Hare krishna as they are
Several Krishna worshipping families have lived in the former Raduga pioneer camp in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast for five years now. These people gave up all comforts and amenities of civilization, settled in the thick of the woods and began living according to their own laws, to be more precise, according to the laws of their religion. In the summer months they invite children from local villages over to their heavens. Weekly.ua reporters paid a visit to the Krishna camp on an investigative journalism mission
 |
| PHОТО: S. Kryazhev |
Summer camp for a red cent
A road from the village of Chernechyna takes travelers to the depths of the Mahdalynivskiy Forest through a neatly painted gateway with an old inscription Raduga (Rainbow) that was replaced with Radha, a childhood friend and lover of Krishna. Five years ago, Krishna worshippers from Dnipropetrovsk bought this neglected pioneer camp with money raised from the community, which has more than 20,000 strong in Ukraine.
The money raised from donations from the Krishna community’s congregation paid for the settlement of 10 families that worship Krishna. “We had to reconstruct the buildings, we put up a fence and the entrance gates and put everything in order,” said Project Coordinator Larysa Kosenko.
Krishna worshippers did not answer the questions that KW correspondents posed regarding the cost of the camp and its maintenance. According to information that KW got a hold of, the Krishna community bought the camp for next to nothing with the help of one of the former governors of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast. In 2005, when plans to open the camp were in the works, Volodymyr Meleshchyk, Serhiy Kasyanov, Ivan Chornokur and Yuriy Yekhanurov held the post of governor.
Rainbow Forest
The former Raduha is today a model object where paths are well-groomed, the territory is sewn with lawn grass, decorated with flowerbeds and there are swings for kids. Perfect order, silence and peace reign throughout the territory of the camp… However, although the feeling that we are strangers in this place, nobody has anything against us. Even the haunting thought of squashing an insect along the path does not come to mind.
Very strict orders are in effect on the territory of the camp: cursing one another, swearing, smoking, drinking alcohol, being depressed, idle and talking politics are prohibited. Hare Krishna members wake up 1.5 hours before the sunrise, the time known as brahma muhurta in the Hinduism tradition. It considered the purest and most suitable time for spiritual practice.
Krishna worshippers are very clean. At three o’clock in the morning they hold the first of many ablutions per day (up to 20 times). During the warm months Hare Krishnas bathe in the Orel River and only in winter do they take a shower. After the morning ablution they put on clean clothes, take their prayer beads and go to read mantras.
For three hours they count beads and mumble prayers trying to clear their mind of Vaishnav, which means devoted to God. Only after their prayers do they gather for the morning service, which is reminiscent of Orthodox matins the only exception being that the temple is fumigated with sandal incense sticks instead of labdanum and they sing Vedic hymns instead of Biblical psalms. They worship depictions of Krishna and Vedic saints.
 |
| PHОТО: S. Kryazhev |
Special attention zone
Frankly speaking, exactly those mantras and other “alien” things are the scariest things in the beginning. It is not surprising that initially local villagers were hostile to Krishna worshippers. By the way, local authorities were also not thrilled by the new settlers. Krishna worshippers say this is why when they first began they faced inspections by all possible authorities one after the other. They initially had planned to form a community of worshippers, but after a rather cold welcome they decided it would be better to preserve the main purpose of the place and announced the registration of children in a summer vacation camp.
The camp has welcomed orphans and children from low-income families in the Mahdalynivskiy County for the fifth year in a row now. Children are divided into so-called social teams. Last year 65 children spent their vacation in the camp and the same number is planned this. But in better days, there were almost by three times more.
“In the first season, the camp was admitting children only from low-income families. Parents were offered vacation packages and the heads of local village councils that were convinced by the Hare Krishna community of its good intentions managed to persuade local mothers that nobody would impose religion on their children. Nevertheless, by the order of the head of the county administration representatives of all instances were constantly present on the camp’s territory when children arrived and monitored the camp’s daily operation. Fortunately, our fears were not justified,” a representative of the Mahdalynivskiy Regional Administration told KW.
Even today a staff nurse that is not a member of Krishna community works at the camp and employees from the Oblast Committee for Social Affairs pay regular visits to the camp. Evidently, this is one of the reasons parents sent their children to Radha, as there are only a few children camps in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
Krishna worshippers also welcome children of their brothers in faith. This year vouchers for such children will cost UAH 3,000 and they will be placed in special detachments.
“Our project is a non-profit effort. At best the money we charge for a vacation package cover 60% of the camp’s needs. We cover the additional costs from donations and the financial support of sponsors,” said Kosenko.
 |
| PHОТО: S. Kryazhev |
Vegetarians
2 two-storey buildings on the camp’s territory are divided among boys and girls. No extravagance: the walls are painted blue, 4-6 beds in each room and bedside cabinets for personal belongings. Staff workers live in the third building and the fourth building was renovated into a mini-hotel. In winter, those few families for whom the camp is simultaneously a job and a home live there. In summer, the place is used for hosting children’s parents, other Krishna worshippers and guests. A small room with a WC, a bed and a cabinet costs UAH 100 – 120 per day.
Seeing as Krishna worshippers believe killing animals is a sin, the meals served at the camp are strictly for vegetarians. Initially, this raised serious suspicions and apprehensions of the local authorities and inhabitants, which is precisely why the camp was inspected by the sanitary and epidemiological services more thoroughly. No violations were found.
“They do not mess with out children and do not teach them to pray as they do,” said Kateryna Pivnenko, a resident of a neighboring village to the camp. “At first we were worried that children would need meat, but after their vacation they did not complain and said they had plenty of food,” she added.
By the way, Ukrainian legislation does not prohibit attracting minors to join religious communities. “Any religious organization has the right to work with children and it is up to their parents to choose whether they want their children to join a certain community or not,” said Yuriy Reshetnikov, Chair of of the State Committee for Migration, Nationalities and Religions.
“We all understand that staying in a religious community for 21 days children cannot avoid absorbing the ideas of people that are kind and affectionate to them. Seeing as the state cannot afford to pay for summer vacations for every child, their parents are forced to choose the camps that exist. By the way, at the moment practically every major religious organization in Ukraine has a camp for children,” Reshetnikov added.
 |
| PHОТО: S. Kryazhev |
A sect or a summer camp?
Several Hare Krishna families live and work in the thick of the Mahdalynivskiy forest all year round. All of them were ordinary people not so long ago. While many of them have their own private homes, they prefer to live in the community.
“It is not easy to live remote from society and it is probably difficult for most people to fathom how this can be. However, for our most avid followers permanent communication with people united by a common thread is very important. We live together and aspire to spiritual perfection and serving people. And we are happy to do that,” said Oleksandr, one of the permanent residents of the camp.
“When we have nothing stable in our lives we lose faith in the future and deliberately search for protection and comfort,” said Oleksandr Kolomiychuk, Director of the Medical and Psychological Center for Individual Development.
“We often look for an easy way out such as religion, for example. Krishna worshippers offer people an opportunity to feel immediate happiness in a world that gives total support and attention, where everybody is happy to see you and one can always have a good time. This means people that were stressed out and lost in this world can immediately enjoy a good life. Such an illusion of happiness and freedom is dizzying and one gradually becomes dependent on such surroundings as such sensations are more powerful than drugs.”
Leaving Radha, we knew that on July 12 children would arrive at the camp and the alarming sedated life in the Krishna community would be violated. Krishna worshippers should be lauded for welcoming children with open arms. Indeed, these people do not force children to do something, they invent new forms of entertaining children every day, impart their knowledge of nature, teach them to dance, do embroidery, martial arts, etc. They only differ from other people in the loose-fitting Hindu clothing they wear and calmness in any situation. As the saying goes, “to each his own”. The main thing is that the Hindu religion professed by hermits living in the Mahdalynivskiy forest never became “the opium of the people” for young children vacationing at the former Raduha camp.
 |
| PHОТО: S. Kryazhev |
COMMENTARY
Rev. Oleksandr Ovcherenko an archpriest at the Zaporizhzhia eparchy of the UOC Moscow Patriarchate
The Ukrainian Constitution says all people have the right to freedom of religion, but this notion can be viewed from different angles. In order not to get confused and not become a member of a destructive sect, people should remember that there are four traditional religions in the world – Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism. All other religions should be analyzed and compared. The Krishna religion is a means of popularizing the Hindu culture.
I do not want to sound like a cook that brags about his own broth, but the main difference of Christianity is that only in this religion God does not demand sacrifice. On the contrary, he sacrifices himself for our salvation. I recommend people to study religious movements more thoroughly and keep in mind that all that glitters is not gold.
Reference
What is a sect?
“Neither Ukrainian legislation nor academic science hinge upon the notion of a sect,” said Lyudmyla Filippovych, head of the Religious Processes Department at the Institute of Philosophy under the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. “On the other hand, a bill was registered in the VR which introduces the notion of a “totalitarian sect” – a religious organization the activity of which is aimed at violating human rights and freedoms through dangerous psychological indoctrination. In sociology we use the word sect to define new religious groups that departed from the main religious traditions and a new independent branch. The word sect derives from the Latin word secta, which means severed or cut off from the mainstream religion. From the point of view, even Christianity appeared as a sect as it was a branch of Judaism. Thanks to gifted preachers and the apostles of Christ, his studies were popularized all over the world. Almost all religions have a similar sectarian history of development.”
Four-handed deity
Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism and Hare Krishna) is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India in the 16th century. “Gaudiya” refers to Gauda region (present day Bengal/Bangladesh), where Vaishnavism meaning the worship of Vishnu. Its philosophical basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana, as well as other Puranic scriptures and Upanishads.
The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship (bhakti) of Radha and Krishna and it has many divine incarnations such as the supreme forms of God known as svayam bhagavan. Most typically this worship takes the form of singing the holy names Radha and Krishna, such as ´Hare´, ´Krishna´ and ´Rama´, most commonly in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra known as kirtan. The movement is sometimes referred to as the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya, referring to its traditional origins in the disciple’s succession of spiritual masters (gurus) believed to originate from Brahma. It classifies itself as a monotheistic tradition, seeing the many forms of Vishnu as expansions or incarnations of the one Supreme God Adipurusha.
According to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, consciousness is not a product of matter, rather a symptom of the soul. All living beings (jivas) are distinct from their current body – the nature of the soul being eternal, immutable and indestructible without any particular beginning or end.
There are a number of legends about Krishna sects, but according to the majority of theologians Krishna worshippers are absolutely harmless. This is the reason this religion is not forbidden in any free country.
Oleksij STEPANOV
