This year’s Woodstock in Poland was billed as Europe’s largest open-air music event with 52 rock bands plus Warsaw’s Philharmonic Orchestra, to add a touch of culture. The fields are filled to capacity with an ocean of tents and more than 300,000 young people and, under the leadership of Indradyumna Swami, ISKCON had a large presence.

This year Jurek Owsiak, the main

organizer of the event, decided to

take the festival in a new direction

in order to encourage the youth to

achieve positive goals. Devotees were

scheduled to speak about spiritual

science, ayurvedic medicine, devotional

yoga, and solutions to environmental

problems.

When the Indian Ambassador to

Poland, His Excellency Chandra Mohan

Bhandari, heard about the new direction

Woodstock was taking, he expressed

his eagerness to promote India’s culture

among the youth of Poland. The

Ambassador decided to spend the entire

three days of Woodstock participating

in ISKCON’s Village of Peace.

At the opening ceremony on the

main stage before a bustling crowd of

150,000, Jurek invited Indradyumna

Swami and the Ambassador to the front

of the stage as the crowd cheered.

That

evening the Ratha-yatra parade was

featured on Poland’s main television

news channel. Viewers saw the Lord’s

smiling face and enthusiastic devotees

loudly chanting His holy names.