Last Tuesday we travelled to the Hare Krishna Temple in Southeast Dallas. This temple is the Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji Madir Hare Krishna Temple. It is a beautiful temple that brings together all of the practicing Hare Krishna followers in the Dallas community. It is located on the border of the White Rock Lake residential area in Dallas but it is surrounded by much poverty and neglect. But yet it creates a beautiful and deep connection for all who visit the temple. There is a very calm and comforting feeling throughout the temple. We walked inside and a rush of delicious smells of Indian food entered my nostrils. There were beautiful pictures and designs along every wall. We quickly removed our shoes and entered into the main room of prayer. It was incredible. I have never seen so many intricate designs and paintings surrounding the entire room. There was tremendous color and life that could be felt everywhere. Numerous paintings lined the walls that depicted different stories of Krishna. They depicted him as a God that was very involved in the lives of his followers and was absolutely adored by the people who worshipped him. The paintings gave life to the religion in a unique and real way that could not have been replicated by simple explanations. My favorite painting was a depiction of Krishna where many of his female followers wanted to dance with him. In order to satisfy all of the women, he duplicated himself enough times where each of the females believed they were dancing with Krishna alone. It showed his followers love for Krishna and Krishna’s devotion to them.

Like all religions, the Hare Krishna followers were ordinary people from all backgrounds who come together and believe so deeply in an all empowering God. When we were inside the main room of service this family entered with their two small children. Immediately they lay on the floor to show their respects to Krishna and then they went and drank what appeared like blessed water. The young daughter performed each ritual like clockwork. She took little to no hesitation between each religious gesture to Krishna and I could see how engrained the motions were in their muscles. Although there was tremendous beauty within the Hare Krishna temple and in the religion, to me there were parts that seemed rather ridiculous. Our guide, Prajapati, lives a very simple life but a life completely devoted to the temple. He lives within walking distance of the temple. He wakes up every morning and goes straight to the temple for morning services. He eats every meal in the temple and then continues to listen to services on his radio or television or go back to the temple to pray. He chants Hare Krishna religiously numerous times a day. Ever since he joined this religious movement his entire life has been devoted to Krishna and the temple. For him, it is so simple to give up all earthly connections as he sees the importance of the afterlife with Krishna. I think it is hard for people not involved with the Hare Krishna movement to understand giving up all of our connections in this world in order to be ready for our life that comes next. In general, this was an amazing field trip and I very much enjoyed expanding my knowledge and myself through understanding more about Hare Krishna’s.