Indeed ideal preaching facilities....
And a ten minutes' drive takes us to Brahmakund - a nice two-storey Scandinavian style building with around ten little flats where devotees and vegetarian non-devotees are living. And in the cellar is a little temple room and a well equipped kitchen. Again perfect facilities.....
I still have a lot of internal work to do.....
It can be so subtle - not always so easy to detect.....
It requires deep introspection, humility and honesty.....
Krsna consciousness is indeed such a deep and internal process. It is all about transforming the innermost chambers of the heart, to finally allow Krsna to reside in there. Within our heart is a big throne, which is meant for Krsna to take His seat there. But at present it is occupied by our false ego, who thinks himself to be the center of the universe. So we gradually have to kick this false ego off the seat, and allow Krsna to take His place.
On Monday Madhuri Radhika Mataji drove me out to our Village Community in Almvik, a ninety-minutes' drive from the city. It was nice to meet all the devotees again, and the weather was very pleasant and unusually warm for this time of the year.
We had scheduled a three-day Holy Name Retreat over the long weekend of the 1st of May, which is a public holiday in this part of the world. And Almvik is the perfect place for such event, since it is so secluded: away from all distractions, and surrounded by peaceful nature - with forest and fields, and a big lake. Even the network connection is poor, so people can't be so distracted by their mobile phone - one of the main sources of distractions.
Holy Name Retreats are almost the only time when I spend several hours per day in deep meditative kirtans. And only during Holy Name Retreats I manage to really prepare my consciousness and open my heart to receive the holy name on deeper levels. For me nothing can really compare to those kirtans during a Holy Name Retreat. In kirtans in my daily practice my chanting is not of the same quality of feeling. Whenever I have an opportunity to join kirtans on festivals, chanted by our pure-hearted preachers, I immediately feel transported back to the mood of the Holy Name Retreats.....
Living from one Holy Name Reteat to the next, and longing to transform my life into one big Holy Name Retreat.....

http://youtu.be/bOqdqCmNGT0
http://youtu.be/cUxzAP0tMNQ
On the 8th of May I flew to Munich/Germany to attend yet another joyful event - Nrsimha Caturdasi on Simhachalam....
Your servant, Devaki dd