Word: krishna
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Devotees' dress, shaved heads and tilaka, the white clay lines on their foreheads, represent their spiritual devotion to Krishna. A shaved head is a sign of detachment from material pleasure, and the tilaka signifies that the body is the temple of God. A devotee's robes serve to remind others of the person's availability for spiritual guidance, though one may participate in the Krishna movement and wear conventional dress...
...temple's chandeliers and yellow walls replace the dim lights and drab walls of the hallways. The chandeliers illuminate small red, orange and blue banners, spattered with sewn-in mirrors and paintings of Krishna performing miracles and embracing Radha, his lover. Stained-glass windows cover one of the smaller walls of the rectangular room and provide a colorful backdrop for a light blue throne surrounded by white chrysanthemums. On the throne, sitting on a red cushion, is a picture of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual master and founder of ISKCON. He faces an orange curtain...
Bhaktivedanta Swami, a former Bengali businessman and a follower of Krishna since 1933, established the first ISKCON center in a small storefront in New York 12 years ago. He died last November, leaving over 6000 full time ministers and students of Krishna Consciousness. According to Garuda, the ISKCON founder did not die but merely appeared in a physical form, then disappeared. "After all the body does not determine life, life determines the body," Garuda says...
Agrani Das, the temple president, draws a microphone to his mouth and begins the lecture. "One must use the mind to get more than material objects like sex and shelter. One must use the mind to develop a greater relationship with God," he says. Devotees and Krishna followers filter into the temple. One devotee rings a large bell suspended before the orange curtain. Most of the entering congregation are Indians, but the group includes people of all races and nationalities. They all press their foreheads to the floor and sit cross-legged...
Agrani concludes his lecture and fields a question from the congregation of 200. Suddenly what sounds like a jubilant cow bays from behind the curtain. It is a devotee blowing a conch, signalling the beginning of the aroti, the offering of articles to Krishna. The orange curtain floats open. The congregation drops their heads to the floor, murmuring obeisances in Sanskrit...