Five hundred years ago Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted His name would be chanted in every town and village. About a hundred years ago Bhaktivinoda Thakura longed for the day when devotees from Europe and America would take up drums and cymbals and chant the holy name of Krishna in the streets of their cities. Thirty-six years ago Srila Prabhupada kindly created the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to fulfill these and other predictions of saints of the past. This summer I felt myself part of this historic Krishna conscious expansion as I joined with devotees from 16 countries on the last three weeks of Indradyumna Swami's Polish Festival Tour and chanted and danced at one mammoth concert (described in this article) and in five towns and on four beaches along Poland's Baltic coast (described in Visiting the Laksmi Nrsimha Tour).

Last year after reading articles in Back to Godhead (BTG) and hearing Indradyumna Swami speak of his festivals, I desired to visit his festival at the Polish Woodstock. I found it to be a very wonderful celebration of giving Krishna to others in abundance, and I think it was the happiest experience of my life. Inspired to share it with others, I made a web page called "Visiting Krishna's Village of Peace," which was later added to the BTG page on krishna.com in the Online Extras section.

This year I decided to go to both the Woodstock festival and the last two weeks of the festival tour as well. I was lured to stay for the tour by the promise of at least three hours of public congregational chanting of Krishna's name every day, which is by far my favorite devotional activity. Dharmatma Dasa, an enthusiastic supporter of Indradyumna Swami's preaching work, kindly helped me by buying my ticket and letting me accompany his family on the journey, freeing me from countless travel worries.

In this article, I'll focus mostly on Woodstock, since Sri Prahlada nicely described the summer festival in a previous issue of BTG. About the Polish Woodstock festival, Indradyumna Swami writes, "Woodstock festival organizer Jurek Owsiak puts on the event yearly in appreciation of the many young people who help him raise money for Poland's underprivileged, poor, and sick children. By means of a telethon each January, he raises more than 7 million dollars a year. Apart from a small salary he receives for his family, the entire amount is spent on disabled children, and as result the people of Poland love and respect him. . . . Jurek has told me on numerous occasions that he wants us at Woodstock to share our philosophy and way of life with the kids. He also wants us to keep the kids engaged and peaceful." The Woodstock festival itself is a massive two-day concert each August hosting 50 bands from all over the world and is attended by about 350,000 people, mostly teenagers and young adults from Poland. So instead of going to every town and village ourselves, at Woodstock people from every town and village in Poland come to us. The festival site is an abandoned airfield outside Zary, a small city in southwestern Poland, near the Germany border, about 3 hours from Berlin.

While the main tent at the devotees camp, known as Krishna's Village of Peace, was being setup, Indradyumna Swami conversed with an old friend. He recalls:

The chief of the fire department said, 'The people of Zary have been waiting all year for you to come. They look forward to Krishna's Village of Peace.' Then he smiled and said, 'Do you remember last year when you visited our fire department and gave me a Bhagavad-gita?'
   Reflecting for a moment, I replied, 'Yes, I remember.'
   'I've been reading it all year,' he said, 'almost every day. It became particularly relevant for me last month when one of my colleagues died fighting a house fire. From that book I understood that the soul is eternal.'

The day before our festival began, we chanted for two hours along the streets of Zary, with accordion and trumpet complementing our usual drums and cymbals.

Half a dozen kids followed us most of the way, some helping by carrying flags. A small crowd formed when we stopped, and some people listened for an hour.

Krishna's Village of Peace, or as they say in Polish, "Pokojowa Wioska Kryszny," was bigger than ever. Five hundred and forty devotees attended, rendering a variety of services.

The evening before the festival, Indradyumna Swami spoke to the assembled devotees a few final instructions. He stressed the importance of sacrificing to help others come in touch with Krishna consciousness.

"There are wonderful festivals in the Ukraine and Croatia where you can go to hear your favorite swami and chant with the devotees, but the significance of this festival is that we work hard to give as many people as possible contact with Krishna consciousness." For me, that is what makes it special and why I like to go every year. He also stressed that sticking to the services we promised we'd do was required for success.

Every year the devotees have a special event. In past years it was a Vedic marriage, last year it was a Janmastami celebration, and this year it was a Ratha-yatra, a parade where Krishna in his Deity form of Jagannatha rides in a chariot pulled by His devotees in procession. The Ratha-yatra cart came from London.

Mayor of Zary (left) cuts the ribbon to inaugurate the parade as an ex-mayor (center), who is now a member of parliament, as well as Indradyumna Swami (right) look on.

Mayor of Zary, Roman Pogorzelec, (center) pulls the Ratha-yatra cart.

One stared for a long time and then repeatedly joined his palms together in obeisance to Jagannatha, the Lord of the universe. Another, though clearly intoxicated, helped by pushing the cart, while our security guards kept a wary eye on him.

We all agreed that it was a wonderful place to hold a Ratha-yatra, and many hoped we could do it every year. At least one of my friends saw it as the high point of the whole tour. Indradyumna Swami plans to have their own cart made and to have Ratha-yatras at his other Polish festivals as well.

You may wonder if any devotees were attacked, as reported before on the Polish festival tour. In the three weeks I was there, there were no serious incidents. We did, however, have security guards as a precaution.

On one chanting party through the acres of tents, a couple of young men interlocked their arms to block us, and one of our security guards interlocked one of their free arms, smilingly forcing the two men apart. He also made a row of people who were sitting in chairs, thus blocking the road, move out of the way.

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