 Abhaya
Dasa
Abhay was for many years the Manchester Temple Ashram leader. He is
currently studying and serving in Bhaktivedanta manor.
"I first saw the Hare Krishna's on Top of the Pops in the late '60's.
Then in 1978 I was given a Science of Self Realisation on the street of
my local town. I bought it because I thought it was a Buddhist book. But
when I realised it wasn't I lost interest. At that time I was a full-time
electrician in a local coal mine.
By 1982 I had come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to achieve any
substantial happiness or satisfaction in the type of life I had. I tried
reading the SSR again. Though I wasn't a philosophical person, this time
I could immediately relate to what I read. I felt the author, Srila Prabhupada,
was my best friend. At the time, I didn't feel I would be able to follow
the strict discipline required to lead a Krishna conscious life, but I
wanted to try and make some progress in my spiritual life. I became a
vegetarian and started chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
Throughout 1983 I read the Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam, and other books.
I increased my chanting to 16 rounds and started visiting the Manchester
Sunday programme. In February 1984 I joined the Manchester temple which
used to be in Alderly Edge as a full time devotee. In 1985, I did the
bhakta course at Caitanya College and also at the Manor. During that time
I also did a lot of travelling sankirtan. In 1985 I came to Manchester
to sell paintings to raise funds for the movement.
In 1986, I joined Krishna Dharma and
his wife, Cintamani who came to start a preaching centre. (The one in
Alderley Edge had closed down.) In 1987 we moved to the present building.
Up until the mid-90's, my attitude was to keep busy in physically serving
Krishna. I was very focused on doing the needful, and sometimes neglected
my inner development and my spiritual relationships.
But in the last few years, due to Krishna dharma's influence, I am beginning
to shift my emphasis from external results to internal development. I
really appreciate his ethos of studying the scriptures together and discussing
them threadbare so as to deepen our understandings. Since we have been
doing that, my understanding of Krishna consciousness has deepened, I
have become more introspective, more thoughtful to help others, and more
peaceful. I am confident that as the Manchester devotees (both those who
live in the temple, and those who live at home) put more effort into their
personal development, we will become increasingly spiritually healthy,
and as a result the mission here will expand in a healthy manner.
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