Vaishnava communities in Hawaii

aisharya · August 6, 2003

Please help me find Vaishnava's in Hawaiian Islands. I know of Oahu ISKON & Haiku & Kaui ISKON. Are there any more & how can I contact them. Need help in relocating to Hawaii, want to live near other Krishna devotees. Thank you.

August 6, 2003

Dear Aisvarya,

Did you not receive my e-mail regarding Turiya Dasa and the Chaitanya Vaishnava Society in Maui? Here is the URL to a site where you can contact him and learn more about him:

http://www.harekrishnatemple.org/

Regarding Sai Baba - try to see the good in all people. Sai Baba has many followers. They are good people who are trying to progress in spiritual life. Sai Baba is not God and those who believe that he is are misled - that doesn't mean they are bad - it just means that they have to make further progress in life. If you want to focus your life on Krsna and his service you may want to gently tell the Sai Baba follower that it will not work because you have one purpose in life - to love and serve Krsna, and for that you wish to associate with his devotees. Of course if you love him and find that he encourages you rather than impedes you in your pursuit of spiritual life then it may be fine. Ultimately you will find that you wish to be with those who want to hear about, speak about, sing about and worship Sri Krsna.

As far as Mata Amritanadamayi goes - we already discussed her somewhat previously. She is no doubt a very spiritual person - still she follows a different path than you. She follows the impersonal conception of God. For devotees that path is considered to be worse than going to hell because it removes all possiblity of loving service to Govinda. Still, those who are genuinely following a spiritual tradition should be respected. It is good that you recieved a name from her that you appreciate and that fits with your conception of divinity. She has obviously helped you and for that you should be thankful. But for further progress you should seek those who lives are surrendered exclusively to Krsna and his loving service.

I hope that you go to the S.F. Ratha Yatra.

Your servant,

Audarya-lila dasa

stonehearted · August 6, 2003

Do check out the Honolulu ISKCON center. It's managed by my old, dear friend Kusha and her husband Srutakirti. She's a local girl who started chanting in 1969 and joined the temple the same time I did, in very early 1970. The mood there seems very nice.

And do check out Turiya das's temple on Maui, as Audarya-lila suggests. The mood there is very nice, and he's a wonderful devotee. The Deities are almost overwhelmingly beautiful, and the programs are very sweet.

I know there are devotees on Kauai, but I don't know how they're organized or what kind of programs they have. Here on the Big Island, we have a large, diverse community of devotees. We have no official center, but a family has a place in Hilo where we have regular programs. There's also a temple at the Hamakua Ecology Center, but they've been undergoing reorganization, so I'm not sure what regular programs they have. Living is less expensive here than on the other islands, but employment opportunities are scarce. I recommend Maui or Oahu as better choices.

Babhru das