Inspired by Bhakti Vikas Swami, more than four hundred devotees from twenty locales around Gujarat and beyond gathered near Bharuch, the largest town on the banks of the holy river Narmada, to hear and chant about Lord Krishna at a “shravanam kirtanam camp” from May 7-9.

Bhakti Vikas Swami delivered lectures in Hindi, and also led congregational singing of many vaishnava bhajanas. He stressed the need for reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and understanding them very carefully. He also led extended interactive question and answer sessions during which devotees expressed their doubts, and distributed large quantities of his book, “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,” for the devotees to share in their respective home territories.

Temple leaders from ISKCON Ahmedabad, ISKCON Baroda, ISKCON Vallabh Vidyanagar, and ISKCON Surat were among the senior devotees who attended and lectured at the camp.

Savyasachi Dasa, a medical school graduate, presented a three-day seminar on varnashram, meant to inspire the attending devotees to adopt a simple village life and give up the materialistic way of life found in modern urban India, which is a great impediment in the advancement in Krishna Consciousness.

Although the Indian summer sun was unrelenting, attendees forgot the inconvenience while immersed in these talks, as well as several dramas that featured both adults and children. During the night, many took rest on the bank of the river Narmada, enjoying the cool breezes blowing in off of the water.

On the evening of Saturday, May 8, entire group of four hundred devotees went out to chant on the

streets of the Bharuch town, with many also passing out books by the BBT and Bhakti Vikas Swami’s. Almost seven hundred books were distributed in all.

One of the themes of this camp was also to encourage the congregational devotees to keep a complete Srimad Bhagavatam set in their homes. Towards this end, twenty one Srimad Bhagavatam sets were ordered by the

participating devotees.

On the evening of May 9, a public program was organized in which various dignitaries of the Bharuch town participated and wherein they were presented with several of Srila Prabhupada books as a gift.

A unique feature of this camp was that all of the meals were cooked and served by devotees themselves, without the need to hire professional brahmin cooks.