Senin, 23 Februari 2015

A Pursuit of Devotion – Struggle of Harekrishna from New Order Regime until Now


Abstract
                Many people would like to strive to achieve tranquility and contentment. Some of them would like to put their spiritual in peace by devoting to The One who is close to your heart, such as religion; including Harekrishna. This paper is conducted by ethnographic approach in order to understand deeper about their devotion to Krishna, and their struggle to maintain their devotion to Krishna, alongside with the modernism of social life.

 
                It was a sunny, Sunday morning, June 22nd, 2014. As I woke up in a sunny morning, I hastily prepare myself to go to ISCKON by train, in order to join meditation in a temple which is located in Pasar Baru, curiously want to research about the devotees. I quickly pick up an instant breakfast, put important stuff inside my red backpack, and straight headed to Juanda station, and waited for a long queue as soon as I arrived there. After I arrived there, I took an ojek, and as I entered ISKCON, surprisingly nobody’s there in that meditation room; so as the prasadam[1] room. Only two people standing and talking in front of my sight. I approached them and asked, “is there any meditation class today?”  Then the man replied, “No. They are going to celebrate Ratha-Yatra Festival in Monas by carrying Jagannath[2] chariot. Did you know the news already?” I quickly panicked that I missed the chance to be there with the devotees. The oriental woman suddenly offered me to come with her. “Come on, we’ll go by ojek.”
                Her name is Mataji[3] Lalita. She is the co-founder of ISKCON in Jakarta, along with her husband, which is the first man who spreaded Harekrishna, Prabhu Isha (not a real name). She said this festival temple was being offered a chance by the government of Jakarta to involve in their carnival called ‘Jakarnaval,’ as a part of celebrating Jakarta’s annual 487th birthday. There will be a combination of Kirtan, and chanting the supreme ‘Harekrishna’ from Monas to Bundaran HI.
Devotees carrying Jagannath Chariot
In Monas it was very crowded. Many people selling souvenirs, and preparing for their chariot attributes for the afternoon carnival. She said, “If you see the devotees, they are the ones who wear white outfit and Indian outfit.“ As me and Mataji searched them, we almost got lost, until we saw the Jagannath chariot in (approximately) the North Gate. “There it is!” I exclaimed.

There were a lot of people who were involved in the carnival, which is about 50 people above. It was more shocking than I expected to be, because generally only a few people attend Bhagavad Gita class in the ISKCON, but it turned out to be surprising. During these times they pamper themselves with the cheerful Kirtan, and some of them indulge themselves by eating prasadam. Those people were very welcoming, happy and feeling in peace. I talked to a couple who are devotees, which were Bayu and Putri. We talked for hours about the meaning of spirituality based on the principles of Harekrishna, and it turns out that they truly devoted on Krishna more than I can imagine, based on their private experience, and they are willing to participate this festival as a way to remember Krishna as the God.


 Jagannath Chariot

Ratha-Yatra Festival began to start at 3.00 pm. Everybody gathered into different positions with different duties. The first one was the one who carries the chariot, several of them became the actors (6 Radhas and 1 Krishna), and the rest became musicians and crews for sound system. I was the one who carried Jagannath. As we proceed the carnival, we waited for the other carnivals to pass, until it was our turn to show the spotlight. Everybody chants Harekrishna,Haribol! as their part of love and remembering Krishna as God. One of the devotees serve fruits as a part of ritual, in terms of cleaning their negative feeling of greediness, in addition everybody sings. Everybody can feel the ecstacy of joyfulness, with the feeling that Krishna resides within them.
The sun sets until night. It was the time for me to go back home. I said goodbye to Putri, and suddenly she asked, and I never thought this incident became a slightly, lesson-learned moment.
“Are you on period?”
“What about it?” I replied.
“You can’t pull Jagannath chariot if you’ve got period.”
“What if I already pulled Jagannath?” I asked.
“It’s okay, you don’t know. But next time, ask.”
Based on this event before, it can be seen that many devotees want to pursuit their devotion, specifically to Krishna. However, what is Krishna exactly? Why does all devotees chant Harekrishna? And how they search the process of living in peace to the divine? This is how it starts.
Harekrishna is a sect from Hinduism, where it is established internationally by Srila Prabhupada, who brought Harekrishna to the Western territory. It was in New York City, 1966 during the hippie movement, where a lot of people were seeking of peace from war. As Srila Prabhupada spread the wisdom through scholars and statesmen, many people were touched by his teachings of devotion, until he developed an institution of Harekrishna called ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness). These teachings consist of mostly Bhakti yoga with the support of various ways of mantras.
It all established around 1960’s-1970’s, where the Brahmachari,[4] Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna’s notion firstly to New York. The society felt touched on those wisdoms that more people want to join the meditation. Soon Srila Prabhupada and many devotees voluntarily spread the wisdom across the world, including Indonesia.
                To know how Harekrishna established in Indonesia, I asked briefly to Mataji Lalita about the history of the ISKCON temple. According to her, in 1968, Srila Prabhupada contributed his pilgrimage to Indonesia. He first arrived in Kebon Sirih, Jakarta, along with other devotees. He spread to Mataji Lalita’s[5] husband in 1978, who (in the end) became the first devotee in Indonesia. As more devotees develop ISCKON became expanded into many regions such as Rawamangun, Pasar Baru, Bali, and so on. [N3] 


History of ISKCON in Indonesia – A struggle of holding the temple

ISKCON[6] was established in Indonesia in 1973. Srila Prabhupada went to Indonesia in 2 days for preaching about the concept of spirituality based on Krishna’s consciousness (the principles will be explained on further page). He transferred Krishna’s concept of spiritualism to fellow Westerners who were apparently the devotees, then one of the devotees spread Harekrishna to Prabhu Isha, Prabhu Tatwa Darsi, along with his friends.[7] Then, they established ISKCON firstly in Rawamangun in 1981. They firstly presented to Lembaga Admisi Negara (Admission State Agencies), then rented a small building there in order to proceed religious practices, such as Bhakti yoga, Bhagavad Gita class, Kirtan, etc. However, since the place was rented temporarily, they moved to Jalan Keboja which is located in Tomang. According to Prabhu Isha, this Institution was banned in Tomang because of some misunderstandings between them.
During the 90’s it was the decade of new order. Soeharto had been ruling Indonesia for 32 years. His law of human rights began to be misused as a way to monopolize social law, political law, and economic law (indonesia-investments) by maintaining political status but in contrast he corrupted Indonesia’s economy by monopolizing political regulations and systemized tax payment, which made people had to pay taxes for Soeharto, Soeharto even went far by selling some islands and natural resources to deveoped countries, until a major crisis occured in Indonesia, specifically in Jakarta. Also, he interpreted strict laws, which is by limiting Indonesian citizens freedom of speech and rebellious act hence Soeharto’s law increases society’s fear of doing anything democratically. 
According to Prabhu Tatwa Darsi, in new order regime devotees in Jakarta and Bali simultaneously spread Bhagavad Gita, the fundamental bible of Krishna, in a translated version to Indonesia. The expansion occured through door-to-door, mouth-to-mouth, or during class. Then a negative incident happened when there was wrong translation of Bhagavad Gita, until the government had major misunderstanding. Governors thought Harekrishna taught society to be an atheist. Therefore Harekrishna was banned in Tomang.
The good news was that they can still have permit to open ISKCON in several places. Governors did not really care about the expansion of Harekrishna. Assuming that the governors just took Harekrishna as a belief, not a religion until Abdurahman Wahid, the president of Indonesia on 1999-2001, legalized Kong Hu Chu as a part of religion (Imandasari, 2010). The devotees of Harekrishna opened ISKCON located in Cililitan, then they opened some temples in other places such as Batam, Puncak, Medan, Surabaya, etc. After the renting time expired in Cililitan, they moved to Pasar Baru. They saw an old school building but the building was not used so they took the buiding and decorate it and made it as a temple. They still use the building in Pasar Baru to do the preaching and spiritualism activities until now.


Harekrishna Spiritual Principles 
One of the most fundamental principles in Harekrishna meditation is through Bhakti yoga. Generally, there are three types of yoga practices. Firstly it’s called Karma-yoga (the practices of conscious action), Jnana-yoga (the practices of philosophy and contemplation) and Hatha Yoga (the practices of yoga-asanas and breathing exercise)[8].  However, Bhakti Yoga focuses more on the relation within self devotion to the Supreme God, Krishna. This yoga consists of chanting that says Sanskrit mantras, which is called mantra meditation. This mediation is a part of Bhakti yoga.    

Mantra meditation focuses on chants for the Supreme Being. There are two types of meditation, which are Japa and Kirtan. Japa focuses on the personal chant by counting 108 japa mala beads. In Muslim, it is closely similar to the practice of dzikir. During this chanting, every bead must say a Sanskrit mantra until the japa mala complete until ‘one round;’ while Kirtan meditation focuses on dancing and singing mantras with other devotees, usually supported by musical instruments. This meditation could be filled by energetic music or soothing music, in order to
Kirtan
develop happiness through singing Sanskrit mantras in Kirtan, and develop Bhakti yoga. According to Prabhu Tatwa, the most effective yoga to seek spirituality enlightment is through Bhakti yoga because the focus of seeking spirituality is straightforward. Sidhanta-veda teaches us six principles of HareKrishna to  achieve moksa (liberty), and freed from birth and death. Therefore saying hare rama, hare krishna indicates that Krishna is a place of eternal happiness (Wikana, 2010).
The first one is about  the spirit. We are not a body, we are eternal spirits (aham brahma asmi) who are trapped in materials.  We are the eternal sparks from the highest persona of God himself, Sri Krishna. Basically, our true nature is very spiritual (Brahman). However, as for now, our nature is covered because of globalization.
The second is the doctrine of karma and reincarnation. Our relationshi with God is being strained now because of the fallacy in developing independence that God has given to us. We fell in love with the world that is full of materials, full of luxury. And the thing that we always forget is that all of this is temporary. We are trapped in worldly enjoyment that we forget about God. This enjoyment is covered in triguna which caused the grip attachment to the worldy happiness and resulting in karma. This karma is about reincarnation. As long as you haven’t discovered about the basic of serving God, you will always be in the boredd-and-died cycle (purnabhava samsara).
The third one is about the teaching of Isvara. Sri Krishna is the highest persona of God Almighty. He is the main personality (purusuttama) which means that He is eternal, He was not born, He knows everything (omnisciense). He is everywhere, omnipotent, the cause of all causes (sarva karanam), and the most interesting personality. Brahma states; “Isvarah paramah krsnah, sat cit ananda vigraha’ which means Sri Krishna is the controller of all the things that happen in this world, He is eternal, He has the most knowledge, and He is full of bliss and happiness.
The fourth one is the philosopy of Prakrti (nature material). Sri Krishna declares that He is the source of manifestation and consolidation, both the material world and the spiritual world.
The fifth one is the teaching of Bhakti-yoga. Our relationsip with Sri Krishna is pure and can be revived through the implementation of serving our spiritual love, and it is strings-attached free.
The sixth one is the teaching of Bhakti-yoga. Veda is the absolute truth, spiritual science, which is absolutely necessary to understand the role of a bona fide spiritual preacher. Highly qualified preachers and have the authority or preachers who are in the line of a series of spiritual education (Parampara). Spiritual master will guide us to realize our true self which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss, as the nature of God (SELAYANG PANDANG TENTANG HAREKRISHNA (kesadaran Krishna) , 2012).
                According to Prabhu Tatwa, the concept of heaven and hell is vague. There is no such thing as heavn and hell in the afterlife. The concept of hell is that we suffer in this world. By suffering means we are not living our lives happily, yet full of obstacles in life. It all is happening in the world until we understand the real concept of serving God fully. There is also a good karma which means that if we did good in our previous lives, we could live our lives happily. There is less fulfillment inside people’s souls. Eternal happiness is the only existing thing in the spiritual world. Hell does not exist in the spiritual world. As long as we pray to God, praise the Lord, loving God, and we remember God when we are dying, then God will forgive our sins. We are freed from material punishments. People will reincarnate until the end of the world as long as they haven’t reached Krishna’s consciousness. After we reached Krishna’s consciousness, we would not go back to the living world and we will live in Heaven, we will live to serve Krishna. That is the concept of Heaven which is written in Bhagavad Gita. According to verse 4.5 in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna states:

The God Almighty said: you and I are born again and again. I can remember all of the birth, but you cannot remember, O conqueror of enemies! (verse 4.5) (Prabhupada)

This verse states that every human comes from spiritual world. In contrast they forgot what they actually come from, due to the fact their spirit may reincarnate to another period of time. They may change sex, or even change into another part of being, such as an animal, if a soul is attached fully to material world, which are lust, stupidity, and good deeds. If a soul keeps attached to material world, a soul may reincarnate into a different path all over again, and the time isn’t eternal. Only spiritual world is eternal to everybody. As a result, devotees are encouraged to fulfill what is there for them, and be grateful for it. One of the daily activities that are fundamental for devotees are being a vegetarian. According to Prabhu Tatwa, the reason being a vegetarian is because of the metaphor ‘you are what you eat.’ Humans may become greedy because they put their ego into killing animals, and might eat a lot for their own sake.



The Concept of Vegetarian

                As it is explained before, the concept of Harekrishna is to minimize material deeds in order to serve Krishna, due to the fact that humans are a part of spiritual being. Therefore, the concept of spirit after death may reincarnate to another being, such as animal. That’s the reason why a lot of devotees become a vegetarian. In ashram[9], vegetables are an absolute cuisine for devotees, because according to Veda, animals are also a part of life being (14Ju). As a result, if one of the devotees eat meat, that means he/she may contribute killing animals. That’s why being a vegetarian is very important.
                What about the vegetables itself? After all, plants are a part of vegetables, and it’s a part of live being as well. However, vegetables are a part of Krishna’s creation. Eating animals’ meat is not appreciated by this religion. It is because animals are part of Krishna’s creations and they have soul, they are like humas, they have feelings, and they are the reincarnations of humans from their previous lives. We have no right to take living beings’ lives away from them.
                Even though vegetables are part of Krishna’s creations, it is not considered killing when we eat them. In fact, in karma-yoga, it is stated that we as human beings have to eat vegetables only because vegetables are not considered as part of reincarnations. Human beings need food to survive, it is one of the reason why we are excused for eating vegetables. Eggs are not part of vegetables. Harekrishna forbid their devotees from eating eggs because eggs is the embryo, it is a part of reincarnations because in time being, the eggs will hatch and become a part of living soul.
                For instance, we can modify hotdogs. Real hotdogs use sausages as their fundamental ingredient. We can modify it by replace the sausage into salads and beans or eggplants, depends on each individuals’ likings. That’s the reason why the food is called prasadam.

A Pursuit of Devotion – Reasons why devotees devote Krishna

                Mostly, many devotees affiliate Harekrishna because of seeking. Not many people devote Harekrishna based on their family; most people affiliates Harekrishna based on their seeking discovery, according to Prabhu Olik, when I followed Bhagavad Gita class. As a result this is why the curiosity of finding their reasons occur to me. Why do devotees choose Harekrishna rather than any religion in the world? Although seeking the best religion may be one of the most fundamental path for individuals, there must be some reason why devotees choose Krishna as a part of fulfilling their spiritual lives.
                Back to the time of Ratha-Yatra, I gathered with Hayasirsa (not a real name), Bayu, and Putri. Hayasirsa is a devotee, same like Bayu and Putri. He is taking master degree in UHI (Universitas Hindu Indonesia) majoring in religion and culture, Bayu is a photographer and his lover, Putri, is taking masters degree of psychology in a private university. All of them are Balinese, including many other devotees, most likely.
For hours, we talked about the concept of spirituality within Krishna consciousness. According to Bayu, every person has their free will. Humans have a gift to choose which path they want to believe in, and gradually enjoy the process on living the path they took. Suddenly Hayasirsa asked, “What do you want to focus on your paper?” I replied it calmly. I just really want to know the reasons why devotees choose Harekrishna and their process of spiritual seeking.
                Hayasirsa began to share the story of how and why he chose Harekrishna as his religion. He said that he did some research about all religions; Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Hinduism, and Muslim. He explored all those religions and he participated in their religious activities. And when he found out about Harekrishna religion, he felt this moment where the enlightment resides within him, because the concept fits for him, and the method of Kirtan seems very interesting to him. Based on what he learned about the process of meditation, there’s the psychology process that creates this state of contentment (Andreescu). In addition, according to healthguidance.org, dancing and singing are good for the soul. Both can make individuals feel tranquility and joyful (Williamson). In addition, dancing and sing help reducing stress inside the body, hence kirtan can help devotees to feel more happiness than usual. This purpose of being a devotee isn’t just for their psychology of self, however it increases spiritual relation (such as unconditional love) among themselves and Krishna.
                While Bayu, at first he was an agnostic. He mainly focused on traveling, as a result he travelled to Japan for several months, while working as a photographer. At first he went back for awhile, and he discovered his mother was a devotee of Harekrishna. He thought it was weird seeing her meditate. Then he tried to learn about the concept of Harekrishna in ISKCON of Japan. As he entered the temple he was surprised of how universal this religion is, when he saw another foreigner who came from the Western territory. He participated the yoga and he felt bigger transcendence within his spirituality, more than he could imagine. Then he started to change himself into a devotee. Right after he went back to Indonesia her mother passed away. From that moment his decision for being a devotee is final. According to Bayu, people can be devotees too even if they are from another religion. He said that every religion teaches the same thing; the absolute truth, the only difference is the meditation activities. It is proven in a book called the Diary of A Traveling Preacher, where Indrayuma Swami, the author, spreads Krishna’s wisdom across Europe, Middle-Eastern and Southeast Asia. As he arrived in Bangladesh, he met the Bangladesh ambassador in order to ask for permission to spread the wisdom. The ambassador curiously asked.
“Why do you want to visit my country?”
“Because according to BBC Bangladesh is one of the happiest country on Earth. I’m curious why the poorest country is the happiest, while my country, America, is the world’s richest, but came in a disappointing 7th place in a survey, in terms of contentedness. Obviously, happiness is not synonymous with material prosperity.”
The ambassador was appalled by his curiosity. He then gave him easier access for visa, and asked him to meet his family for dinner (Swami, 2005).

Analysis to Theatrical Approach

According to William Schechner, the author of Performance Theory, “Dances are pivots in a system transforming destructive behavior into constructive alliances.” (Schechner, 1988)
That means that every dances, every movements are no accidents. Dance movements mirror the things that we want to communicate, to convey to others. Therefore, there are so many dance moves and we can differentiate them, we can see what they are feeling just by seeing them dance.
There are major theatrical dramas performed by devotees. Specifically Ratha-Yatra. Ratha-Yatra is a festival where people praise Krishna and do some chants (see the first page). The purpose is to deliver the history of the religion, to spread Harekrishna’s religion to public society, and to emphasize our devotion to Krishna.
Devotees celebrate their special days by performing Kirtan, singing, and having big feast in public road by giving fruits to the audience. Moreover, there are actors who are playing Radha and Krishna as a symbol of eternal happiness.

With Krishna


According to Schechner, people set meanings into the ritual, and they develop the play based on what the story’s told, based on what kind of culture they are from in the first place (Schechner, 1988). [N4] As it is seen before, the body of Krishna is not blue, while the real body is blue. It means that Krihna’s existence is not always the same. As a spiritual being he can change the way it looks, due to the fact that he has this power of free will to change his physical appearance. Therefore, this construction was made by humans (Victor W. Turner, 2014). But according to Schechner, this process of creating performance does not come from one way only. It comes from theater and ritual as well. How by the representation of meanings inside the Ratha-Yatra. It is proven that the theory of semiotics can support this ritual, because this theory defines meaning-making by people. The signifier is the Jagannath chariot itself, while the signified defines the God of universe (Griffin, 2014).
Therefore this may be one of the reasons why devotees love Krishna as their God. It has this unconditional connection between them, that can’t separate them away.
































REFERENCES



(n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://www.vedasastra.com/galeri-vedasastra/hindu-menjawab/vegetarian/
Andreescu, A. (n.d.). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies. Rethinking Prayer and Health Research: An Exploratory Inquiry on Prayer’s Psychological Dimension , 1-25.
Griffin, E. (2014). A First Look at Communication Theory 9th Edition. New York : McGraw-Hill.
Imandasari, R. (2010). PERUBAHAN ALIRAN KONG HU CHU MENJADI AGAMA KONG HU CHU PADA MASA PEMERINTAHAN GUS DUR. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from Universitas Sebelas Maret: http://eprints.uns.ac.id/2455/
indonesia-investments. (n.d.). Suharto's New Order. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from indonesia-investments: http://www.indonesia-investments.com/culture/politics/suharto-new-order/item180
Prabhupada, A. B. Bhagavad Gita As It Is. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Schechner, R. (1988). Performance Theory. United Kingdom: Routledge.
SELAYANG PANDANG TENTANG HAREKRISHNA (kesadaran Krishna) . (2012, Dcember 11). Retrieved from http://iskconbdg.blogspot.com/2012/12/tentang-hare-krishna-hare-krishna-itu.html
Swami, I. (2005). Diary of A Traveling Preacher. United States of America: Torchlight Publishing, Inc.
Victor W. Turner, E. M. (2014). Dewey, Dilthey, and drama: An Essay in the Anthropology of Experience. In V. W. Turner, The Anthropology of Experience.
Wikana, N. H. (2010). Merekonstruksi Hindu. Yogyakarta: Narayana Smrti Press.
Williamson, J. (n.d.). How Dancing Can Be Good for Our Body and Soul. Retrieved July 6, 2014, from health guidance: http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/13819/1/How-Dancing-Can-Be-Good-for-Our-Body-and-Soul.html

 

               
               
               






[1] Foods that are purified through Mahamantra praying. All foods contain vegetarian content.
[2] The God who serves and guards the earth and its surroundings
[3] Generally it means “The Supreme Lord.” But it can be a representation of names for male & female. For male it’s called Prabhu.
[4] A person who studies scriptures of Harekrishna and spread the wisdom; can be called as ‘monk.’
[5] Mataji is a name-calling of Prabhu for girls
[6] International Society of Krishna Consciousness
[7] Interview with Prabhu Isha in ISKCON, 29/6/14
[8] (ISKCON of DC)
[9] A spiritual hemritage


 [N1]Good Job! Good data, good historical background and good citations!
 [N2]Thesis statement. Should be inside the paper too.
 [N3]Good opening!
 [N4]Should be 1978, Performance theory

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