A new sankirtan initative has started in the Benelux, in a devotee friendly way. With no pressure and based on fun, the monthly festival of Sankirtan Saturday was created. It started on the weekend of Oct. 8th and 9th. Some factors were: language barriers (the books are in Dutch, French, and English) and devotees feeling scared to go. Ninety percent of them never have done sankirtana.
Posters flooded the castle walls of Radhadesh: Sankirtana Saturday.
On Friday morning, Partha-sarathi gave the Bhagavatam class, juicy and full of sankirtana sanitations for the soul. He brought out the sankirtana strength again, by holding a Friday evening sankirtana seminar.
We all caught some good rest, to be ready for the next day's operation. We met outside the castle. The troops arrived, one at a time. A couple of the youth came: Manoj and Lalita. Srila Prabhupada's mission is gradually changing hands. We had seventeen devotees, and a boot (trunk) full of books.
We crossed the border into Holland and found a mall in the middle of Maastricht, where we parked our two vans underground. We split into teams.
Partha and I were already teamed, and we also had our books ready, so we almost ran off the scene. The other devotees caught up, and we all packed into the elevator, a bit worried that we had overloaded it. It was a beautiful sunny day, and church bells were ringing.
Partha and I wandered around and stopped stray young people. Partha mostly capitalized on the stress of the material world. It's normally difficult for people to admit they are suffering, but it is a powerful thing.
We constantly swept through the area, checking on the other distributors. We made sure that they were focused and having fun. Everyone was having a great time, and many books were going out.
Partha stopped a cancer patient; he was in his early twenties and seemed to be a nice guy. He wasn't inclined to take the book, but Partha insisted:
"Just take it as a gift." Partha kind offer touched the young man's heart. He now was so enthusiastic to have the book that he gave both of us a hug. His fate might have been sealed, but Krishna was not going to let his life go in vain.
The seventeen devotees distributed 264 books, and felt fired up to do more at the next sankirtana festival. The book distributors and the public had a great experience feeling the flow of Srila Prabhupada's mercy.
Your servant,
Madhavendra Puri Dasa
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