Chanting in the Streets, Krishnas Follow Their Faith

Chris Karmiol

May 9, 2004

On a typical Saturday night, most passersby on the corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue are probably thinking of things other than eternal life, unlike the devotees of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), who are there to promote it.

Wearing light peach-colored robes, playing drums and finger cymbals and singing "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare," this past weekend, two ISKCON devotees sang their praises in an effort to proselytize as required by their faith.

"Mozart, Beethoven, Tito Puente will never bring us the happiness that chanting the name 'Hare Krishna' will bring us," said Kapindra Swami, an ISKCON devotee since 1970, at a small Krishna gathering in Astoria, Queens, Sunday. "Those who chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, they attain eternal life."

Unlike traditional Hinduism, where all the gods in the Hindu pantheon are worshipped, ISKCON members, by the instruction of the movement's late founder, Srila Prabupada, worship Lord Krishna exclusively.

"What they're doing is a hodge-podge of different things," Kapindra Swami said of mainstream Hindus. "They worship demigods for material gain. They don't go to the source."

Then he quoted Prabupada's translation of the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad-Gita, as he often does.

"For those who worship demigods go to demigods. Those who worship ancestors go to ancestors ... those who go to ghosts don't go to me."

ISKCON devotees believe that Lord Krishna only is the supreme manifestation of God. Prabupada founded the Hare Krishna movement in 1966, and ISKCON now claims to have 10,000 temple devotees and a quarter-million worldwide devotees who don't live in a Krishna temple.

Like other religion institutions, ISKCON has been subject to accusations from former members, notably of child abuse charges, filed and dismissed in a federal court in 2000. The organization has admitted to isolated instances of abuse and has set up a victims' compensation fund.

In addition to regular home and temple worship, ISKCON devotees are mandated to bring their teachings to the non-Krishna community by chanting the holy name ("Hare Krishna") in public, distributing copies of the Bhagavad-Gita and distributing prasadam, food that's been offered by Krishna.

"Generally people are receptive," said Caitanya, 28, a three-year Krishna devotee who serves as an assistant to Kapindra Swami. "A lot of times people start chanting, dancing. Even if they say the name jokingly, they get benefits."

The Krishnas view their public chanting as a great favor to the masses, whom they consider to be sleepwalking or even dead.

"When they hear the holy name chanted by disciples, then without even knowing it they're awakened," Caitanya said. "That's our prime duty, to do that."

Just as Christian evangelicals make it a point to bring people to the acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior, ISKCON devotees make preaching Krishna consciousness a priority. Kapindra Swami said that the ISKCON movement is not merely a religion, but a direct pathway to God.

"A person may think they're in a religion, but until they come to Krishna there is no religion," he said. "When I approach a Catholic I don't feel I'm taking him from his religion, I'm showing him God. We're not converting anybody."

Though the Krishnas are sometimes subject to staring, ridicule and even attack, they said that their public singing is mostly joyous.

"You're connecting people with their lord and they feel good about it, too," Kapindra said. "We're sharing something wonderful and it's a great experience."

Devotees believe that chanting "Hare Krishna," the maha-mantra translated "please, Lord, engage me in Your service," is a means of self-purification.

"It doesn't matter how fallen I am, how rebellious I am," Kapindra said. "If I serve the right person then I'm a different being."

The Hare Krishna's main New York presence is at a temple on Schemerhorn Street in Brooklyn, and until a couple of years ago when they lost their lease, a smaller, congregation that Kapindra Swami runs worshipped at a temple on Avenue B, on the lower east side of Manhattan. His congregation, called the Prabhupada Sankirtan Society, broke away from the main ISKCON movement, because he says they do not correctly worship Lord Krishna.

During the warmer months, devotees from Kapindra's temple serve hot vegetarian food at Tompkins Square Park on Avenue A as part of their devotional service. The food, usually consisting of rice, lentils, salad and sweets, is considered a blessed offering from Krishna that, like the chanting, is meant to awaken people to Krishna consciousness.

It is also strictly vegetarian. Hare Krishnas do not believe in killing animals for food, and condemn others who do.

"The lord says 'thou shall not kill," said Kapindra Swami, "and who wants to acknowledge that?"

The Krishnas take their animal advocacy so seriously that some devotees built a cow sanctuary farm in Port Royal, Penn. Cows are holy animals, as prescribed in the Bhagavad-Gita, and Krishna devotees said they already have rescued a handful of cows from slaughter at their farm, Gita-Nagari.

"One was to become a veal cutlet," Caitanya explained. "He got a broken leg and he was rescued. Now he's the happy father of a beautiful daughter."

"The cow plays a vital role," Kapindra said. "The cow is the most important animal."

Hindus treasure cows for their life-giving milk. At some Hindu ceremonies, milk is used as a purifier to bathe statues of gods.

Animal advocacy and feeding the hungry are two important goals of the Krishna movement, but the number one activity that Krishna devotees bring into the public is chanting their lord's name in a joyous way for everyone to hear.

"It would be hypocritical to say 'I'm a Hare Krishna' and not chant in the streets," Kapindra Swami said.

(Updated May 9, 2004)