This is an incident in which Lord Krishna's foto prevented from attack.
By: PrabhaVisnu Dasa. South Africa. This phrase "I can't stop chanting 'Hare Krishna' from Ramananda Raya
brought to mind a very interesting incident.
It was 1982 and we were all collecting funds for building the magnificent
Sri Sri RadhaRadhanath Mandir in Chatsworth, Durban, South Africa.
Once I went all alone to a friend's Mum's shop that was in a very remote farming area in Kwazulu. She had promised me a large donation, which in those days could be anything from R20.00 to R1000.00 in our currency. After some struggle I found the shop, which was indeed quite remote. The old Mataji ( 65yrs plus) was such a wonderful person, and after a good two hours of befriending her, I was able to get a donation of R1200.00 which was a very large sum at that time. When I left the shop I walked jauntily down to my car, in blissful gratitude to the Lord for the really lovely donation, as well as the cool drinks and Vege gifts from the mataji.
I was followed by maybe 6 or 7 young 'black' men who had been hanging around.
I was busy chanting aloud, not using my beads, as my hands were both occupied.
These men got quite close to me, and I felt threatened, so my chanting got a little louder.
Perhaps my devotee attire, shaven head, and long Sikha (ex Beatle-mania)
prodded their curiosity, but I felt it was more likely the money that they knew I had on me.
So one asked me whether I was mad because I was chanting non-stop, in a pitch
louder than usual.I recall I said something like "I can't stop chanting 'Hare Krishna.'
I am 6ft tall and was very strong 30 odd years ago, but the knob-kerries
(sturdy stick with a large rounded knob at the top) they held were very
frightening, and so were the 'Cane knives' (used in cutting sugar cane by labourers) a few of them had. The knob-kerries and 'Cane knives' were the cultural weapons of that time.
In those days we had no movies that taught us these fancy Karate moves of
today, and my boxing and Judo skills had become very softened by my Krishna Consciousness. I knew I was in big trouble!
So I tried to make friends and spoke to them about God, that I was His servant,
and that I was collecting funds to build a Church (Temple). I got their attention for a short while, and quickly opened a lovely portfolio I had, with pictures of the temple to be, and fabulous photos of Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara.
Sri Krishna gave me the knowledge to say the words I did, and I got into a nice
description of God, in the local vernacular of Isizulu. They listened, at least most of them did, as I described the beauty of God, and then I turned the page to show a close up of Lord Syamasundara. Amazingly black and fabulously beautiful. (Thank you dear Temple President for pictures in portfolio).
When I explained that this is a picture of God they were thoroughly astounded.
God was black! Unbelievable! They knew that "Jesu" (Jesus) was white, very white;
therefore the Whites were in power because of their White God.
This was the Apartheid era, when White was Power, and the rest of us, browns
and blacks, were doormats for the Whites to walk over roughshod. And these labourers in the farmlands really did suffer.
I capitalised on describing the most wonderful and benevolent Lord Syamasundara; made them feel their very strong allegiance to this black personality who was God, Inkulunkulu (God in Zulu - like 'Greater than the greatest'), and told them His name was Krishna.
I showed them Radha, in all Her brilliance, and they were captivated, seeing in
RadhaKrishna the co-joining of Black and White, visualising perhaps that in
their dull, dreary and miserable lives there was hope that the blacks could
become as powerful and as opulent as the Whites.
They were unable to say Krishna nicely, perhaps because of their dialect, but they did, and as they began to smile when we said the Maha-Mantra,
I knew I was home safe and sound.
I remember giving them a bottle of the cold-drink, shaking hands with all of
them, and chanting even louder as I left the area, with the Lord's name
tingling on my tongue.
It's true, I love chanting 'Hare Krishna.':
HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA, KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE. HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE HARE.
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