Hare Krishna!

Last week's adventure became eclipsed by my amazing visit home! While there my brother and sister encouraged me past a fear of heights to reach the top of a rock wall for the first time in my life! Here's a picture of me 30 feet in the air. I was super proud of myself. :)

Now, this week I had a super fun adventure in Spanish Fork. At the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple to be specific. My roommate Cassie and my friend Zach came to India Fest with me!

I'm currently taking Survey of World Religions from Roger Keller. He encourages us to attend worship services with various religions to help us understand them better. The Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork - probably best known for their Holi Festival of Colors celebration each spring - was hosting India Fest today. India Fest is how the Hare Krishna community in Utah celebrates the Ramayana Festival.

 

The Ramayana is the story of Rama - an incarnation of the god Vishnu - and his wife Sita - Vishnu's consort Lakshmi - and their adventures during a fourteen year exile. Rama is the heir to the throne, but his half-brother's mother conspired to have her son on the throne. When he learns that his brother has been exiled, the new king vows to rule only in Rama's name for the fourteen years.

The portion that was performed tells the story of Sita's kidnapping by the demon Ravana. In his clutches, Sita remains faithful and refuses his advances. Rama faithfully seeks her until his ally, Hanuman the monkey king finds the land of Lanka where Ravana rules. After praying for help, Rama builds a bridge out of stones across the ocean and confronts the demon.

The play ended with the triumphant burning of the giant figure of Ravana over the temple lake. We all cheered and celebrated with the actors when Rama defeated the demon. Sita came up and joined Rama joyfully and the play ended with fireworks going off.

I've been to a few of the festivals at the Krishna Temple, but this was the first time I've been to India Fest. It is also the first time I've actually had some context for understanding the festival before arriving. I really enjoyed understanding why this festival is important and the context behind the play.

Rama as an incarnation as Vishnu is therefore equitable to Krishna. The Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism considers Krishna (another form of Vishnu) as the one true god. A good way to understand the importance of Krishna is to compare him to Christ. He is God Incarnate to the Hindus of Hare Krishna communities. Therefore, Rama was another form of Krishna's time on earth. The Ramayana shows his virtue, power, honesty, and divine strength. It also illustrates the beauty, devotion, and chaste nature of a good Hindu woman in the form of Sita. Rama's two devoted brothers and Hanuman show the proper way to be completely devoted to Vishnu.

I forgot my camera in the car, so I added some pictures here from performances of the Ramayana that have been performed around the world.