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Back to Godhead January/February 2011 By Krishna-kripa Dasa In post-apartheid South Africa, Krishna's devotees are building a platform on which to fulfill the dream of racial harmony.
In my travels I try to maintain and expand ISKCON programs of public congregational chanting of God's holy names. Knowing of my fondness for public chanting, Kadamba Kanana Swami, who teaches Krishna consciousness in various parts of the world, including South Africa, invited me to Pretoria, where devotees take to the streets three times a week. South Africa has a history of racial strife and oppression, and soon after my flight lands in South Africa, I learn that despite high hopes, the brotherhood for which the post-apartheid leaders of the Rainbow Nation aspired is not coming to fruition. For example, David Smith wrote in the online London Guardian, December 10, 2009, "In 2006, 61% of South Africans agreed that 'the relationship between the various races' was improving, but this had fallen to 49% by this year."
Soweto, the black township of almost two million on the southern side of Johannesburg, was once the main stage for tragedy. In 1976, a demonstration of ten thousand high-school students was met with government bullets, pushing the oppressed African population to the limit. The Hector Pieterson Museum, dedicated to a thirteen-year-old victim, stands to testify. Now the home of Nelson Mandela, Soweto promises to play a role in a spiritual revolution, just as it did in the revolution against apartheid. Mahaprabhu explains: "What's the use of gaining a reputation for distributing food on the other side of the Johannesburg when the people in your own neighborhood do not know who you are?" But although Mahaprabhu wanted to share the blessing of Krishna devotion with his Soweto neighbors, they were at first suspicious of devotees. Prasadam distribution helped overcome the suspicion in two ways. First, because feeding others is universally appreciated as good work, the Sowetans assumed that the devotees must be good people. And second, the devotional act of eating prasadam elevated their consciousness. Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita (3.13) that a person who eats food first offered to Him is purified of sins. Furthermore, a person freed from sinful reactions can serve Him with determination (Bg. 7.28). "When I see how happy the children are to get the kitri," Mahaprabhu says, "I am very satisfied." But Mahaprabhu is not just feeding bodies; he's nourishing souls. He had been living away from Soweto but returned there in 1997 and started weekly programs on Krishna consciousness in his home. At least ten residents have become initiated Hare Krishna devotees, some now serving in leadership roles at ISKCON centers. Srila Prabhupada wanted to give Krishna consciousness to the native black South Africans, who make up the vast majority (79%) of the population and often live in urban townships like Soweto. At present, 90% of the ISKCON congregation in South Africa is of Indian descent, although Indians make up only 2% of the population. Many Indians have a natural attraction to Lord Krishna and Vedic knowledge, an inclination to help the Lord's devotees, and because of their piety and hard work, wealth to contribute. Thus from the beginning through the present, the Indian community in South Africa has greatly assisted ISKCON. In particular, they helped build and staff three temples. The principal one, in Chatsworth, near Durban, is famous all over South Africa. Architecturally striking from the outside, it is ornately decorated inside with
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depictions of the Lord's pastimes. Another large temple is in nearby Phoenix, and the third is in Lenasia, near Johannesburg. Indian students contribute to outreach by running most of the campus programs of the Bhakti Yoga Society, which brings the most new devotees, from all cultural backgrounds.
"When the present African devotees take Krishna consciousness very seriously," he replied,
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"then other Africans will take it seriously. That is how we became serious-by the example of other serious devotees."
The South African devotees also take seriously distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. Parthasarati Dasa, a former American soldier who taught Bhagavad-gita to soldiers in his unit in Iraq, trained an army of book distributors in Pretoria. He took the young men to a nearby university, and in two months, they increased from two hundred to eight hundred books a month. The book distributors know that if the students and professors can understand the philosophy in Prabhupada's books, they will realize their identity beyond the body and come to the spiritual platform of unity.
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I saw a lot of devotion, sincerity, innovation, and youthful enthusiasm among the native South African devotees in their outreach programs, and I look forward to seeing Kadamba Kanana Swami's prediction come to pass. When people take seriously the philosophy of Lord Krishna, when they eat food offered to Krishna, and when they chant Hare Krishna together, they will come to the spiritual platform. Then the dream of a Rainbow Nation will be realized, its members from different cultures working together with a unified purpose.