The Soweto Story

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

It is very nice to be back here in Soweto after about twelve years. The last time I was here we began the center in a very small room which was part of the original house of Mahaprabhu dasa and his family and now we have such a big hall, with nice Deities, and so many nice devotees. So it is very encouraging. 

This was the desire and prediction of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. Lord Chaitanya who is Krishna Himself in the guise of a devotee made the statement, “In every town and village of every country of the world, My name (which means Krishna’s name) will be preached and sung.” So we are seeing this prediction come true and it will continue to come true because Lord Chaitanya is God, Krishna. Whatever He says will come to pass. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to fight. I hope you know the story of the Bhagavad-gītā. From the beginning Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight, but Arjuna did not want to fight. He did not want to have to kill the opposing army which included his own family members, but Krishna showed Arjuna in His universal form that the opposing soldiers were already killed. They were already destined to be killed. So He told Arjuna that, “They will be killed in any case, but if you follow My instruction and fight, you will get the credit. But if you refuse to follow My instruction, people will think that you are a coward, and they will defame you. But someone else will take up the work because it is My desire and My instruction and in any case the soldiers on the other side will be killed.” 

So in the same way Lord Chaitanya has predicted: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma, that, “In every town and village of every country in the world My name will be preached.” And it will happen and it is happening and it will continue to happen, but if we take up the instruction, we will get the credit and our lives will be glorious.

Already many of you have taken up the process, have become part of the effort to spread the holy name of Krishna, to distribute the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā, but coming here after so long and seeing what growth has taken place, what development has taken place, I think back upon the first devotees who took up the order and the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. One of them is sitting right here, Rupa Raghunatha dasa, and the other of course is Mahaprabhu dasa, but as usual he is busy with service, most likely in the area of the kitchen, or else he is hiding in the background.

We will begin with Rupa Raghunatha. Rupa Raghunatha can tell us how he first got the idea to come to Soweto what was the African townships then and eventually how Mahaprabhu dasa came forward and how Mahaprabhu dasa also took up the cause. And then we will ask Mahaprabhu dasa. We will get some of the same story from two different angles of vision. We will ask him to describe how he first met the devotees and how he became inspired to take up Krishna consciousness. So first Rupa Raghunatha dasa. Hare Krishna.

Rupa Raghunatha dasa: According to your instruction Maharaja, Maharaja wants me to mention how we first got the idea to come to Soweto. Sometime in 1986 or 1987 I was very fortunate that I was living in the temple in Muldersdrift and at the time Mother Ajita whom many of you know was doing a lot of Food for Life in Soweto and I was very fortunate that I was invited to go with the devotees, with Mother Ajita really, she was the driving force of the Food for Life that time. We came to a school in Soweto and we did Food for Life and we were getting one of the students to chant Hare Krishna and everybody was so enthusiastic. I had read that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says if you ask a group of people to chant “Hare Krishna,” that those who chant “Hare Krishna,” they were the best people. So I thought, “These are the best people and they are all chanting ‘Hare Krishna.’” So I was very inspired by that. 

Another devotee who was very instrumental in inspiring me to take up the African mission was a devotee by the name of Hari Kirtan Prabhu who some of you may have heard his singing. He has got the most beautiful voice. He can sing like a Gandharva. We were together downtown one time and we were doing some book distribution or some hari-nāma and again he was encouraging everybody. It was downtown near the taxi rank at the bottom of Bree Street. And he was encouraging everybody to chant and all of these African Mamas (mothers), they were going for it. They were chanting. So I was like, “Wow! It is confirmed. These are the best people!”

I was also quite revolutionary in my youth and very opposed to apartheid. It was very painful to see how the African people were exploited by the apartheid system. Wanting to do something to remedy that situation, by the grace of Srila Prabhupada, by the knowledge that Srila Prabhupada had given us, I had the understanding that the best solution to everybody’s suffering was to give them Krishna consciousness. So like that I was inspired to try and spread Krishna consciousness, to try and preach Krishna consciousness in the African communities. 

There was a devotee by the name of Themba, Bhakta Themba, he and I wanted to come and preach in the African townships. So there were some devotees who felt that it wasn’t right that these young devotees should be left on their own to just go and start a mission. They felt that perhaps I should have been doing something else under somebody else’s guidance. But His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja was very supportive of the idea that we should go and preach in Soweto or amongst the African people. So really speaking it is only by his mercy that an initiative was begun to come to the townships.

So Themba and I used to come to Soweto and try to distribute books and different things. It so happened that one day we were in Muldersdrift, we had the Sunday program, and this wonderful young man came to the temple with his wife and had a little baby. His name was Ntiba. I think some of you know him as Nitai. So they came to Muldersdrift and when I met them, it was amazing, “Wow! You live in Soweto. We would like to maybe start a nāma-haṭṭa at your house.” 

The first time we came we decided to do a cooking lesson. This is quite funny because one of the only things I could cook and I probably cannot cook it anymore is cabbage and potato sabji, and Mahaprabhu Prabhu couldn’t stand cabbage, but he didn’t tell us that. So anyway we cooked and we did an offering and then Mahaprabhu Prabhu ate it and he was amazed at how nice this cabbage tasted. 

So we did a cooking lesson and then we asked him if we could do a nāma-haṭṭa in his house and he said yes we could do that. If I remember correctly, the first nāma-haṭṭa that we had we actually brought Giriraj Maharaja to the program. It was in this room over here, the lounge, and there were maybe five or six—maybe more—six, seven, eight people who had come from the area and they were interested to hear.

Now this is one point that Mahaprabhu and I both differ on. I introduced Maharaja as one of the gurus in our society, one of the leaders, but His Holiness asked me to speak instead. So I spoke and then afterwards Mahaprabhu—this is where the difference comes in—he says that I didn’t introduce Maharaja as the leader, and he just thought Maharaja was one of the other devotees.

Actually that was really the beginning of preaching here in Meadowlands was Giriraj Maharaja coming and we all came together. So somehow we had the idea. We asked Mahaprabhu if we could maybe come and live with him and teach him the practices of Krishna consciousness and he was very happy to do that. Anything that is going on today in Soweto is really due to the sincerity and the determination of Mahaprabhu Prabhu to carry on preaching Krishna consciousness. So really all credit goes to him and ultimately all credit goes to His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja. By his mercy we could start here and by his mercy we could all carry on, and of course by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and Gaura-Nitai’s mercy, by their desire, all of us are so fortunate that we can associate with likeminded persons, we can associate with each other. We are all trying to be Krishna conscious and we can at the same time try to encourage other people to take up the practice of Krishna consciousness.

On Saturday we had such a nice gathering in Lenasia and so many devotees spoke so nicely, but Nanda-kumara Prabhu spoke and really touched all of our hearts. Nanda-kumara Prabhu was saying how Srila Prabhupada, it appears as though he was alone there in New York City when he began the movement, but actually he wasn’t alone. He was carrying so much with him. We are also fortunate that all of those gifts that he was carrying are available to us, these wonderful tools to become Krishna conscious. We have all of these wonderful practices—the chanting of the holy name, worshiping of the Deities, hearing Srila Prabhupada’s books and discussing Srila Prabhupada’s books together, wonderful prasāda—all of these wonderful practices that we have that we can become more and more Krishna conscious if we apply ourselves to the process more and more. 

So we are all very, very fortunate by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Gaura-Nitai. I will end there and we can ask Mahaprabhu Prabhu to speak. Hare Krishna. 

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Dayal-Nitai Vijaya-Gauranga ki jaya!
Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Mahaprabhu dasa: As Rupa was speaking I was thinking, “What am I going to say?” I guess Rupa has said quite a lot. I remember before I joined, being born in Soweto, I had been through the Soweto uprising, and then also during the necklacing period in Soweto. It was really tough. Somehow or the other I had a lot of unanswered questions in my mind, thinking, “What is the solution to all this? There should be a solution.”

Somehow or the other I was born as a Christian. I didn’t have the answers to my questions. And then I remember I moved from one religion to another. I became a Muslim. From a Muslim I became a Buddhist. After that I became an atheist because I thought after that there is no answer to all this—so many religions. 

I remember one time I was walking downtown and I went into one shop and this shop was in Fordsburg. It was one of the Hindu shops there. I went inside and as I was inside, there was no one in the reception. So I was saying, “Is there anybody out there who can help me?” Nobody. So suddenly one elderly gentleman appeared from behind the curtains and said, “Can I help you?” I said, “I have been here for the last twenty minutes or so. Don’t you think I could have stolen something from the shops?” And he said, “Well, everything depends from the one above.” And I thought, “Oh, another religion.” [laughter] We started having a conversation and he told me that, “You will do good in the Hare Krishna movement. You have got a lot of questions.” I said, “Oh my god.”

Somehow or the other after discussing with him a little I went out. I remember walking down Smal Street and I saw one devotee, that was Themba, that was the first devotee I met in Krishna consciousness, and he was selling some books. But he was wearing devotional cloths and I was wondering, “What is he saying to everybody.” And they were buying the books and then going away happy. I was thinking, “Wow. What is happening.” Somehow or the other he stopped and then he gave me one book, Science of Self-Realization, and he said, “This is the one and only book. You should read it.” And then I took the book and I looked at the back and I saw Science of Self-Realization. I said, “I think it [?] for me,” and then I went out and I said, “I will come back and buy the book. Just keep it with you.” He said, “This is the only book. I will keep it for you.” 

So I went down and then I was maybe shopping everywhere and then two hours later that idea came back to my mind, and I thought, Oh, by the way, the gentleman.” My mind told me that, “Why are you judging a book by its cover? You have read so many books so this is one of the books. Just read it. You don’t know what is in the book.” So I went back. Fortunately he was still there and then he gave me the book and I gave him a donation.

I came back and I was in a taxi. I remember because that time I was practically doing everything. I was smoking, I was drinking. Of course I was trying to stop these things but it was very difficult. I remember stopping smoking for six months and then I went back again and then for three months and then I went back again. So I took this book and I just opened roughly in the middle and Srila Prabhupada was talking about the regulative principles. For twenty minutes from town I resolved in my heart, “No more smoking, no more drinking.” And I came back home and I told my wife Malini and she was smiling, she was laughing at me that, “What, you a vegetarian. No smoking. You are joking!” So they laughed at me. 

So I read the book and it was very interesting. It was on a Saturday I remember and I spent sleepless nights and I finished the book. So on Monday I dodged from work trying to find more books hoping that I would find that devotee. I couldn’t find the devotee so I met another devotee again. That was Mother Kunti and I bought Bhagavad-gītā and I was convinced. She gave me the directions that I should come to Yoeville. I went to Yoeville for the first time and there were not so many devotees. I bought more books. I think I got the book, Krsna - The Supreme Personality of Godhead. It was a thick book. And then I read the books. I used to buy more books and just leave them at home here. 

And then one time I came from work and Malini said, “I am a vegetarian also.” [laughter] I said, “Oh, who is having the last laugh!” [laughter] So I said, “Okay, let us go and visit the temple.” She agreed.

We went and visited the temple. I remember I met some devotees and then they told me that the next Saturday they are going to have a program in one of the halls here. That is the way I met Nanda-kumara Prabhu, Medhavi Prabhu, Adi-karta Prabhu—so many devotees were there. Then I started joining the movement. That is when I took Krishna consciousness very seriously.

I remember Rupa earlier on was saying that basically the credit goes to me. Actually I wouldn’t say that. Without these devotees, they helped me, Rupa Raghunatha, and then another devotee who is not here also, Mother Visakha Priya, I thought she will come, she is also one of the devotees that initially helped me in my Krishna consciousness. I will say the credit goes to them. This is the program they started and I am still trying up to now to maintain it even though I am making a mess out of it.

So that is how I joined Krishna consciousness and I became a devotee under their able guidance. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. 

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Giriraj Swami: There is more. You have to bring us up to where we are now. He was the beginning. You were continuing from there and now have you have to bring us to where we are now.

Mahaprabhu dasa: I remember when we had the first program, my guru maharaja was there as well. I remember Rupa said earlier on that when he introduced guru maharaja, he didn’t say this is one of the leaders. I really don’t remember that. We had a program and I think it was on a Tuesday. The next Sunday. . . of course I could tell that guru maharaja was very senior. I was reading the books and they were talking about the gurus and I didn’t know. I was still confused. I remember going to Muldersdrift on Sunday. When we arrived there then I saw guru maharaja coming out. When guru maharaja first came to Soweto, he didn’t have a danda. But in Muldersdrift when I met him for the second time then I saw all the devotees falling down like a stick and I was standing there alone looking at all the devotees around me. I asked Rupa, I said, “Can I do the same?” He said, “Yes, do the same.” And I fell like a stick. I asked Rupa later on and then Rupa told me that yes, he is an initiating spiritual master, and I thought to myself if I have to take spiritual life very seriously, definitely he will be my guru maharaja. Fortunately he accepted me.

Over the years there were many devotees who played a role in Soweto. One of them also is Bhakti Chaitanya Swami and he is still inspiring us. He is coming regularly here. Whenever he is in Gauteng he also comes around. And quite a lot of devotees, again senior, like Indradyumna Maharaja, Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami, Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, quite a lot of them actually, they are coming around regularly. This small room that you see, the money was given by Bhakti Chaitanya Swami. So he is the one who gave the money to build this small room here. 

So everything is still continuing by their mercy. I am still around in ISKCON because of their mercy and then I hope that they look favorably towards me, all of them.

Thank you very much. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. On Saturday and Sunday we went to Lenasia to the festival and on the way I was looking at the billboards, from the billboards. I saw there was an advertisement for beer. They used the word “perfect.” “Each drop is perfect.” So it struck me that each drop is perfect. Then just a little further there was an advertisement for another liquor. It said something like “perfection.” I was thinking, “Oh my god, what is this? What is going on?” Then a little further there was another advertisement I think it was for some other alcoholic beverage and it used the phrase “awe and grandeur.” And then it clicked on me that these people are very religious, and these cunning advertisers are appealing to their religious sentiments in trying to redirect their religious sentiments for God towards these material things that they want to sell.

Then there was another ad, a billboard, it had a woman, very slender and beautiful. In India you would see goddess Lakshmi or something. And then, kneeling in a very prayerful mood on each side, two men like worshiping her. That one was advertising either a suntan lotion or some sort of cosmetic cream. There they were worshiping, but it’s this woman using this product. And I was thinking these advertisers are so clever they know that the people are religious, but they want to shift their mood of worship from worshiping God to worshiping of a woman who uses such-and-such suntan lotion. I thought this is actually very sad because these big companies, they have huge budgets, and they have very intelligent people working on manipulating the minds and sentiments of the people. 

I thought of India. India is similar. People are very religious. But after independence the political leaders, they wanted to direct the energy of the people towards economic development instead of religion. They coined the phrase, “work is worship” because the Indians like to worship. So the leaders wanted them to work so they said, “work is worship.” And the factories are the temples of today. It was really sad. 

And then Srila Prabhupada said that the Indians had thrown out the British because they didn’t want to be cheated by the British, and then they went to America to get cheated by the Americans. So I thinking. . . I must say that I don’t think I have ever been happier that apartheid was finished than I was when I came here because the whole atmosphere is just so much nicer, the way it should be. But still, seeing these billboards, I had that same thought what Prabhupada said that they drilled out the British because they didn’t want to be exploited by the British. Now they are going to America. They will be exploited by the Americans. So I was thinking, we threw out the apartheid rule because we didn’t want to be exploited by them, which was correct—you shouldn’t be exploited by them—but that effort to exploit the people is still there, but it is in a more subtle way. It is not by laws and heavy police, but it is by more subtle methods, very clever advertising, and putting ideas in people’s minds in subtle ways and basically exploiting them.

So I was really concerned that we should be aware of this subtle exploitation in which the advertisers dig this mess or whoever try to direct our energy away from God towards material things that we don’t give our time and energy and money for worshiping God, but we use our money to buy beer or whatever those things—or liquor and things for the body to look beautiful and attractive to the opposite sex. It is really what it comes to. 

We really have to take very seriously the process of Krishna consciousness especially the chanting of the holy names which you do so beautifully. I must say that Kagiso, that was such a beautiful kirtan with the other devotees chanting and Rupa’s also. . . that is really beautiful kirtan. If somebody wants beauty and happiness, they don’t have to go any further than that [applause]. It was just so beautiful, so sweet.

So the chanting of the holy name and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to remind us that we are not the body, we are the soul within the body, and the soul cannot really get pleasure from material things because the soul is spiritual. The soul can only get pleasure from spiritual things and basically from its relationship with the Supreme Soul. That is Krishna. So all this advertising of economic development, sense gratification, it is all based on the body, and it tends to reinforce the idea that you are the body. So the chanting, that will raise us above the bodily platform, and then reading the books, hearing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, that is important to remind us we are not the body; we are the soul within the body; our real relationship isn’t with the body or material things. Our real relationship is with the Supreme Soul, spiritual substance. 

Of course, associating with devotees. It is natural. It is said, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Sometimes we walk at Zoo Lake and we see it. There are so many different types of birds, they float on the water, they fly like ducks and geese—so many different varieties—but the different groups stay together. The geese stay together, this type of duck stays with the same kind, and the other type of duck stays with the same kind. So it is natural that devotees will stay with devotees. That association will protect us because the materialists, they want to. . . maya wants us to serve maya, but the devotees, they want us to serve Krishna, and that is what will make us happy and satisfied.

And the Deities, it is so nice to see Gaura-Nitai, and Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra. On Saturday we observed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s disappearance day. He was the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada. He spent a lot of time in Jagannatha Puri. He said something to the effect that our mission will be successful when there is Ratha-yatra in Eastbourne London. I didn’t even know how he knew about Eastbourne. I never even heard of it until I read his statement. I was thinking this was our Acharya’s desire and I am very happy to know that there is Ratha-yatra in Soweto. Ratha-yatra is a wonderful festival. I remember the early days we thought that Lord Jagannatha would be very merciful and then you have the picture of integration because Jagannatha is black and Balarama is white and Subhadra is yellow [laughter], but They are all together and They all love each other, and They all want to unite everyone in Krishna consciousness.

So I am quite sure that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu and the whole disciplic succession are very happy that we have this center in Soweto and that we are celebrating Jagannatha Ratha-yatra in Soweto.

Yesterday we went to Zoo Lake and we had just reached the side of the lake and there was an African gentleman there who greeted us. I was the first one he saw. He was nicely dressed, nice slacks, pants and shirt. So he said, “Are you Hare Krishna?” I said, “Yes. How do you know?” He said, “I have seen you people in other places and I love your song: Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.” And he said, “You people are very generous. You invite everyone to come and share your food with them. You are very generous people. You teach people to love their brothers. Any religion that doesn’t teach you to love your brothers and be peaceful is just like bunk (something like that).” And he said that, “You teach love and you teach peace. You teach people to love their brothers. I really love you people.” I said, “We love you too.” [laughter] And we went on our walk. 

So this is really brotherly love and it comes when we love the Supreme Father, God or Krishna, and we see all souls are children of the Supreme Father, that they are our brothers, so we have to love them and care for them, and help them. 

That is our mission. I thought that the man at the lake expressed it very well.

Hare Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!