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200420032002December 2001December 2000DecemberOctober August June May March February January |
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January 2001Kumbha Mela: the naked truthHappy New Year everyone! It has been the most prolonged media attention ever given to a single religious event; the biggest exposure Hinduism has ever had on British television; and the largest gathering of human beings on Earth. Whether or not you watched the nightly ten-minute updates on Channel 4 or saw it in the newspapers you will probably know someone who did. and someone whose opinions were formed by it. I've heard of some who liked it and others who considered it misleading. Personally, I had mixed feelings about it. I was glad that people around the country had the opportunity to see something of a big religious festival, but thought the programme makers hadn't done their homework and had therefore been irresponsible in their portrayal of religion. So I wrote the following...
The Place: Choybalsan, a remote village in north-east Mongolia. The Time: Just after tea-time. The Bukach family have just sat down around their flickering black and white television set to watch a programme about Christianity, lr quick succession, with a narration constrained by the broadcasting standards of the Peoples' Republic of China, they are shown film clips of the Pope blessing the crowds from his balcony in Rome, Jehovah's Witnesses in Twickenham Stadium conducting water-tank baptisms, an Ethiopian Coptic Easter parade in sunny Addis Ababa, elderly English women singing hymns in a Surrey church, and morning Bible class on an Amish community in Pennsylvania. The virtual tour of Christianity continues with a dancing, snake-holding pastor of a small wooden Pentecostal chapel in Sweetville, Kentucky, monks of the Discalced Carmelite monastery scourging themselves with toughened rope whips, a whites-only church in a Johannesburg suburb, a watery-eyed American televangelist crying into his microphone, and a few seconds of the Reverend lan Paisley followed by vintage footage of street clashes between Catholics and Protestants in seventies Belfast. The Bukach family turn away from the television and begin to talk to each other about how baffling this thing called Christianity is. Similar confusion might have been experienced thousands of miles away in the semi-detached home of the Smith family when they sat down to watch Kumbha Mela: The Greatest Show on Earth on Channel 4 just after tea-time on Saturday 6'h of January. This hour-long documentary showed preparations for 'the largest ever gathering of humanity', a religious festival attracting millions held every twelve years at the confluence of the sacred rivers of northern India. This January will be the twelfth of such twelve-year cycles making it the supreme Mela of all Melas. If you can imagine just one-tenth of Christian humanity coming together in one place for a few days, all with their varying doctrines, dress, symbols, languages, ceremonies, practises and spiritual leaders, you will have some idea of the Kumbha Mela, and some idea of how perplexing it might be for an uninformed onlooker trying to comprehend it. And uninformed onlookers were really none the wiser after Kumbha Mela. The narrator began promisingly, attempting to help viewers interpret what they were watching. He began respectfully enough, and in politically correct language introduced the festival as a major religious event. Scenes of bridge-building, policing arrangements, and the list of mega-statistics were impressive. Yet it was when we were introduced to the 'holy men' that the film fell into mere entertainment mode. We were treated to the standard shock-shots of any travel programme on India: naked, ash-covered yogis, burning corpses, weeping widows and mothers; then there was the even more gruesome and bizarre, much of which was an aberration of dharma: so-called sadhus puffing smoke like Thomas the Tank engine, weird graveyard practises, and talks of initiations involving genital mutilation. It might have made for entertaining telly but provided little help for the viewer who might just have been interested in what the Kumbha Mela is actually all about. If someone had innocently watched it to learn a bit more about Hinduism and one of its major festivals, they might have reached the end of this particular programme in a state of shock. You can't just point a camera at whatever takes your fancy in a place like India and expect your viewers back home to understand it. Much less at a religious festival the magnitude of the Kumbha Mela. Television journalists are like heat-seeking missiles when it comes to the visually spectacular. It's their job after all. And what could be more spectacular than thousands of hairy, naked sadhus charging into a river at sunrise? But the images without a helpful narrative didn't give the viewer the complete picture. The majority of the sadhus featured on the film are reclusives or tyagis who avoid normal society. Their lives are not meant to be examples for others. They do not function as moral or spiritual leaders. By focusing disproportionate attention on those amongst them who use ganja, (a common indulgence, but one not recommended in the scriptures of the tyagis) the film-makers inadvertently created the impression that drugged, naked men were the religious leaders of the 70 million who would be attending the Mela. There are many other spiritual and religious leaders present at the Mela who might have been interviewed, men and women of great stature who are factually leaders of millions, and who represent diverse yet authentic Vedic traditions. Perhaps we shall see more in ensuing programmes.
After writing this and sending it to Channel 4. the head of religious
programming phoned to ask if we would appear on Right to Reply at the
end of the series.
So what is it all about?The Puranas tell of a time when the demigods and the demons churned the ocean of milk and the liquid nectar of immortality was produced. During the ensuing struggle for possession of the nectar, contained in a beautiful golden pitcher (kumbha) four drops fell to earth, one landing at the confluence of the three holy rivers: Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati in Prayaga (Allahabad). It is said that every 144 years when Jupiter enters Aquarius, and the Sun enters Aries, the waters again become nectar and bathing bestows immortality upon the pilgrim. That is why millions come to the Kumbha Mela to bathe for purification, especially on the important dates of 9th, 14th and 24th January 2001. Srila Prabhupada, who lived in Prayaga for some years and who was initiated there, again visited the Mela for four days in the Seventies but stressed that devotees of the Lord were more interested in Krishna's service than liberation. He said: "We have come here to preach devotional service to Krishna", and spoke to large crowds each day. Devotees held powerful kirtan all around the Mela site, thousands of pilgrims and sadhus joining in. The highlights of ISKCON's participation in Maha Kumbha Mela this year
centre on a large three-acre ISKCON village. Hundreds of devotees erected
tents, kitchens, a temple, and displays. 1,000 drummers and 5,000 karatala
players from the Vaishnava state of Manipura in remote eastern India
performed kirtan and demonstrated their traditional martial arts; ten
animated floats depicted scenes from the Mahabharat, Ramayana, Srimad
Bhagavatam, and Chaitanya Charitamrita. An enormous Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
with arms upraised was visible over the heads of the crowds from miles
away. At night there were discourses on scripture together with film
and slide shows, and enormous quantities of free prasadam were distributed
to the pilgrims. On January 14th, the day known as Makara Sankranti,
and the auspicious day when the warrior Bhismadeva chose to leave this
world, devotees gave out no less than 60,000 plates of free, hot prasadam.
Oxford newsBhaktin Veronica (Ronnie) has finished her epic altar carving project for the Belfast temple. She has worked for two years on the detailed wooden alter which she designed with traditional Irish Celtic / Vedic motifs. It was shipped to Belfast in mid December and will be installed in the Belfast temple on February 10th. There will be a big festival to celebrate the installation of the altar that the BBC will be covering. A local Arts Council have asked to put the temple on it's list of 'things to see in Belfast'.
Sanjaya, Melanie and Shyamananda moved to Canada at the end of December. We already miss them and send everyone's blessings for their new life. Haridham and Gaveshi from London had a naming ceremony for their baby girl in Oxford in November. Radhika Ramana, Krsna Ksetra and Manjari Talent all achieved their Masters in Theology at Oxford University and the graduation ceremonies were held in November. Radhika Ramana and Shaunaka Rishi have been invited to air and share
on Thought for the Day' on Radio 4. Several sessions have been recorded.
Oxford welcomes Anuradha dasi from Radlett, Abala dasi from Sweden (originally
Greece) and Merudevi also from Sweden to it's community. - Hari
dasi Cambridge newsA Boxing Day party was held at veteran chanter Ralph Nimann's home,
followed by a cooking evening on January 12th where Gopalraj showed
how to make some delicious dishes. Ralph says: 'It was a huge success!'
As if that wasn't enough, the vaishnavas came together again in the
home of Krishnasundara das in nearby Little Abington for another evening
of maha mantra and maha prasadam.
Kern's d-i-y festival storyKerri, who lives in mid-Wales, sent me her Janmashtami story ages ago. When I read it, I thought it was an amazing account of what you can do for Krishna if you just try. My apologies for not printing it sooner Kerri: There is a shop in Machynlleth called lan Snow's; lan regularly goes
to India to purchase things for his shops. Through him I was able to
order sixty sets of chanting beads which I used as garlands. I also
made twenty woven garlands, and placed them around peoples' necks when
they arrived. I had also bought, over several months, many gifts of
candles, incense and other such things which I also gave to everyone
who came as Janmashtami gifts. At the end of the evening I had only
one garland left! I offered prasadam to all who came and also, by Krishna's mercy and miracles, it remained hot and tasty late into the night even though it was placed outside so everyone could help themselves. Krishna arranged the most beautiful star-filled night, complete with a warmth uncommon up here. My friend Mark brought light projectors that he shone onto the garden and over the tipi, filling the entire place with moving colour. Another friend Leslie donated a huge firework that we lit at eleven thirty. It lit up the whole sky above Cemmaes. We also launched a candle-bearing armada down the Dyfi River. So many
people brought boats and the river looked incredible as all these tiny
rafts floated down. Many of the children and grown ups raced down to
the bridge about half a mile away to watch them pass. I wrote out the
story of Janmashtami from a past copy of the souvenir book and passed
it round for people to read. I hope that at least I managed to introduce
Krishna's name to all who were there, and I have the pleasure of knowing
that there are sixty sets of chanting beads out there with instructions
on their use, ready for people to begin chanting when their time is
right.
MediaThe Kumbha Mela has sparked an amazing amount of media coverage. It seems that most newspapers have featured stories on it in some way, many doing colourful photo spreads. The most consistent interest and coverage has been by Channel 4 in its nightly updates. Although starting off badly by reporting only the bizarre side-show elements of the Mela, the show seemed to gradually redeem itself as the days went by, if only by its unprecedented coverage of a major religious event. The National Council of Hindu Temples, an organisation linking 75 temples,
has its office at Bhaktivedanta Manor. The NCHT works to help the Hindu
community throughout the country. Bimal Krishna das (Vipin Aery), the
secretary, has been extremely active in making sure that Hinduism is
not mis-represented in the media. Several campaigns have resulted in
material offensive to Hindus being deleted from advertising, television
series, or feature films. Now publishers, studios and educators increasingly
tend to ring him up for consultation before they act. Although he was
surprised that Channel 4 did not appear to have consulted anyone who
knew about Hinduism, he was otherwise kept busy with requests for interviews
concerning the Mela. Radio interviews for BBC Radio 4, the World Service;
a discussion for America's national television station NBC, and a review
of our 'Kumbha Mela service' at the Manor by Ruth Gledhill of The Times
(The Manor's porridge scored five stars!), all came in one week. Now
he is off to India with 70 ISKCON members, and yes, their trip will
include a visit to the Kumbha Mela. The BBC wanted to follow the progress
of Manor congregation members who will be visiting the Mela so a film
crew will meet them there. The results will be shown on Newsround in
a ten-minute special report on February 23rd.
Other NewsComedian Lenny Henry recorded part of his television Christmas special at the devotee's book warehouse in Borehamwood. The scene was a take-off of Reservoir Dogs where all the characters end up shooting each other in a warehouse. Afterwards he purchased £50 worth of books for himself and friends.
The luxurious and very expensive Skibo Castle in Dornoch, Scotland, was the setting for a traditional Vedic wedding six weeks before Madonna and Guy Ritchie married there. Kripamoya performed the fire ceremony for a London couple before a hundred tartan-clad guests. The groom was piped in with bagpipes and the guests joined in chanting the Sanskrit mantras. George Harrison re-released All Things Must Pass on January 23rd A new version of My Sweet Lord has also been released. Ananta Shakti's book Vedic Tales has inspired Anglia TV to make puppet shows of two of the tales as part of a series on world faith stories.
Bhaktivedanta Manor now has full use of a further 40 acres of agricultural
land. A nearby farm was occupied by a sitting tenant and has now been
vacated.
One rainy day on sankirtan...During December many devotees took to the streets to sell books for Srila Prabhupada's Marathon. Braving the cold weather they returned to tell tales of those who'd been very grateful to contact Sri Chaitanya's mercy for the first time. Tales like this one from Jan: "It was a rainy, windy day in Southampton. There was so much rain-it was unbelievably wet. I was holding my books under my coat in case they got drenched. I was dripping and feeling a bit down. People were stopping but I had no enthusiasm. Then I saw a strongly built man walking in my direction, he looked as if he could be Amold Schwarznegger's brother. I prayed to Krishna to please give me some words to say to him. 'These books are about spiritual life, yoga and meditation' I said, 'they tell you about special mantras that can bring you peace of mind and help you to rise above your changing moods.' The last thing I said must have clicked with him because he said: 'You know, I am feeling terribly down today and I know that meditation can help because I do a lot already.' He continued to speak about the various spiritual things he'd investigated and I handed him another two books. He looked at them and began to talk very personally about his life and how much he knew he needed greater spiritual direction. When I asked him if he'd like to accept the books and give a donation he practically dragged me by the arm, through the rain and down the street to the cashpoint machine. As we walked together I gave him another two books bringing his total to eight. He handed me £40 promising to read them all. We parted company-both of us smiling!" During December the Gita Yajnas held in ten locations around the country
attracted many hundreds to sponsor copies of the Gita for distribution.
Altogether 4,600 copies were paid for, some of them being the new CD-ROM
version which has the entire Gita being read out, stories, a film biography
of Prabhupada and other visual programmes on specific themes. The CDs
found their way into many Christmas stockings!
Annual MeetingOn January 6th the Society's AGM was held at Bhaktivedanta Manor. Members
gathered in Srila Prabhupada's rooms representing centres and communities
throughout Britain. In accordance with ISKCON's constitution, one director
stood down after three years (Pun Goswami) and another was appointed
(Vipramukhya Swami). Audited accounts for 1999 revealed overall good
health. Discussions which had taken place over a period of five years
regarding the constitution of the charity culminated in a vote in favour
of reconstituting the Society as separate charities for each centre
with the National Council effectively becoming the licensing body for
the name of ISKCON. It was felt by the majority that these changes would
fulfil the spirit of Srila Prabhupada's request that each centre be
separately constituted and that central control be minimised wherever
possible. A second meeting on January 13th addressed proposals for reforms
in ISKCON's international management. RathayatraThe London Rathayatra looks like it will be held on Sunday, June 24th Official confirmation for the use of Trafalgar Square is only given a mere eight weeks before an event, but the police and Hyde Park have both given us approval for June 24th. That date means the preceding two days, Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd, when we normally have our Rathayatra Summer Camp at the Manor, will be a midsummer solstice event. There being no Glastonbury Festival this year, we can confidently expect loads more Vaishnavas to turn up. Please book your tent spot now - we only have 60 acres! Rathayatras will also be happening in Birmingham and Leicester this
year and in Paris on Sunday 1st July. As usual, there will be a European
gathering and seminar week at Radhadesh, the Belgian castle just before
this. If you are interested in joining the minibus going over please
phone Sitarama on 01923-854270.
ThankyouGrateful thanks and Krishna's blessings to all the devotee readers
who responded to my plea for financial help in the last newsletter.
Rukmini Vejanand sent in £50 from her green tin, as did Clare Tedds
and Mark Sibley (£20). John Foot sent in £100 and new standing orders
for five pounds a month were started - all by the Vaishnavas of Swindon:
Amena Rahman. Steve Macrae. Steve Willis. Simon Day, and Samantha. Thanks
also to Chris Clarke for sending in postal orders for the appeal.
For your diary - the days of incarnationsJanuary 31st - Advaita Acarya. |
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Page last updated 28 April, 2001
© 2001 International Society for Krishna Consciousness Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada  |
