Okay, so I have to say that when Dr. Ball- Phillips said that we were going as a class to Hare Krishna temple, I was surprised to say the least. Before this trip, Hare Krishna meant old Vietnam era white people doing more than their fair share of “consciousness enhancing” drugs with the excuse of becoming “formless” as their excuse. I expected some very… eccentric… characters to live in this culture and that this would be a generally uncomfortable and odd experience. However, I was very happily surprised. Upon our arrival to the temple, my group and I were all shocked at the state of the temple. Not only was it beautiful but it was busy. There we met up with Dr. Ball-Phillips and the man, the myth, the legend, Prajapati. Standing in his bare feet, with bright white hair and a brilliant smile, this man welcomed us all into his place of worship. We walked through the open doorway and were immediately welcomed by the smell of burning incense. Then we walked down a dark hallway to where we were to remove and store our shoes before entering the actual worship room. As we entered, the sounds of chanting and simple instruments filled our ears as the beauty of the temple room sank in. Dark wood carvings of lions (because Krishna is, as Prajapati put it, “of all the animals, the lion”) and other figures framed a ceiling painted like the sky and beautiful art on the walls. Each piece of art depicted a particular scene/story/myth that Krishna was involved in and as Prajapati put it, Krishna is quite the “rascal.” Also on one of the walls there was an incredibly life-like statue of the founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and during the service, many of the worshipers also bowed down and seemingly gave thanks in front of his statue. It was particularly amazing to hear that Prajapati actually had one on one contact and interactions with Prabhupada and that he was right there giving us a tour and explanation of what ISKCON is about. So there we were, standing in a warm room surrounded by beautiful art, air thick with incense and chanting, as an original Hare Krishna member spoke to us about this subject that he loves so much, it was definitely an amazing experience. As Prajapati spoke of the concepts within Krishna Consciousness, we were not only observing the rituals but actually got to take part in some! In the first one, a very polite man carried a burning oil lamp and we quickly waved our hands over the top of it and brought them to our forehead, I believe to symbolize feeling the power and warmth of Krishna. Later during the visit, an adorable little girl brought around a flower for us all to smell as a symbol of us opening our senses to our surroundings. Our adventure to the ISKCON temple was definitely not what I was expecting but it was definitely incredible. It is a shame that we did not get to eat their food on that particular day but I will definitely be back to sample the rest of their culture. What a way to spend an evening!