(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 August 2012, Slovenia, Balkans, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.28)
Sometimes we try to do too much on Janmastami. Anyway, we learn from that and we get purified. In some temples, devotees would read Krsna Book for the entire day. They would read stories about Krsna from morning till night and that was very nice.
In the beginning, Srila Prabhupada had not yet translated the tenth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. He would make all the devotees fast and they had to stay up until midnight. Prabhupada would read the Sanskrit verses from the tenth Canto and would say, “It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand Sanskrit. It’s transcendental and you will be purified.”
He would read one Sanskrit verse after another in New Vrndavan. At that time, there were a lot of sannyasis present. They had their dandas and were sitting with them. Gradually, they all fell asleep and all of their dandas started to fall over, like a forest… and in the end, everyone was asleep apart from Prabhupada!