After about a ten-minute drive from campus through a new part of town, at least for me, we arrived at what looked like a nice church. It was settled on a quiet street, and they had a playground in the field that ran up to the property. This was Kalachandji’s Hare Krishna Temple.
When we walked in we were greeted with smells that made me feel like I was in India again. A Caucasian man in monk’s type clothing greeted us and led us to the shoe room. After that we entered the sanctuary. It was a smallish room. There was a shiny statue of a man sitting on a throne, A. C. Bhaktivendanta Swami, the leader of the Hare Krishna Movement. There was also a stage of sorts with two statues on it clad in bright colors. There were also beautiful paintings on the walls that depicted the life of Krishna.
The Krishna Movement started in New York City in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami, or Prabhupad as they called him. He came from India, Bengal specifically, to teach the practice of Krishna. He was seventy years old at the time and his first devotees were in their twenties which was very different from the traditional practice in India. He focused his time on writing the Bhagavata Gita As It Is, and translating and commentating on the Bhgavata Purana so that his followers would be able to continue to practice after he had “departed”. His movement lasted for 12 years. He wrote those books, and he also circumnavigated the globe several times starting new temples all over the world. His legacy still lasts of course through his teachings and books.
The first question posed by our guide was “What do you think this room was when it was a church?” After many failed guesses he informed us that it was the basketball court. The tour itself consisted of him posing other interesting questions like the first and our group attempting to answer in confusion. The whole time I was trying to find the relevance to the Krishna Movement, unfortunately that never came. As we were leaving the sanctuary a worship ceremony started. All of the sudden the room was filled with people from all walks of life chanting in unison with some very interesting instruments. It was amazing to me to see a man in a polo and slacks participating in the same ceremony as a man wearing traditional devotee’s clothing. It proved to me how far this movement reached.
We then went to the vegetarian restaurant that is also on the property, which, according to our guide, has the best vegetarian food we will ever eat because it is made with love. I had dhal and rice, a personal favorite of mine, along with many other things whose names I don’t recall. One was some tangy and chewy vegetable that was remarkably good. I also had tamarind tea, which was delicious. For dessert there was a vegan brownie type thing that was interesting, but pretty tasty.
The whole visit was definitely a different experience, but very eye opening and very beautiful.
