Hare Krishna holds peace festival

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna holds peace festival

Daily Sun - Apapa,Lagos,Nigeria

Saturday, October 8 was indeed a day of colours for members of the

international society for Krishna consciousness as they celebrated the first

annual ...

 

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2005/nov/09/citysun-09-1

1-2005-003.htm

Hare Krishna holds peace festival

By IME OLA

Wednesday, November 9, 2005

 

City Sun Index

 

Saturday, October 8 was indeed a day of colours for members of the

international society for Krishna consciousness as they celebrated the first

annual International Peace Festival in Lagos.

Devotees from different parts of the world, including India, Ghana, Togo, Cote

d’Ivoire, Cameroun, and Nigeria, attended the festival, which kicked off at

the Palmgrove Estate gate, Ikorodu road.

 

As early as 8:00 a.m hundreds of joyful and excited devotees and invited

guests had converged on Palmgrove Estate entrance for the take off of the

event.

 

Later, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Praveen Verma, formally

declared the festival open by sweeping the road in front of a beautifully

decorated chariot, which bore the symbols of peace.

Clad in an array of colourful Hare Krishna attires, the devotees, both young

and old made particularly inspiring picture of one big family as they pulled

the 18ft high chariot and marched to the National Stadium.

 

Thousands of passers-by and onlookers knew that something special was

happening on that day as they swayed to music from the famous Guranga Fuji

band and Boys Brigade band, which eased the stress of the three-kilometre long

journey.

Banners proclaiming “Peace in Naija,” “Stop corruption,” “Stop religious

violence,” “Stop ethnic violence,” “Be your brothers keeper,” were visibly on

display throughout the three-hour procession.

Speaking on the significance of the event, a devotee, Canakya Dasa, said: “It

is an auspicious occasion because it is a special day. We can invoke the mercy

of the Lord for auspiciousness to reign in the society. Most often, we forget

that we are not the proprietors of the gift of nature but we try to become the

lords of our true nature and consequently we suffer. But an event like this

reminds us that there is a supreme Lord of the universe which all of us are

accountable to.”

 

According to him, the event was done in order to bring humanity to a sane way

of living. He added that wherever it was done regularly, it has a way of

bringing about a revolution in the lives of “misdirected civilization.”

 

 

Also speaking, Srivas Das, the Regional Director of Hare Krishna movement in

Ghana, explained why Ghanaians had to come to Nigeria for the event. “It is a

very important event for the whole universe. When we celebrated last year,

people came from Nigeria to support us, so it is natural that when they are

celebrating, we also come to honour them. We arrived the previous day and the

reception has been warm. There was no dull moment as the Guranga Jazz band

thrilled the audience with a variety of spiritually uplifting songs. Music

star, Stella Monye, also gave an emotional rendition of Hare Krishna song,

which attracted a loud applause from the audience.

 

The highlight was the launch of the 2006 Hare Krishna Almanac by managing

director of Evans Medical Plc with N25, 000. He commended the organisers of

the event for bringing succour to needy Lagosians with their Food for Life

relief programmes and empowerment schemes.

 

In his vote of thanks, Bolaji Rosiji, executive director of the Guranga

Foundation, said: “The event signaled the beginning of a revolution in

Nigeria, as we see different religious and ethnic nationalities coming

together and working joyfully together.”

 

 

Perhaps, the star attraction of the day was the choreographed acrobatic

display by two teenage Krishna devotees from Ghana called Hari and K.K. The

audience was held spell bound as they swayed their bodies to the tunes of the

Guranga Jazz band.

 

Also, the devotees, their friends and invited guests relished sumptuous

vegetarian dishes in an atmosphere of love.