NYTimes.com Article: The Krishna Elm

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The Krishna Elm

 

April 20, 2003

By ED BOLAND Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Krishna Elm

 

Q. I've heard there is a sacred tree in Tompkins Square

Park. Is this true and to whom is it sacred?

 

A. Yes there is an old elm tree in the center of the East

Village park, near a semicircle of benches, that marks the

birthplace of the Hare Krishna religion in the Western

Hemisphere. To Krishnas the tree is sacred.

 

In 1965, after a difficult month on a steamship, a

spiritual leader named Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

arrived in New York convinced that if Americans would

embrace his conception of Krishna consciousness, the other

countries in the world would follow. In 1966 he founded the

International Society of Krishna Consciousness at 26 Second

Avenue, near Second Street On Oct. 9, 1966, Swami

Prabhupada led a group of followers to the nearby Tompkins

Square Park, between Seventh and Tenth Streets and Avenues

A and B. Under the leafy canopy of an American elm tree

they began to chant a distinctive 16-word mantra: "Hare

Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare

Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.''

 

It was Swami Prabhupada's first outdoor chanting ceremony

outside of India and it was the birth of the Hare Krishna

religion. Attending the ceremony was the poet Allan

Ginsberg, who later said, "The ecstasy of chant or mantra

has replaced LSD and other drugs for many of the swami's

followers."

 

The tree has become a focal point for the chanting,

dancing, robed adherents of Hare Krishna. The sect claims

to have followers in 90 countries, 800,000 in the United

States. Swami Prabhupada died in 1977, but 26 Second Avenue

remains a Krishna center, and in 2001 the city's Parks

Department recognized the historical significance of the

Hare Krishna Elm tree with a plaque.

 

 

 

When Shea Ruled

 

Q. Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, the Yankees

are winning and the Mets are losing. It must be spring in

New York. When was the last time the Mets had a better

season than the Yankees?

 

A. Although only three years have passed since they

appeared in the World Series, it seems like an eternity

since the Amazin' Mets have been anything but amazingly

disappointing. Not helping matters for the Mets is that the

perennially playoff-bound Yankees are always there for

comparison. Many people forget, though, that in the year of

the subway series, 2000, the Mets actually had a better

record than the Yankees, going 94-68 to the Yankees' 87-74.

 

 

Although the Yanks had won three of the last four Series,

many saw them as vulnerable in 2000. It was the first time

in four seasons they had failed to win at least 90 games,

and they entered the playoffs having lost seven in a row.

But in the playoffs, the Bombers returned to form,

dispatching Oakland and Seattle before taking the Series 4

games to 1 over the Mets, who defeated San Francisco and

St. Louis to get there.

 

In 1999, the Mets came close to the Yankees when they went

97-66 to the Yankees' 98-64. But except for 2000 you have

to go back 12 years to find a Mets team that performed

better that the Yankees. The 1991 Mets went 77-84 while the

'91 Yankees went 71-91. There was no joy in New York that

summer.

 

 

 

The Bunny Hop

 

Q. How long have they been having Easter egg hunts in

Central Park?

 

A. The annual Easter "Eggstravaganza," a celebration of

spring in Central Park that includes the world's largest

egg hunt, has been a tradition since 1946.

 

The hunt features 35,000 candy-filled plastic eggs put out

around Bethesda Fountain, the concrete court covered in

turf. "Hunt" is a bit misleading. The eggs are placed so

children can spot them easily (limit one per child) and

park workers aren't picking them up all spring.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/20/nyregion/20FYI.html?ex=1051913601&ei=1&en=5da

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