Last Thursday the entire class took a trip to the ISCKON temple here in Dallas Texas. ISCKON stands for ‘International Society for Krishna Consciousness’. I parked my car then walked to the front of the temple to meet the rest of the class. The main entrance really stands out, there are two giant towers, one on each side of the front wall. We then went up the staircase and through the doors.
How such a unique movement started in the U.S was explained in The Hare Krishna Movement: Forty years of chant and change by Graham Dwyer and Richard J. Cole. The movement was founded in 1965 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was at first joined by local hippies but the movement quickly spread. The author even says he recalls first hearing about a man in downtown NYC dancing and singing with hippies. That man was Prabhupada and he was given the nickname, ‘downtown swami’. The movement has grown exponentially even after Prabhupada died. (Dwyer and Cole) Today there are over 500 centers and temples in the World according to the ISCKON home page.
We took off our shoes and then entered the main area of worship which was very beautiful inside. There were arches on the ceiling and very nice wood finishes with lions along all the walls which made the room feel very ‘palace’ like. To the left there was the ‘shrine like’ monument of the founder of the movement, Prabhupada. His wax replica looked very realistic and he was surrounded by bright decorations. The entire right portion of the room had very interesting paintings all along the walls. The paintings depicted Krishna in several unique situations, for example one painting showed Krishna stealing the garments of a group of girls who went in the water as he sat in a tree amused.
Our guide explained some fundamental teachings of Krishna. He told us that we were the drivers of our own body and that our soul was separate from our body. He gave a very practical example by making the point that if someone drives a Lexus, they are not a Lexus, they are who they are. What he meant was that the car represents the ‘body’ but the ‘body’ is not the person. We also learned that the highest expression of the Darma of the soul is to serve.
At the end of the tour, our guide and his associate performed Hare Rama-Hare Krishna song. They used drums and a bell type instrument to produce the beat for the song. I thought the song was very entertaining and the way the two men danced around definitely brought a lot of positive energy into the room. At the end of the tour we were given the option to try out the restaurant. I decided to try it and I am glad I did, everything I put onto my plate I enjoyed. Overall, I was very impressed with how friendly everyone associated with the temple was and it was cool to get to learn about a different religious movement.