INTO MICHIGAN
- Bhaktimarga Swami
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026
Naperville/Grand Rapids
I have received compliments on showing some of my music videos from our bus crew and the temple congregants from Naperville. I was happy to hear the MC, Gopal Hari, express his appreciation of the professional quality that Nityananda and I have worked on. These videos are available on the Bhaktimarga Swami U-tube channel.
From Naperville our buses parted for the lakefront on Lake Michigan in Chicago. It was ten years ago in June that I took that dip in this aqua-coloured water as a break for the walk across the U.S. I napped at the shoreline then. I'm just reminiscing on that beautiful time. Some ten young men joined me—men trained at the Chicago Temple—on this walk. One of them is now happily married and he now happens to be one of our bus drivers. Along with him are his wife, Laksmi, and their two-year-old daughter. There is an amazing family feel within the two buses.
Our final journey for the day was Grand Rapids in Michigan where a Baptist Church was purchased. In two days deities will be installed. So that's a Grand Opening in Grand Rapids for ISKCON expansion.
Grand Rapids has numerous breweries and hence it is known as “Beer City,” that’s not too elegant of a name. I had a peek at the downtown. A glorious river runs through it. Rapids? I'm not sure. It's rather shallow. One man downtown asked Shyama, my companion, and I if we were Buddhists.
“No! Hare Krishna!”
He threw away his cigar and put his palms together. He remembers us from the old days fondly.
MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU
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