Hare Krishna Devotees Meet Arizona Governor-Elect

July 12, 2003

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By Dr Prayag Narayan das Misra

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Jan 6 – Hare Krishna devotees met with Arizona governor-elect Janet Napolitano during an Interfaith Prayer Service conducted by Reverend Jan Olav Flaaten of the Arizona Ecumenical Council.

At the end of the service, the devotees had an opportunity to meet Ms Napolitano. I greeted her with "Hare Krishna," and she responded by saying "Hare Krishna." Then the prayer hall began to reverberate with "Hare Krishna" as the entire audience chanted.

Arizona is famous for one of the seven natural wonders of the world: the Grand Canyon, where the bottommost group of rocks is known as Vishnu Schist. Krishna and Vishnu are the same, and thus, Krishna is known to Arizonians— and the entire world. In the Hindi language, the name Arizona can be taken in another way: ari+jo+naa, or one who (jo) is not (na) an enemy (ari), thus friendly to everyone.

Ms. Napolitano received two blessed garlands from Sri Sri Radha Madhava Hari Dham, presented by Bhakta Raj and me, and smiled broadly as she accepted two copies of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, one for her home and the other for her office, as well as a copy of The Hidden Glory of India by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja dasa)— all published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. With the ring finger of my right hand, I sprinkled Ms Napolitano’s forehead with holy water from all six holy bathing places of the Maha Kumbha Mela (2001), in which some 20 million devotees participated.

Ms Napolitano accepted a bottle of sacred water and said she was overjoyed that the Hare Krishna devotees wished her a stay of two terms in office and had blessed her that she may have a good start. She promised to visit the Hare Krishna Temple in the future.

The theme of the prayer service was "Many lands, many people, many faiths: One Arizona." Members of several faiths participated, including Baptists, other Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Bahaists, and Buddhists. Reverend Paul Eppinger summed up everyone’s petitions on behalf of the interfaith movement.