ISKCON combines worship, lifestyle

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

• Name of temple: International Society for Krishna Consciousness-Hawai'i

Vrindavan Behari Dasa, left foreground, conducts a fire sacrifice ceremony in Honolulu to celebrate the holidays as well as to honor George Harrison, the former Beatle and ISKCON supporter who died in California last month. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

• Where we are: 51 Coelho Way, Nu'uanu

• Our numbers: About 200 members

• Our temple head: Kusha devi dasi is the first woman to be elected president of the ISKCON temple in Nu'uanu. Women who become members receive the title "devi dasi," which is Sanskrit for "servant of God," Kusha said. For men, the equivalent title is "dasa."

• What we believe: Devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, which is part of the Hindu religion, believe in one God, whom they refer to as Krishna. They also believe God takes many forms and is worshiped under many different names, so the multitude of gods and goddesses in their belief are aspects of the same Godhead, Kusha said.

"The essence of our belief, if you boil it all down to its lowest common denominator, is 'acintya beta beta tattwa,' a Sanskrit phrase that means 'simultaneous oneness and difference,' " Kusha said. "So we celebrate not just that, yes, we are all one, but the variegatedness ... if we can celebrate the uniqueness of the varieties, this is a beautiful thing."

Worship services are held five times daily at the temple in Nu'uanu. Each service entails the chanting of special mantras and offerings of love to God, including items such as food, incense and flowers.

"This has been going on for thousands of years," Kusha said. "This isn't a cult that, like, yesterday we thought, 'OK, let's figure something out and put something together.' This is written about in the scriptures, exactly how it's done, and we do it just like that."

The Vedas are the hymns of knowledge that were revealed by God at the beginning of creation, according to Hare Krishna teachings, and the word Vedic pertains to the culture in which the Vedas and related scriptures guide all aspects of human life. There are many books that make up Vedic literature, Kusha said, but the two most important works are the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam.

• Our history: Srila Prabhupada, also referred to by members as His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is the founder and spiritual master of ISKCON. Prabhupada, who founded the movement in 1966, died in 1977.

The society was established on O'ahu in late 1968 by Texas native Gaursundar dasa, who served Prabhupada as his secretary. Devotees first gathered for worship services at a house in Ka'a'awa across Swanzy Beach Park, then moved four times — to homes on Hunnewell Street in Manoa, McKinley Street in Manoa, in Moanalua Valley, and finally on Coelho Way.

The Nu'uanu temple was once a mansion that was purchased in 1974 by Alfred Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, as a gift to Prabhupada, Kusha said. The temple is a special place, Kusha said, because Prabhupada spent one month of every year there from 1974 through 1976.

• What we're excited about: "One thing that we are excited about and saddened by is George Harrison's departure," Kusha said. "... He's always been a great supporter of Krishna consciousness, and so we're saddened by his departure, but we're also enlivened by the life example that he set."

Harrison, the former Beatle and a devotee of the Hare Krishna Movement, who died last month, donated money to print three volumes of Prabhupada's Krishna books and also donated a Tudor mansion on a 12-acre estate in London to be used as a temple.

• What's special about us: Members believe that the Hare Krishna Movement is "a lifestyle (that) starts from the moment we get up in the morning till the moment we take rest at night." Devotees follow the path of "bhakti yoga," Kusha said, "which is the linking with God in love and devotion."

The temple is open to the public. There is a gift shop, open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 5 to 8 p.m. Sundays, as well as a vegetarian restaurant called Govinda's, open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The public is also invited to attend the "Love Feast," which includes chanting, dancing and free vegetarian food, every Sunday at 5:30 p.m.

ISKCON-Hawai'i devotees also run the Food for Life Program, in which they feed the homeless at Ala Moana Beach Park every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

• Contact: 595-3947, 595-4913 or 753-7068; e-mail: vrinda@aol.com or iskcon@lava.net; or visit www.iskcon.net/hawaii