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Srila Prabhupada arriving in the  Krasnapolski Hotel Hall

Vedavyasa Dasa: For Friday evening and Saturday evening, the devotees had rented a hall in the Krasnapolski Hotel, near the Dam, the central square in Amsterdam. In the photo, Srila Prabhupada arriving in the  Krasnapolski Hotel Hall, behind Srila Prabhupada is his personal secretary Shyamasundara Dasa and Revatinandana Dasa.

Prthu Dasa: To attract people to Srila Prabhupada's lecture, Hamsaduta and Revatinandana Swami led a huge harinama through the center of Amsterdam and around Dam Square, and when they arrived at the hall, an immense crowd of hippies was following them. The kirtana continued onstage for a good while, until Prabhupada came and sat on the vyasasana. He took his karatalas and chanted Jaya Radha-Madhava, but after the pranama prayers he called over Hamsaduta, exchanged a few words with him, and got up and left.

Hamsaduta told us that Srila Prabhupada had said these people were useless. Best was just to have kirtana and give them prasadam; there was no use discussing philosophy - they were all intoxicated. So we had a festival program with nonstop kirtana and distributed hundreds of plates of prasadam.



Reference: Srila Prabhupada and his Disciples in Germany, Chapter 10: The Amsterdam Mess