Sarah C

I interviewed the President of the ISKCON temple, Rama Dasa. I had spoken to him the first time I visited the temple as well.

I asked him if they reenact lilas like the videos that were shown in class. He said that they do reenact dramas during special events and that they also had an actors troupe for this purpose. In India, they only use male actors, but at ISKCON, there are both males and females in the troupe, although in the early days, it consisted of almost all men. Nowadays, the troupe consists of professionals such as doctors and scholars, who do not have a lot of time to dedicate to practicing for the dramas, but they do what they can.

One other thing that was different is they do not throw colors at each other during the festival of Holi. This is because they don’t want to offend anyone by ruining their clothes, and they do not have a large outdoor space.

I went to one of ISKCON’s daily prayer rituals. It occurs every night at around 7 PM and lasts for about an hour. I came early and heard the beating of a drum in the temple. In the temple, the walls were covered with painting, including more familiar ones that I remember from the slideshows in class, such as Krishnas dancing with the gopis. Before the service, a man chanted mantras while circling the statue of the founder for a good half hour or so. By the time the ritual started, it was still very sparse, with around 5-6 devotees participating. However, their dedication and slight echo in the temple made it seem like there were more people chanting along. There was one man on the stage with the big Krishna statue, while the others banged a drum, danced, clapped, and played the zills. The mantras that I remember that they chanted were the Hare Krishna, which is a very recognizable one, and a namaste one, which one of the devotees had shown me in his prayer book. I mostly observed, but they offered me incense, sprinkled holy water on my head, and offered me a pretty flower. After offering it to the statue of the founder first, of course.

I visited ISKCON on 305 Schermerhorn Street. It has a vegetarian restaurant on the floor below (open from 12-3 PM), and you can smell the scent of food on the main floor.

I met the president of this temple, Rama Dasa, and talked to him for a bit. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of walking into his office with my boots on, but I ran into the hallway to take them off. However, the President was kind. His office was decorated with beautiful paintings, and I was happy to recognize one with Krishna with his flute and Radha beside him. We talked about the Hindu faith, its scriptures, and spirituality.

This location has an altar ceremony around 4:20 PM everyday. There are bigger events on Sundays from 5:30-9 PM. Events include a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita. There will be a festival on April 12 for Lord Ram. It is free to attend, but since I have class, I won’t be able to make it.

ISKCON has been in NY since 1966, but it has been in this location since 1982. As I mentioned, Rama Dasa is the President of this temple, and he has been since 1990. This is a non-profit temple, so there are no paid positions. There is a board of directors, and they vote to elect people to positions in the temple. There are department heads, etc. in the administrative structure.

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