Leaving Hare Krishna

We made our pleasant adeus with no pressure of conversion and we donated 10 Francs then left. We got photos standing outside thee house but not with them as they don't allow their photos to be taken. We were relieved to leave although we were thankful for the experiences. I went into it with an open mind and left with an informed opinion that I disagreed with it entirely.





We loped down the steep hill towards the main stream of the city - excuse the pun - the Zurichsee lake. We walked the streets, but basically Zurich will always mean more to me as an Indian experience than anything else. So we headed out. Once again we had very goof luck with a lift to Lucern.

A Hare Krishna Breakfast

I slept the night on the floor of the Ashram but felt very safe in that environment although their whole imitation of Indians is hilarious. We were woken in time for the grueling two hour marathon programme. It varied slightly fro the evening service. Everyone goes up and takes a look at the idols in their glad rags. They also lay petals at the feet of the wax translator, everyone getting a turn. The same ceremony prevailed and the same battle to stay awake. After the service, with the chant still ringing in my ears, we had breakfast. men and women eat separately, and the breakfast consisted of sweet cheese, with kiwi fruit pressed into it, fruit salad mixed with yogurt, wet and crumbling halve, lettuce with a spicy sauce and avocados, hash brown potatoes stuffed with apples and sweet. To drink there was herbal tea. All very filling but what a combination of unfamiliar flavors at that time in the morning.

The Bhagawat, Hare Krishna food and other Krishna info!

I'm afraid that the Hare Krishna lecture was extremely simplified and unenlightening. The Guru spoke in circles and metaphors as meaningful as his one example about how the material world is like sand castles on the beach, they get washed away! At the end of his rambling dissertation my legs were as cramped from sitting as they had been from standing. The Guru gave people an opportunity to ask questions at the end, no one did which only proved that the audience were as confused as I was and even the Guru was confused but found talking a way to vent his frustration. I saw an ant cross the floor and had to stop my self from leaning across and thumping it into the ground.

After the service we retired to the waiting room where we were served dinner. It was on metal partitioned plates and hot milk in a metal cup. The food was rice, chutney, curried veg and halve. You are supposed to eat everything on your plate and eat with your right hand.

I got a chance to cross question one of the devotees over dinner and apparently the man in the photos and in wax was a translator who died in 1975. He translated the Sanskrit books, 80 of them, including their main book, The Bhagawat.

#The Hare Krishna wear orange robes to signify that they are single, married men where white.

#The men shave their heads to signify that they are all priests, and the women don't cut their hair because it is attractive!

#Women wear the red dot to show that they are married.

#Hare Krishna means "Welcome God".

#I tried to find out the connection between this and Hinduism but he didn't seem to know either. I know they use the same or similar Sanskrit and the same idols.

#They have a minor God for different areas of life.

#They don't eat meat.

#Two days a month they don't eat bread.

#No male/female contact until after marriage.

#Disregard for all things material.

#They wake up at 03:30!!!!!!

#They pray 7 times a day.

#Meals are called Parva (interesting the word in Hebrew for not meat or milk is Parve).

The devotee said we could sleep until 7am but could we please come to the "program" as they would be dressing the dolls in different, beautiful clothes! They dress them differently every day and at the 7am showing the curtains are fully opened to reveal the new outfits!

First experience of Hare Krishna Ceremony and Lecture

The devotees entered and lay flat on the ground, kiss it, and mumble then rise and face front. The front, my dear, let me tell you is a raised platform behind a proscenium arch compete with curtain. On the platform is an assortment of glittering, shiny, flowery oriental decorations under two identical canopies with pillars. On these platforms firstly there were two identical Indian looking dolls and on the other one a large white doll, a small white doll and a large black doll with eyes like saucers. All of the dolls were dressed in ornate clothing and jewelry. These are the idol's minor gods.



The twins represent Krishna as he appeared 5000 years ago (Krishna is god) and the other dolls are Krishna in other forms. There is a saried alter boy of sorts who stands behind the proscenium arch and performs and performs a number of ceremonial acts while the rest of the congregation chants to symbols and an oblong drum which someone is beating.



There are no chairs in the room and the men stand in the front with the women, and us at the back. The devotees shift their weight from one side to to the other. The alter boy waves incense, plays the symbols and waves around a long tuft of hair on the end of a stick. He also presents gifts of incense to the idols. Then he lights a little candlestick holder with about 5 flames, he takes this to one of the male congregation who takes it from the alter boy. Then this devotee takes the fire around to the other males who either warm their hands over it and run their hands over their bald heads, or they simply hold their heads over the flames. Then the fire is handed to one of the women to do to the female congregation.



Then they do a communal type thing with an egg cup of water which is sprinkled over every one's heads, a bit like the Catholic baptism. After a greweling half hour they all drop to the floor and start mumbling then they resume the chanting and finally the ceremony was over.



My ears were ringing from the constant clatter of tiny, tiny symbols. then we all took a mat and sat for the reading and lecture. My legs were very grateful.



Someone placed a book in the lap of the wax man, and too my surprise placed glasses on the dummy's nose . A guru sat in a large chair on the north side and with a book on a stand in front of him and a microphone.



Several people disappeared into a side room to do very good simultaneous translation into English, Yugoslavian and Spanish. We inserted earpieces into a hole in the wall to listen to the lecture in English.



A woman brought twigs on an tray and began stripping them of the leaves and stringing the leaves together to make necklaces for the idols ceremony the next day.

Meeting Krishna in Zurich

Perhaps I should tell you what I learnt, or no, let me reveal it to you as it was revealed to me! I could not brush my hair in the Ashram, only in the bathroom, for hygiene reasons. We donned dresses at Paz's suggestion and descended the stone steps to the temple - a room off the main entrance foyer.



My first sight, to my horror, was what looked like a man sitting on a cube of a stage, looking exactly like the man whom I assumed was the illusive Krishna - I had seen photos of him all over the building. On closer examination this man was a life size wax model of the man in the photos - sitting in the lotus position and wearing an orange sari like the other men in the temple. He was totally life like and sitting under a canopy of flowers and jewels on a waist high stage about 1 1/2 meters square. Wow - idol worship?

Swiss Krishna temple - getting to know you

Now you may wonder at Paz's willingness in all this adventure - knowledge cures all fear they say, and she had been to a ceremony before in South Africa with a friend of hers from the UK. We were lead to the Ashram where the women, single or married, live together and men are in a separate section. We passed the kitchen and I asked if a tour was possible, but apparently the kitchen is like their alter so I was not allowed to enter because I am not "one of them". However through the door the large quantity of stainless steel glowed. They are extremely clean, as were the showers.



The Ashram consisted of 2 sets of bunk beds 3 high in one corner, and lots of floor space for people to sleep on. The women were, as were the men, trying desperately to imitate Indians. Stone piercing through the nose, sari dresses, plaited hair, bare feet etc.(I find it hilarious how they have programmed themselves to Krishna as their word of God when it is actually blasphemy - don't know what I meant by this at the time of writing). We prepared ourselves for evening prayer and lectures.

Arriving at the Hare Krishna Temple - Zurich

A very ordinary Indian Swiss answered the Hare Krishna's temple door, and as he spoke no German he ushered us in. It turned out that he was just an inquisitive guest as well who came with his wife, bedecked with her red dot, to mark her as taken, both by a male and another faith. In the entrance hall we met a Hare Krishna person all done out in Orange - this season's color with the latest in Hari haute coiffure - a bald head with a tail growing out of it. Paz - having been duly pushed asked point blank "we met some of your devotees in town and they said that maybe..." oh dear "could we stay here tonight?" The answer was yes, if we made a donation. We finalized the deal and took seats in the waiting room with out fellow guests.



Minus shoes, totally soggy socks (they brought a new aroma to the Krishna incense) and our backpacks. Perhaps they picked up the sent of weary travelers as the first thing we were offered was a shower!

Meeting Hari Krishnas in Switzerland

Up this avenue lined with green trees and with more pedestrian traffic than cars we saw some Hari Krishna's with musical instruments doing their thing - freezing their willies off no doubt, and handing out balls - not their own frozen ones but white lumps of what can only be described as "stuff". We stopped and fumbled with our free pudding while talking to a Yugoslavian "devotee" who told us they had a temple and farm in the area. We cautiously asked if we could set up camp on their farm. They didn't quite get what we were asking but they said we could probably stay at the temple, and that we should come to the service in the evening anyway just to see what it was like. Paz and I were both keen for a little distraction and to be under a roof for a few hours. What really decided us though was when half a block later a German type woman sidled up to us, pursed lipped, like an undercover agent in some sordid novel. She produced a leaflet and kept pointing to the Krishna's saying "warning", "not good". We answered with "What is good? Muslims? No. Hindu? No." I played my ace on the Nazi "Jews? No...ah Christ..." and reverted to Krishna "not good". So after that we had more or less decided to see their ceremony.