Well, the FOI is officially over. A great festival that thousands of words couldn’t capture. Assume that the big guns did what big guns do, and did it well. I tend to avoid crowds but when I open the door to the temple room and see it is packed from side to side, front to back, I know things are going well.

The official schedule was great — the classes, the kirtans, the presentations and the entertainment was more than anyone was capable of absorbing everything.

I liked some of the off schedule stuff best, like the spontaneous bhajans that seemed to go on continuously in the yajnashalla.

Or Yoga Dave demonstrating the form of yoga he teaches called Danda Yoga.

Then there were the personal joys, like watching soon to be 2 years old granddaughter Sydney climb the ladder on the play set and then laugh with triumph while her mother (Manjari, lower left) negotiates with her to come down.

Of course it takes a lot of devotees working in the background and missing the festival itself in order that others can enjoy it. The kitchen crew, the cleanup crew, the data entry and phone crew, registration, the runners and problem fixers. More than I can mention.

A lot of New Vrindaban devotees play those roles but many outside devotees came early to help setup and be part of the logistics of running the thing.

One of them was Manu who came with a bus load of devotees from Alachua. He missed much of the festival because he spent all of one day and I don’t know how much of the next running cable and setting up a webcam for New Vrindaban.

Every 15 seconds the camera moves and takes a shot of different views of the temple room, including Srila Prabhupada on his vyasasana, each of the Deities, and the location of the class giver. I see those decorating the temple haven’t adapted to this yet as a decoration is blocking some of the views this morning, and it may not be active when the Deities are at rest. I haven’t figured out all the details yet.

There is also an audio cable so at some point kirtans and classes will be broadcast but I haven’t figured that out yet.

Some of us reacted to this new toy in a grave responsible manner — we would figure out where the camera was going to shoot next, then run stand in front of it and then run back to see ourselves on a laptop over the internet. Very mature.

My personal most inspiring memory came in a quiet off moment though. An amazing kirtan was going on in the temple room but I was outside yakking it up with various devotees. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two visitors picking up shoes and moving them. This struck me as odd but they were putting them in neat rows and it wasn’t my problem and as it was an anomalous action, my mind did as many minds do in similar situations and ignored it.

When the devotee I was talking to left, I walked over and noticed that two similar pairs of shoes were mismatched and as I can be a bit compulsive about organization, I switched them so they were correct. Then I looked at what the two guys were doing.

In what must have seemed like a good idea at the time, somehow or other all the shoes that had been in the temple foyer had been swept out into a pile right in front of the door. I immediately appreciated what the two guys were doing. They were searching through the merged shoes, finding pairs, and setting them in neat rows so when the devotees left the temple, there wouldn’t be a huge traffic jam as individuals searched through the pile.

As I hadn’t done my daily Sudoku (mental calisthenics) in three days, the puzzle part of my brain was jonsing so I started helping them. Once you got past the concept of touching someone else’s shoes, it was kind of fun — the little thrill of satisfaction at finding a match and watching the pile diminish.

Finally it was down to about 20 unmatched shoes left. We scoured the area and found some unmatched ones away from the pile and got it down to about 10. Then we went back over existing pairs that had been set aside, and found several that looked very similar but weren’t, brought them back, and managed to match every shoe in the pile. Anyone who finishes a large crossword puzzle will understand the joy of completing the task.

I was very much appreciating that these two guests had spontaneously done this. First, that they had the mental acuity to recognize that the pile of mixed up shoes would cause a lot of anxiety to devotees leaving the temple. I probably would have walked right past the pile and not even have noticed it. Then that they would take the time, and it took well over 30 minutes, maybe an hour, to do it, to sort them all out.

They did it with no one asking them, and with no expectation of any recognition or reward other than the desire of serving the literal feet of the devotees. If I hadn’t noticed them doing this service, no one would have even realized it happened. When I asked one of them why he did it, he said, “The devotees are having such a nice experience in the temple and now it can still be a nice experience when they come out.” Anyone who has left the temple and had a hard time finding their shoes can relate to what he was talking about.

I ran into him the next day and asked if he knew the other guy who was helping him and he said no, that he had just met him then. So by his humble example he inspired at least two of us to serve the devotees, and I hope that by hearing this you will also be inspired.