We visited the Hare Krishna temple of Dallas on Thursday. We first had introductions with the monk, then he began telling us about the history of the temple and their faith. This Dallas location was previously Mount Auburn Church, but was converted in 1971. The temple itself used to be the church’s basketball court! There are several B.G. Sharma paintings hanging and the oldest form Deity of Krishna outside of India. While the monk was talking to us, several people came in to pray and worship around us. It was exciting to see their faith being practiced around us, while hearing about it.
He then told us some of the stories depicted in the paintings. The most interesting to me was about Krishna as a young boy. The painting shows Him surrounded by several other young boys talking and eating their lunch. Krishna was a popular and kind child, that all the other parents envied. They would make treats so that their sons could share with him. The story becomes interesting when the Brahma, in the top left hand corner, decides to jump time in order to herd all the boys’ calves away from sight. Fortunately, Krishna, despite his young age, is aware of this trickery and plays along by briefly looking for the calves. He finds them, which is appreciated by all the boys and their parents. Also, we found out that Krishna can multiply, which is actually who all the boys encircled around him are.
This duplication plays an important role in another story. Now a man, Krishna is adored by all the people, and especially by the women for his beauty and kindness. In order to appease them all, He multiplies so that He will be able to dance with each of them. They do not realize it though, so each of the women are happy being the one He chose to spend time with. This story shows that He wanted each of the women to feel loved and important, and so that they could have a personal and intimate relationship with him. This idea is still emphasized in the temple today. A close relationship with Krishna is possible and will increase faith!
On a different note, reading the article ahead of time about the history of the Hare Krishna movement, really put into perspective what they do and their religion. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the movement, wanted to make Hinduism, and in particular his version, accessible to people outside of India, who could not read and speak Hindi or Sanskrit. The sheer amount of documents he was able to translate and publish made this mission much easier for the global audiences. Hinduism as a whole requires a lot of knowledge about the texts and culture that many Western converts have struggled with. Prabhupada made an effort to make all this learning at least somewhat possible (with varied degrees of success for certain followers). Despite some shortcomings in leadership after the passing of Prabhupada, the movement as a whole has continued on. I can now see the attraction of this particular sect of Hinduism because of its inclusiveness and clear, yet powerful message it gives to its followers.