By late 1975 the garage on Bethaniënstraat simply could not hold everyone. Two engines had been paying for a way out: the Spiritual Sky incense trade and the collections of the mobile book parties. With their help, temple president Jagaddeva and treasurer Tulasi dasa secured a seventeenth-century canal house at Herengracht 96.
The contrast could hardly have been sharper. Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balarama and Subhadra Devi moved into a larger sanctuary lit by a skylight, and the house became a hub of worship, teaching and company. Sunday Love Feasts drew more than 400 guests, a Govinda’s vegetarian restaurant served the public, and philosophy classes were held in six languages.
The canal house was a publishing room too. Hayesvara prabhu completed a Dutch translation of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, published as Bhagavad-gita zoals ze is, and the mobile parties carried it across Holland and Flanders—more than 1,500 copies a week, by the chapter’s account.
Even librarians took an interest. In Belgium the Director of Public Libraries placed standing orders for hardbound sets for public and university branches. The community’s growth was no longer counted only in rooms and visitors; its books were crossing borders.
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Short previews with videos of the chapters of The Amsterdam Adventure book.