Krishna, the Scoundrel

September 19, 2016 by Micah Oxner | 0 comments

This past week we took a field trip to a Hare Krishna temple in Dallas. At first I did not know what to expect when we arrived at the temple, but was wonderfully surprised by what I found inside. My curiosity about what the temple held began when Professor Ball-Philips instead that she was not trying to convert us by bringing us to the temple. This insistence made me wonder what beauty this temple could hold that would possibly make me question my beliefs to the point of potentially converting to a new religion. My first glimpse of understanding began when we met Prajapati, our tour guide. We first got to know Prajapati when he greeted us outside the temple before leading us in and instructing us to take off our shoes. He then led us into the space of worship, which is where I began to understand the beauty of this religious movement. The space was filled with artwork and statues and some of the most beautiful deities adorned in flowers and magnificent clothing. Prajapati gave us some time to absorb the beauty that was around us before he began to tell us about the religion he loved so much and the space that he worshiped in. By the way Prajapati spoke about his religion and beliefs you could see his extreme devotion to Krishna and the temple. He then began to talk about the art that surrounded us in the temple. As a former art student I was absolutely amazed by what I saw all around me. The intricate paintings of Krishna and his followers that decorated the walls were so beautifully hand painted that I couldn’t look away. Prajapati talked about some of his favorite paintings including a painting of Krishna, the scoundrel, sitting in a tree with the clothing of multiple women with him (pictured below). Krishna has heard the prayers of the women wanting to all be brides of Krishna and took their clothing so they could present themselves to him. Another painting in the temple was one of Krishna getting yogurt from a jar hung high above him. In class later we learned that there is a celebration of this painting where teams of people attempt to get yogurt out of a jar hung between two buildings. While many succeeded, many also failed and the videos of the fails on youtube are hilarious.

Another thing that struck me about the temple was how the people worshiped. When we first entered there was one older woman singing a hymn out loud, but by the time we left there were many families and different people all singing, dancing, and playing instruments together. A little girl came around with a handful of roses and let us smell them before offering them to Krishna. I asked Prajapati about this practice and he said they offered many things to Krishna that were to enable to senses. For example, the roses activated our sense of smell and the singing activated our sense of hearing while the paintings surrounding us activated our sense of sight. I thought this form of group worship was beautiful and all-inclusive. Also, the little baby that was marveling at the deities and the statue of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada was absolutely adorable and the fact that they let her run around and participate in their worship amazed me because I know in the methodist church that I attended when I was young I was either put in a different room or made to sit still.

Overall, I loved the visit to the Hare Krishna temple. I learned a lot more by visiting a place of worship than I think I would have in a classroom. Having the experience of seeing where Krishna was worshiped and talk to a passionate follower of Krishna helped me to understand why people would follow him. Also, since activating the sense was an important part of worship I think it was important for us as a class to activate our own senses to fully understand the Hare Krishna movement.