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Prajapati’s Tour: Visualizations and Bhakti

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During the field trip to the ISKCON Temple, I learned about the Hare Krishna tradition and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ history from Prajapati –our insightful, beatnik tour guide. Prajapati has been a member of the Hare Krishna movement and ISKCON since its inception. The Society describes itself as “a worldwide community of devotees, or Vaishnavas, practicing bhakti-yoga, loving service to Krishna,” and its founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti-vedanta Swami Prabhupada, was Prajapati’s spiritual mentor and friend (12).

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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Shrine

 

The Hare Krishna building stands out in the relatively monotonous Dallas neighborhood. One doesn’t need to be privy to Indian architecture to find the building! The Temple -across from the highly acclaimed restaurant, Kalachandji’s- is not enormous in stature (in fact it previously functioned as a basketball gymnasium). Prajapati let Sophi Farid and I into the temple, and I was immediately struck by the various paintings of Krishna.

The sheer number of divine representations shows that the visual aspects of Hare Krishna worship are essential. When I asked Prajapati about the decorations, he responded that all of the images, shrines, and figurines help the people to love Krishna more intensely. By surrounding the walls with these paintings, the worshippers see the saguna (with attributes) depictions of their Lord and therefore feel more personally connected.

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Although I was unable to take a picture, the Krishna figurine on the altar is said to be over 500 years old. I was surprised that, unlike the paintings, the Krishna shrine was black; and I was even more surprised by how loud the music and chanting was in the temple. In unison, the participants chanted some variation of the maha-mantra: “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare” and “Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare.” At times I had difficulty hearing Prajapati because of the rhythmic mantras!

During the tour, Prajapati quoted often from a story in the Mahabharata epic: the Bhagavad-Gita. Using the Gita as his source, he affirmed statements found in the Hare Krishna brochure, such as, “Krishna is concerned with only one task- to enjoy relationships of love with His devotees,” and the idea that we are not our material bodies (30). For Prajapati, the “relationships of love” are not always the master-servant dialectic that many western religions utilize. True bhakti (devotional worship) comes from love, not from fear: “Krishna tells us in the Gita (9:26) that he will accept whatever is offered with devotion” (Dwyer, 13).

I noticed a discrepancy between the Hare Krishna and Vedic notions of worship and offerings. During the Vedic period, worship and sacrifices are inherently reciprocal. The invitation to the gods and honoring them via hospitality is in order to ask for things in return -the dvija’s (sponsor) offering was made so that he could attain what he asked for. Prajapati’s idea of worship did not seem to follow this model. He was primarily concerned with self-identity, and honoring Krishna through chanting His holy names (13).

The primary lessons I took from the trip are knowledge of the Hare Krishna movement’s core principles and the importance of visualizations in Indian culture.

 

Works Cited

Dwyer, Graham, and Richard Cole J. The Hare Krishna Movement: Forty Years of Chant and Change. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. Print.

Goswami, Mukunda, and Krishnarupa Dasi Devi, eds. “The Hare Krishnas Celebrating 50 Years.” 2016:

 

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