Hospitality first
A guest is served before anything else is discussed. Food comes before philosophy, always.
About us
A small community with an open door
We are volunteers — cooks, teachers, students, parents — who found something worth sharing and decided to make room for others.
Our story
How the center began
The Bhakti center grew out of something very ordinary: a handful of friends cooking together on Sunday afternoons and inviting whoever happened to be nearby.
As more people came, the kitchen table stopped being enough. In 2026 we opened a proper space in Gdańsk — a room for kirtan, a shelf of books, a small shop, and above all a kitchen large enough to feed everyone who walked in.
The heart of the center is Lord Jagannath, the "Lord of the Universe", whose form is famous for its wide, unguarded eyes and its enormous smile. He is worshipped in Puri, India, and carried through the streets every year on a great wooden chariot during the Ratha Yatra festival — a festival that belongs to everybody, of any caste, faith or country.
That is the spirit we try to keep: nothing hidden, nothing exclusive, and always more food than we strictly need.
What we stand for
Four things we try to get right
-
-
Honest teaching
We teach from the original texts, we say when we do not know, and we never pressure anyone to agree.
-
Practical service
Cooking, cleaning, delivering meals. Most of what happens here is unglamorous and done by volunteers.
-
Open to all
No membership, no dress code, no test at the door. Curiosity is the only qualification.
The team
The people you will meet
A few of the volunteers who keep the center running week after week.
-
Gaura Das
Center coordinatorLooks after the hall, the supplies and the hundred small things nobody notices until they stop working. Usually the person who greets you at the door.
-
Tulasi Devi
Prasadam coordinatorPlans every menu, runs the kitchen and trains new cooks. Believes that a well-cooked meal explains bhakti better than any lecture can.
-
Nitai Das
Programme coordinatorKeeps the weekly schedule honest and invites the speakers. If a kirtan says 17:00, this is the person who makes sure it starts at 17:00.
-
Radhika Devi
PR & social mediaRuns our Instagram, Facebook and Telegram, and answers the messages that arrive there. Also the one holding the camera at festivals.
-
Ananta Das
Shop coordinatorChooses what we stock and handles sales in the center and online, from incense and japa beads to translations of the classics. Happy to spend an hour helping you find the right first book.
Would you like to help?
Volunteers are how everything here happens — chopping vegetables, carrying pots, greeting guests, translating, taking photos. Come once and see if it suits you.
Get in touch FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Short, straight answers to the things people ask us most.
The center is operated by Fundacja Kultury Wedyjskiej „Bhakti” and run entirely by volunteers, coordinated by five people: the center, prasadam, programme, media and shop coordinators. It is supported by donations and by sales from the shop; nobody is paid to be here.
Yes. We always need help in the kitchen, at the food distribution, in the shop and with translation and photography. Write to us at kontakt@bhakti-gdansk.pl or simply come to any weekly programme and say hello.
We follow the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of bhakti yoga, the same tradition that gave rise to the worship of Lord Jagannath in Puri and to the Hare Krishna movement worldwide. We work with, but are independent of, other centers in this tradition.