Krishna House devotees spent ten days of their two-week break at the end of the summer semester in Miami with Adikarta Prabhu on a mission to revive the western outreach. Their base was the preaching center run by HH Damodar Maharaja, who kindly accommodated them. From there, they had an intensive daily program which started with mangal arati at 4:30am at the ISKCON temple in Coconut Grove. After that, they would head to the beach for japa (mantra meditation) and Srimad Bhagavatam class by Adikarta prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and one of ISKCON’s most stalwart book distributors, based in Alachua.
Following the morning program, they would go on sankirtan, either to South Beach, Winwood, Coconut Grove, or downtown Miami. There, they would do harinam, distribute books, and invite people for the Sunday Feast. Some of the devotees were very new and many of them experienced their first time leading harinam or their first time distributing books on this trip. With the enthusiasm and encouragement of the group, they were able to overcome their fears and become empowered and believe in themselves and their ability to share Krishna consciousness.
The group was especially grateful to Madri Devi Dasi from Miami temple who kindly cooked for all of them every day, and they tried to reciprocate with the hospitality of the local devotees by pitching in with cleaning services at the temple.
At the end of trip, when it was time for the Sunday Feast, everyone was delighted to see many new guests, some of whom they had just met that week, attending with interest. The wonderful potential for expanding Krishna consciousness in Miami was clear, and the cooperative spirit between the local Miami devotees and the visitors from Krishna House gave everyone great hope for the future.
