"Writers of fiction generally must stick to probabilities, or at least possibilities, more or less, but in real life there are no such limitations. The impossible happens continually."

-- William B. Seabrook, The Magic Island

On Monday, the first of March, 1999, the moon waxed full and heralded the Appearance Day of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This marked the five hundred thirteenth year of the birth of the itinerant brahman who wandered Southern India preaching the love of Krishna and whom the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) -- believe to be an incarnation of Krishna -- "the Supreme Personality of the Godhead" -- himself. Through the hospitality of the worshippers, and especially of their leader, Sankarshan Das, I was allowed to observe the celebrations. Hopefully the reader will forgive my mistakes in this short account, for while I am interested in Hinduism in general and the Krishna Consciousness movement in particular, I am not a member of that religious tradition. I hope any blunders I fall into based on lack of knowledge or misguided memory will be slight.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness -- popularly known as the Hare Krishnas -- is a Hindu organisation founded by a rretired pharmaceutical executive by the name of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada -- a sannyasi or world renouncer who abandoned family and home to teach the path of ultimate devotion to Krishna. After living in Vrindavana and writing what is considered his masterpiece, a translation of and commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), he came to the United States in 1965 and organised the first ISKCON Temple in New York City. The movement was probably most visible in American culture in the late sixties and early seventies, but following Swami Prabhupada's death on 14 November 1977 considerable problems arose. Factions broke from ISKCON, some of which still exist. ISKCON would be ruled by eleven gurus who declared themselves Swami Prabhupada's divinely ordained successors and divided the world among them; at least two of these -- the gurus of Berkeley and of New Vrindavana, West Virginia -- would later be imprisoned for various offences. Both were involved in drug dealing, and the guru of the Berkeley Temple believed he could commune with Krishna by using LSD. Several decapitated corpses were found at the farming community in West Virginia. However, as John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson said in Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness, and the Hare Krishnas (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1988), their chronicle of these events:

Since 1987, reformers in the movement have worked to purge ISKCON of the horrors portrayed in this book. They hope to restore the spiritually powerful principles on which the movement was founded.

This was not the end of these problems -- just last year there were scuffles between ISKCON Hare Krishnas and those who challenged the line of succession during a love feast at the Los Angeles Temple. However, in a number of places, apparently including Austin, none of these controversies were brought to bear. I believe this had a lot to do with the character both of the Temple's general devotees and especially of its leader, for unlike those who wanted to take the place of Srila Prabhupada, Sankarshan Das struck me as a humble man who merely wants to follow the path he believes God has set out for him. ISKCON has managed to survive all of the conflicts which have arisen, and seems to have had a massive appeal to converts, now having Temples on every populated continent

ISKCON follows a form of Bhakti Hinduism, holding that salvation comes through ultimate reliance on the Deity, rather than proper performance of the sacrifices. The Hare Krishnas are a Vaishnavite sect, believing the God Vishnu to be the ultimate God. This is at odds with the Saivite sects, which follow Siva (Shiva). The Hare Krishnas believe Krishna to be the Supreme Personality of Vishnu. They believe that the ascetic God Siva worships Vishnu and as such prayers directed to him are answered by Krishna.

This was not the first opportunity I have had to visit an ISKCON ceremony. The first Hare Krishna I ever recall meeting I met on Guadalupe Street, the main drag across from the University of Texas at Austin. I happened to be walking past him and, as he was an interesting looking character, I wondered what his story was as I walked past. The gentleman didn't leave me wondering long, for as I passed he shouted after me, "Hey you -- the one with the cool hat!" Hearing this, of course, I wheeled round.

What the exact words were that passed between us I don't remember, although I remember discussing my studies at UT with him, and he told me he was from the Temple in Dallas. He introduced himself as Indranuja dasa -- servant of the God Indra, the Thunderer. He put a book in my hands -- A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's The Quest for Enlightenment: Articles from Back to Godhead Magazine (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1997) -- which he handed back to me every time I gave it back to him and insistently pointed to the book's pictures of the Spiritual World. I had intended to buy the book as soon as I saw it, but I found his salesmanship practices quite interesting. He was obviously well taught. That day I walked away with the book, a coupon to Kalachandji's Garden Restaurant and Palace (the Hare Krishna restaurant attached to the Temple at 5430 Gurley Avenue in Dallas) and an invitation to a free "Friday Nite Krishna Feast" at an address on South Oak Drive in Austin. But, as with many things, I found a multitude of ways to put it off, and it would be over a year before I would attend a gathering.

The meeting I finally attended was heralded the Friday before the event by a flyer posted on a kiosk next to the University of Texas' Tower. In bold letters across the top of the yellow sheet were the words "GAURA PURNIMA" and beneath those "A Celebration of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's birthday, and Holi." Next to a picture of Sir Chaitanya as a schedule of events. As the gathering was "Guaranteed to be a fun-filled evening of dancing, singing, and feasting!" and was obviously open to the public, I decided this was the event to attend. By this time it appears the Hare Krishnas had already moved their Center to another building, this one within a few blocks of the University of Texas campus.

As I walked through the warm March night to the Center, I must admit I was apprehensive. As I headed toward the Hindu shrine, passing through a typical quiet Austin neighbourhood, I felt out of place. While everything I passed, from the typical houses to the corner cafe were familiar and common, the purpose of my trip gave the whole night a bizarre air. And I felt very much alone. In short, I felt like a Catholic in a strange land. It was not long before I approached 807-A East 30th Street, the small duplex on the banks of Waller Creek -- not terribly far from the House on the Waller where famed Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie once made his home -- which houses the Austin Hare Krishna Center. No sign on the street proclaims the Center's existence, and were it not for the knowledge of the happenings there I would have passed it by as a typical dwelling in a quiet Austin neighbourhood.

I arrived and knocked at the front door, from the handle of which hung a small copper or brass object, apparently of Indian origin, the purpose of which I still do not know. Sankarshan Das -- a thin, pale man with blue eyes and a grey topknot, with a yellow paint streak down his forehead and nose -- met me there. He somehow remembered the e-mail I sent him before Christmas asking about whether non-believers could observe their ceremonies. He asked me to go to the side door, facing Waller Creek. There I took off my shoes and, after noticing another of the copper or brass objects hanging from this door handle, I entered the abode of the God.

Entering the building I found myself at the back of a small rectangular room. Hanging across the open space and across the walls were garlands made from the green oval leaves and beautiful purple flowers of the wild-growing Texas mountain laurel in arrangement which seemed to open the white walls and turn the place into a South Indian grove where Krishna and the cowherd women might have played. In its structure, the white tile-floored room could be in anyone's house, and the Hare Krishna Center has moved from duplex to duplex over the thirty years or so that it has been in Austin. The air was full of the scents of Indian cookery, the ritual meal. Facing us was the shrine which is the dwelling place of Krishna. Within the small images in this shrine -- the largest one, I would estimate, less than six inches in height -- are believed to dwell the God Krishna and his Divine Consort Radha. The Gods and Demigods are, of course, not limited to the statues, for their -- or, I should say, his, for in the faith of the Hare Krishnas they are believed to all be manifestations of a single God -- power is believed to pervade all and inhabit all people. Also, while each of these statues is believed to be inhabited by a particular aspect of the God, each statue does not have its own name. For example, Sri Sri Radha Govinda (Krishna in his Govinda form and his consort Radha) can be seen at both the Dallas and the Brooklyn Hare Krishna Temples. It is the belief of the Hare Krishnas that all the Gods are One, all the Goddesses are One, and the God and the Goddess are One. This is common in -- but not universal to -- Hindu theology. It is probably from such Hindu influences that the Wiccans adopted this form of monotheistic belief system.

When I entered the room was largely empty. I took a seat on the Temple floor like those already assembled and was soon handed a copy of the Hare Krishna Songbook and a small carpet on which to sit. A few people sat around the room and others straggled in as the ceremonies began and I moved closer and closer to the front of the room. Many of the people knelt on the ground, touching their heads to the floor, before the Deity Statues as the entered. There was no segregation of the sexes, and everyone simply sat where there was room. I would estimate a total of about thirty to forty people showed up that night, filling the room and raising its temperature considerably.

I was quite surprised to see that of those assembled there most were of Indian descent, ranging in age from teenagers to white-haired gentlemen. In the heyday of the Hare Krishna movement, at least as I understand, the majority of those involved in the US were converts of Western European stock. Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the movement, was told by his guru to missionise the English-speaking world, and at the age of seventy he came to New York to do just that. In Austin, however, it seems that the movement survived by attracting some of the many Indian immigrants in the Austin area, and their families. Of those Western Europeans who were assembled there -- I believe about seven -- most were middle-aged and were probably converts from the movement's heyday. I found out from testimony on a Hare Krishna webpage that Sankarshan Das himself first ate a ritual meal in Austin in 1971. Vishnupriya Dasi, the woman who helps Sankarshan Das take care of the Temple and whom I assume to be his wife is an Indian woman of about the same age as Sankarshan Das, who wore an Indian dress and the same yellow face marking.

The worship opened with a prayer or hymn to the Guru, Swami Prabhupada. It should be stated that the Hare Krishnas do not believe that their Guru is a God -- at least, it is not so simple as that. Even in his life on earth, Swami Prabhupada was treated as a God because he was believed to be a messenger of God and therefore worthy of the same treatment as a God. Thus he is accorded a much higher place than a Catholic saint, but not quite at the level of, for example, Sri Chaitanya, who is believed to have been God Incarnate. He is believed to in a sense open the way to Krishna, and therefore all Hare Krishna ceremonies open with a prayer beseeching him.

This chant, like all the others in the Hare Krishna Songbook, is in Sanskrit, put into Latin letters, with explanations interspersed throughout. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow most of it, although a middle aged Western European American pointed out where they were to me. In those places I could follow I didn't chant because I feel that joining in such prayers would be in conflict with my Catholic beliefs, although I learned that night that not all Catholics feel this way. This chanting -- accompanied by tambourine, drum, and Sankarshan Das on a sort of pump keyboard -- went on for over an hour. A number of people clapped with the chanting, and after it was over Sankarshan Das pointed out that clapping helped drive out sin, and that only those without sin shouldn't clap.

Of course, among the chants was that usually linked to the Hare Krishnas, which Sankarshan Das would later refer to as the "Sixteen Names of God," as follows:

Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama
Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare

Simply by reciting Krishna's name -- particularly in this chant, which represents several of Krishna's aspects -- the Hare Krishnas believe one attains grace. This chant is considered by them to be one of the most important, and it was believed to have been spread by none other than Sri Chaitanya himself. Many Americans know of this chant because of its popularisation in the '70's musical Hair, but the means of chanting is much different than in that soundtrack, at least in the case I heard it and in the Hare Krishna recording I have heard. While the musical's version is much more Western sounding and I would say higher, the chanting by the Hare Krishnas themselves were much more like other Vedic or Hindu chanting I have heard in that it was lower and almost droning, reminiscent of the also well-known Om or Aum. As I recall, while this chanting was done seated on the floor, it was capped off with the congregation rising to their feet and chanting for a short time before bowing to the Deity Statues, touching their heads to the floor in what seemed to me a very Muslim-like posture.

This chanting was followed by a recitation of, as the poster reads, "Pastimes of Lord Chaitanya and Prahlad Maharaj. Significance of Holi." At this time the people all sat and listened as accounts of the sacred figures and their companions were read, first by Sankarshan Das, then by various volunteers in the congregation. Occasionally Sankarshan Das would interject comments and clarification, but mainly the book was left to itself. I noticed when Sankarshan Das retrieved the thick tome from the room next door, separated from the Temple area by an open doorway, that he took it from a case of about four shelves of books, all of which bore the imprint of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, the Hare Krishna publishing company which publishes and owns the rights to Swami Prabhupada's books.

The book was largely a collection of various miracle stories and anecdotes about Sri Chaitanya and other Hindu holy men. The most memorable story was of how Sri Chaitanya enlightened the entirety of Southern India by walking down the street. It must be known that Sri Chaitanya is the most merciful aspect of Krishna, and while Krishna himself will give enlightenment to all who ask, Sri Chaitanya doesn't even require that. As Sri Chaitanya walked down the road one day in Southern India, all who saw him suddenly became enlightened. Being enlightened, they recognized him as Krishna Incarnate, and, of course, when one see God walking down the road, one is quick to follow. As Sri Chaitanya walked with his growing band of enlightened ones, he would direct each of them where he wished the individual to go, and off the enlightened one would go, down whatever side street to whatever district Sri Chaitanya willed. Now, as these enlightened beings traversed the countryside, anyone who saw them, in turn, would become enlightened, and then anyone who saw one of those newly enlightened ones would in turn become enlightened himself. And in this way the most merciful form of the Godhead turned the entire southern section of the subcontinent to himself, without the messiness of free will.

Another interesting story, which also shows the conflict between Saivite and Vaishnavite Hinduism, was one of the tales of Sri Chaitanya's childhood. According to tradition, the young Sri Chaitanya, like Krishna in his boyhood, was a capricious lad. One day, coming across a shrine to Siva where young women were making offerings to the God in order to secure a good husband, Sri Chaitanya told the girls that he himself was God, and that Siva worshipped him. As such, he pointed out that Siva would be much more pleased if they gave their offerings directly to him. Some of the women believed him and gave him their offerings, and these Sri Chaitanya blessed with handsome husbands and many children. Others, however, did not believe the boy, and he curst them, seeing to it that they took old men for husbands.

A further story, and unfortunately the last that I remember, made clear the conflicts between the Hindu and Muslim inhabitants of India. In this story, a particular holy man -- who precisely it was escapes me -- was being oppressed in some way by the Islamic governor of the region. This angered the populace, and they went in a crowd to confront the man. The Muslim was terrified -- an amused Sankarshan Das interjected that he ran and hid under his bed -- and stopped his oppression of the man after the man spoke to the crowd to spare him. If memory serves me, the man had been imprisoned, and after freeing him the governor himself converted to Hinduism.

After the reading was finished began another portion of the services, which I believe was the "Arati and Abhishek" mentioned in the schedule of events. This portion of the ceremonies was conducted standing, and occasionally bowing in the former position. The services were opened with blowing a small conch shell during the beginning chants. During the Arati and Abhishek I counted at least three blessings of the people amid the other ceremonies. For the first blessing Sankarshan Das sprinkled holy water on the people, similar to the holy water blessings performed in Catholic churches today. The second blessing was one of fire. A small flame was brought by one of the women to Sankarshan Das, who put his hand to the flame and then to his head in a sweeping motion. The woman then brought the flame to each member of the congregation, and they then repeated this procedure. As the plate with the small censer on it passed each person, some people placed money on it, although there was no formal collection like that in most Christian churches. The third blessing was done with the small conch shell itself, which Sankarshan Das blessed the congregation with by waving it towards the congregation like an aspergillum. Towards the end of the ceremony Sankarshan Das once again blew on this conch shell, and then blew on another he took from the mantle in the next room. Soon it was over, the congregants bowed to the Deities once more, and the room broke up into small groups and talked.

Throughout the services, because of my obligations as a Catholic, I had to avoid even the appearance of worshipping these Gods or their images. When the congregants bowed, I would sit, and I stood when they stood, so as to see what went on while staying out of the way. When the fire was brought to each of the congregants, I waved it by. I never so much as pretended to be a Hindu, and I was quite open with whoever asked what religion I belonged to that I was a Catholic. Sankarshan Das even shouted across the room to me at this time to ask if I had any questions about their faith. I mention all of this not so much to protect my own reputation but because I believe it important to point out that one can study another religion while not taking part in it. I bore witness to the Faith of Christ by my simple honesty with the people around me. While I believe that the faith in Krishna is tending toward God, and I can understand why this beautiful religion has so many adherents -- and I can understand why devotees of Krishna would act the same way were they to visit a Catholic church -- but I believe that any faith is incomplete without the Saving Grace of Christ, and had I bowed down I would have been saying by this action that all the blood of martyrdom had been for nothing and that any conception of God, no matter how strange, was as valid as perfect Faith in Christ. Readers can interpret this as they see fit, but I felt it my obligation to show my Faith in Christ by merely saying "No."

Following this the congregation members were able to take darshan of the Deities. It is believed that when a devotee looks on the images of the Deities with faith, he is blessed by in some way taking into themselves something given by the God. Even holy people are thus viewed, and when I studied Hinduism under Dr. Richard Lariviere (to whom I owe most of my knowlege on the subject) he told us that when his wife worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta people would travel miles to take darshan of holy woman. Simply looking upon these people -- like when the South Indians looked upon Sri Chaitanya -- is believed to pass along a blessing, freely given to viewer. The congregation went up to the shrine in small groups and viewed the Gods and prayed. One left a money on the shrine's; another left an envelope addressed "To Krishna," which Vishnupriya Dasi later opened and took away. Towards then end, a man began taking photographs of the Deities. As I had been waiting for my chance to do just that, I ran out the side door -- informing Sankarshan Das what I was up to when he asked -- and grabbed my camera from my trench coat sitting on the steps. Coming back in I approached the shrine.

The shrine is a small structure, set a little over waist-high on a wooden base with drawers in its side, with a canopy over it standing on supports. The Deities stand on tiers in the shrine, and a canopy rises over them. A pink lotus representation is mounted in the centre of the canopy front. The Deity statues stand within this shrine, on a series of platforms. The shrine is full of flowers, and it really has more the character of a tiny hill on which the Deities stand at different levels. One's attention is first brought to the two main cult statues -- one of Krishna and one of Radha. Krishna plays the a pipe and is slightly taller than Radha, but the two figures are very similar in appearance. These are the Presiding Deities of the Temple. Also in the shrine, at the lowest level, was a small statue of the Guru Srila Prabhupada sitting on a cushioned dias of his own. At various places in the shrine were two-dimensional images of the deities, some in oval frames. As I recall, these included an image of Sri Chaitanya and his associates, an image which, along with depictions of Srila Prabhupada and of Radha and Krishna, are required of all Hare Krishna altars. It was a very beautiful display, and I believe that for mere aesthetic reasons going out of one's way to see an ISKCON shrine is worth the hardship. As magnificent as the great stone temples of India are, one cannot fully appreciate them if one fails to see the statues for which the temples are homes. For those who do not wish to visit a Temple, most Temples which have web pages have pages devoted to the darshan of the Temple's Presiding Deities, even having chants played in the background. One can (and I have) spend hours viewing these images online, and those interested can go to http://www.iskcon.org/hkindex/ and simply look up the darshan links on the Temples' pages.

As I clicked a few shots off with my camera, Sankarshan Das too was filming, with a hand- held camcorder. He filmed the Gods from all angles and even leaned into the shrine to get good closeups of the images. As he was doing this and all through the darshan I had a very strange feeling of anticipation, as though I was waiting for the statues to *move*. I'm not sure if I was expecting a trick, or if I was expecting some spiritual creature to actually act through it, but it was a very weird sensation. Seeing the images treated like they are alive has an effect even on the psychology of non-believers, and I believe I can understand in part how a person raised in the Hindu culture can believe that the images live. Some Saivites believe that images of Ganesh, the elephant-headed God, drank milk all over the world in 1995, and I have seen taped footage of this on television I could not adequately explain. Growing up knowing both that objects can be possessed, and knowing that God can work through images, I believe I understand this aspect of the Hindu religion than others not raised in such conditions. However I do not believe that God dwells in any image, and I certainly do not believe that images should be worshipped as Gods. But no statue moved that night, and after Sankarshan Das finished his camera work, a curtain which hung from the canopy above the shrine was drawn, and the Deities were meant to rest for the night.

At some point during the earlier festivities before the darshan, Vishnupriya Dasi brought out a screen and placed it in front of the Deity shrine. This added veil of mystery of course immediately sent my mind into motion, and I wondered what rites went on behind hidden from prying eyes. Soon the screen was taken away, revealing the prasad -- the ritual meal. Hare Krishnas offer every meal to Krishna, following a verse in the Bhagavad-Gita (9.26) which reads, "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it." This food is then believed to have been made holier than normal food, is better for a person, and, so they claim, even tastes better. This food is, of course, not allowed to contain any meat, fish, or eggs. In addition, certain vegetables -- such as garlic and onions -- are also taboo, for they "are in the mode of darkness," according to Hare Krishna texts. Caffeine is also forbidden, and food prepared by non-believers is warned against because of their mental state might sully the food. In the devotees' daily life, three prayers are said during the offering of the food: one to the Guru (Sri Prabhupada), one to Sri Chaitanya, and one to Krishna. These prayers and more information on the ritual and life of the Hare Krishna are found for example in "An Introduction to ISKCON And Devotee Lifestyle" (an addendum to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's The Quest for Enlightenment; Los Angeles: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1997).

After the darshan, preparations began for the ritual feast. Originally I had intended to leave before the feast, but Sankarshan Das asked me to stay and come sit by him. Sheets were brought out and laid on the floor. During the commotion a man came up to me, pointing out the Jerusalem cross I habitually wear, and asked me if I was a Catholic. I told him that I was, and he then introduced himself not only as a Catholic, but as the musical director as St. Thomas More Catholic Church in North Austin. It was what I would later refer to as a "Young Goodman Brown" moment for me, for, like the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story by that name, I realised that I could never make any assumptions about anyone's beliefs. This man had bowed as low before Krishna as any other, but while I considered it incongruous, he had pure intentions, for he truly believed that Krishna was merely another name for God, no matter how different the beliefs of Krishna Consciousness may be in relation to those of Catholicism.

After the darshan a woman went around a room tearing off pieces of a flower and handing them to each person to eat. She gave me a piece, which I put on the plate given to me for the prasad dinner. This was the most uncomfortable time of the night for me, for I felt that, given the prohibitions set forth in chapter eight through ten of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, I could not eat the food which was being placed before me. While when a person is worshipping they are caught up in their actions and how they should act before the Divine, when one is at table it is too easy to judge and be judged. In a similar case I greatly disappointed myself, when I observed one of the Rites of Eleusis staged by the Scarlet Woman Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Austin in November of 1997. When I went to that ritual, I paid $5 and thought I was going to watch a play about what they believed really happened in the Greek mystery rites at Eleusis. Instead, what was presented was a blasphemous (though they did not recognise it as such) rendition of the Last Supper and Crucifixion. At that time I had a misunderstanding of what these passages really meant -- I knew that they allowed us to eat sacrificed food, but I had not studied the passages to know that this was hinged on the faith of others. If others might feel we were renouncing true faith in Christ by eating the food we should not eat it. But offering food falsely does not make it any less the food of the True God, for all creation is His and we can make use of it if it does not drive others from the Faith. At the Rite event a ritual meal of crackers and wine was passed around, and since I foolishly thought we were simply to eat the food no matter the circumstances, I pretended to eat a small amount of food which came to me. (I did not eat it in reality, for having just read what happened in Tibet to Arkon Daraul among the Buddhists, as recounted in his A History of Secret Societies, [original publishing: New York: Citadel Press, 1962] I was wary of being drugged, as he had been. I did not fear an attack specifically aimed at me, but knowing how many groups -- including the OTO -- use psychedelic drugs as a way to, in their belief, open what Huxley called the "Doors of Perception," I wanted to take no chances.) Fortunately, since I refused to recite the OTO's chants to the Sun, I proved in another way that I would not pay homage to their Gods. Situated as I was, being accidentally placed right next to the raised platform where the OTO's leaders sat, this had considerable effect and elicited some stares from the members. Unfortunately, as I was attempting to read along as they chanted, they may have attributed my failure to join them to the poor lighting. It was not until later, after understanding the Biblical sanctions, that I relised my blunder. I had no fear of being drugged by the Hare Krishnas, but I could not reconcile my beliefs with eating the prasad.

I explained my dilemma to Sankarshan Das, and he referred the question to the man from St. Thomas More, who was consuming all that was placed before him. The Catholic Hare Krishna pointed out the difference between the Gods condemned in the Old Testament, such as Moloch, to whom children were sacrificed, and Krishna. He said that, while those Gods were not real, Krishna *is*, and this man firmly believed Krishna and Yahweh to be one. Sankarshan Das told me that he joined the Hare Krishna movement in order that he could better serve Christ, and he said that he felt that if I were to eat the prasad, Christ would bless me, and that if I took part in the practice, I would learn how the practice was good to take part in. However, while trying to convince me to eat, one of Sankarshan Das' arguments was more than anything what undid him, for he said that the eating of the prasad was as good as any of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. I knew when he said that I could not eat, for eating would imply that I felt the same way. I could never pretend this, however, because when we consume the Host, we Catholics consume the Body of Christ in reality. Even if the prasad were blessed food, it could never equal what we have in the Eucharist, in which we take the Real Presence of God within our hearts. The food did not go to waste, however, and was taken off by one of the devotees for his mother.

At the feast all the people sat on the floor in rows winding lengthwise across the room. Once again, here there was no obvious separation by caste or sex. Among the American converts this wouldn't be particularly unusual, but among Indians it was somewhat noteworthy. Dr. Lariviere told us that, while many groups in theory do not distinguish according to caste, in practice caste matters greatly, even among Christians and Muslims as well as among some more orthodox Hindus, and this comes out most notably while dining and in marriages. Indeed, Orthodox Hindus are considered defiled if they eat with people of lower caste, and they must perform cleansing rituals. Among most Hindus who rely totally upon God for salvation from the cycle of re-death, in theory caste is unimportant, and here among the Hare Krishnas, at least in Austin, they had apparently succeeded in creating a caste-less Temple.

Throughout my stay at the Hare Krishna Center, Sankarshan Das, and indeed all the Hare Krishnas, were very kind and understanding of my beliefs. From my short time with him, Sankarshan Das struck me as a very good man, and I genuinely like the fellow. Had his past life been different, and had he taken different forks in his path, I could easily have seen him becoming a Catholic priest. I believe he truly loves God, and while I believe he is mistaken to the identity of God, I believe that God loves him. And I hope that, one day, the two of us will meet in the presence of the Living God.