Christmas | The Hare Krishna Movement

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In many parts of the world people are celebrating Christmas. Some see it as a spiritual celebration, putting on their Sunday best and attending Christmas mass at their local church. While others view it as a fantasy holiday, with the focus on Santa Claus and the elves, and reindeer. But either way, for me it is a time focused on family, peace, love and charity.

Gift giving, sharing and receiving gifts, is for the most part, a loving exchange, and it brings joy to those giving, and to those recieving.

Also food is involved. There is always a Christmas dinner, and people spend hours in the kitchen preparing favorite dishes to share with their loved ones. And often a prayer or grace is said in thanks.

And sometimes there is singing. I remember as a child my father used to love to sing by the piano, with my mother or sister playing. As devotees we all love kirtan, or sit down for a melodious bhajan.

But any way that people decide to celebrate Christmas and the Holiday Season, it is a good thing in my mind. Its a celebration of life and love family and friends, and all the gifts God has given us.

There is one nice quote I am reminded of from the Nectar of Devotion

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasadam (spiritual food) and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another. (Nectar of devotion text 4)

Dancing in the Streets

Minor History of ISKCON
BY: JAGANNATHA DASA

Mar 25, 2011 — USA (SUN) —

Part 2 – First Times

The first time that I saw the Hare Krishna devotees was in 1969. My father took me to his job in Manhattan. He was employed as a printer for a public relations company on Lexington Avenue and 59th Street. I spent the day collating stacks of papers. I was 14 years old at the time.

My father took me out to eat during his lunch break. We were walking down a typical crowded city street when I was stopped in my tracks.

A group of about a dozen young men and women wearing pink, white, orange and different colored robes were dancing and singing. They were lined up in a row along the curb, men on one end and ladies on the other end, swaying side to side in rhythm with the music. The men all had shaved heads. They were playing drums and cymbals.