A PILGRIMAGE TO INDIA
Ramakrishna - Vivekananda and Hare Krishna.
Ramakrishna
One place in Calcutta not to be missed was the Dakshineswar Temple complex that houses the living room and bed where the avatar Ramakrishna had given many of his discourses to his followers. His teachings emphasized that God-realization is the highest goal of life, love and devotion for God, the oneness of existence, and the harmony of religions. He also preached that money is an obstacle in the path of spiritual progress.
In this living room Sri Ramakrishna’s disciple Vivekananda hid a coin under the bed to test if his guru really could not touch money. Throughout his later life Ramakrishna refused to handle money saying it was impossible for him to hold money or metal (which also symbolised coins) as he would feel pain and his hand would be forced aside. In the past while sat by the Ganges Ramakrishna used to take a rupee in one hand and a clump of clay in the other. He would throw both into the holy river reminding us that both are useless for realizing God.
When Sri Ramakrishna sat on the bed containing the hidden coin he shouted in pain and was thrown to the floor as if he had been hit by an electric shock. Sadly I noted that now there is a temple collection box right by the side of the bed! It is also the only temple where you have to pay for the prasad! (Holy food that contains the blessing of the temple’s deity or holy man) Nonetheless the devotional love of Ramakrishna, his spirit of simplicity and surrender still permeates this temple and it was an inspiring place to visit. I’m sure the residue of his spiritual influence touched my soul.
From the temple ghat we sat and watched the sun set casting brilliant colours over the Hooghly River and simultaneously transforming the Calcutta skyline into a highlighted silhouette of deep violets and grey blue tones. Once darkness fell we hired a small very dodgy looking boat to take us down river to Vivekananda’s impressive Belur Math Shrine on the other side of the river. (Incidentally Vivekananda’s books are a must-read for anyone wanting to understand Indian spirituality – wonderfully inspiring)
 As we disembarked and headed towards the temple we could hear strange eerie mantras to Kali, the goddess who carries the severed heads (egos) of her devotees around her neck. Sometimes you can feel completely absorbed by India and at other times you feel like a stranger who has accidentally stumbled into a bizarre world of idols and unfamiliar ritual. Sat in the temple amongst the echoing tones and whiffed by the smell of amber incense under the tall pillars of in this large, shadowy building I had the feeling that I’d slipped into a scene from Indiana Jones. I reached for my whip.
Hare Krishna
I am not a lover of religion organised on a grand scale. I’m not a joiner. I feel I gained far more from the simple rooms of the gurus and the places they meditated and the people we met than I did from the grandiose temples and ashrams. And this feeling particularly applied to the next place we stayed: The Hare Krishna Ashram at Mayapur 130 km north of Calcutta. |
Ramakrishna
When I was a teenager I visited the first Hare Krishna temple in 7 Bury Place near the British Museum, London. As part of their ritual before satsang (a meeting for discussion) they poured a little blessed milk into my palm and asked me to drink it. It was only afterwards that they said “This milk has been used to wash the feet of our beloved guru!” Not a good start but nonetheless the followers I’d met in the past were often intelligent, certainly very devoted and occasionally – it has to be said - a bit mixed up.
John Lennon certainly didn’t hold his punches when he met A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the then leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness movement. He did not easily accept the authority and ‘say so’ of gurus and the transcripts of the meetings often show Lennon in what I read as a sarcastic tone of voice – particularly when he is advised that he should study the Gita in the original Sanskrit. “Study Sanscrit? ask Lennon. Oh, now you’re talking.”
Swami Prabhupada did however make a deep impression on George Harrison whose life and spiritual merits are a good example of the values he discovered through Krishna so I clearly do not want to appear disparaging of what to some is an important spiritual path but one I feel is not mine.
The Mayapur complex was certainly very impressive in its scale and architectural accomplishment but this was not a place that touched my soul. During the early morning Aarati the Hare Krishna devotees danced around waving their hands in the air and chanting the Hare Krishna mantras. I joined in – when in Rome and all that - but with not quite the same enthusiasm I enjoyed with the bhajans and mantras at other settings. Perhaps I was just too, too tired from so many days and nights of nail biting travel, perhaps devotional singing was not for me, but here I felt like an alien. At the climax of the chanting, plush red velvet curtains drew back to reveal a huge brightly coloured statue of Krishna surrounded by eight Gopi girls. It was all a bit ‘over the top’ and Disneyesque bad taste. I giggled manically to myself when it struck me that this was like worshiping super-dolls housed a giant, glitzy Barbie House.
It was definitely time to fly home.
India has reminded me that life is both an outer and an inner journey. Connecting with India’s energy and the spirit of its teachers past and present has helped me to understand what Patanjali says is the goal. Yoga he says is the movement into the absolute stillness of being. Here we can discover our true Self and find a wisdom, which transcends all worldly knowledge. I believe that India has shown me that the goal is near.
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