Helen Manzella
February
29, 2012
Yoga:
Theory, Culture and Practice
Professor
Laura Douglas
The International
Society of Krishna Consciousness
And a Retelling of the
Practice of Bhakti Yoga
My friend Nayima
and I left from the Harvard T station at about 4:00 Sunday evening and took the
Green line into Arlington. When we emerged from the subway we made a few turns
until we ended up on Commonwealth Avenue. The International Society of Krishna
Consciousness or ISKON, was nestled almost out of sight between a block of
brick apartments. ISKON is the orthodox core of Hinduism. There wouldn’t be any
entry fee, or any type of quota we had to fulfill, the Hare Krishnas accept
anyone who walks into the door without discrimination. When we entered the
center it was very quiet, the first room we came upon was a small mudroom where
we were to remove our shoes. Pushing inside through the large wooden door
Nayima and I tiptoed into the main center of worship where a few people were
scattered about the room in silent meditation. We sat down on two rug mats in
front of a giant alter adorned with golden Indian dolls, colorful flowers and
beautiful Mughal architecture and offerings to the swamis who had brought
Krishna Consciousness to the west. We sat for a while in silence feeling
slightly out of place, looking over at each other nervously wondering where all
the people were and when the chanting and dancing would begin.
Almost immediately
a jovial Indian man came up to us and began to tell us how we were to properly
meditate. The first principal in devotional service/bhakti yoga is to chant the
Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Maha means “great”; mantra means “sound that
liberates the mind from ignorance.” The man handed us two woven satchels which
each contained japa beads, these he
explained were what we were to use to help concentrate our minds on the holy
name of Krishna. Each strand had 108 beads in total and each time we thumbed a
bead inbetween our fingers we chanted the mantra:
Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare
Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
He told us to say it out loud but we hardly annunciated given how
quiet the room was and how foreign the words seemed to sound as they came out
of our mouths.
Soon the room
began to pour in with people, people from every race, ethnicity and age, though
for the most part people were of Indian decent. The room filled with colorful
saris and kurtas and barefooted men, women, children and even babies. Everyone
was cheerful, friendly and smiling. As they appeared in front of the alter they
all prostrated downward completely lowering their entire bodies and heads to
the ground. I was so fascinated to watch one man go up to the alter with his
young daughter whom was clearly not old enough to know what was going on, but
she simply watched him and repeated his actions. It was second nature to her.
The speaker that
was to give the lecture for the evening was announced and he approached the
harmonium and sat cross-legged in front of the microphone that was now level
with his mouth. He began to lecture on passages from the Bhagavad-Gita. The Bhagavad-Gita
is the oldest form of Vedic knowledge which is a literal account of Krishna’s
words that he spoke 5,000 years ago to his beloved devotee, Arjuna. According
to the orator, the Gita is able to supply its reader with the guidelines to
live a life in relationship with Krishna, or God. By cultivating a relationship
with Krishna we all have the opportunity to become pure and attain a blissful
state of consciousness. He reminded us that although we have been given a
material body, we are not that body, rather it is the soul that lives inside
which is in union with Krishna. Because we all have been given an eternal soul,
it is our duty to serve God. Another interesting thing I learned was that
Krishna devotees do not deny the existence of Lord Jesus, Lord Buddha or Lord
Allah, they agree that these are all incarnations of the one God. Through the
practice of bhakti yoga we can implement direct acts of devotional love and
service to the Lord Krishna.
In one of his
lectures the speaker talked of a parable about a man who was raised by a family
that brought him up to steal, murder and kill animals. One day this man came
across a beggar in the forest, he held up the beggar and insisted he give him
all of his possessions. All the beggar had to his name was a loincloth covering
his body and an instrument. The beggar asked the man if he knew what happened
to people like him that stole, killed animals and murdered. The beggar told the
man that people who do evil things go to hell where the things they have done
are done onto them. For instance, each bite he explained that you take out of
an animal is a bite out of you! The murderer replied that this is his
livelihood and that surely this is the only way he can live. The beggar tells
the man that he must go to his family and ask if they would like to share in
his sins. When he asks each member of his family, they all refuse, leaving the
beggar alone to face damnation. The murderous man returns to the beggar and
sorrowfully reports that no one will share in his sins. The beggar then instructs
the man to meditate on the word “Rama”, which is another name for the Lord. He
assures the murderer that by repeating the Lord’s name he will be absolved from
all his ill doings and will be purified. The murderer tries over and over to
utter the word “Rama” but can’t because of how corrupt he has become. Instead
the beggar tells him that he should try to meditate on the word “murder” for
which surely will come to his lips with ease. To no surprise the murderous man
pronounces murder without strain. So for years and years the man meditates the
murder mantra. Soon the sounds of the syllables begin to morph and make the
sound of “Rama.” Without awareness the murderous man is finally able to praise
Lord Krishna and is completely purified of all of his sins.
The moral of the
story of course is that the most important way to achieve freedom from our grasping
minds and from evil is to focus our attention on saying the Lord’s name. Just
by saying His name a person can become purified. The second moral is that if
someone as evil as the murderer can achieve divine consciousness that it is
possible that anyone no matter what they have done in their life can become
pure if they completely devote themselves wholeheartedly to God.
At this time we were
instructed to stand and a tiny old Indian woman went around the room with a
golden candleholder equipped with burning candles. She went around the room and
people put their hands above the flames and then touched their hands to their
forehead or eyes or even cradled their hands and moved the smoke down the back
of their heads.
We soon moved into
a kirtan in which we participated in call and response chanting and lamentation
of Krishna’s name, again we loudly sang:
Hare
Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare
Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
No specific person was designated to play the various instruments
used in the lamentation. The harmonium, tablas, and symbols were distributed
amongst everyone and were used during chanting, which soon progressed to high
energy dancing, leaping and jumping as we continued to repeat the maha-mantra.
We sang and danced like this straight through for I don’t know how long, I lost
track of time, it must have been at least an hour. Nayima and I joined hands
with a circle of girls and women, of all different ages and colors and did a
kind of Indian inspired line dance with them. We traveled back and forth
looking across at our partners and throwing our hands in the air. The men did
the same type of thing except they ran in separate lines toward each other,
throwing up their arms and shouting. After this everyone was covered in sweat
and was completely worn out. We sat down for a bit and I watched a baby girl
who had just learned how to walk peruse the room, smiling and looking at
people. The adults picked up the baby and interacted with her, as the baby’s
mother trustingly admired her from afar. A black man in traditional Indian garb
approached the microphone. He gave mention to several different families who
had sponsored the free vegetarian feast that was held there that evening and each
and every Sunday. It was around this time that I noticed some people joining
who had not previously been there, they were there to eat, and that was
completely welcomed and encouraged. The Hare Krishnas bless all their food
before they serve it; everything is done selflessly, in honor of Krishna.
While standing in
line Nayima and I were thanked by a man for our involvement in the dancing and
were asked about what brought us to the temple. The man seemed quite disappointed
when I told him I was there for a paper. I felt that Nayima and I were already
being more than subtly scouted as potential members. As we moved further up the
line we then were sparked into conversation by another member, she was all
teeth, she introduced herself as Atulya and immediately expressed great
interest in the fact that we were Holistic Psychology majors. She commended us
for already having a understanding of the way spirituality and the mind were interrelated.
After we were served we went upstairs to eat dinner with her and her husband,
Partha Biswas a computer engineer who also hosts a bhakti-yoga class at
Northeastern University in Boston, which is free and open to the public. He
explained to me that the point of bhakti yoga is to establish a loving
relationship with God and that through the study of the Sutras we can reach
Samadhi, the realization of our position as a servant to God. Partha also
explained to Nayima and I what each word meant in the maha-mantra. “Hare,”
means the energy of God, “Rama,” means reservoir of all pleasure and lastly, “Krishna:”
the all attractive.
In 1966 A.C.
Bhakitivedanta Swami Shrila Prabhupada left India to help spread Krishna
consciousness to the west. That year he founded ISKON in New York. It was His
Divine Grace that outlined the mission that all people studying bhakti-yoga
today follow. In the mission it is clarified that through the study of the
ancient texts of the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam we will be following
the great words bestowed by God. In order for society to live in peace it is
required that we develop the idea that we are all parcels of God or Krishna and
that we make it our duty to serve Him. These precepts were initially given by
the 15th century Saint Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and six other of
His associates. These gurus, or spiritual masters are considered to be direct
incarnations of Krishna and should be worshipped with the same level of respect
as we afford Krishna Himself.
Overall, leaving
the temple Nayima and I felt joyful, although we did feel a bit hounded. It was
wonderful to sing and dance but we disliked the monastic idea that there was
only one God. That was hard for both of us to grasp since we both consider
ourselves spiritual but not necessarily religious. It was nice to see a devoted group of people
come together and fight cultural illusion, and violence in the name of peace
and brotherhood. At 8:00pm we emerged feeling refreshed, loved and full of warm
food in our bellies.
References
His
Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The Science of Self- Realization. Los Angeles, California: 90034. Print.
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