by Matsya Devi Dasi of the Vaisnava Community - Hare Krishna
We can see in this current age so many miseries.
Currently, we are going through the Covid pandemic and even though it is a little better now, we can clearly see it is beyond our control.
What we believe gives our community an eternal hope.
Hopefully, this message or ancient Vedic knowledge will give all of us a blissful hope.
Many people will have seen Hare Krishnas chanting and dancing in the street.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is a worldwide community of devotees (Vaishnavas) practicing bhakti-yoga and loving service to Krishna.
Krishna is a name for God that means ‘All-Attractive.’
ISKCON is also known as ‘the Hare Krishnas,’ or the Krishna Consciousness movement.
It’s part of the Vaishnava, or monotheistic, tradition within Hindu culture.
By practising the basic principles of ISKCON philosophy, we can experience a hope of happiness as one united family on this planet Earth, or a whole world which the United Nations cannot achieve:
• By sincerely cultivating spiritual knowledge, we can be free from anxiety and reach a state of pure happiness in this lifetime.
• We are not our bodies but eternal souls, parts and parcels of God, or Krishna. The soul transmigrates into different bodies according to the consciousness at the time of death. As eternal souls, we are all brothers and sisters, and Krishna is ultimately our common father.
• Krishna is eternal, all-knowing, omnipresent, all-powerful, and all-attractive. He is God the Father, Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, and Yahweh.
• The Absolute Truth is revealed in the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the world. The essence of the Vedas is found in the Bhagavad-Gita, a literal record of Krishna’s words.
• We gain spiritual knowledge from a bonafide spiritual master.
• Practicing vegetarianism and offering all our food to God before eating purifies our consciousness, minimizes the violence in the world, and frees us from bad karma, or material reactions or miseries like the Covid pandemic, etc.
• All our actions should be done as offerings to Krishna and not for selfish motives or to gratify our own senses.
• The best way to attain self-realization and pure love of God in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, (Kali yuga) is to chant His holy names. The easiest method for most people is to chant the Hare Krishna maha – mantra or the ‘great mantra’:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
This hope helps us to sustain happiness together as a universal family, no matter what comes around or goes around!
– Message of Hope is compiled by the Interfaith Network of the City of Greater Dandenong. Details on its activities, tours and volunteering opportunities, email executive@interfaithnetwork.org.au
