In the Paradise of Krishna

[atma]

A friend gave me a book yesterday called:"In the paradise of Krishna". Hindu and Christian Seekers. By Klaus Klostermaier, a German monk. He decided to make his home in Vrindavan during the 60's for two years.

For what I read in the first pages, it seems a very nice book. Any comment on it?

[JRdd]

I'd be very interested to hear some of his experiences. Can you share some?

 

Jayaradhe

[sushil_kanoria]

Hare Krishna Atmaji,

I am too very eager to read the experience of that German monk.

 

Hari Bol,

Sushil.

[atma]

Just give me a little time. I'm half way with the book and for me it is nice because his description of Vrindavan is so accurate that he transports you there.

[atma]

A little bit from the book:

 

Sacred Vrindavan

 

For two years I have lived in Vrindavan, one of the most popular Hindu places of pilgrimage in Northern India. Situated on the Yamuna, forty miles north of Agra, Brajbhumi, the area around Mathura, represents the "body of Krishna" for the Krishna bhaktas - divine in an inmediate and tangible sense. Mathura has been revered for more than two thousand years as the birthplace of Krishna. Romantic Vrindavan, about ten miles up-river, is the place of the Krishnalila, the love play of Krishna with the gopis, the milkmaids. Radha is his favourite gopi; present-day bhaktas regard her as the earthly incarnation of the consort of God. Vrindavan is Krishna's paradise; only in Vrindavan can the highest degree of prema-bhakti be attained, as the gopis possesed it. The everlasting bodily presence of Krishna is strictly divided among the separate villages of Brajbhumi district. An elderly gentleman, who accosted me in the market-place to hold an impromptu speech on bhakti for my benefit, explained to me that "in Vrindavan, he who has eyes to see can observe Krishna and Radha at their love-play even today".

Every year, an average of over two million pilgrims come here. Quite an upheaval for a town of hardly 40,000 inhabitants. Vrindavan has a number of big temples and countless small ones. The people here mantain that 'Vrindavan has seven thousand temples'. I am often asked whether I did not also feel the special divinity of the place, the presence of Krishna manifest, as it is for a bhakta, in so many places. One of my friends would only call me Krishnakumar and he would urge me constantly to give myself up to Krishna. 'Radhe Shyam" is the greeting of the people here; I should do the same, they say, thus honoring those who praise is sung by thousands day and night here in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is the shrine of Krishna-love..........

Life in Vrindavan is typical of what in an orthodox Hindu town, still living largely in and by Hinduism. Twice a day, a narrow-gauge train chugs the ten miles from Mathura to Vrindavan. Arrival and departure times are always approximate; no one in Vrindavan is in a hurry. The saffron-coloured robes of sadhus abound even in the train. No sooner do the first temple towers of Vrindavan come into sight that the devout women pilgrims break into a chorus of rapturous praise for Krishna. The same happens in the bus, which runs 'frequently'. So, too, in the tongas, those fleet little horse-carriages, still the main transport of pilgrims. During times of major pilgrimages, camel buses move on Vrindavan: large, cage-like wagons, double-decked and with room for about 25 passengers; speed, two miles per hour. The camels pulling the wagons pretend to have nothing whatsoever to do with the people they are pulling.....

 

Atma: more later, I have to go to work.

 

[atma]

Little bit more from the book (the monk went to a bengali village for the Vyasa Puja celebrations of one Vaishnava that he met in Vrindavan):

 

In the afternoon the intelligentsia arrived - the teachers, schoolmasters, pandits and petty officials of the neighbourhood. Their questions were interesting, at least for a farming village. In Europe, it would be extremely difficult to find a village where, earnestly and with genuine interest, questions such as these would be discussed: Does God have a shape or not? Is there only one savior or are there several? Does one earn grace or is it only obteinable as a gift? Certaintly, these are questions belonging to the classical repertory of Indian philosophical discussions; but it is remarkable with what persistence and competence these questions are discussed. Hour after hour we sat, talking, discussing; ocasionally one or the other would intersperse a harmless joke. Some came, some went......

 

The return trip in the train was similar to the journey there.. Overcrowded compartments. At least I managed to get a seat for the 30 hours ahead of me. A family with 8 children had occupied the floor of one of the compartments and made it into their dormitory. Towards morning, the people tried, one by one, to squezze themselves through to the washroom.....

At the junction, I had to wait for a connection to Vridavan. I went to the Catholic parish. When I told the father there where I have been, he laughed at me. Nobody came to him to speak about religion - he was only approached for milk powder, oil and flour, gifts from American Catholics. Nobody asked whether God's grace was free or had to be earned. In order to receive the tangible gifts from the missionary, one had to do what he said. 'You will not get far with your idealism,' he said, and perhaps he was right. I had never sent home any statistics of successes and baptisms.'We are realists,' he said. 'Come and eat meat again, it will make you think more sensibly.'

(the monk was fully vegetarian while in Vrindavan)

[premananda]

That was very cool. Please post more if you´re able to.

 

P d

[jagannatha das brahmachar]

<h4 align=right>Brijbasi spirit lives on in the West</h4><hr><font size=5 color=CC9999>

 

This transports me back to the time when I was just a young monk and my Brijbasi friends would invite me into their homes for a little mahaprasadam.</p><hr></font>

[Guest guest]

I went to the Catholic parish. When I told the father there where I have been, he laughed at me. Nobody came to him to speak about religion - he was only approached for milk powder, oil and flour, gifts from American Catholics. Nobody asked whether God's grace was free or had to be earned. In order to receive the tangible gifts from the missionary, one had to do what he said. 'You will not get far with your idealism,' he said, and perhaps he was right. I had never sent home any statistics of successes and baptisms.'We are realists,' he said. 'Come and eat meat again, it will make you think more sensibly.'

 

The German monk really has touched into a delicate and sensible point;' The Great Conversion Debate.' There has been a lot of fervor recently about how conversions are hurting the Hindus in India.

 

Here is an intersting text by a Vaisnava from pusti-marga sect of Vaisnavas (non-Gaudiays) on that topic:

 

"The people who are converted are mainly those from the "lower stratas" of society. People who have been down trodden and derided at every opportunity by their Hindu brethren. If the Hindu majority truly wants to stop the conversions, than let them start to treat the tribals and untouchables as equals.

 

"After the first conversions under Buddhism and later under Islam, Hindus should have learned their lesson and started to reform. Having learned their first lessons almost 2500 + years ago, they should have done something to stem the flow of conversions by dealing with the cause of conversion - genuine desire to feel wanted / loved.

 

"Apart from food and medicine, one of the prime reason for conversion is, the missionaries (Buddhist, Muslim, Christians, its all the same) treat the down trodden in the society as humans and show love and compassion for them. It is this that the converts respond to. Who would not want to be loved or feel wanted ? When a person comes up to you, treats you like an equal and genuinely wants to help you uplift your material and spiritual life, why would you not want to join that person ? This is what the rishies of yore did to spread the message of Vedas across India. They brought prosperity, new tools, new agricultural methods and new knowledge to help the people rise from pre-history to new cultural heights.

 

"Over time, these ideals were lost and rigidity set in. The genuine compassion and understanding of rishies was replaced by orthodox priests who wanted only to preserve the status quo to further their own cause. Much of the revolution of Buddha's time occurred as a direct result of people's genuine desire to rid themselves of "sorrow".

 

"Later Islam bought a different sort of relief, relief from the strict caste system and move towards a more open religion that allowed you to fulfill your spiritual goals in life without having to be reborn to do so. The egalitarian views of Islam appealed to those who were called Hindu, but had never been allowed to enter a single Hindu temple.

 

"Christians offer not just religious relief, but drought, flood and educational relief too. They are helping to educate the people us Hindus refused to teach even the basic literacy skills. We refused to even allow them to learn the very hymns that may allow them access to their Gods, for fear of polluting the scriptures and Gods ! If a God can be polluted by being spoken of by a low born, how can that God uplift me ? Why should a person of low birth want to keep faith with a God and a religion that had no faith in them ? Apart from food, water and education, we also failed to help them realize their spiritual aspirations. Those brave souls who spoke out against such strictures and wanted to make God available to them, were reviled as dangerous, demented men. Likes of Tulsidas and Narsiha Mehta had to fight tooth and nail to bring God closer to His own people !

 

"What did we do for the masses who did not have birth or money to help themselves ? Did we give them housing that was weather proof ? Did we even give them the opportunity to build better housing themselves ? Did we even give them proper access to clean drinking water ? Instead, the wells of the villages were strictly segregated between the high and low born ! How can such an arrangement help keep our community together ? Unproductive fields and bad land was given to the lower castes, and even this was passed off as "charity" ! Only second grade food was ever given to them and their health was seen as not the concern of the high browed members of the society.

 

"Why than should these people stay faithful to the Hindus who have not helped them ? If a new group of people came and promised to help them come out of the quaige mire of social ills, why shouldn't they take up this opportunity ? With a new name, new surname and a new religion, they can find a whole new world opens up for them. When you are offered better life in THIS life, rather than here-after, why not convert ?

 

To really deal with the conversions, the Hindus who are railing against the conversions, should do something positive about it. Why beat up the priests and nuns ? They are not the cause of the conversion, they are the effect of centuries of neglect. Deal with the cause. Treat the down trodden as humans, Hindus, treat them as our fellow brothers and the conversions will stop - as that will no longer be necessary as a method of advancement, social, spiritual or material.