully Hare Krishna once again made me marvel at the miracle Srila Prabhupada had performed, bringing the holy name all around the world….
On the last evening I had a funny story happening to me during the final kirtan. I was sitting with all the guests and Maharajas on the stage, and HH Bhakti Vaibhava Swami started throwing garlands into the audience which the senior devotees had worn. Seeing that he had run out of garlands I collected the one’s from the matajis to give to him so he could also throw them into the crowd. But he didn’t accept them and in turn requested us ladies to throw them ourselves. Nobody of the ladies present had the courage to do it, so I thought to myself: “Looks like I have to do it….! So let’s try and get a bit sporty here…..!”
The first one landed quite nicely in the crowd of jumping devotees trying to catch it. “This is fun….,” I was thinking to myself. And with the second one I somehow got entangled, and it didn’t go very far
– infact it landed on the very edge of the stage. Luckily it didn’t end up on any Maharaja’s head…..! Of course, some of the boys in the audience were immediately grabbing it, and people were laughing and applauding…. I am sure I must have looked pretty silly – if not to say foolish…. Krsna had smashed my false ego which had whispered into my ear: “Go on then – here is your chance to show your sporty side in front of ten thousand devotees…..
Then, exactly at that moment HH BB Govinda Maharaja left the stage since it was getting late, and he walked right past me. With a big grin in his face he shouted into my ear: “I wouldn’t want to have YOU in my Baseball team…..!”
It was pretty funny – I responded with a similar big grin, saying “Believe it or not – I used to play handball, but it’s a few years ago…..”
Krsna is most expert in making us look a little foolish every now and again, simply to assist us in becoming more humble…..
In the early morning of the 22nd it was time to move on and leave the wonderful association of the Ukrainian devotees…. A group of devotees and friends gave me a heartfelt farewell.
I flew off to Berlin/Germany, stopping over for one night in Riga/Latvia to visit my good old friend Singha Bhatta Prabhu and his family….
Your servant, Devaki dd