Because my tickets were purchased at different times, I had to fly from Venice to London with the group, and then take a flight from London to Berlin. I then rode to the village of the Woodstock festival. I left Prabhupada desh at about 11 a.m. and arrived at the festival grounds after midnight! The 400 devotees organizing the festival were staying in three schools. I shared a room with one lady from France who teaches English in "college" (the upper grades of high school for us Americans.) She lives far from devotees, and travels to temples in Belgium or London for festivals and to render service. The room was large and reasonably clean--many devotees had spent uncountable time trying to get these rooms clean for us! There were no showers as such; just drains in the middle of communal bathroom floors where one had to bathe with buckets of very cold water and hope that no one walked in while one was bathing! When considering the bathing facilities I thought of all the austerities the devotees undertook to put on this festival and do so many wonderful things for spreading Krishna consciousness.

I got to be in the school that was about a ten minute walk from the devotee area of the festival. I don't know if I can possibly adequately describe it.

Going outside the main tent, on one "width" of the rectangle (top center) was the tent for serving prasadam. There were many lines, and they charged three zlotas a plate, about $0.75. Kids could get a free plate if they picked up garbage or gave out books. In the three days the devotees are there, they distribute about 100,000 plates. It was pretty basic prasadam--halava, fried little rice/potato papadams, beans, rice, and potato subji. The kids loved it--several asked me for recipes or cooking lessons! There were 70 cooks working in shifts 24 hours a day. Prasadam serving was continuous from 10 a.m. until 2 a.m. Everywhere there were festival participants taking prasadam. And, of course, the cooks had to supply prasadam for the 400 devotees, as well. And, should I mention that the second and third days of the festival were extremely hot? (Inside the question and answer booth was a literal sauna!)

Next to the prasadam serving tent [to the right] was a face decorating tent with about 7-10 devotees painting people's faces. Next to that tent was the entrance to the security area for devotees to rest, take prasadam, change costume, keep flowers, and so forth. In that area were two gigantic pots--each one bigger than an automobile--for cooking the beans. They were heated with wood, and had to be moved with cranes. One had to climb stairs to stir them.

On the other side of the prasadam tent in the main area was an astrology tent. There, as in the question and answers tent and the reincarnation tent, a rotating group of devotees would answer questions--generally with a Polish translator.

In addition to those tents, the other parts of the rectangle held two Polish book tents, one English book tent, two devotional shop tents, an information tent, a meditation tent, and a temple tent that looked like the Krishna Balarama temple with Russian onion type spires. In the temple and meditation tent were continuous kirtanas or bhajanas, with some brief lectures interspersed. Kids would come and sing and dance. In the temple tent were beautiful Radha Krishna deities, Jagannatha, Balarama, and Subhadra, and some Govardhana silas.

Jagannatha, Balarama, and Subhadra also rode around the major festival grounds once daily on a Rathayatra cart. The main area contained a huge stage for the music (or should I say noise from hell?) and was full of thousands and thousands of small tents (small ones that the festival goers brought for themselves to sleep in) with pathways between them. Devotees had a wonderful Rathayatra festival through the tents. Harinama parties went into the main festival grounds as well.

And on the stage in the devotees' big tent were continuous programs from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. bhajanas, dramas, dances, bands, talks. There were "puppet" shows where the artistry is beyond description. A huge Aghasura, puppets that were like actors' costumes. Simply amazing. And the dramas were complete with professional lighting and sound effects. The whole festival was so professionally done and with such intense devotion that it was simply stunning. Donated were one ton of bottled water, three tons of frozen vegetables, mountains of potatoes.

But the most amazing thing was how many festival goers were interested, some deeply interested, in Krishna consciousness. These are youth--maybe 16-26 years old, though some of the local villagers came as well. Most were drinking beer, and many were extremely intoxicated. Everywhere one would see people lying unconscious on the dusty ground. And most people were in some sort of illicit sexual relationship, though conspicuous by its absence was the open homosexuality that is obvious near the London Soho temple.

Yet festival participants would spend hours asking about spiritual life, chanting, and dancing.

One girl who was dancing to Indradyumna Swami's bhajana in the largest tent grabbed my shoulders and said, "I'm a Hare Krishna! I'm a Hare Krishna!" Her face glowed with the happiness of the holy name. Many asked me how to join the movement or which of Prabhupada's books to read after the one they'd recently finished. They asked how much to chant daily and deep questions about the meaning of life. And one of the Polish devotees who acted as my translator told me that she and her husband had joined ISKCON from one such festival ten years ago.

Some of the Pandava Sena members who had come to the Italian festival from America were also at Woodstock in Poland. They told me that they had never before directly seen how degraded Western youth were. "You never went to a party at high school or college?" I asked them. It was a very good, sobering J experience for them to see the results of playing with Western youth "culture," as most of these kids from Indian backgrounds think they can play with the music, cinemas and so forth of the West without becoming degraded. They don't really understand the result of their fascination.

If all the people coming to Krishna consciousness weren't enough to float one in the ocean of nectar, it was enlivening to have the association of so many wonderful devotees who work for and attend the festival. There were Indradyumna Swami and Sri Prahlad, Rtadvaja Maharaja, Sacinandana Maharaja, Suhotra Maharaja, Bhakti Jnana Maharaja, Jayapataka Maharaja, Kavicandra Maharaja, Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, and BB Govinda Maharaja, Caturatma, Dharmatma and his wife Dvija priya, and many others. I met one Polish devotee who told me that on his first trip to Vrindavana last year--during the hot season--he was chanting 192 rounds a day! (Generally he chants 64 rounds a day.) He told me that he so much enjoys spending time with his good friend, the holy name. I heard that Sacinandana Swami spends at least one day a month only in chanting Hare Krishna, and one month a year at Govardhana--not at the "palace"--simply chanting and living on whatever alms are given to him. There are so many devotees who give heart and soul to please Krishna.