Saturday is the day when devotees choose a town, congregate at the centrum, city centre, or city square to share that blessed blast of the Name with the public. On the way, I saw forests that I wasn’t sure existed in this below-the-sea level country. Most of the Netherlands was swamp and sea before man grabbed a hold of it. One thing I notice in the rural areas is the countless number of birds, herons, ducks, geese, swans, doves, pigeons, magpies, and more.
Not too many cows that I’ve seen except for a gorgeous fibreglass one dolled up with tulips painted all over it. Our group of kirtaniyas ended our two-hour processional pilgrimage in the city of Zeewolde right where go-mata was located at a grass patch of green.
We took turns leading the chants. The air continues to be chilly, and to some extent, so is the receptivity from the conservatives here. In the beginning, it took a while to accept the more reserved nature of the folks, but there were more folks who demonstrated warmth as our group of chanters warmed up.
At this particular time, the globe is trampled on by groups of varying concerns protesting over Palestine, Ukraine, Sharia Law, anti-deportation on Hispanics. I’ve never seen a time like this. But here we are, a group of singers and drummers, representing joy and peace. We all lunched together, then six of us rushed ourselves for Delhi, then Kolkata, overlapping time zones, which is always a traveller’s challenge by air.
Source https://www.thewalkingmonk.net/post/wrapping-up-in-the-flat-land
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