An Evening with Krishna

I'm woefully ignorant on the Hindu faith--but last night, I did learn a little more. A local yoga studio was presenting an event featuring a Hindu swami, plus music and dancing. What else was I going to do? I wasn't all that interested in listening to the swami--until he began to speak. He only talked for maybe 20 minutes, but here was so much wisdom crammed into those minutes, my head was spinning. He talked about attachments here in this world, about ego and the identities we create and cling to, about sitting and simply being, and about how we each already have all we need. It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before, but he talked so simply, clearly and succinctly--it was a breath of fresh air that I've desperately needed. And it reminds me a little of what that Cherokee medicine man said to me last weekend--and I have yet to post on that--sorry!

The swami told us more about Krishna--in fact, the entire evening was centered around this god, whom the swami called "the expressive heart of Hinduism." The talk was then followed by some beautiful traditional Indian dance called bharata natyam. There was one performance called the "Dance of Peace and Light," featuring 2 women in a darkened studio holding votive candles in each hand. It truly did create an atmosphere of peace and light--and it would be great at a wedding. I looked for a sample video but couldn't find anything.The evening ended with a performance of the Mayapuris, a group of young men and women who chant and drum in the sacred kirtan tradition. It was quite mesmerizing at first, but--then the group wouldn't stop chanting: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare." They just kept going and going and going. Yeah, it got old fast--so I left. I'm all for religious devotion--and I know the mantra is supposed to induce a state of God-consciousness--but it was starting to get creepy and cultish!

Still, an interesting and inspiring evening. Which is great, considering today completely sucks! My motorcycle won't start, I'm all emotional over the break-up still, and my Internet is STILL not hooked up in the apartment (I'll spare you the long, tragic story--I'm sure I'll laugh at one day). I'm sure Krishna is looking down on all of this and laughing himself...