"The great saint Chaitanya has said that the praise of Lord Krishna would be sung in every corner of the world. And it is true."
Well these are not my words.. But the words of a very affable and friendly Krishna Bhakth I ran into here in Gothenburg. I was indulging in my favorite pastime, walking around Nordstan and observing people , when this bearded chap flagged me down and asked if he could have some of my time. I had expected him to be a salesman or a person handing out feedback forms or something of that sort. Since I had been a sales guy for a year, have this sort of brotherly affection towards salesmen and so I make it a point to lend a ear or two to them. But imagine my surprise when he whips out a book of the Ishtopanishad or something rhyming with that and start talking of Indian mythology.
He had guessed that I was from India and the first question he asked me was if I had heard of the Gita. I told him curtly that I was from the land of the Gita , upon which, to my shock and surprise ,he proceeded to compliment me for knowing about the Gita. I thought I had seen it all, but now here I was in Gothenburg getting compliments from a blonde , blue eyed Swede for knowing - just being aware - of the Bhagavad-Gita- the holy book of Hinduism.
What followed was ten eye-openening minutes where he explained a few concepts of the saint Chaitanya , about the power of Krishna and also that there existed right here in Gothenburg a sort of Ashram where they had regular bhajans ,discourses by some Guruji and also handing out of Prashads. I was cordially invited to attend one of the bhajan sessions and discover the beauty of Krishna Bhakthi( devotion) When I expressed my surprise at hearing about a Hindu ashram right here , he replied with the lines that I have used as the starting lines of this post. And mind you, he told those lines in Sanskrit, he recited a verse , which he then had to translate to me , since I don’t know Sanskrit. Man, wasn’t I impressed. Sanskirt lessons in Gothenburg. Deep.
Talk of strange happenings. I had observed some blogs ago that very few Indians were to be seen around and here you have an Ashram itself , with Gurujis and bhajans to boot.
By the way,all the vernacular words used above are what the Krishna devotee used and I should say he pronounced them really well. He was a volunteer who collects donations for the Krishna society, sells books about Hinduism and generally does his duty of spreading the word.
God bless him and his work.
Well these are not my words.. But the words of a very affable and friendly Krishna Bhakth I ran into here in Gothenburg. I was indulging in my favorite pastime, walking around Nordstan and observing people , when this bearded chap flagged me down and asked if he could have some of my time. I had expected him to be a salesman or a person handing out feedback forms or something of that sort. Since I had been a sales guy for a year, have this sort of brotherly affection towards salesmen and so I make it a point to lend a ear or two to them. But imagine my surprise when he whips out a book of the Ishtopanishad or something rhyming with that and start talking of Indian mythology.
He had guessed that I was from India and the first question he asked me was if I had heard of the Gita. I told him curtly that I was from the land of the Gita , upon which, to my shock and surprise ,he proceeded to compliment me for knowing about the Gita. I thought I had seen it all, but now here I was in Gothenburg getting compliments from a blonde , blue eyed Swede for knowing - just being aware - of the Bhagavad-Gita- the holy book of Hinduism.
What followed was ten eye-openening minutes where he explained a few concepts of the saint Chaitanya , about the power of Krishna and also that there existed right here in Gothenburg a sort of Ashram where they had regular bhajans ,discourses by some Guruji and also handing out of Prashads. I was cordially invited to attend one of the bhajan sessions and discover the beauty of Krishna Bhakthi( devotion) When I expressed my surprise at hearing about a Hindu ashram right here , he replied with the lines that I have used as the starting lines of this post. And mind you, he told those lines in Sanskrit, he recited a verse , which he then had to translate to me , since I don’t know Sanskrit. Man, wasn’t I impressed. Sanskirt lessons in Gothenburg. Deep.
Talk of strange happenings. I had observed some blogs ago that very few Indians were to be seen around and here you have an Ashram itself , with Gurujis and bhajans to boot.
By the way,all the vernacular words used above are what the Krishna devotee used and I should say he pronounced them really well. He was a volunteer who collects donations for the Krishna society, sells books about Hinduism and generally does his duty of spreading the word.
God bless him and his work.
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