It was hot at Schiphol on Friday, July 28, 1972, and the VIP lounge had no air-conditioning. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had arrived, and the press photographers recorded every moment. One of them caught his German disciple Cakravarti fanning him with a magazine, and that small picture carried the visit into the national news.
That evening the Krasnapolsky Hotel on Dam Square filled with young people, hippies and punks among them, and they were in no mood for a philosophy lecture. Prabhupada read the room and changed course: chanting and prasadam would say more than any speech. So the devotees chanted, the food went round, and the grand hall became a place of kirtan.
The next morning he walked through Vondelpark, where many had spent the night under the open sky, and advised a disciple not to dwell on people absorbed in worldly affairs. Later, at the park’s amphitheater, he led the public kirtan and kept his words few.
Sunday, July 30, was the day the garage had been waiting for. Television crews and reporters squeezed into Bethaniënstraat for a fire sacrifice and the installation of the Deities. It did not go to plan—there were no flowers and no fruit, and behind a curtain the wooden altar had to be sawn down to size. During the same visit Prabhupada gave sannyasa to Aksoja, who became Aksoyananda Swami.
Look inside
Browse Chapters Previews
Short previews with videos of the chapters of The Amsterdam Adventure book.