The Scandinavian Tour

Comment by Lalita-Gopinatha on July 30, 2009 at 8:06am

Sharing ideas...gosh....where to start? :-)

I'll start with comments to all who were involved: Thank you so much for putting on Copenhagen's most prominent and important preaching program!!!!

This is actually the only preaching program to reach thousands of people in one hit. So many get to eat Krsna Prasadam, so many get to see the smiling faces of Their Lordships Themselves as well as hear the Holy Names of the Lord PLUS the philosophy behind it all!

Already this preaching has put into motion the benefits of devotional service for so many souls out there. By this program, we are allowing non-devotees to appreciate the form, sound and taste of the Lord, which is helping them on their way to Krsna. And I'll go on repeating that :-) Ajnata sukriti (unkown dev. service) is important in the scheme of things. We have subtle and direct preaching. What more can we ask for? If this is not far-out preaching, what is? Don't underestimate this power as it will make devotees.

I personally believe that devotees in Denmark would do well to seriously support the Festival of india here in Copenhagen and do whatever service they can. Whether that is taking responsibility of a tent activity or making garlands or cutting up in the kitchen- ALL are very significant services and will help others come to Krsna! Even support lent by the attendence of devotees living outside of Copenhagen is appreciated! It was nice to see Jyotishvara pr there from Norway. I know there were others as well.

Of course the temple is what we are trying to attract people to as well. If that is a welcoming facility and the preaching there enlivening and structured, then the two together can be the powerplant of preaching in the yatra. Neither should be separate from the other in that support needs to be on both sides. They compliment each other in that both are preaching tools. Co-operation and planning play a major role to success, esp. in large-scale preaching.

I look forward to helping FOI in the future!

Comment by kamsahanta on July 30, 2009 at 10:52am

Først vil jeg gerne takke Kesava Priya og Tejasvi Krishna prabhus for deres fantastiske hengivne arbejde med at organisere festivalen - må de få massere af nåde fra Srila Prabhupada for det!

Jeg var desværre ikke istand til at deltage i år, da jeg var i Aalborg, men jeg håber at datoen for næste år kommer ud i rigtig god tid så jeg kan planlægge efter det.

Jeg hørte at det er blevet foreslået at vi ikke har scenen næste år, men det synes jeg er et rigtigt dårligt forslag!! Det er en KULTURFESTIVAL, omendt med et Krishna-bevidst formål, og folk forvendter at opleve Indisk kultur. Den forventning kan ikke opfyldes ved blot at have teltene. Dansen, musikken, teater osv gjort let synligt fra scenen, er det store tiltrækningspunkt og er et MUST. Jeg er lodret uenig mht. et forslag om at sløfe scenen!

jt Kamsahanta das

Comment by Tejasvi Krishnadas on July 31, 2009 at 4:31pm

Thank you all for your encouraging comments. Please see the video of the Scandinavian tour 2009 on Parasurama Prabhus website, nectar!

http://www.matchlessgifts.org.uk/galleryscandtour09.html

Ys,
Tejasvi Krishnadas

Comment by Tejasvi Krishnadas on July 31, 2009 at 4:45pm

Letter from Parasuram Prabhu, a report on the Scandinavian tour 2009:

Dear devotees,

PAMHO AGTSP


I enclose a movie and slide shows of the latest Rathayatra Tour plus a link to the last year’s tour.

This year’s tour consisted of:

Friday 3rd July – Arhus Rathayatra with HH Mahavishnu Swami. We picked up HH Mahavishnu swami that morning from Arhus airport.

Saturday 4th July – Copenhagen Rathayatra and festival (feast/Prasad distribution on procession) with Mahavishnu Swami and drama group from Russia

Sunday 5th July – Malmo Rathayatra and festival (book table, feast, public Prasad distribution)

Monday 6th July – Lund Rathayatra and drama performance and lecture

Tuesday 7th July – Goteborg Rathayatra and drama performance

Wednesday 8th July – Hari Nama in Oslo and drama performance

Thursday 9th July – Oslo Rathayatra. Public Prasad distribution on procession, feast, book table, drama, magic, lecture.

Friday 10th July – Friday morning HH Mahavishnu Swami flies to Italy. Travelling to Almvik.

Saturday 11th July – Stockholm Rathayatra. Prasad distribution on procession, drama, magic, kitchiri Prasad at Govindas. Evening driving home to England.

Tuesday 4:30am mangal arti time, arrive back to England. We drove to the ferry at Ostend due to it being more economical – hence the long drive.

Tour consisted of 16 core devotees from outside Scandinavia and a few local devotees who followed us around.

As you can see from the movies it was an ecstatic tour. We are planning to improve every year. HH Mahavishnu swami is an amazing preacher/kirtan man, and we are very blessed to have him. The drama group were first class and they turned the Hari Namas into an attractive carnival. They never complained even once despite living in tents, taking showers in the sea/lakes/public toilets, even in the rain and eating simple Prasad. They performed without any financial remuneration.
Devotees in Goteborg and Lund are enthusiastic to get involved next year. It is very important that devotees know about the Rathayatra festivals and know they are invited to get involved in as many different ways as possible.
Rathayatra brings devotees together – Lord Jaganatha is very merciful. It is the one festival where you meet many old faces. Here is a list of things guests/devotees can do to help the Rathayatra festival for next year.

Bring fruits for public distribution, bring fruit drinks for devotees
Make sweets for public distribution
Cook Prasad, invite guests, make garlands, make some bread for our crew.

What the temples can do.

Police permission
Feast for devotees and public
Organise instruments
Prasad for distribution on procession – the best type is something bagged, like in Oslo the devotees make mixed nuts in a bag with information sticker on the bag.
Organise a public place for the festival – busy square in the city. Best example is Copenhagen, Oslo and Malmo.
Invite the media – newspapers, TV, radio
Invite mayor to speak
Invite local Hindu temples – if they cook the Prasad make sure its of good quality – no oil, only ghee, etc, etc.

Here in England we have 15 Rathayatra festivals annually. The best is London where our team cooks a massive feast for 15,000 people (we spend £1,000 just on paneer and £1,300 on Sri kand).

The ferry from England to Esberg would cost £3,500 so we go to Ostend and drive through Germany. This year we were hassled by the German police due to our van being over 20 years old, we luckily got away with a fine.
The whole tour cost almost £2,000. Most of the expenses were diesel, and ferries. The cost of the drama group was £1,200. This could be reduced if we book the flights well in advance.
We expect to receive almost £1,400 from the Scandinavian yatra. That means I spent £1,800 of my own money this year. Next year I might not be able to do so.
So this is my report. Please discuss it amongst yourselves. Tejas Vi Krishna can correspond with you as he has the desire to develop this tour. This year he came to England and bought a van and tents, and took part in all the festivals.


Your servant,
Parasuram das

Comment by Kurma Gaura Dasa on August 7, 2009 at 6:03pm

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Finally, here are some links to the pictures from last month's festival -

JATAYU PRABHU'S PHOTOS

http://cid-2447c7dee8ed43d7.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Festival%20of%20India%20-%20Copenhagen%202009?authkey=h1BAhA3CQ1g%24&ct=photos

SRI RAM PRABHU'S PICS

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sriramjsarma/RathaYatraPart2#

SRI RAM PRABHU'S PICS - PART 2

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sriramjsarma/RathaYatra#

RAJEEV PRABHU'S PHOTOS

http://picasaweb.google.com/harekrishnarajeev/RathaYatra2009Denmark#

Your servant,
Kurma Gaura Dasa

Comment by kamsahanta on August 16, 2009 at 12:52pm

Thanks for posting the photos prabhu - many nice pics!

Comment by Sivananda Sena dasa on August 26, 2009 at 9:47am

Harebol
Personligt syntes jeg at det er god stil med stor sene og hvis det kun handler om at få nogle til at vagte skulle det vel ikke være det store problem Prabhupada sagde vi skulle tænke stort .
:
jt Sivananda

Comment by Tejasvi Krishnadas on February 23, 2010 at 2:02pm

Dear organizers of Scandinavian Ratha-yatras,

Due to H.H. MahaVishnu Maharaja's engagements in India at the time of the planned Scandinavian Tour 2010, we have a proposal for changed dates. With these dates, MahaVishnu Maharaja will be able to participate in the tour.

Aarhus Friday 2July
CPH Saturday 3July
Malmo Sunday 4July
Lund Monday 5July
Goteborg Tuesday 6July
Oslo Thursday 8July
Stockholm Saturday 10July

Hoping to have feedback on this ASAP so we can let Maharaja know.

Your servant,
Tejasvi Krishnadas

Comment by Tejasvi Krishnadas on May 17, 2010 at 8:40pm

Dear organizers of Scandinavian Ratha-yatras,

These are the final dates for this years ratha-yatras. His Holiness Mahavishnu swami will join the tour. Thanks to everyone for your cooperation. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

Aarhus Friday 2July
CPH Saturday 3July
Malmo Sunday 4July
Lund Monday 5July
Goteborg Tuesday 6July
Oslo Thursday 8July
Stockholm Saturday 10July

Your servant,
Tejasvi Krishnadas

Comment by Tejasvi Krishnadas on December 31, 2010 at 1:00pm

Hare Krishna dear devotees

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

It is time again to plan for the Scandinavian ratha-yatra tour. Parasurama Prabhu has informed that from his side the tour needs to take place from the 8th July till 16th July. Unfortunately there is no option to this, so please see if you can get your local permission to fit this schedule. The cost for each yatra, Sweden, Norway and Denmark will be 900GBP with the same arrangements as last year (this includes transportation of the Russian drama group). The proposed tour dates would be as follows:

Aarhus Friday 8th

Copenhagen Saturday 9th

Malmo Sunday 10th

Lund Monday 11th

Gothenburg Tuesday 12th

Oslo Thursday 14th

Stockholm Saturday 16th

Srila Prabhupada's mood was to try to make the sankirtan-yajna bigger and bigger. So please see if you can make your local ratha-yatras more ecstatic in this regard year by year, according to your means and capacity.

The following is a few words of inspiration from Parasurama Prabhu:

"It is very important that devotees know about the Rathayatra festivals and know they are invited to get involved in as many different ways as possible.

Rathayatra brings devotees together – Lord Jaganatha is very merciful. It is the one festival where you meet many old faces. Here is a list of things guests/devotees can do to help the Rathayatra festival for next year.

Bring fruits for public distribution, bring fruit drinks for devotees

Make sweets for public distribution

Cook Prasad, invite guests, make garlands, make some bread for our crew.

What the temples can do.

Police permission

Feast for devotees and public

Organise instruments

Prasad for distribution on procession – the best type is something bagged, like in Oslo the devotees make mixed nuts in a bag with information sticker on the bag.

Organise a public place for the festival – busy square in the city. Best example is Copenhagen, Oslo and Malmo.

Invite the media – newspapers, TV, radio

Invite mayor to speak

Invite local Hindu temples – if they cook the Prasad make sure its of good quality – no oil, only ghee, etc, etc.

Here in England we have 15 Rathayatra festivals annually. The best is London where our team cooks a massive feast for 15,000 people (we spend £1,000 just on paneer and £1,300 on Sri kand)."

If any comments/suggestions for improvement please use the Scandinavian tour group on www.harekrishna.dk.

On behalf of the Scandinavian tour,

Your servant,

Tejasvi Krishnadas 

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