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India - News
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News Updates 23 March
2001 Chic Krishna - Los Angeles Times Living with Krishna - Los Angeles Times Sprituality explored - The Chicago Tribune Asian influx - San Francisco Chronicle Chic Krishna - Hindi boutique's colorful swami wear, oils
and incense attract the Hollywood elite Five times a year, Tadit Beca makes the trek to India to handpick saris, pashminas and silk kurtas, or shirts, for the Hare Krishna-owned boutique Govinda's International Imports. As manager of the Hindi emporium in West Los Angeles, Beca has to choose her wares carefully because only about 20% of her customers are devotees of Hare Krishna. Govinda's, known for its imported items at bargain prices, has fast become a shopping destination for many of the Hollywood elite. Beca's clientele includes the Backstreet Boys, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Steven Tyler and local fashion and film industry stylists. Although the shop has been open for 20 years, it wasn't until recently that the colorful and relaxed swami wear hit the racks and became all the rage. "I buy for myself and I refer all my friends to Govinda's," said Carolyn Powell, owner of Angel Entertainment and former music manager for Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. "The clothes come directly from India, so it's very well-made, everything is hand-stitched, embroidered, inexpensive and reflective of India's spiritual culture. "Steve [Tyler] called me and said, 'You better let me know the next time you go there.' He loves the musk oils they have." Considered one of the first places in Los Angeles to carry the trendy pashminas, Govinda's stock ranges from silk pajamas to gauzy shirts and pants to embroidered handbags to wrap skirts. It also has an extensive selection of oils, incense, beauty products, Indian jewelry and spiritual tapes. Located above the Hare Krishna temple's dining facility, the smell of incense lures customers up the stairwell, where racks of the latest Indian fashions, such as pastel blouses, hand-dyed scarves and embroidered coats, fill the shop. Clothing ranges in price from $9 to $100 and all proceeds from Govinda, which means "pleasing to the senses" in Sanskrit, support the Hare Krishna temple. Many of Govinda's customers are not Hare Krishna devotees, and Beca hopes the trend will help dispel myths about the group. "I look at it as a step toward becoming more conscious," said Beca, who joined the Hare Krishna temple 29 years ago. "Once they start wearing the clothes, their minds may shift a little and they may be more open to learning about yoga, meditation and eating different foods. So I don't mind that it's a trend." Living
with Krishna - For 30 years, the often misunderstood Hare Krishnas
have practiced their religion in a self-sufficient West Los Angeles spiritual compound At 4 a.m., when most of the city is sound asleep, several dozen pious men and women rise and come together to chant to their God. With wooden beads laced through their fingers, they pace through the whispering sounds of the temple. Only the lulled reverberation of the mantra "Hare Krishna" can be heard in this dimly lighted spiritual chamber in West Los Angeles. Thirty minutes into the meditation, the sari- and saffron-robed devotees are summoned by the call of a conch shell at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. They stand like soldiers at attention as the altar doors open to reveal the colorful Hindu deity Krishna in his various manifestations, adorned with candles and yellow, white and pink carnations. At once, drums and hand cymbals begin to play. With arms outstretched, devotees sing and dance while offerings of food, fire, water, incense and aromatic flowers are made to Krishna. The ritual ends with a reading from the Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), a 700-verse Sanskrit poem recounting the dialogue between Krishna and Prince Arjuna, a royal Indian warrior about to go to battle. And then the chanting of Hare Krishna on their string of 108 japa prayer beads begins again. Each day, Krishna followers repeat the mantra 1,728 times--16 times for each bead. For devotees, the predawn ceremony is the first of six aratis , or offerings, they will take part in throughout the day at the Hare Krishna temple, New Dwarka, named after one of the holy places in India connected with Krishna. The Hare Krishna center is the spiritual core of a religious enclave that occupies much of the block north of Venice Boulevard on Watseka Avenue. Single men and women are required to complete 30 hours of Krishna service each week. "We call this bhakti yoga - to serve with love," said Arcita Dasa, 48, a Krishna devotee since 1973. "It is not enough to say, 'I love God.' We must develop that love and pay our respects to Krishna through helping others in the community." The International Society for Krishna Consciousness in West Los Angeles was established in 1970. Some 225 devotees live in ashrams (apartments) on Watseka Avenue. But there are roughly 10,000 in the Krishna congregation throughout Los Angeles and its environs. Many attend the center's Sunday service. The self-sufficient spiritual compound contains an elementary school, two dining facilities, a gift shop, temple and various rooms for spiritual instruction in dance, music, yoga and the Bhagavad-Gita. Worshipers from the West L.A. enclave often can be found at Los Angeles International Airport, the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and various Westside schools. Their biggest public event is the August Festival of Chariots on Venice Beach, which draws thousands of Hare Krishna devotees and onlookers. Moreover, their influence can be felt throughout their neighborhood. Members of the community must strictly adhere to five basic precepts: chanting Krishna's name, vegetarianism, avoiding intoxicants and gambling and not engaging in illicit sex. Newcomers must go through a screening process and are schooled in the sect's philosophies and modes of living. After about one year, following exams, new devotees are initiated. "Some of us choose to live here because once you take on a life of Krishna consciousness, it is hard to live among others who smoke and drink," said Radha Gopal, 44, a musician who has lived in the Krishna community since 1979. "You can identify better with others and yourself here because everyone is of a like spiritual mind. You feel more at home." But Hare Krishnas do not discriminate and are accepting of all other religions, Gopal said. "All spiritual paths are a road to God," he said. While other mainstream religions may not subscribe to their teachings, such as the physical manifestation of God, some find the Hare Krishnas to be a peaceful group that is often misunderstood. "I would hardly call them a radical cult," said Rabbi Aaron Parry of Jews for Judaism in Beverly Hills. "They are just people [who] really want to develop a personal relationship with God. If more Americans followed that principle, we'd have a better society." "I'm not a Krishna. I'm what you call a friend of Krishna," said Jaime Vega, 43, of Sherman Oaks, who runs an antiques delivery service nearby. "I've been coming here for 10 years. You feel a special energy at this place. It's very peaceful. Nobody tries to convert you. Everyone is accepting." The Hare Krishna movement was founded in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who at age 70 traveled from India to establish the culture of Krishna consciousness in the Western world. Opening a bookshop in the Bowery area of New York City, the guru taught from the Bhagavad-Gita, a 5,000-year-old scripture that declares Krishna as God himself, and who appears periodically in this world to liberate all beings. Rooted in the ancient religion of Hinduism, the Krishna philosophy teaches that a person is destined to grow old and die, again and again, until he or she breaks the reincarnation cycle through enlightenment. In order to be freed from the material world, those who adhere to the Hare Krishna faith must devote themselves completely to Krishna so they may join him in the spirit world. "We believe that your final thought in this life dictates the next," said devotee Dwarki Rani. By his death in 1977, Prabhupada had some 10,000 followers. Many of these Hare Krishna believers were former hippies and beatniks of the 1960s. During the early 1980s, many Indians began to follow the practices of the Hindi sect and now constitute half of the people worshiping in Krishna temples. Today, there are more than 25 Krishna communities and about 90,000 devotees throughout the country. Often shunned as a cult, many of its own members have left the movement, disillusioned by the community's moral purposes. "It's difficult to apply the term cult to the Hindu religion," said Christopher Chapple, professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University. "There are many layers of analysis that need to be uncovered. Historically in India, great respect and values are preserved for the guru. Parents are often replaced by spiritual teachers. Some Westerners are attracted by that." Nowadays, with general interest in yoga, meditation, vegetarianism, beaded bracelets and Hindi garb flourishing, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has seen a newfound interest in its West L.A. community. Hundreds of people order the Bhagavad-Gita and japa beads from the center regularly and visit the dining facilities, Gunn said. Devotees are happy about the attention from the outside world. "The lifestyle that came out of the 1950s habituated into a material culture that has perpetuated over the years," Gunn said. "But somewhere down the line, you always come around to say, 'Who am I? What is my purpose? How can I help others?' "This community has evolved into a place that gives people, particularly on the Westside, an opportunity to take up a spiritual life and be among spiritual people." SPIRITUALITY EXPLORED Paramahansa Yogananda, a 20th Century spiritual teacher who combined Eastern and Western religious philosophy, believed that the first half of our life is not nearly as important as the second half. What really matters, he said, is who we are when we leave this world. An international "spirit-centered" travel company, Power Place Tours and Conferences, founded by Toby Weiss, PhD, and his wife, Theresa, more than 20 years ago, specializes in travel to places that have, traditionally or historically, been considered healing sites--or "power places," as the Weisses refer to them. These include the pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru, as well as sites in Tibet, India, Ireland, England and Greece. The trips offer seminars and discussions by "people like you would see on Oprah every day," says Tony Swanick, the company's communications director. Marianne Williamson, Chicago's Carolyn Myss, Deepak Chopra and Oliver Sacks, the physician and author portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie "Awakenings," are among the people who've offered their spiritual teachings on these trips. Born and raised in Chicago, Marcus has lived in Old Town for more than 40 years. He says he loves the city and meeting people that he would never have met when he was so busy working. Though he prescribes to no religious school of thought, his philosophy on life after retirement has echoes of Buddhism. "I live one day at a time now. I have no goals. . . . The idea of being in the moment is the easiest thing to talk about," he adds, "but it's the hardest to do." Asian influx, technology create big changes in East Bay cities Fremont, Milpitas - The Singh family rode from Toronto to the Bay Area on the high-tech job wave in the mid-1990s. They looked for housing they could afford, good schools, decent commutes and, as devout Sikhs, religious tolerance. They found it in Fremont, once a network of townships linked by two-lane roads through cherry orchards, then a blue-collar suburb that built Chevies and now an ethnically diverse and affluent Silicon Valley technopolis of 200,000 people.The change is visible in things from Sikh and Hindu temples to elderly Chinese practicing tai chi to some of the best public schools in the state, filled with children whose well-educated parents frequently have arrived from India, Taiwan and mainland China. Asian students make up 40 percent of Fremont's school enrollment, and they are a majority in Milpitas. Jagmeet Kaur Singh, whose ancestry is Indian, grew up in Kenya and has lived in London as well as Toronto. She prefers Fremont, the Bay Area's fourth largest city. "I find this is the best place to be," she said. "People appreciate other cultures. There's a lot more work to be done, but this is OK." Neighboring Milpitas, population 65,000, boasts the largest Asian shopping center in Northern California - Milpitas Square near Interstates 237 and 880 - that attracts customers from as far away as Sacramento. "The result of diversity has been a very vibrant community," said Mayor Henry Manayan. "That's beneficial to us economically. A lot of the people who moved to Milpitas, the Asian Americans, are extremely educated." DRAMATIC
CHANGES Birth and school enrollment records show the increase in newcomers of foreign ancestry and point to the rising income and education levels of the tech boom. Change is measured not only in monster homes but in a bounty of high school valedictorians and young musical virtuosos - the products of an intensely competitive learning environment. It is not unusual for parents to urge their 14-year-olds to take college-level courses. Mission San Jose High School in Fremont has climbed into the top 10 percent of California schools in its peer group. The academic rise has gone hand-in- hand with the school's increasing Asian enrollment, which has doubled since 1993. Last year, Mission San Jose High graduated a record 20 valedictorians out of a senior class of 508. At Mission San Jose Elementary, the Singh family's school, the student body is 61 percent Asian and 30 percent non-Hispanic white. And almost nine in 10 parents have at least a college education. TROPHY
HOUSES Still other newcomers are temporary residents of Silicon Valley. Indians received some 43 percent, and Chinese 10 percent, of all H1-B worker visas granted by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service between October 1999 and February 2000. Some immigrants, like Lata Krishnan, formed their own companies after working for someone else. Three years after she came to Silicon Valley from India in 1986, she joined two other Indian expatriates and cashed in part of their retirement money to form Smart Modular Technologies in Fremont. RELIGION
AND FAMILY The Singhs came for the work - Jagmeet Kaur's husband grabs coffee at the new Starbucks on Mission Boulevard to start his day as a computer programmer - but are organized around religion and education. Building on a local Sikh tradition that goes back generations to farmers who came from Punjab state and that grew in the 1960s with students who arrived to attend Bay Area universities, they join 500 other Sikhs at weekend services at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont. Singh teaches Punjabi history and religion at the Sikh temple in Hayward. Aware that Sikh boys risk being teased because of their distinctive turbans, Singh also serves on a committee to promote awareness of Sikh customs in the non-Sikh community. Downhill from Fremont's trophy homes, the Singhs rent a small apartment across the street from Mission San Jose Elementary. Jagmeet Kaur urges the school's staff to maintain high performance standards and plays a strong role in educating her sons. HOMESICKNESS
"It's boring now," the 66-year-old community college educator said. "People living here feel elated that they are here. They have every reason to be happy from the monetary point of view. But their roots are there. You cannot forget India .... All that glitters is not gold." |
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