Very interesting - Successful preaching Dharma in Central Asia & Middle east

[Guest guest]

vedicfriends, friend vijai <friend_vijai>

wrote:

 

Diary of a Traveling Preacher

 

Volume 4, Chapter 29

 

January 12 - February 6, 2003

 

 

Soon after my departure from the Persian Gulf, my curiosity as to how

Krsna consciousness would spread in Islamic countries was answered

when my godbrother, Bhakti Bringa Govinda Maharaja, invited me to

Kazakhstan to participate in a five-day festival celebrating the end

of the Christmas Marathon. After tolerating the heat of Arabia, I

braced myself for the severe winter of Central Asia and boarded a

Kazakhstan Airlines flight from Delhi to Almaty on January 14.

 

 

Two of the world's great sandy deserts, Karakum and Kyzylkum,

cover much of the western portion of Central Asia. To the south and

south-east a belt of mountain ranges, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, and

Tien Shan, tower above the land. It is at the base of these rugged

mountains in Kazakhstan that in 1997 Maharaja established his rural

community, Sri Vrindavan Dhama. At that time there were only a

handful of devotees in the region, but due to Maharaja's powerful

kirtans and sweet lectures the entire community, including

congregation, now numbers more than 600 devotees.

 

His success was not without struggle, however, for the obvious

reason that he has been preaching Krsna consciousness in a Muslim

country. Just last year, the authorities confiscated the passports of

all active devotees, threatening to jail the locals and deport the

foreigners. Appealing to those sympathetic to our movement with

connections in Almaty (the former capital, which remains host to all

foreign embassies and Kazakhstani government agencies), Maharaja

managed to get all the passports returned without complication. In

the process, he developed a close relationship with the Indian

Ambassador, who arranged for Maharaja to meet the Indian Prime

Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was visiting Kazakhstan. When

Maharaja brought up the matter of restrictions experienced by our

movement in Kazakhstan, Mr Vajpayee said to the ambassador, "That's

your department. Give them all the assistance they require."

 

Mr Vajpayee's help could not have come at a better moment, for

recently

Maharaja has embarked on a most ambitious project: the construction

at his community of the first full-scale Vedic temple in a Muslim

country. Styled after a beautiful temple on the banks of Manasa-ganga

near Govardhan Hill in India, the 5000sqm-building will include

surrounding gardens, a lake, a gosala, a gurukul and orchards.

Maharaja expects the project to attract tourists from throughout

Central Asia. The architectural design is complete and Maharaja

already has a team of devotees raising funds. When I asked from where

they were seeking donations, I almost fell off my chair when he

replied, "Mostly here in Kazakhstan and other Muslim countries."

 

"You're funding a Vedic temple in an Islamic country from Islamic

donations," I said in disbelief.

 

Maharaja calmly replied, "Yes, we even have plans to approach

the wealthy sheikhs in the Persian Gulf. Why shouldn't they

appreciate a project like this? It's culture of the highest order."

 

I was impressed with his determination.

 

The celebrations at Sri Vrindavan Dhama consisted mainly of long

kirtans. Typical of festivals in Maharaja's zone, we had one day

entirely devoted to kirtan - a Holy Name Day - when we literally

chanted all day long, from 7am to midnight. On another evening a

group of distinguished visitors attended the festivities. I was not

informed beforehand who was coming, thus when the Indian Ambassador,

a prominent local mullah (Muslim cleric), the Kazakhstan Minister of

Religious Affairs, and representatives from various religious

organizations were announced I was quite surprised. The guests all

gave short speeches pledging to support the new temple. As they

spoke, I sat mesmerized. By taking up the risks and challenges to

preach Krsna consciousness in a Muslim country, Maharaja was getting

unlimited mercy from Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

 

 

The mercy continued to flow the next day when Maharaja received a

call from the secretary of the wife of the President of Kazakhstan,

Nursultan Nazarbayev. She wanted to meet Maharaja about a project on

which Mrs Nazarbayev was working - a meditation course to be made

available in all high schools. The secretary requested Maharaja to

write a syllabus for the course, leaving everything to his

discretion.

 

 

 

 

 

Diary of a Traveling Preacher

 

Volume 4, Chapter 27

 

December 7-10, 2002

 

 

 

 

 

In Vrindavan I had mixed feelings. I was attached to the holy dhama,

as much as a neophyte devotee can be, and hankered to continue my

bhajan, but I had accepted an invitation to visit devotees in the

Middle East. My first destination was a small country on the Arabian

Peninsula, which for security reasons (to protect the local devotees)

I cannot name. It would be my first trip to Arabia, and I was excited

about the prospect of preaching in a new place. There are not many

countries I haven't experienced in my 23 years as a traveling

sannyasi, and the initial visit anywhere is always special.

 

 

Due to the strict Islamic code, I was required to arrive in non-

devotional dress. As I passed through Customs the officer in charge

called me to the side and questioned me. I told him I had simply come

to visit friends. Unconvinced, he asked me to open my luggage and

empty my pockets. Several times he asked me to take off my baseball

cap (I ignored his requests), but after scrutinizing my bags he waved

me through, warning me not to eat in public as it was still Ramadan,

the holy month of fasting when Muslims eat only once daily - at night.

 

Outside the terminal I was first greeted by the arid conditions, and

then by Vijaya Venugopal das and Prema Padmini dasi, householder

disciples of Jayapataka Swami who have been instrumental in running

what is possibly ISKCON's most successful Nama Hatta program. There

are more than 2,000 members in their congregation, and it is

expanding daily. Of course, the congregation are all of Indian and

Bangladesh origin, as the government forbids the proselytizing of

religions other than Islam. Surprisingly,

however, it allows and even facilitates the practice of Chistianity

and

Hinduism among foreigners. Due to the large labor force required for

exporting the country's oil, 40% of the population are Indians and

Bangladeshis. Thus, besides several churches in the capital there is

also a Krsna temple (with a beautiful Krsna Deity) and a Siva temple,

both said to be over 150 years old. Vijaya told me that the country's

ruler is tolerant of other religions due to having been educated in

India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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