February 2001
The Advent of the Golden Avatar
The lunar month spanning February and March is known as the month of
Phalguna. It was in this month that Radha and Krishna appeared within
this world as Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Known as Gauranga, `the golden
avatar', Shri Chaitanya responded to the earnest calls of Advaita Acharya
who prayed for a descent of Godhead to deliver the souls of Kali Yuga.
The Vedas prophesied that the only way for deliverance in the Kali Age
was the chanting of the names of God, and that this chanting would be
propagated by the avatar for the age whose mouth would always be filled
with the holy names. Thousands of years after this prophesy Shri Chaitanya
was born in Mayapur, eastern India. The year was 1486. Just a few years
later, a religious and spiritual revolution had taken place in India,
-.ngulfing millions of souls in love for Krishna The revolution continues
today in the lives of all of us -Haribol!
Kumbha Mela and the Earthquake
We've had good reports from the devotees who attended the Kumbha Mela.
`The most amazing thing,' said Yogi from the Manor, `was just how many
people there were - millions in every direction you looked.' Devotees
had been given several acres in which to set up camp weeks before anyone
else arrived. Hundreds of ISKCON congregation members from all over
India were accommodated in comfortable tents on the site. Every day,
thousands of pilgrims came and were served prasadam, heard harinam sankirtan,
saw the waxworks displays of characters from the Bhagavatam and purchased
books in Indian languages. An amazing total of 200,000 books were sold
over the entire Mela period.
In Gujarat, scene of the disastrous earthquake at the end of January,
devotees have been working hard. Four hundred victims are at this moment
sheltering in and around the Ahmedabad temple and teams of devotees
from other ISKCON centres in the region have been travelling out to
distribute not only food but blankets and cooking equipment. A wealthy
devotee in America has, with great difficulty, shipped 11 mobile medical
units to Gujarat. They are each as large as an ambulance and fitted
with modern equipment. Although news of the earthquake is no longer
in the media, still the disaster goes on as hundreds of thousands have
lost family members and countless people are homeless.
A New Altar for Belfast
After completing the carving work in December of 2000 (a task that
took almost two years in total) Veronica (Ronnie) arrived in Belfast
with husband Bhaktavatsala and baby Devaka to put the pieces together
and create the altar. Since the devotees plan to extend the temple room
within coming years, the altar had to be designed with the new sized
temple room in mind. It also had been built in sections so that it could
be disassembled and moved when the extension is built. These design
factors were a challenge, and as in any such job, other obstacles appeared
as the construction work progressed. With the help of local devotees
who lent tools, baby-sat, advised, taxied, shopped, encouraged and supported,
Ronnie and Bhak were able to complete the work in two weeks - a week
before the due opening date. Everyone was staggered by the opulent intricacy
of the altar's abundant tracery carving. As you can see in the pictures
overleaf, the altar is about 4m wide, and consists of a main altar for
Sri Sri Radha Madhava and two side altars, one for Sri Sri Gaura Nitai
and one for Lord Nrsimhadeva. The honey coloured carved sycamore, is
wonderfully set off by honey-rippled white marble.
With the altar completed, Ronnie et al headed off to visit the family
in Cork. For the Belfast devotees the last minute preparations swung
into full force as the congregation and temple devotees dedicated every
spare moment to readying the temple and grounds for the big event. Gopi-manjari,
the head organiser could be seen racing frantically hither and thither
taking care of 108 details, while carrying out her service of head pujari
(priest) for their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava.
The event to inaugurate the new altar took place on Saturday the tenth
of February. Gopimanjari began the proceedings by explaining how the
concept for the altar came about: "Ronnie and I had met in Vrindavan
and were standing before Radha and Krsna's beautiful altar in the ISKCON
temple there. We were both lost in our own prayers. I was praying fox
someone to come along who could carve an altar for Sri Sri Radha Madhava
in Belfast. I didn't know that Ronnie was a master-carver, and as I
prayed she was praying for Krsna to engage her carving talents in His
service. You could imagine my amazement as Ronnie turned to me and asked,
`Do you want me to carve an altar for your temple in Belfast?' Krsna
really does have a sense of humour."
Then Ronnie explained how she conceived of combining Celtic and Vedic
influences in the altar design: "My training in traditional European
styles of carving, left me a little under-equipped to face the challenge
of designing an altar and carvings for a Vaisnava, Hindu temple. Although
my research took me to the finest museums and libraries in Britain;
The Victorian and Albert and The British museums in London, and the
Bodlean Library in Oxford, to my surprise, I found no books on Indian
or Vedic wood carving and very little on altars. I did learn that in
the 16`s century, the Mogul invaders destroyed virtually all the indigenous
temples, including all the woodcarvings, and temples built from that
period forward were built in the Muslim style of the Mogul Empire.
British rule in the 19th century saw the introduction of neo-classical
forms in temples and carvings so the majority of remains today is a
fusion of Muslim and European designs. I was left with the dilemma of
which elements to me in the altar design. I wasn't happy to simply copy
the mish-mash of influences that have generated Indian style, as we
know it, but I could find no relevant records of an indigenous Vedic
style. Remembering how ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada had encouraged
devotees to create art in the spirit of the local culture, I decided
to incorporate both Celtic and Indian symbolism in my altar design.
Although some elements are indicative of either Celtic or Indian styles,
all the symbolism I chose to use has meaning within both traditions.
For example the Celtic wheel corresponds to an Indian cakra or swastika,
and the Indian or Hindu peacock also has a lesser known Celtic-Christian
counterpart.
This commonality of symbolism within two of the world's most ancient
spiritual traditions is an invocation for spiritualists of all persuasions
to appreciate their unity of purpose and to focus on the parallels rather
than the differences between their respective traditions or denominations."
Many of the other speakers, such as Presbyterian Minister, Maurice
Ryan, Bahai member Edwin Graham, and Islamic representative Mamoun Mobayed,
expanded on this theme. Joan Harbison of the Equality Commission joined
many of the speakers in lauding the work of the Belfast devotees within
local inter-religious dialogue, and Maureen Armstrong of the Northern
Irish Arts Council, expressed her appreciation for the devotion apparent
in Ronnie's carving.
After the speakers, Krishna Kshetra prabhu carried out a Vedic fire
ceremony to inaugurate the altar, and had the whole audience involved
in chanting mantras and throwing grains into the sacrificial fire. This
was followed by presentations very much in the spirit of crosscultural
appreciation. Jahnavi performed several dances from the Vedic tradition,
and then local artists treated the audience to a taste of traditional
Irish dance. There was then Indian devotional music followed by Irish
classics while the guests were partook of a sumptuous buffet of sanctified
food. The press were in attendance in full force and news of the event
appeared in many magazines and papers as well as on the BBC. All those
who have seen the altar have been awestruck by the wealth of intricate
carving and the obvious devotion that has gone into it. With her promise
to Krishna fulfilled. Ronnie is now free to move to Australia with her
family and will be heading down under in the next few months.
Food for Life "catching on"
Serving of sacred food is catching on in other towns. Small grass-roots
projects are taking place in Birmingham (Markandeya and Steve), Glastonbury
(Yamuna Jivan), Lampeter in West Wales (Minaketan and Gandharvika) and
Swansea (Punyasloka). Parasurama has also been officially requested
by English Heritage to serve prasadam to the 15,000 expected to descend
on Stonehenge at this year's Summer Solstice.
Print, Television and Radio
Krishna Dharma was interviewed live for half an hour on Radio 2 in
Manchester following the Gujarat earthquake. The host, Don Maclean,
said he was happy with how the interview went and would have Krishna
Dharma back again. Some of the 70 congregational devotees who visited
Kumbha Mela for two days were filmed for the children's programme News
Round. Although aimed at kids, the BBC say 4 million watch including
adults. Sunita and her daughter Gita from south London were followed
by the camera as they took their bath in the waters of the Ganga and
Yamuna. The programme was on for 12 minutes. Bimal Krishna was filmed
drawing a traditional Vedic swastika by the BBC who are making a documentary
on the history of the symbol. The producer said that it was unfortunate
that a symbol of good fortune, known to even the Greeks and Egyptians,
had been hijacked by Hitler. He felt his film would balance out the
image of this lucky sign. Two of ISKCON's sponsors, GP and SP Hinduja
have, of course, been very much in the news recently, having an entire
Panorama programme devoted to the controversy over their passports.
The Hollywood film The Legend of Bagger Vance, based on Stephen Pressfield's
mystical golfing novel telling the story of the Gita but on a golf course,
is out in cinemas. One of our readers told me he cried during it, and
other devotees told me they merely yawned.
Can I ask you, dear readers, if you happen to see the movement or its
teachings misrepresented, particularly in new publications, that you
drop me a line and tell me? We have had a few cases of authors taking
real liberties recently, and their publishers not verifying the information.
One book even got the maha-mantra entirely wrong! We do keep our eyes
open, but if you keep a lookout too then we can make sure the public
do not get distorted or misleading information.
New Venue for Annual Gathering
The Congregational Council welcomed new members at its recent meeting:
Justin Reid from Swindon and Krishna puma dasi from North London. It
was decided that in addition to the weekend gathering at Bhaktivedanta
Manor for Rathayatra, there will be a major annual gathering every year
from now on. Last year we held it in Oxford at what was basically a
children's summer camp. A good time was had by all, but accommodation
and bathing facilities were not so comfortable. This year we go very
much up market: the gathering of devotees from around the country will
take place at Buckland Hall, a conference and retreat centre run by
Akhandadhi and his wife Ratnavati in the Brecon Beacons, south Wales.
The date has been set for the weekend of 5/6/7 October. Details will
be sent soon. It was also resolved that quarterly leaders meetings would
re-commence.
Uni students get a taste of KC
A colourful exhibition has been touring twelve universities in London,
Birmingham and Southampton. Wherever students have formed a `Krishna
consciousness Soc.' Or a `Spiritual Arts Soc.', an invitation was extended
for `The Taste Exhibition' to make an appearance for a few days. Setting
up colourful and informative panels in a prominent university thoroughfare,
Kanakabja and his team offered passing students tastes for the mind,
body and spirit with pakoras fried on-the-spot, interactive Gita CD
Rom displays, and a chance to look at many different books on spiritual
subjects. Interested students were then invited to a Mantra Festival
at the London School of Economics. 75 students paid £2 each for an evening
including a musical journey through the chakras, an illustrated talk
and a feast. At University College London (UCL), an establishment known
for the humanities, devotees have started serving free meals of subji,
rice, popadum and cake every Tuesday. Students, according to one observer,
are: "rolling on the ground in ecstasy." Prasadam is sponsored by Parasurama
and Food for All.
Musical Evening
The Pandava Sena youth group held an evening of music on February 23.
Devotees had met a group of musicians a few weeks before and asked if
they'd like to play with the Krishnas at one of their `Jammin' evenings.
Romapada wrote lyrics in praise of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the band
enjoyed their first taste of modem bhajan. And so did the sixty others
who filled the Wembley Youth Club.
Thanks to all of you who offered help
I would like to thank everyone who kindly sent donations over the past
few weeks. Your giving whatever you can afford means that you are directly
responsible for helping new people come to Krishna. Because of you,
Srila Prabhupada's teachings can touch the lives of even more people:
Uddhava das, Aldo, Mark Maguire, Peter Hayes, Shaun Hutchings, Julie
Burroughs, Clare Tedds and Divakar Sharma. Hare Krishna!
When things aren't so cool...
In the Indian countryside there was once a frog who, quite by accident,
jumped into a pot of boiling water. Scalded, he immediately jumped out
again, and lived. Several weeks later the same frog jumped into the
same pot which this time was filled with cold water. He relaxed at the
bottom of the pot, cooling off from the heat of the sun. Some minutes
later the pot was placed on the fire. Gradually the water heated up
towards boiling point. The poor frog continued to sit there, oblivious
to the steady rise in temperature. The water bubbled, and the frog was
scalded to death.
Why didn't he jump out? The answer is sad but true: he just didn't
know things were getting worse. Unfortunately, a frog can't detect small
heat differences. When he jumped into the pot of boiling water the difference
was enough to make him react. But the rise of temperature in a slowly
heating pot didn't even register.
The moral of this tale is an interesting one for us as devotees. We
live in an age regarded by the Vedas as 'Kali', a darkening age when
the fine, godly sentiments of human beings are progressively eroded;
an age when the quality of food decreases, memory and lifespan diminish,
moral codes disappear, liars and cheaters take over governments, and
society descends into chaos, war and mental sickness. If this sounds
far too grim and pessimistic to be probable then be aware of one important
fact: Kali Yuga doesn't come all at once. Like our pot of water, it
heats up slowly. By degrees the heat increases up to boiling point.
Kali Yuga establishes itself, almost imperceptibly, by increments.
The foundations of any truly human society, say the scriptures, are
the qualities of cleanliness, truthfulness, austerity and mercy. Cleanliness
does not simply mean personal hygiene, it means cleanliness of drinking
water, the air we breathe and the food we eat. It means having bodies
and minds free from stimulants and the toxicity of anger. Truthfulness
means being true to oneself and others, living in an environment free
from corrupt advertising and political propaganda, and speaking up when
we see an infringement of truth and decency. Austerity means understanding
that true happiness comes from resisting the temptation to indulge in
short-lived pleasures, and striving for deep-down contentment. And mercy
means to help the innocent, the weak and the poor when they cannot help
themselves. Kali Yuga systematically, and oh so gradually, erodes all
these foundations. The problem is that, like our frog, we too may not
realise that our social environment is really heating up, it is happening
so slowly. In the absence of universally accepted moral absolutes, there
is a growing tendency to not restrict the baser instincts. As increasingly
unrestricted lust and greed dictate patterns of behaviour, what is sinful
becomes fashionable, and thus acceptable behaviour. Legislation confirms
the level of acceptability and the pot inexorably progresses toward
the boil. Read any newspaper and you will see how the foundations of
society are being eroded. The prevailing philosophy that `life is chemicals'
makes it easy to diminish the sanctity of human life. Whether it be
stem-cell cloning legalised in this country, or euthanasia being made
legal in Holland, the principle of mercy is shifting once again. Cleanliness
is threatened by agro-science which, for easy profits, seems determined
to ultimately patent the very fruit, vegetables and grains we need to
survive.
Like the frog, we often don't realise what is happening. But we need
to jump out of the pot. That means to choose our own moral and spiritual
commitments and live up to them, whatever others may be fashionably
doing or saying. It also means that just occasionally we need to speak
up: to newspapers, politicians, family, friends, and work colleagues
- even at the risk of becoming unpopular - and cool down the waters
of Kali Yuga just a little.
Bhakta Richard Passes on
Perhaps the oldest devotee in England died peacefully early in the
morning of 4th of March. Richard Walker was 88 and was living proof
that the Hare Krishna movement is not just for youngsters. After reading
the story of Prabhupada's life in the book Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita
in 1986, Richard was a changed man. Although the age of 73 is not the
time of life when you normally change your religion, Richard did just
that. He visited various temples with his son Pete and began to eat
only offered food. He chanted rounds on beads, read the Bhagavatam,
gave donations, and enjoyed having the travelling sankirtan devotees
stay in his home. For the last ten years of his life he offered an evening
arati of incense, lamp and flowers to his household Gaura Nitai. May
Lord Krishna bless this gentle vaishnava on his onward journey.
