Vedic Preaching Banned yet Appreciated in Greece

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Note: As the EU and its Media deride India and its people as intolerant, EU members Italy, Greece and others have a record of legal oppression against the spread of Krishna Consciousness and other religions as well. Despite these efforts the common citizens are developing an interest in Indian culture and traditions. The report below is quite revealing and inspiring. Vedic Culture, once experianced, opens the hearts and minds and is bound to bring harmony to all.

Vrndavan Parker

 

"The church is very influential in Greece, and there is a law thatprohibits proselytizing by other religions. Our (Hare Krishna) movement has been officiallyclosed down twice during the past 30 years. Foreign devotees have beenblacklisted, and once our stock of books was confiscated. That's why my wife and Iopened a hatha yoga center, where we teach yoga and vegetarian cooking,gradually introducing people to Krsna consciousness. We don't dress indevotional clothing on the streets....."

"....As soon as we started kirtan the whole atmosphere changed. Peoplelove the Harinam." Tara laughed. "Don't put it beyond them," he said. "After all, a Greekwas one of the first Western Krsna devotees."

 

September 8 - 13, 2008

By Indradyumna Swami

"The Fortune Teller"

The chilly weather of eastern Siberia proved too much for me. When Ireturned to Warsaw I fell ill for six days with the flu. I had tocancelmost of my preaching tour of Hungary, managing to visit for only threedays.On the last day, Radhastami, I had a relapse and was laid low again.

The next day I flew to the Greek city of Thessaloniki with Uttama-sloka dasand several other devotees. Tara das and his wife, Radha Sakhi Vrndadasi,had recently opened a preaching center there and had invited us topresenttwo programs.

As we drove to the center from the airport, Tara started telling meaboutthe city. "Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece," hesaid,"with almost one million people. It was founded in 315 BC by the KingofMacedonia, who named it after his wife, a half-sister of Alexander theGreat.

"Look over there," he said as we passed the port area. "There's thestatueof Alexander."

I saw a huge statue of the legendary warrior looming over the touristsasthey walked down a wide boardwalk alongside the port.

"We asked the city officials whether we could have a sit-down kirtanat theport while you're here," Tara continued, "but they declined becausethere'san international convention taking place this week."

"How would a small kirtan disturb the convention?" I asked.

"They're not giving permission for any official events," he said,"becausethe communists and anarchists would take advantage to demonstrate andgetattention."

"Greece is part of the European Union," I said. "Are communists andanarchists still here?"

"Oh yes," he replied, "and sometimes they're very vocal."

As we drove through the main part of the city I remarked on the beautyofthe buildings, and Tara told me something of the city's past.

"Thessaloniki has a rich and diversified history," he said. "It's beenpartof the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. For hundreds of years,it'sbeen Greece's second major industrial, commercial, and politicalcenter. Andit's one of the most important places for the Greek Orthodox Church."

He pointed to a group of priests with long, gray beards, dressed inblackrobes walking into a church.

"Several hours from here is Mount Athos, or the Holy Mountain," hecontinued. "It's home to twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries. It's aself-governed monastic state, under the direct jurisdiction of theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople."

"Twenty monasteries?" I said.

"Yes," he replied, "and it's accessible only by boat. Only males areallowedentrance into Mount Athos, which is called the Garden of the Virgin bymonks. Even female animals are removed from the area. More than 2,500monkslive there.

"The church is very influential in Greece, and there is a law thatprohibitsproselytizing by other religions. Our movement has been officiallycloseddown twice during the past 30 years. Foreign devotees have beenblacklisted,and once our stock of books was confiscated. That's why my wife and Iopeneda hatha yoga center, where we teach yoga and vegetarian cooking,graduallyintroducing people to Krsna consciousness. We don't dress indevotionalclothing on the streets."

Just at that moment we arrived at the center, and as I stepped out ofthecar all eyes were upon me.

"Looks like the first time people here are seeing someone indevotionalattire," I said.

Tara smiled. "Correct," he said.

As we walked up the steps to the center he continued. "When theMuslimsrecently wanted to build a mosque in Athens," he said, "they weredeniedpermission. So we try to keep a low profile here. Of course, Athens ismorecosmopolitan, and devotees preach more openly there. We'll go outtonightaround 9:00 PM so you can get a feel for the city."

"Isn't that a little late?" I said.

"For the Greeks it's the most important part of the day," he said."It'swhen they go strolling through the streets or sit and talk in theoutdoorcafes. Bear in mind the temperature outside at the moment is almost 38centigrade, and it's very humid."

That evening we went for a walk. I was amazed at the number of peoplein thestreets. But the people were more amazed to see me. Their seeminglycoldstares made me feel uncomfortable.

"What are they thinking?" I asked Tara.

"Nothing," he said. "They have no preconceptions. They've just neverseenanyone like you before."

"At least one or two could smile," I said.

"Let's see their reaction when we do our inaugural Harinam heretomorrownight," he said. "Although the city officials wouldn't give uspermission tosit and chant at the port, I don't think they'll mind a small walkingkirtanthrough the streets of the city."

Gaura Hari das and his wife, Balesvari dasi, had come from England tojoinus for a few days. The next day after dinner, they prepared theparaphernalia for Harinam. Tribuvanesvara dasa, who had come fromPoland,readied his accordion. At 9:00 PM we walked onto the main street withsixother devotees and began chanting.

Within minutes everyone on the street had stopped and was staring atus, nolonger with cool detachment but rather with big smiles. As we chantedanddanced through the streets, people and waved and called out to us fromthecafes. I couldn't believe it.

I turned to Tara. "It's like the difference between day and night," Isaid."As soon as we started kirtan the whole atmosphere changed. Peoplelove theHarinam."

Tara laughed. "Don't put it beyond them," he said. "After all, a Greekwasone of the first Western Krsna devotees."

"You mean in the 1970s?" I said.

"No," he replied as our kirtan party stopped on a corner and startedto drawa large, curious crowd, "I mean in the second century BC."

"Huh?" I said.

"Yes," he said. "Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador to India, erected alargepillar in central India in the second century before the birth ofJesus,with an inscription that says he was a devotee of Vishnu, or Krsna.We'reworking on a new pamphlet for our center, and we've included thequote."

He pulled a draft of the invitation out of his bag and handed it tome. Itread: "This Garuda column of Vasudeva, the God of gods, was erectedhere byHeliodorus, a worshiper of Vishnu, the son of Dion, and an inhabitantofTaxila, who came as a Greek ambassador from the great King AntialkidastoKing Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the savior, then reigning prosperously inthefourteenth year of his kingship."

Tara smiled. "If he was a devotee from Greece, there must have beenmore,"he said.

"Yes," I said. "If we knew the whole story, scholars might includeVedicculture along with the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman histories ofThessaloniki."

As we weaved our way through the streets and lanes, the holy names ofKrsnareverberated off the building and walls of the ancient city. Peopleeverywhere continued waving, and a few even joined us in dancing.After awhile we arrived at a square where hundreds of young people wereloungingaround on a grassy area.

"Ask them if we can sit on a portion of the grass," I said to Tara. Assoonas he asked, about 20 kids respectfully rose and moved aside.

We sat chanting for half an hour, and then, as we had planned, Keli-cancaladasi from Hungary performed an Odissi dance in the square. As the tapeofher music began to play, a large crowd gathered. When she finished,hundredsof people applauded.

I was feeling exhausted from the heat, which still lingered in theevening,so I stood up and walked a short distance to the front of a store,wherecool air was gushing from the air conditioning inside. As I stoodwatchingthe blissful kirtan, a nicely dressed, elderly man approached me. Hehad anOriental appearance and penetrating blue eyes. I had noticed himfollowingour Harinam for several hours.

He came and stood right in front me, carefully studying my face. Hislong,gray hair moved slightly in the breeze as he stood with fixedattention. Ifelt a little uncomfortable but decided to be patient.

Finally he spoke. "You are a man of extraordinary strength andstamina,especially for your age of 59 years," he said. "If it were not foryourconstant travels, you would be in perfect health."

"What?" I said. "How do you know that I'm 59 years old and that Itravel alot?"

"I can read faces," he replied softly, still staring at me intently."Butyour unlimited reserve of energy is not your own. It comes from yourmaster.And he gets his from above."

I was stunned.

"You have many followers, and you will have more," he said. "Butalwaysremember the reason they've come: to hear from you what your mastertaughtyou."

I could only nod my head in agreement.

He moved back slightly and looked me up and down. "Your liver is notin goodcondition," he said, "and you have a bad bug."

"No, sir," I said. "I just had a bad flu. It's over now."

"It's not over," he said, "and because of it your mission here will beonlypartially successful."

He turned and walked away.

As I stood there trying to fathom what had just happened, a girl andherboyfriend came up to me. "We love your singing," the boy said inEnglish."Are you Buddhists?"

"No," I said. "We're from the Hare Krsna movement. We have a smallcenterhere. Here's an invitation. We're having a program tomorrow night."

"We thought you were Buddhists because you were talking to the Chineseman,"the girl said. "He's a well-known doctor in town. He practices Chinesemedicine. He's been living here for 30 years."

"He can see if you have a disease by studying your face," said theboy.

"He can tell your future," said the boy, "but you can't ask him. He'lltellyou only if he feels it's necessary."

"A lot of my parents' friends have been cured by him," said the girl.

"Well, he did say some amazing things," I said, "but he was wrongabout aflu bug. I just recovered from that. Anyway, try to make it to ourprogramtomorrow. I'll be giving a talk on reincarnation."

"Wow!" said the girl. "That sounds great. We'll be there for sure."

That night we got back to the center at 1:00 AM and I fell asleepimmediately. The next morning when I awoke, I quickly realized I had afeveralong with aches and pains all over my body.

I looked at Tara, who was waking up nearby. "Oh no," I said. "My flu'sback,for the third time." I thought of the prediction of the Chinese man,and Irolled over and pulled up the covers.

Later that morning, at my suggestion, the devotees moved me to anearbyhotel so they wouldn't catch the flu. Then they went on Harinam.Throughoutthe day I would look out the window and see them chanting blissfully.In theevening they held the program in the center without me.

"It was a nice program," said Tara when he came to visit me, "but itwasn'tthe same without you."

The whole next day I lay in bed with a high fever. But I wasdetermined togo to the second and final program at the center that evening. At 6:00PM Icalled Tara and told him to come pick me up.

"Are you sure, Maharaja?" he said.

"Yes," I said, covering my head with a wet cloth. "I'm feeling muchbetter."When I arrived at the center, I put on a big smile to convinceeveryone Iwas all right and proceeded to give a lecture. While speaking I forgotaboutmy illness and afterwards chanted and danced along with everyone elseAs the guests were departing, Radha Sakhi Vrnda came up to me. "GuruMaharaja," she said, "you shouldn't have done the program when you aresosick."

"I didn't want to miss the opportunity," I said. "Greece is such anexcitingfield for preaching."

"Still," she said, "you shouldn't have pushed yourself."

"The Chinese fortune teller said our programs would be partiallysuccessful,not altogether unsuccessful," I said with a chuckle. "So I had toattend atleast one."

"Well, thank you for coming," she said. "No one visits this place,althoughyou can see there is so much interest among the people."

As I was leaving, a woman came up to me. "Did your spiritual masterevercome to Greece?" she asked.

I stopped to think for a moment. "No," I said, "not that I know of."

"That's too bad," she said. "I think even a brief visit would havedone alot for this country."

Early the next morning Uttama-sloka and I caught a taxi to theairport. "Areyou from a spiritual movement?" the taxi driver asked me in brokenEnglishas we drove.

"Yes, we are," I replied, "the Hare Krsna movement."

"How do like Thessaloniki?" he asked.

"It's a very beautiful city," I replied.

"Yes," he said, "and people here are very open-brained. They likeothercultures."

"You mean open-minded," I said with a smile. "But yes, you are right.Wewere very well received here."

"I can see you are a spiritual man," he continued. "Can you teach mehow tobe peaceful? All day and half the night I'm in this taxi. So muchstress andanxiety."

"Yes," I said. "I can teach you a song that will bring you peace andhappiness wherever you go. It's composed of different names of God inSanskrit."

"I'm ready," he said.

"Repeat after me," I said, and I taught him the Hare Krsna mantra wordbyword: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna . . ."

"I like it," he said when we finished.

When we arrived at the airport he stopped the taxi at the curb. As weopenedthe door and got out, he went behind the car and took our bags fromthetrunk. After handing them to us he got back in the taxi.

"Excuse me, sir," I called out. "How much will that be?"

"You can't put a price on peace," he said with a smile and then begansinging the Hare Krsna mantra as he drove away.

That night, I came across the following conversation with SrilaPrabhupada:

Woman: In which country of Europe has the Hare Krsna movement been themostpowerful or successful?

Prabhupada: Everywhere.

Woman: What about Greece?

Prabhupada: I never went to Greece.

Satsvarupa: You said you went to the [Athens] airport and they werechanting.

Prabhupada: Yes.

O'Grady: Really?

Woman: I would think they would be in danger in Athens. There's no waythat this movement could be very successful in Athens or in Greece.

Prabhupada: Yes, when I was going to Nairobi from London I got down intransit, on the hall. Some young men, as soon as they saw me, theybegan to chant, Hare Krsna.

O'Grady: No, really? In Greece, this was, in Athens?

Prabhupada: Athens, yes.

O'Grady: Incredible.

[Room conversation with Irish poet Desmond O'Grady, May 1974]